Multiverse Crisis MUSH - User contributions [en]

7283/Thors Academy Festival Prep

2020-08-22T08:14:08Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/08/20
|Location=Thors Military Academy
|Synopsis=Class VII asks for help planning an event for the upcoming school festival.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 446, 7, 7075
|Tinyplot=Trails of Cold Steel
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all meet up in Class VII's classroom on the second floor of the main academic building. All 10 of Class VII's current members are here, with the Class Presidents - Emma and Machias - standing at the front of the room. On the blackboard is "127TH MILITARY ACADEMY FESTIVAL" along with the weekend dates for the festival itself two months from now. There's a few extra chairs strewn around for you guys to sit on. "Ok!" Emma says, clapping her hands together. "So we need to come up with an idea for our entry for the school festival....and also how to deal with the impromptu challenge we got." Emma turns to their guests. "Basically, the two noble classes at our school, Classes I and II decided that whichever class's event gets the best ranking in the end of festival poll is the best class at Thors." Fie raises a hand. "Is this something we should be taking seriously? Last I checked, Classes I and II were full of hot air. " Alisa sighs. "Ferris came up to me during lacrosse practice and just shouted 'This time, victory will be ours!' So at least she's taking this seriously." "Personally, I'd rather not give Patrick Hyarms another nominal victory." Jusis says. "They've had it out for us since Midterms. Guess they still haven't let go of the fact that our class placed ahead of them collectively." Machias says. "Even if we don't take the challenge, though, most people's families are going to show up, so it'd be a good chance for us to show off anyway." Emma says. "Right. So either way, we need to pick something." Machias says, and starts to write on the blackboard.  Once he's done, there's 3 choices listed out on the board: PLAY "From what I've heard this is what Classes I and II are doing, a performance of an old classical play. " Machias says. "As much as I'd like to see the look on Patrick's smug face when we beat him at his own game, I'm not sure we should go into direct competition with them. " He continues, adjusting his glasses a bit. "But it's a fairly simple thing, and we can use that platform in the entryway of the Old Schoolhouse as a practice space since of course the noble Classes got priority of the auditorium. At least we'll be able to use it for the performance proper.  We'll need to get costumes and backdrops, too - and of course pick a play to perform." ROCK CONCERT Elliot speaks up for this one. "So Towa told me that she and her friends did an impromptu concert during last year's festival. I've seen the video, and it's really awesome! The kind of music they chose was passionate and upbeat, something that I think fits our class pretty well." Elliot turns his attention to their guests. "While it's not that common in Erebonia specifically yet, I've heard that Rock music is pretty common outside of Zemuria, so if we go for this choice, maybe you guys could help us pick songs? Towa and George said they could lend us the equipment they used, but we'll have to source costumes and figure out who can play what instruments." His eyes shift to an empty seat at the back of the room. "It's too bad Crow isn't around anymore, he made their outfits..." KARAOKE / CABARET Rean laughs. "This one was suggested to me by Majima some time ago - we might be able to make this one work if we don't want to do a performance and just decorate our classroom. I'm sure people will enjoy it no matter what. I might be able to hook up my laptop to a speaker or borrow a phonograph from Instructor Mary or the Music Club. It's a good idea for a room booth, I think, and maybe we can serve food or something." Emma looks at the board for a second, and then picks up a piece of chalk and writes: SUGGESTIONS??? "This list isn't really all encompassing. If you have any other ideas, I'm happy to include them. But we only have so much time and money so don't suggest anything too crazy..." Emma says. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' INSTRUCTIONS Materials / things to keep track of: MONEY: Class VII's funds. Made up of a small sum given out by the Student Council, money earned by members doing part time jobs and Rean's Paladins paychecks. TIME: How long until the Festival. You've got 2 months. HYPE: How much people are looking forward to Class VII's event. Used to measure whether or not they beat the Noble Students in their little class rivalry. Running a play puts you in direct competition with Class 1 and 2, because they're also doing one. It is also the most EXPENSIVE of the 3 choices due to needing costumes, props, and backdrop. However, it's likely to generate a lot of HYPE, as well as the satisfaction of beating Ferris and Patrick at their own game. Doing a Rock Concert takes after the one Towa and friends did the previous year, and while they're down a member (technically two, but Ange has her ways of sneaking around) they'll be glad to help, giving you a bit of extra manpower. Costumes and equipment cost MONEY, though it's less than throwing a play because of Towa and Co lending some of theirs. Teaching the people who can't play instruments how to do so takes more TIME than teaching people how to act.  Will definitely generate a lot of HYPE even if rock is pretty new to Erebonia.  It's freaking rock music, man! Turning Class VII's classroom into a Karaoke Club costs very little MONEY and TIME as at its core it's just Rean's laptop and/or a record player hooked to a speaker. However, decorating the 'stage' still costs MONEY. This is especially the case if you want to lean more cabaret with it and have food. In its simplicity, this event won't generate as much HYPE as the other choices. At least it'll still be fun. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Dressed in her usual royal red gown, Sarracenia has come to offer her help and advice for Rean and his class. She hasn't seen him much since everything that happened with Mikoto, so she figured this would be a good way to get reaquainted in a low pressure situation. She listens to all the information and ideas while her trusty butler Gregory the Piranha Plant stands nearby.      When the issue of money comes up she laughs a bit and smirks. "Money? I am not sure about the other classes, but I would wager that none have the backing of an entire kingdom! For I, Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom am willing to sponsor this class's event! Costumes, food, even materials or rentals will be covered." she says, then considers. "As for which we should choose...I would most definitely suggest a play. A good play will garner plenty of attention, and I do love helping others dress up in lovely outfits! And if we need a play, I know a wonderful story about a princess kidnapped by an evil dragon! But, if we must do something other than a play, then I could offer my magnificent voice to the rock concert, or simply dress up in a fetching outfit for the cabaret!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa for once was in casual clothing as she was not expecting any sort of trouble today. Well casual for her own homeworld it might seem a bit strange and some of the material might be exotic here but Kotone. She is ready to work however as she'll come in and she thinks the Karaoke Club could be fun and she has some ideas on how to help with that. Such as bringing in songs from her own world which would be utterly new to most of the Festival goers. She's practically bouncing in place after she arrives and looking to be in a good state of mind as she thinks. "I'm going to suggest the Karaoke Club, I could get some songs from my world which I doubt many people here would know. Something new and exciting..." She won't turn down the play she thinks. "I could probably whip something up for the Dragon if we did go with that idea." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha has fond memories of her own school festivals, as well as those of her daughter's. So when she found out that Class VII were having one and were looking for help, the Aerial Mage was happy to assist.     As such, Nanoha is currently standing against the wall of the classroom, wearing a simple pink blouse and yellow short skirt. She watches and listens as things are explained and planned out. Finally when the class turns towards the guests to get their opinions, Nanoha appears to be considering something.     Sarracenia offers her own thoughts first, to which Nanoha looks a little doubtful. She tries to offer helpfully with a smile, "While it would be an impressive victory to outdo the other classes at their own game... I think it's unfair on the visitors to subject them to yet more plays. Also, since this is Class Seven's event, I think it's best that the rest of us avoid taking any active roles on the day."     Looking towards Class VII once more, Nanoha offers up her own thoughts, "From those you've suggested, I think the rock concert would be ideal. If it's something that hasn't really taken hold in Erebonia yet."     Nanoha then raises a finger with an idea, "But! If I were to suggest something myself. How about a movie theatre? You could play a bunch of short movies on a screen, pulling them in from the Multiverse. I think that's something people of your world haven't seen much of, right? You already have the laptop to act as the media player. A projector and screen wouldn't be hard or expensive to get. And you could serve movie-going food." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Are we allowed to take that kind of money...?" Emma whispers to Machias. "Dunno, but I'm not sure if we should say no." Rean lets out a small snicker at Sarracenia's suggestion. Of course it'd be a play about that. "That works." Machias says, scribbling down Sarracenia's input about the dragon play. "Though, Miss Nanoha has a point, I don't we should add a second play." Emma takes the chalk next and writes down Kotone's input for the Karaoke room and her input for the play. "Hmm, maybe..." she says. Finally, she adds Nanoha's movie theatre suggestion. "That's a good suggestion, actually. You're right, we don't really have movies yet. Like rock music, I think it's a thing in Calvard, but not at all in Erebonia." "Oh! What if we made our own movie to show with the others!" Millium shouts raising her hand. "Hmm...Well, Towa did say George used a orbal video camera to record their performance. Though, wouldn't that overlap with the play?" Elliot says. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' <J-IC-Scene> Machias says, "Any other input?" <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Making your own movie certainly would be creative and quite an accomplishment. But if you want it to come out more like a movie and less like a recorded play, like Elliot said, it takes a lot of planning and effort. I'm not sure there's time, or we have the experience to create something like that." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Meanwhile, you could easily find several short movies you could play at multiple times through the event, giving people an opportunity to choose which ones they want to see and when. And you can each pick out a movie you are most interested in, providing a wide array of styles and content." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "It would be quite easy to make a movie theatre or karaoke shop, but if you want to beat those other two classes it must be either the play or the rock concert." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "Yeah the movie theater would really wow people I think. There's a large array of movies we could bring in from across the multivese if we get things like old animated shorts." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa Seems to have fallen into the movie camp. <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "A rock concert probably would have the greater impact, since it would be a large single event rather than something drawn out over the whole festival." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "Hmm...If you were to make your own movie -and- make a movie theatre..." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "You would have the advantage of being able to star yourselves. And go on location to various places in the Multiverse." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "Also if your world does not have film at all? It would be your world's first film!" <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "It's risky and has a chance of failing. But I think it would be pretty big." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "The good news is you won't be going in blind, right?" <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Alisa says, "That does sound pretty cool..." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "It would also blow away the other classes' play. Although there is the matter of what story to choose..." <J-IC-Scene> Rean Schwarzer says, "Yeah, that's the sticking point. we'd have to come up with something, unless we're adapting something else. I'm not sure we can do that in 2 months." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "I know someone who could lend us a friendly dragon, if you decide to go the princess and dragon route that Sarracenia suggested. But I think it'd be better if you guys chose a story that is more suited to you, since it's your project." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Are there any stories from your own world that you think would work as a movie?" <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "Perhaps you could make a movie about your adventures against...what was his name? Bleu?" <J-IC-Scene> Rean Schwarzer awkwardly, "Er...no." <J-IC-Scene> Rean Schwarzer says, "Absolutely not." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "We could also get some helps with the effects... I mean Wizards exist." <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Emma says, "There's a few books that I've read that might work...Red Moon Rose, is one. It's about a vampire killing that happened some time after the War of the Lions. Would that work?" <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Vampires are pretty popular content for movies, yes!" <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "This sounds promising where could we pick up a copy of this book?" <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Emma says, "I can lend you my copies, otherwise I think Keynes' in Trista should have the whole collection to purchase." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "I guess we'll have to read through the book and come up with some ideas of how to adapt it!" <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Emma says, "Right." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "This sounds quite promising." Laura says, speaking up. Rean nods. "Yeah. The more we talk about it, the more fun it sounds." Machias and Emma look at one another, and then nod. "Ok. All in favor of making a movie and showing it at the festival?" Emma says, raising her hand. 9 other hands join hers. Gaius chuckles. "I guess that's unanimous, then." "I should probably head over to the dorms and pick up my copies - also Keynes' is on the way to the dorm anyway, so if anything I can just take you three there to get copies of your own." Rean looks over at their guests. "If you guys have any other ideas, or books on movie making or something, feel free to share them. It sounds like a huge undertaking, but at this point that's kinda just what our class does." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha nods approvingly as the class all agree to the idea. It's better if they're all excited for it. It means a greater chance of them being able to pull it off.     As Emma offers to show them by the store to get some copies of the book, Nanoha nods, "That'd be good, thanks."     Then to Rean, Nanoha smiles, "It's not like this is going to be a multi-million credit movie intended for mass consumption. For a school festival project, I'm sure you guys will do fine." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarracenia raises her hand even though she isn't in the class, then giggles a bit. "Send me a list of the costumes you will need and I will ensure they are delivered in a timely manner. You may have to visit my personal tailor in order to be measured." she says, then nods in agreement with Nanoha. "Honestly, making a movie is not that difficult or expensive. What makes it expensive or time-consuming is paying actors and editing the film." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa thinks there is a good idea set at this point the choice has been made she'll have to pick up a copy of this book. "I'm already downloading digital versions but if you want hard copies I can get them." She has no device out as she does that. "Just give me a day if you could? The largest city near where I live is a major center for film production." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean smiles. "Yeah. Still, no reason to not give it our best." Alisa nods. "There's that clothing shop in Trista...Wonder if they have any tips to give us for designing the costumes. THen I can pass on the information to you." Alisa says to Sarracenia. Emma raises an eyebrow as Kotone mentions downloading a copy, but shrugs. Multiverse stuff, probably. "That's good to know." Emma says in response to Kotone's hometown being near a theatre. Things sounded like they were coming together. 
}}

7283/Thors Academy Festival Prep

2020-08-22T08:13:49Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2020/08/20 |Location=Thors Military Academy |Synopsis=Class VII asks for help planning an event for the upcoming school festival. |Cast of Characte..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/08/20
|Location=Thors Military Academy
|Synopsis=Class VII asks for help planning an event for the upcoming school festival.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 446, 7, 7075
|Tinyplot=Trails Of Cold Steel
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all meet up in Class VII's classroom on the second floor of the main academic building. All 10 of Class VII's current members are here, with the Class Presidents - Emma and Machias - standing at the front of the room. On the blackboard is "127TH MILITARY ACADEMY FESTIVAL" along with the weekend dates for the festival itself two months from now. There's a few extra chairs strewn around for you guys to sit on. "Ok!" Emma says, clapping her hands together. "So we need to come up with an idea for our entry for the school festival....and also how to deal with the impromptu challenge we got." Emma turns to their guests. "Basically, the two noble classes at our school, Classes I and II decided that whichever class's event gets the best ranking in the end of festival poll is the best class at Thors." Fie raises a hand. "Is this something we should be taking seriously? Last I checked, Classes I and II were full of hot air. " Alisa sighs. "Ferris came up to me during lacrosse practice and just shouted 'This time, victory will be ours!' So at least she's taking this seriously." "Personally, I'd rather not give Patrick Hyarms another nominal victory." Jusis says. "They've had it out for us since Midterms. Guess they still haven't let go of the fact that our class placed ahead of them collectively." Machias says. "Even if we don't take the challenge, though, most people's families are going to show up, so it'd be a good chance for us to show off anyway." Emma says. "Right. So either way, we need to pick something." Machias says, and starts to write on the blackboard.  Once he's done, there's 3 choices listed out on the board: PLAY "From what I've heard this is what Classes I and II are doing, a performance of an old classical play. " Machias says. "As much as I'd like to see the look on Patrick's smug face when we beat him at his own game, I'm not sure we should go into direct competition with them. " He continues, adjusting his glasses a bit. "But it's a fairly simple thing, and we can use that platform in the entryway of the Old Schoolhouse as a practice space since of course the noble Classes got priority of the auditorium. At least we'll be able to use it for the performance proper.  We'll need to get costumes and backdrops, too - and of course pick a play to perform." ROCK CONCERT Elliot speaks up for this one. "So Towa told me that she and her friends did an impromptu concert during last year's festival. I've seen the video, and it's really awesome! The kind of music they chose was passionate and upbeat, something that I think fits our class pretty well." Elliot turns his attention to their guests. "While it's not that common in Erebonia specifically yet, I've heard that Rock music is pretty common outside of Zemuria, so if we go for this choice, maybe you guys could help us pick songs? Towa and George said they could lend us the equipment they used, but we'll have to source costumes and figure out who can play what instruments." His eyes shift to an empty seat at the back of the room. "It's too bad Crow isn't around anymore, he made their outfits..." KARAOKE / CABARET Rean laughs. "This one was suggested to me by Majima some time ago - we might be able to make this one work if we don't want to do a performance and just decorate our classroom. I'm sure people will enjoy it no matter what. I might be able to hook up my laptop to a speaker or borrow a phonograph from Instructor Mary or the Music Club. It's a good idea for a room booth, I think, and maybe we can serve food or something." Emma looks at the board for a second, and then picks up a piece of chalk and writes: SUGGESTIONS??? "This list isn't really all encompassing. If you have any other ideas, I'm happy to include them. But we only have so much time and money so don't suggest anything too crazy..." Emma says. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' INSTRUCTIONS Materials / things to keep track of: MONEY: Class VII's funds. Made up of a small sum given out by the Student Council, money earned by members doing part time jobs and Rean's Paladins paychecks. TIME: How long until the Festival. You've got 2 months. HYPE: How much people are looking forward to Class VII's event. Used to measure whether or not they beat the Noble Students in their little class rivalry. Running a play puts you in direct competition with Class 1 and 2, because they're also doing one. It is also the most EXPENSIVE of the 3 choices due to needing costumes, props, and backdrop. However, it's likely to generate a lot of HYPE, as well as the satisfaction of beating Ferris and Patrick at their own game. Doing a Rock Concert takes after the one Towa and friends did the previous year, and while they're down a member (technically two, but Ange has her ways of sneaking around) they'll be glad to help, giving you a bit of extra manpower. Costumes and equipment cost MONEY, though it's less than throwing a play because of Towa and Co lending some of theirs. Teaching the people who can't play instruments how to do so takes more TIME than teaching people how to act.  Will definitely generate a lot of HYPE even if rock is pretty new to Erebonia.  It's freaking rock music, man! Turning Class VII's classroom into a Karaoke Club costs very little MONEY and TIME as at its core it's just Rean's laptop and/or a record player hooked to a speaker. However, decorating the 'stage' still costs MONEY. This is especially the case if you want to lean more cabaret with it and have food. In its simplicity, this event won't generate as much HYPE as the other choices. At least it'll still be fun. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Dressed in her usual royal red gown, Sarracenia has come to offer her help and advice for Rean and his class. She hasn't seen him much since everything that happened with Mikoto, so she figured this would be a good way to get reaquainted in a low pressure situation. She listens to all the information and ideas while her trusty butler Gregory the Piranha Plant stands nearby.      When the issue of money comes up she laughs a bit and smirks. "Money? I am not sure about the other classes, but I would wager that none have the backing of an entire kingdom! For I, Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom am willing to sponsor this class's event! Costumes, food, even materials or rentals will be covered." she says, then considers. "As for which we should choose...I would most definitely suggest a play. A good play will garner plenty of attention, and I do love helping others dress up in lovely outfits! And if we need a play, I know a wonderful story about a princess kidnapped by an evil dragon! But, if we must do something other than a play, then I could offer my magnificent voice to the rock concert, or simply dress up in a fetching outfit for the cabaret!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa for once was in casual clothing as she was not expecting any sort of trouble today. Well casual for her own homeworld it might seem a bit strange and some of the material might be exotic here but Kotone. She is ready to work however as she'll come in and she thinks the Karaoke Club could be fun and she has some ideas on how to help with that. Such as bringing in songs from her own world which would be utterly new to most of the Festival goers. She's practically bouncing in place after she arrives and looking to be in a good state of mind as she thinks. "I'm going to suggest the Karaoke Club, I could get some songs from my world which I doubt many people here would know. Something new and exciting..." She won't turn down the play she thinks. "I could probably whip something up for the Dragon if we did go with that idea." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha has fond memories of her own school festivals, as well as those of her daughter's. So when she found out that Class VII were having one and were looking for help, the Aerial Mage was happy to assist.     As such, Nanoha is currently standing against the wall of the classroom, wearing a simple pink blouse and yellow short skirt. She watches and listens as things are explained and planned out. Finally when the class turns towards the guests to get their opinions, Nanoha appears to be considering something.     Sarracenia offers her own thoughts first, to which Nanoha looks a little doubtful. She tries to offer helpfully with a smile, "While it would be an impressive victory to outdo the other classes at their own game... I think it's unfair on the visitors to subject them to yet more plays. Also, since this is Class Seven's event, I think it's best that the rest of us avoid taking any active roles on the day."     Looking towards Class VII once more, Nanoha offers up her own thoughts, "From those you've suggested, I think the rock concert would be ideal. If it's something that hasn't really taken hold in Erebonia yet."     Nanoha then raises a finger with an idea, "But! If I were to suggest something myself. How about a movie theatre? You could play a bunch of short movies on a screen, pulling them in from the Multiverse. I think that's something people of your world haven't seen much of, right? You already have the laptop to act as the media player. A projector and screen wouldn't be hard or expensive to get. And you could serve movie-going food." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Are we allowed to take that kind of money...?" Emma whispers to Machias. "Dunno, but I'm not sure if we should say no." Rean lets out a small snicker at Sarracenia's suggestion. Of course it'd be a play about that. "That works." Machias says, scribbling down Sarracenia's input about the dragon play. "Though, Miss Nanoha has a point, I don't we should add a second play." Emma takes the chalk next and writes down Kotone's input for the Karaoke room and her input for the play. "Hmm, maybe..." she says. Finally, she adds Nanoha's movie theatre suggestion. "That's a good suggestion, actually. You're right, we don't really have movies yet. Like rock music, I think it's a thing in Calvard, but not at all in Erebonia." "Oh! What if we made our own movie to show with the others!" Millium shouts raising her hand. "Hmm...Well, Towa did say George used a orbal video camera to record their performance. Though, wouldn't that overlap with the play?" Elliot says. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' <J-IC-Scene> Machias says, "Any other input?" <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Making your own movie certainly would be creative and quite an accomplishment. But if you want it to come out more like a movie and less like a recorded play, like Elliot said, it takes a lot of planning and effort. I'm not sure there's time, or we have the experience to create something like that." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Meanwhile, you could easily find several short movies you could play at multiple times through the event, giving people an opportunity to choose which ones they want to see and when. And you can each pick out a movie you are most interested in, providing a wide array of styles and content." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "It would be quite easy to make a movie theatre or karaoke shop, but if you want to beat those other two classes it must be either the play or the rock concert." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "Yeah the movie theater would really wow people I think. There's a large array of movies we could bring in from across the multivese if we get things like old animated shorts." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa Seems to have fallen into the movie camp. <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "A rock concert probably would have the greater impact, since it would be a large single event rather than something drawn out over the whole festival." <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "Hmm...If you were to make your own movie -and- make a movie theatre..." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "You would have the advantage of being able to star yourselves. And go on location to various places in the Multiverse." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "Also if your world does not have film at all? It would be your world's first film!" <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "It's risky and has a chance of failing. But I think it would be pretty big." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "The good news is you won't be going in blind, right?" <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Alisa says, "That does sound pretty cool..." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "It would also blow away the other classes' play. Although there is the matter of what story to choose..." <J-IC-Scene> Rean Schwarzer says, "Yeah, that's the sticking point. we'd have to come up with something, unless we're adapting something else. I'm not sure we can do that in 2 months." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "I know someone who could lend us a friendly dragon, if you decide to go the princess and dragon route that Sarracenia suggested. But I think it'd be better if you guys chose a story that is more suited to you, since it's your project." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Are there any stories from your own world that you think would work as a movie?" <J-IC-Scene> Princess Sarracenia says, "Perhaps you could make a movie about your adventures against...what was his name? Bleu?" <J-IC-Scene> Rean Schwarzer awkwardly, "Er...no." <J-IC-Scene> Rean Schwarzer says, "Absolutely not." <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "We could also get some helps with the effects... I mean Wizards exist." <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Emma says, "There's a few books that I've read that might work...Red Moon Rose, is one. It's about a vampire killing that happened some time after the War of the Lions. Would that work?" <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "Vampires are pretty popular content for movies, yes!" <J-IC-Scene> Kotone Yamakawa says, "This sounds promising where could we pick up a copy of this book?" <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Emma says, "I can lend you my copies, otherwise I think Keynes' in Trista should have the whole collection to purchase." <J-IC-Scene> Nanoha Takamachi says, "I guess we'll have to read through the book and come up with some ideas of how to adapt it!" <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Emma says, "Right." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "This sounds quite promising." Laura says, speaking up. Rean nods. "Yeah. The more we talk about it, the more fun it sounds." Machias and Emma look at one another, and then nod. "Ok. All in favor of making a movie and showing it at the festival?" Emma says, raising her hand. 9 other hands join hers. Gaius chuckles. "I guess that's unanimous, then." "I should probably head over to the dorms and pick up my copies - also Keynes' is on the way to the dorm anyway, so if anything I can just take you three there to get copies of your own." Rean looks over at their guests. "If you guys have any other ideas, or books on movie making or something, feel free to share them. It sounds like a huge undertaking, but at this point that's kinda just what our class does." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha nods approvingly as the class all agree to the idea. It's better if they're all excited for it. It means a greater chance of them being able to pull it off.     As Emma offers to show them by the store to get some copies of the book, Nanoha nods, "That'd be good, thanks."     Then to Rean, Nanoha smiles, "It's not like this is going to be a multi-million credit movie intended for mass consumption. For a school festival project, I'm sure you guys will do fine." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarracenia raises her hand even though she isn't in the class, then giggles a bit. "Send me a list of the costumes you will need and I will ensure they are delivered in a timely manner. You may have to visit my personal tailor in order to be measured." she says, then nods in agreement with Nanoha. "Honestly, making a movie is not that difficult or expensive. What makes it expensive or time-consuming is paying actors and editing the film." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa thinks there is a good idea set at this point the choice has been made she'll have to pick up a copy of this book. "I'm already downloading digital versions but if you want hard copies I can get them." She has no device out as she does that. "Just give me a day if you could? The largest city near where I live is a major center for film production." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean smiles. "Yeah. Still, no reason to not give it our best." Alisa nods. "There's that clothing shop in Trista...Wonder if they have any tips to give us for designing the costumes. THen I can pass on the information to you." Alisa says to Sarracenia. Emma raises an eyebrow as Kotone mentions downloading a copy, but shrugs. Multiverse stuff, probably. "That's good to know." Emma says in response to Kotone's hometown being near a theatre. Things sounded like they were coming together. 
}}

6655/A Special Lesson: Multiverse Edition

2020-07-26T01:51:20Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/06/16
|Location=Nord Highlands, Zemuria
|Synopsis=During one of Class VIIs field studies, Rean invites various multiversals to teach the children of Nord about the world beyond Zemuria.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 6888, 863, 7, 42, 6764
|Tinyplot=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all step out of the warpgate in the middle of this stonehenge looking thing. There's a strong breeze flowing through the area, and at the bottom of the hill it's on is Rean and a few of his classmates. And horses. Two of his classmates should be familiar to Staren - Alisa and Gaius are here, the blonde girl and the dark skinned boy from the last foray into the Old Schoolhouse. Next to them are a bespectacled girl with pink hair, and a blonde haired boy with a stern face. Rean waves to the group and then however you decide to get there, this portion of Class VII leads you all to where the settlement is. Once there, there's an elderly woman and three children - Two girls, one boy- waiting for you at the side of a yurt. Once everyone's settled in, the lesson begins. "I guess we should all introduce ourselves. I'm Rean, and I'm visiting from Thors Military Academy." "The same school as Gaius, right?" Sheeda, the eldest, says. "Yeah." he says, nodding. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     It is completely correct and required that Evangeline showed up overdressed for what should otherwise be a simple lesson. Stuff borrowed out of Yukihime's walk-in (warehouse of a) closet. Stuff acquired during a shopping spree at three separate malls, once she had figured out how to not punch random passer-by for calling her names.     So that's why Evangeline nearly got blown away by the wind when it caught her big fancy black cloak, every stitch of her flowy, ribbony black dress, and her huge white scarf. Only the most stringent of combat training and the ultimate power of the greatest type of vampire kept her from tumbling off stage left, pursued by wind.     The hat's still gone, though. Ripped right off of her head in all its giant-brimmed witchy glory and sailing out into the sky like a particularly badly-drawn UFO.     Evangeline barely acknowledge the whole 'follow me to the yurt' thing, having suffered such a crushing defeat right out of the gate. 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' Haguro's a new face in this neck of the woods, looking more like someone's secretary than any sort of professional warrior or soldier from the Multiverse. Luckily, it seems that even their guide is here as a new face himself, so it helps mitigate some of the new place jitters for the cruiser. Only some, since she's still looking rather tense. The turret emplacements on her wrists and shoulders are on standby, worn more for decoration rather than any plans to actually shoot somebody. Spotting the group of students in the rather rural-looking settlement, she follows up after Rean with a light bow at the waist and a formal salute. "Haguro, fourth of the Myoukou Class Heavy Cruisers, Partner of the Concord, vice-admiral of the Luthan Fleet. It's good to meet you all." She sounds tense. Why wouldn't she be? There's impressionable minds here, and she needs to make sure she's not making a bad first impression! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa would be in more casual clothing but this is a class and she is part of the Paladins so she's kept to her normal config on her smart clothing. Which is a sleeveless long coat, shirt, pants and boots. She seems pretty pleasant as she walks in she's a bit on the short side a bit pale and she has blue hair to boot. That might not mean much though on this world at least there. "Hello I'm Kotone Yamakwa I'm from a planet called Earth and a Nation called Canada which is part of a larger alliance of nations called the Amer-Russio Alliance. I'm a mechanic and vehicle designer by trade originally but I branched out into electrical field and robotics a bit since I started travelling the multiverse." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren steps out of the warpgate and looks around. Oh, they built a henge around it. Looks nice. He scans the stones for magic to see if they're some kind of ward, because hiding a security system as decorations is always his first thought re: warpgates he wants to keep an eye on.     He also flings a drone to chase down the witch hat -- it might take time to recover but he'll send a robot for it once it alights somewhere.     Staren gives those he saw before a friendly nod, then smiles and waves to the group. "Staren Wiremu, Hand and Ingenious of the Concord, pleased to meet you." He offers his hand to shake, then follows along, 'rollerblading' on hovershoes. He quirks an eyebrow at the yurt, leaning over to Rean and whispering, 'Do you need help with building buildings? I figured with the school you had it covered, but...'     When he reaches the new group, he repeats the introduction, and releases another hand-sized quadrotor drone to record their explanations for any students that couldn't be here today. "So, what do you want to know?" 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      "I'm Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts, and Seneschal of the Paladins." This, he says, hovering a good foot off the ground, having not touched it since he floated through the warpgate. He wears rough hewn cotton robes of a deep, navy blue. Upon his shoulders rests the mantle of a rich, red, high-collared cloak which seems to move independently of the wind or lack thereof. Beneath the clasp of that cloak there is a rose-gold amulet with a complex lattice motif.      He abruptly touches down after that whimsical string of titles, and offers something much more banal. "I'm from New York." They can hear it in his tone--it's an utterly 'normal' thing to say, entirely different from all that wizard stuff. The same kind of tone one uses talking about how one's day was, or what was on sale at the supermarker. "Specifically," the wizard continues, his brows raised slightly, "The New York of Earth One Hundred Ninety Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine." He pauses for effect, inclining his head towards the students. "There's a... lot of Earths. That's the first thing you'll notice in the Multiverse."      "...nice kicks, Staren." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Staren finds a lot of magical energy underneath the structure, as if this was built right on top of a leyline. The stones themselves are just stones though. And have been there for a while. There's a bird's cry above Evangeline, and a brown hawk lands on the fence next to her, hat in his talons. He's looking at her as if to say "please don't lose this again". Gaius looks over from his spot and chuckles. Guess he knows this hawk. Rean looks over to Staren like he's got seven heads. "Huh? Oh, no, we're actually outside the Empire right now. This area is technically not under anyone's control or anything, just the nomadic tribes and the two army bases out here. We're just visiting since this area has history. I /think/ they're fine with the yurts and stuff though, but you'd have to talk to Gaius' dad if you want to offer help." Strange's entrance completely enraptures the two youngest children, and they star at him wide eyed. "Whoaaaa, how are you doing that!?" The boy, Cota says, staring at Strange. "That's cool!" Lily, the other girl says. Sheeda giggles at her younger sister and her friend. "Anyway, um..." She thinks for a moment and then says, "What's Canada like? And a fleet is a bunch of boats, right? Are you a sailor?" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Using the chinstrap properly this time (it was previously judged unfashionable-looking), Evangeline secure hat to her head amidst fierce headwinds. The hawk barely gets a nod, mostly because it's really hard to move your head against the wind like this. Long, deliberate stomps over yurt-wards later, Evangeline stops when she sees someone's feet. Not sure whose. She's keeping her head firmly down.     Poke, goes the flopped-over and wildly flailing tip of the hat. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa watches Staren for a moment as well seemingly amused at his entrance but it is question time. She also makes note Haguro who is good to see and Dr. Strange as well Evangeline is a mostly unknown to Kotone but it seems like the entire group should be able to handle a fair number of questions from the students. She sees the bird return Evangeline hat out of the corner of her eyes. "What is Canada like? It's a fairly young country located northern part of my world the terrain ranged from forest and grassland in the south. Massive mountains to the west and tundra to the north. The nation is also a former colony of a large Empire and it has a pretty mixed population with people having settled there from all over the planet. Finally, we can have pretty nasty winters in and cast areas are still undeveloped with it being one of the physically largest nations on the planet but also one of the lowest populations for its size. If your really curious I can live some addtional material for you!" 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' Don't mess this up. Don't mess this up! Taking a second to compose herself, Haguro turns to Sheeda with a quick nod and a gentle smile in return. "That's right. A fleet is a general word that could mean anything from a small squad of ships to an entire navy. In this case, it's the navy for a place called Luthe." She takes a moment to observe her companions/crib ideas from them, between Strange showing off with his magic floating powers and Staren sending his drone out after Evangeline's hat. She doesn't even have that visual pop that someone like Kotone has color-wise or Evangeline does wardrobe-wise, and Rean has the advantage of being on semi-home turf! THe girl /did/ ask about her being a sailor, though. That could be it! "And.. Almost! I'm actually the ship itself. Well... A ship, but the rest of the ships in the Fleet are more conventional... Um.." She flounders briefly, then holds an arm out to show off the gun emplacements on her limbs. "They're ships in the regular sense. I'm actually a Fleet D..." And thens he starts floundering again. "... I can transform into my namesake. I-if you'd like, I can show you what I mean? I just need a clear enough space." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods at 'nice kicks'.     Staren blinks at the question about Canada. Oh right, they're asking Kotone. "I 'm from the Free City of Lazlo. It's on an Earth, but mine is... different than most." He scratches his chin. Then vaguely gestures at the others here. "We can compare timelines a bit... most Earths, it's the 20th or 21st century by the AD calendar... on mine it's the 25th. At the end of the 21st, there were..." He looks over the kids, hoping what he's describing isn't too horrible for their minds, "...worldwide natural disasters as the magic came back and portals opened up all over Earth. It was like the Multiverse in miniature. What came through the portals... some were just lost, nonhuman people, or humans from other worlds, some were just animals from other worlds, and others were demons, monsters that just wanted to make people suffer. The disasters destroyed the global infrastructure and... well, three hundred years later, we're still rebuilding. There are small nations and city-states, but it's nothing like the world before... but now we have magic."     Staren scratches his chin. "Where I come from, the Free City of Lazlo," He sets out a holoprojector and projects a globe that zooms in on the area around lake Ontario, with a glowing dot to indicate Lazlo, "we believe that all people regardless of shape or species can live together. It's..." his ears splay and tail droop briefly, "an idea that sadly many parts of Earth, and even the Multiverse, are too backwards to understand. But I hope to spread that understanding by showing what people can achieve when we share the technological and magical developments of the Multiverse! We can end sickness and give people opportunities they'd never have if they lived locked away from the world!" 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Lily and Cota receive at first not an explanation, but an affirmation. "Yeah," says Strange of his levitation. "It's alright." It's an immense understatement. He /loves/ levitating everywhere. It makes other people have to look slightly up at him. And it looks cool.      "There are a lot of ways to do it," says the sorcerer. "I have my ways," continues Strange with a nod towards Staren, "And other people have theirs. There's a rich history and a set of rules behind everybody's talents. On my Earth, the stuff that Staren is talking about was never really..." He frowns slightly. How best to explain it?      "It was always right next door. Some of our neighbors are good, some aren't. One of our good neighbors saw how the bad ones were picking on us, and he decided to teach some of us how to... fight things that would usually be stronger than us, by using the rules of our existence as weapons. My floating is part of that discipline." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The elderly woman approaches Evangeline, who is clearly not having a good time. "Is everything alright?" she asks. Sheeda hums, before saying "Maybe later. That's cool though!" to both Haguro and Kotone's offers.  "Did it take a long time to get here? I know there's something called a warpgate, but are your worlds far? Also, Rean you came here on a train right? How long did it take for you to get here?" "I think it was around 8 hours." This time Emma, Rean's bespectacled classmate, raises a hand. "...How common is magic out there?" She asks. Lily frowns. "'Rules of our existence?'" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "Yes, sure absolutely." Evangeline says, keeping her face pointed squarely at the elderly woman's feet. "Ah'm just listening. You know. To the others teaching the wee lass. And the wind. Mighty blow, that." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren shrugs. "A few minutes? With the warpgates, you can walk lots of places in minutes. Although some people have ships that fly above the sky at incredible speeds, and can get around even without the warpgates."     "And magic is fairly common. Even though it's not native to many worlds, as they connect to the Multiverse, even the residents of those worlds are exposed to the idea. What else would you like to know?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The elderly woman nods. "The wind carries many a blessing...but also has a silly sense of humor." She says. "Why don't you come stand over here with the rest of us?" She says gesturing to where the rest of Class VII was standing. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "My world has no native magic, for example. It was utter fiction before we unified as was the idea of species other than humans. For example so far as I'm aware I have no way to innately use magic. Didn't take too long from the gate. Maybe an hour or so? As for back home? We have a pretty rapid transit network using trains, aircraft and ground craft as well. I also had magic users be shocked at this." Well more how the hell is your soul still attached lady. Then not being able to use magic. 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Strange nods at Staren. "It also depends on what you consider magic," says Strange. "'Magic' is a really... really, broad term. Like 'warrior.' There's gotta be all kinds of warriors on this world. But that word applies just as well to a guy in heavy armor with a big sword as it does to a guy in leather with a staff, or... something." He waves a hand dismissively. What even is light armor?      Lily gets an answer, too. "Anyway--" He begins moving his hands, tracing orange lines of energy through the air to create a circle. "The Multiverse and all the worlds in it have rules." Within it, a square. "Some are obvious, some aren't." A thrust of both palms, and rings of glyphs in some arcane language flash to life between and outside of the spaces of the shape. It chimes pleasantly when this happens. "The Masters of the Mystic Arts learn those rules, and use them to fight, to protect... to help."      Strange draws one hand back, then bends the other hand downwards. An apple is pushed through the center of the floating mandala, falling to the ground unless she catches it. "Our order isn't the only group of people who are out to protect our world, but we might be the oldest." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Kotone. "That's not /necessarily/ true... although, the kinds of magic they teach in Lazlo are... there have been strides lately, in developing techniques to channel magical energy despite an implant or two, but with your body... even if you learned the technique to cast spells, we'd need to build stuff into your body. But!" He turns back to the group. "The Multiverse makes all sorts of things possible! If you want to be a magician, or a warrior... then don't be afraid to learn what's out there and figure out how you can use it to achieve your dreams!" Staren beams at the group at the end of his speech. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Holding the hat with both hands, Evangeline finally looks up, follows the finger over... spots the class way the heckin over there doing who knows the heck what, and takes a deep breath.     "Right. Of course. They're... over there."     Evangeline arrives somewhere on the end of Staren's introduction of ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS! :D and almost, -almost- adds in something about how the Multiverse is out to get you and is full of bad people and the only way to survive is through strength, either yours or someone else's.     That thought was totally derailed by Evangeline staring whistfully and sadly at the pretty things that Mr. Dr. Strange has going on, with the glyphs and the shapes and stuff. Ah... magic... 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' "It didn't take that long, no. It was pretty easy getting here, all things considered." Haguro replies with a more relaxed tone as she starts to settle into the guest speaker role. "As they've already said, magic can be very different from place to place. Something that might be magic for some people can just be science for another, or the other way around. A ghost might be a supernatural being in one world, but just another form of existence in another." She gestures at herself at that last bit. "I'm the spirit of a warship that sank many, many years ago, but I'm not ship-shaped right now." Indeed, Haguro is not shaped like a ship! The only indications that she's ship-associated at all are her gear and name, really. "And although I was made to be good at shooting things, I learned how to use my hands and feet to improve myself." She clenches a fist in front of her dramatically. "It's... It hasn't been easy, but that's why training hard and being willing to go the extra mile is really important. It's so people like yourselves or those that come after you won't have to go through what we do." 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Strange looks over his shoulder at Evangeline. The mandala dissipates, but the apple remains for whoever wants to claim it. "Yo. What's, uh..." The Sorcerer Supreme gestures vaguely towards her wistful expression. "What's with that look?" He's never met this girl, doesn't know her life--but he has a feeling he knows that look. Better to see if she's willing to discuss it than to guess and be wrong. Or be right. That could be just as awkward. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "Maybe but I was more citing in general due to my world's lack of magic." It does work there just fine but is that the person using the magic bringing it with them? It's something to think n but it would take a lot of work to do and then she pauses. "That is true however my body is a construct rather than still made of flesh. My world is able to integrate machinery to the human body for medical and other purposes before you ask it was medically related in my case." She watches as Strange finishes up his but of magic. "She seems to have really liked that display, Doctor." She's not met Eva either beore so she just presumes she did liked the display. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "It's pretty good," Evangeline lifts her hat brim with one hand and cocks the other one on her hip, which kind of makes a cool pose, with all the fluttery bits of her outfit streaming out in the wind. The wistful expression is crushed by the onset of that old person nostalgia expression, "I used to b- used to see that sort of thing before, but it's been a while. It's nice to be reminded that other people still use it."     Evangeline's voice turns bitter into the last sentence, which means the tone completely mismatches her smile. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I see." Emma says. There's a light smile on her face after the explanations about magic. Relief? "You hear that Cota? Even a crybaby like you could become a great warrior one day!" Lily says, picking up the apple. Cota pouts. "Hey, come on!" "Now, now, no teasing."  Rean says. "Anyway, are there any other questions?" Lily raises a hand. "well..." And so the clas continued on for a bit, with a few questions about the worlds the others were from and about Erebonia as well. Eventually the lass ended and everyone was free to go home, and Class VII went back to their field study duties. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Evangeline. "...I guess I may need to give that speech again." He glances at the other elites, "Or maybe I just worded it poorly?" He looks back to Evangeline. "If you want to be able to do magic again, then find a way! There's a whole Multiverse of possibilities out there! What's holding you back?" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "A great big stupid magical seal," Evangeline's pout is both visible and audible. She crosses her arms in a "And that's that" sort of way. "Sure maybe I can still swing a magic thing around but that's not the same as /doing/ magic." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa seems to take this all in somewhat quietly but seems to have enjoyed herself with htis little primer to the multiverse. She seem a bit sad at Evangelines status, to lose magic would be akin to losing a sense she would guess and it's not a happy thing. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren blinks. And thinks for a moment. "...Well, where'd this seal come from?" As he puts on goggles and channels a little potential psychic energy into them to try and observe the flkow of magical energy around Evangeline, which may or may not be helpful. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Evangeline seems to be completely suppressed by some big, hellish seal that's currently roiling all confused like because it wants to drag her back to some place but can't find the some place, so just the other half, the "no sourcing magic for you hahaha" part, is active. Evangeline, for her part, suddenly turns a little big pink and looks down at the ground, "... some idiot put it on me." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren frowns behind the goggles. "Hmm..." He steps forward, "Just want to test something..." He slowly reaches a couple of fingers out to tap her shoulder, and tries to push some of his meager mana reserve into her. 
}}

6893/Lohengrin Castle Rescue

2020-07-26T01:50:38Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/11/06
|Location=Lohengrin Castle, Legram, Erebonia
|Synopsis=During one of Class VII's field studies, the gang goes to rescue some missing children from a haunted castle.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 994, 7002, 6802, 906
|Tinyplot=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all arrive at the lakeside village of Legram, where there is a motorboat waiting for you if you need it. Otherwise, you can just fly over to the opposite shore if you're capable of that. After all, it's hard to miss the glowing medieval castle. There's three members of Class VII already waiting for you when you get there - Rean, Laura and Emma. The glowing appears to be from some sort of shimmering effect around the building. You all go inside, and almost immediately, the large wooden doors slam shut. Uh oh. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Boat? Where we're going (over to that island) we don't need no stinking boat!... Well, at least Athela doesn't. Because she just rides on the back of her Samurott as an aquatic steed. Enjoy the view of a large sealion-like beast in metal armor cruising across the lake like an organic jetski. On the opposite shore nothing stops them from heading inside, but once they are the castle doors slam shut. And Athela doesn't even flinch at the thudding sound. "That was expected." She would be more surprised if they didn't get trapped in side. Though locking them in? May be the biggest mistake the culprit made. Resolute Blade remains resting against her shoulder, but her grip tightens noticably around the long hilt to keep ready. "Be on thy guard. We still do not know what opposition we may face." Lancer gives a snort of agreement, rising on his back legs and drawing the dual shell-pommels from the armor on his forelimbs. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto takes the speed boat, because of /course/ she does.  Ending up on the other side, she jumps out and yawns, stretching her arms out before walking towards the students.   "Yo," She says to them, casual because at this point she 's become very friendly with them.  "Cool glowing castle, so I guess we're going inside?  I wonder if the door will slam on us." Once inside, the door slams on them, "Awesome!  I wonder if it's actually haunted, or if there is some guy controlling it from somewhere deeper in.  Alright, let's go explore!" Mikoto chooses a direction at random. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Normally, a random castle would have flown under the radar for Jeanne. What makes this one different from any other one, then? For starters, the strange occurrences and reports of demons. Next, the missing children (even if she'd never admit it). Third... Her wyverns have been getting lazy, and she hasn't caused a real ruckus in a while. This is the perfect opportunity to do so, and what better way to do that than to arrive in style? The motorboat is ignored in favor of flying over with a squad of wyverns, standing atop one's back in the lead while the others trail behind hers. Upon reaching the castle, she directs the other four to keep an eye on things outside, then heads in with one hovering ominously above her like a big floating decoy. "Hmph. They must be afraid if they're relying on parlor tricks so soon." She smirks as she does't give the closing door even a passing glance, marching forward steadily with only a large, inconvenient banner shouldered on one shoulder. "Let them come if they want. If our guard is needed at all, then they might actually be worth something." She doesn't know where she's going, but straight lines are usually a good indicator of where to go. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Well, Yang could be persuaded to try leaping from one shore to the other, but time seems pretty limited, so she takes the guarenteed option that won't result in her getting all soaked. "Hey!" she offers to the locals, and those she recognizes.. which is Athela and Mikoto.     When the group enter and the doors slam shut, Yang turns and in the same motion deploys her gauntlets. "Great... and I was hoping to avoid any Geist-types..." She goes to try and open the doors again, but likely finds them unwilling to budge even to her impressive strength, and thus goes along with the group, lifting one arm and igniting a shell on slow burn to act as a makeshift torch. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto wanders off into one of the side rooms, where there's a sort of spiral ramp leading further downwards. Jeanne wanders off in the opposite direction into a similar room, but the ramp is going upwards. Both of you encounter red skull monsters with blue flames coming off them. These are probably the demons. Or some of them at least. Yang finds that yes, she can't just bust the door down. In fact, doing so just makes a spell circle pop up every time you hit it. Seeing as those are basically the only other doors in here than the one that's locked, Rean and Laura split up and go into Mikoto's door, with Emma following Jeanne. Athela and Yang are free to go with whoever, but there's only one way forward. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "See, I hadn't even started to get nasty and the ghosts appear!" Mikoto says, as there is a flash of green and ~Sparkles~.  In front of her, a jade crystal bursts out in front of her, as it shatters into her sword.  Drawing the weapon up she looks over the demon ghost thing.   "Alright, time to get going downstairs!" she says, and charges, aiming to swing the weapon upwards, and through the demon in her way.  "I swear the GHOST THAT INHABITS THIS PLACE IS SUCH A GIANT NERD!  I BET IT CAN'T EVEN PROPERLY SPOOK A SMALL ANGRY CHILD!" Mikoto says, even as she's stabbing another monster. Look, nobody is saying Mikoto doesn't have issues, nor does she have sane role models. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' On one hand, they shouldn't get too divided. On the other, splitting up is the best way to check all the rooms and make sure they don't miss anything. Rean and Laura go after Mikoto, so Athela opts to follow Emma after Jeanne, with her pokemon bringing up her rear. Though unlike the impulsive girls the young knight's pace is measured and wary, she's on alert for the first sign of danger. Like flaming monster skulls. Yeah, that fits the bill of threat. If they're demons or some other kind of monster doesn't really matter in the end. "Lancer, watch our backs", Athela commands even as she uses a burst of water to launch herself forward at one of the creatures, pulling her weapon from her shoulder and immeadiately into a downward slash. Her pokemon does as he's told, remaining by the doorway they came in and creating two elemental blades in his forepaws to strike anything that tries to get past them, or come in from behind the group. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Finally, an obstacle! They don't strike much of anything into Jeanne, though, beyond disdain and the slightest amount of pity. She does notice that Mikoto's gone off in another direction, but she doesn't appear all that worried about the girl in favor of just glowering at the skull monsters. "Tch... Fine, you'll have to do." Pointing her flag at another creature that Athela isn't already dealing with, Jeanne conjures up multiple spears that circle around behind her, igniting with dark flames as a trio of them launch towards the unlucky target with clear intent to impale it terribly. Her gaze, however, falls on the creature to the side. "You there. Bring us to your leader. Don't waste our time, or you'll suffer the same fate as the others!" 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang frowns at the door, giving it a final haymaker just to make herself feel better, then finds out she's been left alone in the entryhall.     "Okay then..." she heads off in the wake of Rean and Mikoto, rounding the corner only to find a party already started. "Huh... okay then, you guys want some help?" she asks, fists raised defensively, in case something tries to come after her, but Mikoto seems to have the spooky ghosts in check for the most part. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's Group: The skull ghost gets impaled and fades away, and the other one just...chatters at you, before it lets out a ghastly cry. Emma wavers on her feet upon hearing this, using her staff to keep her self upright. Some sort of sleep-inducing sound? Still clinging to her staff, Emma is surrounded in a ring of blue light, before a burst of warmth surrounds her, Athela, Lancer,and Jeanne, raising their strength. There's a loud clanking noise as a suit of possessed armor comes clanking down the ramp to join the skull ghost. Mikoto's group: Mikoto successfully bisects the skull ghost, but is greeted by what looks like a pair of spiked cannons on spiked chariot wheels. There's also some floating swords with it. It charges up the ramp, straight at Mikoto. Like, ungodly fast. Those spikes look like they'd hurt a LOT too. The swords meanwhile gun for Rean, Laura and Yang, swinging as swords are wont to do. Both Rean and Laura parry the ones gunning for them with their own blades, with Laura basically slamming the sword attacking her into the ground with her greatsword. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang uses the strikeplate on the outside of her gauntlets to crossguard against the phantom sword. Sparks fly from the edge of the blade, and the metal of her gauntlets, until she shifts one arm away, turns the blade aside then slams her other fist into the side of the ghost sword, firing her gauntlet shotgun at the moment of impact. Hopefully that shatters the thing, or at least does significant damage to it.     "You've got some really weird monsters in your world Rean." she mentions conversationally. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The ghost goes down easily enough, "Like I said, A gia-oh no," She says as the spiked cannons charge at her.  She blocks with the sword, but the force of the blow sends her flying backward.  She hits the ground at a weird angle and rolls but manages to flip to her feet just moments later.  Ending with her sword in the ground she looks up, narrowing her eyes. As it charges at her, a magic circle appears below her, as a giant elephant charges out of the ground, aiming to try and knock over the chariot with its own overrun manuever.  The two collide, sparing Mikoto, and attempting to in turn return the chariot's attack. "Like I was saying.  /Giant Nerd/!" 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne sighs as the skulls give a grand total of zero answers, then flicks her wrist to draw a darkened blade out of the air in front of her. "Good help is so hard to find some days... You're not even going to listen, are you?" She glares daggers at the possessed armor coming to join them, rolling her shoulder a few times and taking note of that lighter feeling in her arms. "You should be more like... This one here." She gestures vaguely at Emma for a brief moment, then charges at the armor. "But you... If you can't even listen to a simple command, then I have no need for you!" She rushes for it with a broad slash down the middle, definitely not going for one of those samurai-like running slashes before sheathing her blade at the end. (She totally is but she's using a long sword it doesn't really look the same with that.) 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Athela Valemore shifts her attention at the sound of armored footfalls, eyeing the armor clonking down from the stairs. Ghostly armor? It's no Golurk but not really a surprise considering it's a haunted castle, either. "Let no fiend stand in our way!" she calls, channeling some aquamancy through her weapon and causing the glaive's blade to glitter as if reflecting light off the surface of water. Then grips it in both hands and swings, throwing herself forward with the arc aimed at the impending armor with all the force of a torreting stream of water behing her strike, aiming to come in right after Jeanne's charge to hopefully catch the foe on the rebound from that attack. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's Group: Jeanne's definitely not weeby sword strike slashes across the armor's chest, staggering it a bit with Athela's strike fully knocking it to the ground like a heap of metal. Ir rallies, though and quickly rebuilds itself, swinging its arms at both women. Also that skull is still here, but Emma's got it, surrounding herself in blue light again and piercing it with a series of ethereal blades. Like the one before, it vanishes. Mikoto's group: "I'm pretty sure these aren't normal monsters..." Rean says, bisecting the sword that was acosting him. Like the skulls, it vanishes. Same goes with the one acosting Yang as she shatters it. Mikoto's elephant rams the chariot, and the chariot spins its wheels for a while as it tries to charge THROUGH the elephant. Meanwhile the other chariot fires at Yang with a fairly large cannonball. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang spots the incoming cannon shot, and braces. She extends her right hand, palms the cannonball, then turns with the momentum. Aura flares across her body as it absorbs the impact, and as the blonde turns and redirects the shot's momentum, it pulses and covers the cannonball with a golden light. "As a wise man once said." she grins. "Skadoosh."     Yang then hurls the cannonball straight back at the chariot, with all the momentum, plus some extra force added on top, thought her Aura evaporates briefly after performing that little stunt. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The elephant and the chariot clash.  Both pushing against the other as they try and gain better footing against the other.  There is a moment when the Chariot might look like it was winning before the elephant released a mighty elephant noise and put it's back into it.   However, Mikoto was not going to stand still, running on top of the elephant's back, she runs to the head of it while looking to Rean and Laura.  She nods to them and leaps from its head.  They have to move in sequence, aiming each strike to try and weaken the chariot, before she comes down in a hammer blow. Aiming to bisect the monster in twain.   

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' When the armor goes down, Jeanne scoffs once more as she swings her blade downwards at her side to flick off the nonexistent blood. Before she can finish, however, it pulls itself back up faster than Jeanne would have expected it to. "Oh? Maybe this won't be a complete waste of time if these minions can take one hit." Grinning a little bit more, she draws her blade up once more to block that swing, holding it there for a second to get a better look at the armor before bringing her armored boot up to punt it back. "But I'm getting tired of this... Show yourself, master of this castle, or I'll burn this entire place to cinders!" And as if on cue, that floating wyvern finally makes its move. It follows up on Jeanne's kick by spitting flames at the armor, distinctly more red and orange and looking much more like normal fire than the Servant's. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:'''     A shout from the other side of the house asks a very important question to Jean, "HEY JEAN, ARE WE BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE NOW?" Mikoto asks. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' There's a brief pause before Jeanne answers. It's not the pause of someone hesitating, but the pause of someone weighing her options. "It'll be a good plan B!" On one hand, castle. On one hand, burning things. Decisions, decisions. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' On their respective sides of the castle, Emma and Laura both say, "Please don't" and "This place is a part of my family's heritage, I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that." 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Athela Valemore's divine intuition sparks as the armor reconstructs itself, giving her just enough split-second warning to step back and bring her weapon up into a defensive stance. The swinging arm slams against Resolute Blade, shielding her from harm but still hitting with enough force to make her slide backwards. They don't have time to waste dealing with every minion in the castle. "Lancer, lock it down." "Samurott!" The large pokemon moves with some considerable speed for his size. There's a kick and fire to knock them armor over again, and he goes to drive his two icy blades into the armor's arms in an attempt to pin and freeze them to the floor. So even if the armor does just get back up, it will be, shall we say, disarmed, and unable to stop them so easily. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's Group: The armor is incinerated and pinned to the ground, basically now just a pile of old burned metal and no longer ghostly. Emma lets out a sigh of relief, and starts down the path again. Mikoto's group: The chariot gets dunked on, with the cannonball going straight back at it and exploding. Rean and Laura come at the stalled chariot from both sides, with Rean doing a definitely weeby sword run with his actually weeby sword and slashing one wheel and Laura basically smashing off the other. Mikoto comes in with the coup de grace, bisecting it from the top. For both groups the way is clear now, with a glowing orb waiting at the bottom / top of the path respectively. On Mikoto's side it's yellow, and on Jeanne's it's red. Also on Mikoto's side is a large door with a familiar looking flaming flower pattern. "...Doesn't this look like that door from the Old Schoolhouse?" Rean notes. Jeanne's side has a much smaller and plain looking door with a spell circle on it, almost identical to the one that appeared when people smacked the front door, except orange. "...May I?" Emma says, taking the red orb and holding it up to the spell circle. The orb vanishes, and shifts from orange to yellow. "Is there a yellow orb on your side?" She asks the other group. "Can you bring it over here?" She's oddly calm about this dungeon puzzle. Once the groups reconvene and hand over the orb, you all pass into a larger room... where there's two boys being accosted by a bunch of those flaming skulls. One of the boys is crying, and the other is alternately panicking and trying to act tough. Laura immediately draws her blade and charges in, slamming her weapon into one of the skulls. Emma and Rean follow suit, slashing and blasting one each. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Simple enough puzzle, the locals are handling that part at least.     When the missing kids are found being accosted by more monsters, the blonde is quick off the mark. She jinks around the group with a shot from her gauntlet, then fires the other to redirect the momentum and launches herself clear across the room. Mid-flight, she brings her left arm around and aims to clobber one of those skulls with all the boosted momentum from her launch, and a blast from her shotgauntlet on impact. "I've got a bone to pick with you lot." she quips, landing with a skid and interposing herself between the boys and the skulls. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto looks at the sigil, "Huh...it's the same." She says, with a thoughtful look.  "We should check out what this means later.  First killing the bo-I mean rescuing kids.  She says, remembering her priorities.   Walking through the door leads them to one kid trying to act tough, and the other pissing himself.  With a burst of speed thanks to Nanoha's flight and speed, she soars ahead, aiming to crash into the flaming skulls and put herself between the innocents and the monsters.   "What, picking on something your size and power too hard?  It's ok, I'm a bigger fish than you anyway, so it's not fair for you either.  The bigger fish eats the smaller one and all," she says, with a grin.  Her head turns back to the other two, "You better get behind us, leave this to the professionals." And then a skull gets blasted by a buckshot.  She gives Yang a thumbs up, "Nice shot." 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Magic door lock puzzles. And the 'keys' are apparently at opposite ends of the structure? That's actually clever, so it's apparently a good thing they went both ways at once with two groups, and takes less time to get the right door open over all without as much running back and forth. Others are already working on doing that so Athela will leave the puzzle to them. That just means that she's already ready to go as soon as they can make their way into the other room. There's the kids, and more ghosts. "Rear guard, make sure we have a way back out." Her pokemon again waits at the doorway to do just that. While Athela herself gets into the action. "Back to whatever cold nether spawned you, fiends!" She leaps forward while raising her weapon and then swinging down with it, a cluster of jagged snow and ice manifesting with it to come smashing down onto a demonic skull, her version of Icicle Crash. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne is more than willing to let Emma handle the orb, still visibly distracted from the merits of burning the entire place to the ground. That earlier request not to burn it down does have her pausing for a moment, but more out of amusement than anything else. She opts not to set more fires for the time being. When the groups converge, Jeanne's already moving ahead and letting her banner flap above her from the light winds provided by her wyvern follower. When the group encounters the skulls, she doesn't lift a finger to strike at those skulls. There's plenty of firepower between the six other people charging ahead. Instead, she starts taking stock of the room they're in. Obvious entrances, fancy places to sit, signs that someone else might be here besides the minions. "Now where is the lord of this castle? Surely you've got some interest in this place beyond terrorizing some pissant children, right? Come on out, or I might have to do something a little more drastic." Fire may be involved again soon. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Whoa..." The cap-wearing little boy that was trying to be tough says as people start jumping into action. The other boy stops crying and looks up at the group, specifically Laura. "Lady Laura...?" They both then skitter behind Yang and Mikoto, letting them handle the skulls. Eventually the skulls are all gone, and Laura sheathes her sword, turning to the two boys. "Are you alright?" she asks. The boy in the cap nods. "That was so cool!" he shouts, a huge grin on his face. The other boy nods. "Y-yeah..." Rean chuckles. "Looks like they're fine." Laura nods, and then says, "Do you understand how worried everyone in the village is? Not only did you steal a boat, but you both could have gotten hurt." After some stammering, both boys apologize to Laura, and she gives both a gentle pat on the head. Jeanne will notice that there's only one way forward- A long staircase spiraling upwards out of this room. Emma looks up towards the ceiling, and then closes her eyes, as if listening or waiting for something. And then with some hesitation, she says, "...I think whatever is keeping us here is on the floor above us.  It feels like a mass of powerful energy..." Rean raises an eyebrow at this, and then takes on a similar pose. "...Yeah. " He says, opening his eyes. "Do we want to split up? Some of us watch the kids, while the others deal with whatever's upstairs? Or do we want to take them with us?" 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' "They shouldn't be endangered in the fighting, but they cannot leave until we get the gates decharmed, either." Athela turns to look over her shoulder, and her Samurott nods his head. Turns back to the group. "My pokemon can guard the children so we can focus on whatever fiend is behind all this." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     "More monsters could spawn while we're gone." says Yang, turning to kneel down in front of the two boys. "As long as they stay out of the way, I say we take'em with us." She gives them both a big, reassuring grin, and ruffles them both.     Then Athela mentions her pets, and the blonde brawler shrugs. "That'll work. too, I guess." she remarks, then stands and adjusts her jacket. "I'll take point. My Aura should protect me from the worst of whatever it can throw at me, I'll bait it out, you guys follow up and pound it flat."     With that, she sets off toward the spiral staircase, bounding up it two steps at a time. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Right. The kids. Jeanne lets out an irritated groan as she keeps moving towards the staircase, not answering Rean at first as she starts heading up right away. After the first few steps however, she beckons her wyvern decoy over and jerks a thumb backwards. It takes a few moments, but the wyvern soon joins the Samurott in keeping guard over the children whether the stay behind or join the group. The good thing about being able to command her wyvern wordlessly like so is not having to verbally acknowledge the need to protect them further. Plus, it lets her yell up the stairs for speedrunning the castle. "This place could do with some cleaning up... I think I'll take it from whoever had the bright idea to bring me here today!" She's starting to sound a little more excited with the prospect of getting into a fight again, too. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto thinks about the situation until Athela come sup with a solution.  "Works for me.  The sooner we kill whatever is keeping us here, the sooner they're safe.  Anyway, let's go beat up a giant nerd," Mikoto says and walks towards the way up. Mikoto can see the way forward, so of course, she starts moving to try and find the giant source upstairs so she can punch it into submission.  Her jade sword in hand as she gets ready for yet another fight.  After all, it's always another fight. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Samurott raises one seamitar in a salute to the party, then settles in place with the wyvern to watch over the kids. It's almost like having an actual knight and dragon as bodyguards, if the knight was also a exceptionally large sealion. That's one less concern to distract them in the coming fight. Athela shoulders her weapon as she follows the others up the stairs to their next confrontation, keeping her grip ready on the hilt to draw at a moment's notice. Time to put an end to this matter at it's source so they all can go home. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all continue up the staircase, where there's a large room with an orb lying on a pedestal in it. The orb seems to have some sort of pale energy floating in it, and it looks like a bigger version of the key orbs from earlier. Jeanne's comment about "taking the castle" strikes a nerve in Laura, and she draws her sword again. "Absolutely not." Laura says, "This castle was given to my ancestor by the great Lianne Sandlot, and neither fiends nor outsiders will take it from us!" "Uh, Laura? I think you should work that out /after/ we finish up here..." Rean says. "Besides, she's probably joking. I think." Assuming that someone decides to punch the orb, whatever attack gets thrown at it is deflected by another spell circle barrier. Then the orb starts rumbling, leaking out energy until it becomes a giant, skull faced ghost holding a large staff. The boys hide behind Samurott and the Wyvern, and the rest of Class VII gets ready to fight. "A Nosferatu?!" Emma says, beginning to cast. Rean glances at his classmate, before settling into a fighting stance. She oddly knew a lot about what was going on here, didn't she? THere's not really time to think about that though. "Right, let's wrap this up and get out of here!" Rean shouts. ((Boss: https://i.imgur.com/zYyiTUB.jpg  BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1bNrqTXacU )) 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Rounding the top of the stairs, Yang just racks the slide on her gauntlet, and fires at the most obvious thing in the room ahead of her. The Orb.     And that releases the boss monster. "Uuuuh... you're ugly. HEY!" she bellows, slamming her fists together and taking a pose, her hair billowing out as she charges her Semblance. "Yo mama was so fat she sat on a rainbow and candy popped out!" she goads, then sets her feet, fires her gauntlets behind her and launches at the things face, aiming to give it a good solid punch rush while the others catch up and get ready for battle. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's getting fired up as she progresses along the stairs, grinning just a bit more when Laura shows some hostility. "Is that so? Well, if you can prove to me that you're worthy of it, I might let you borrow it after we're done here." She turns towards Laura with a hand on her hip and a shit-eating grin on her face, only frowning when Rean interrupts with that pesky logic and reasonable behavior. "Tch. What's wrong with skipping to main event? But if you insist... Wouldn't want anyone to interrupt us." Rolling her shoulder, the Dragon Witch turns towards the orb once more. She smirks once more when the monstrous skull ghost appears following Yang punching the boss fight orb, then draws her own sword while raising her banner. "So you're the one that claimed this castle... Will you serve me, or will you die with nobody to remember your existence? Speak now before I get bored!" Spears begin to form around the tip of the Avenger's flag as she advances towards the skull, launching the whole lot of them at it in a massive shotgun-like spray of... Well, spears. Spears that catch on fire on impact. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' A larger version of the previous orb empowered seals for the main gates. Makes sense. Something about this room was making her skin crawl. Samurott seems to sense it too, his whiskers bristling as he steps partway in front of the boys protectively. Sure enough, as soon as someone tries to break the lock so to speak, the monster behind it reveals itself. "So this is the one behind the disturbances." She is entirely unsurprised by seeing Yang get literally in the necrotic creature's face right off the bat. The young knight stops, planting her forward foot to the ground. "Trespass and abduction; come face justice for thy acts, fiend!" As Athela grips Resolute Blade with both hands the weapon starts to gleam with elemental cold, giving it a frosty sheen. "Have at thee!" She lifts the weapon from her shoulder and swipes out with it, the channeled cryomancy sending several sharp icy shards hurtling at the monsters with surprising speed and accuracy! 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gets up, but Yang just flies by and punches the orb directly in the...orb?  Shrugging, she just swings the blade onto one shoulder to watch the transformation.  Of course, it being IDed by the girl causes her eyes to narrow a little.  Better to not think about it right now, but it's far too much of a mystery for her to pass up. She swings the blade in a circle around her, as a magic symbol appears in the ground below her.  The blade goes down as from it raises...well a monster.  Its face is a mask of stained glass, with arms far too long by half.  Various faces appear in those arms.  Faces familiar and unfamiliar, with two hands ending in the hands of shifting animals.  The body created from various jewels, but Jade featuring prominently.   Though in the center, the heart is empty, so much that you can see through it.   The two disappear, as portals of darkness appear to take them away, and then right behind the monster.  She swings the blade in a wide arch, aiming to cut through the creature, while the creature behind her releases a wave of dark elemental energy in a wave in front of her, trying to blast the creature in sequence with the sword strike.   "Hey look, I was right.  It /was/ a nerd." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone's hits strike true in an explosion of attacks, With Laura and Rean slashing the thing as well. Emma's spell loads, and a burst of fire erupts from beneath the ghost. The Nosferatu turns and makes a wide swing with its staff, aiming to hit Mikoto. It then lets out a screech, turning it's head in an inhuman angle to look at Yang. Yang might feel something tugging at her very soul, as well as pulling her towards the thing physically, possibly INTO it. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang launches herself backwards from the thing, landing with a skid after her beat-rush. She purges the spent shells from her gauntlets, the empty casings clattering onto the stonework. She reloads, toissing a pair of fresh clips into the air, then slamming her arms into them, making the chains wrap around. The slides crank back into place, loading the new shells in.     Then something weird happens.     The usually invisible Aura that surrounds her begins to flicker and flare, bending out toward the Nosferatu as it does whatever it's doing. It takes a look as if something's grabbed onto it, and is pulling the woman closer, while she struggles and flails. "Get your grubby mitts off my Aura ya freak! I'll break you in half, then feed one half back to the other!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The staff swings towards Mikoto, and her sword swings to try and clash with the thing.  The two collide, and while the force is powerful and sends enough of a shockwave through her to make her hands numb up a little, she manages to hold her position.  Launching herself away, but as she flies back... Several spears just fly out of nowhere, aiming to repeatedly impale the creature before she lands.  Mikoto's sword comes up, and then out towards the creature as a wave of fire, akin to a dragon's fire breath washes around her, directly towards the spirit. The entire world becomes an inferno around the creature for a moment, aiming to try and completely burn the creature away.  Fire purges, as Athela says!  Jean will likely recognize this attack. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' "Do not give it time to adjust to multiple attackers! Limit it's focus!" is the tactical advice Athela has to offer in the moment. Boss monsters tend to have nasty area effecting attacks if they get a chance to concetrate on them in her experience. A plume of water erupts behind her to boost Athela into the air. She uses the launch to catch her feet against the wall of the room and kick off from it, changing the angle of her actual attack to come from a different direction than she started in. She's essentially diving in on the Nosferatu from above... but her attack isn't aimed at it directly. Rather she aims for the creature's staff, trying to catch it in the snaring prongs of her own weapon. Then twists mid-air to come down on her feet and yank in an effort to lock up the staff in an awkward position so the fiend can't effectively attack or protect himself with it. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "Hmph! So you can't even speak, then... What a waste." Jeanne sounds increasingly annoyed as she marches steadily along. Her sword bursts into flames as she takes her time to walk menacingly at the skull-headed monster, raising an eyebrow as Yang yells at it from way too close up, Mikoto does something strangely similar to her own techniques, and Athela recommends holding the monster's attention. That seems easy enough to work with. "Well, if we're just going to obliterate it, then we should do it properly!" Jeanne cackles as she lunges forward suddenly, thrusting her blade straight at the Nosferatu's center mass while flames continue bursting forth from the weapon. "At least one of you knows how to use fire a little bit." She doesn't look at Mikoto, but she's totally talking about Mikoto. She even sounds more smug about the fact that Mikoto's using something so similar. What Jeanne doesn't seem to care about as much, though, is how Yang's that close to her flames. That, or... She could be doing it on purpose. Someone has to put the 'friend' in friendly fire. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean clambers up onto the pedestal to get some height, and tries to tackle Yang out of getting sucked in...And misses, hanging off of Yang's leg. "...Crap." Then the fire and spears burst through, nearly singing him as he hangs there. "Whoa, watch it!" he shouts. Athela successfully hooks onto the staff, bending it back in an awkward position. This distracts it from trying to eat Yang and Rean, releasing both of them. Rean lets go of Yang's leg, rolling on the ground for a moment before getting back on his feet. Emma, meanwhile holds her staff out in front of her, as the hook shaped implement on the top glows green. After a moment, she shouts, "Well, it's not weak to fire. In fact it resists it a little. But Earth does well against it, and...It's affected by the higher elements! That's Space, Time and Mirage, but I think we can short hand that to include light and darkness...not sure how that works with magic from other worlds." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang is slowly being pulled in, but that's fine by her. Jeanne's flames lap about her as the Servant uses her attack with little or no regard for the possible safety or lack there-of of the blonde brawler. But that's also fine by her.     Rean tackles her leg, knocking her off balance, but she just rolls with it, putting her even further into the lashing flames from Jeanne.     Emma says something about resisting fire and being weak to something blah blah blah, magic nonsense. Yang only knows one magic spell.     As she gets herself back up, digging in her feet and pulling back away from the boss monster, she lets the damage wash over her, flames singing her flesh, burning her outfit completely away in places, but you can see a pattern emerging here.     Yang's eyes flick from lilac to red between blinks, and as she's nearly absorbed into the Nosferatu, she explodes, a wave of force rippling off of her body as her Semblance peaks, and her hair begins to glow gold. "I." she states with a growl. "CAST." fists clench, shotgun slides rack in preparation. "FIST!" Yang rocks back, and starts whaling on the Nosferatu with explosive punches, tearing up the stonework from the blast waves from each gauntlet. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "Well, I guess fire wasn't that effective..." She says, with a frown. Crossing her arms, however, darkness elemental attacks charge up in the arms of the strange monster behind her, and come down in a massive wave of energy trying to blow through the defenses of the monster.   "Seriously, how does darkness relate to time?  I have no idea.." 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "If you're worried about getting incinerated, you should have thought about that before bringing me here!" Jeanne continues cackling madly as the flames from her sword intensify, pouring even more mana into it when Emma notes the creature's resistance to fire while spouting some other stuff she does't quite care about. "Darkness? Heh... Then this should work just fine!" She draws her sword back as her banner catches on fire, twirling the thing about and readying it in front of her like a giant burning spear with a flag stuck to it. Mikoto's question gets a brief shrug from the Avenger as she thrusts her flaming flag forward, then starts stabbing at the monster repeatedly. "Magi have strange ideas of how things work, but who cares as long as it works?" Yang's apparent powerup has Jeanne raising her eyebrow slightly. "... Like that. Is that your magic's name? Shouldn't it be more long-winded than that?" That's... Something of a compliment? Maybe. Another shrug, and then Jeanne gets back to stabbing and slashing with both flag and sword, each of her weapons hot enough to burn through steel and bone. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Athela Valemore raises a brow briefly at the mention of Space and Time as elements. Tch, shame Palkia and Dialga have not been seen active for literal ages. Then Yang literally lights up, and channels all that fury in soaking up the flames towards a fist in the fiend's face. "I swear, that woman posesses Moody ability." But the Huntress has the right idea, at times like this it is best to stick to what they know best and strongest instead of concerning over if a certain weakness collaberates or not. Athela thrusts Resolute Blade overhead, channeling more aquamancy into the artifact weapon. Elemental energy radiates briefly at the point of the blade, then spreads in a spiraling cascade downward until she's entirely engulfed in the rippling water-like aura. "The currents of Justice shalt wash way this foul presence from the land!" She lowers the weapon as she spins around, thrusting it out towards the Nosferatu as she turns to face it again. As she does there's a raging roar not unlike that of a great wave crashing upon the shore as the elemental charge is released and Athela is hurtling towards the monster, the full brunt of her aquaphilic force on the point of her weapon like some massive elemental lance. "TIDAL BREAKER!" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Yang gets all fired up and casts fist, punching the Nosferatu right in the face. Its head tilts back from the force, staggering it a bit. Mikoto's shadow guardian does its shadow thing, slamming right into the ghost's back, while Jeanne comes at it from the front. And then Athela's attack comes crashing down on it like a giant tidal wave. Laura jumps in as well, her greatsword blazing with light as she slams into it with as much force as she can muster. The Nosferatu lets out one last wail, and then fades away, collapsing back into it's orb form. "Did we beat it?" Rean asks, but almost immediately it starts glowing again, outputting that soul sucking force. And then in an instant, a silver lance pierces the orb. It instantly shatters, filling the room with a brilliant blinding light. If you manage to look in the direction of where the lance was thrown, you might see a silhouette of an armored woman, absorbing the blue light that once was within the orb. But she's gone as soon as she came. Probably just another ghost! 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' "Don't let it respa--" Athela is cut off by a lance smashing the orb, and the one that threw it disappearing before so much as a thank you or questions can be given. "--Nevermind." Pause. "At least it didn't Self-Destruct like the damn Golem cultists." The mysterious helper is gone, but what they came to do is done. Athela gives her glaive one twirl before resheathing it to her back and walking over to her pokemon and they wyvern still guarding the kids. "Let's get these lads home before the families worry farther." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Most people would sit around after that wondering what happened... Mikoto was anything but normal. Covering her eyes, but managing to catch a glimpse of the source of the spear, guardian and Mikoto faded into a portal of darkness, only to appear right where the woman was to try and chase.  Between this and Nanoha's superior speed, she hoped to discover the source of the spear. And it's kill stealing wielder. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto catches a glimpse of a blonde haired woman in silver armor, but she's pretty damn fast for someone in armor. She drops off a nearby balcony facing the lake, and it's hard to track where she went. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne grunts in irritation as the monster is destroyed, orb and all, and she watches as the ghostlike figure flees with Mikoto giving chase. The Avenger doesn't bother going after her, instead turning her attention back towards the people that had called the Elites here to begin with. More specifically, she turns to Emma as the apparent brain of the locals. "You. Can you sense anything else here thatneeds killing? Because if there aren't..." She glances around a few times before resting that banner on her shoulder, the flames flickering out slowly aside from small embers still coming off the burning fabric of the banner. Jeanne starts moving again, parks herself on a throne, then crosses one leg over the other and grins at the gathered crew. "Take the brats and get out of my castle. Or clean it up before you go. I don't really care." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:'''     "So who's going to cook for you if you live here?" Mikoto says, dropping down from the higher level area near Jean. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Laura glares at Jeanne, then sighs. "If you wish to live here, then I should probably get my father." She ushers the two boys out of the room. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "I never said I'd live here. This place is a dump." Jeanne wrinkles her nose while glancing around again, then turns back to Mikoto and Laura with that same shit-eating grin she had earlier. "But it can be fixed up. It's mine now, so I'll leave that job to the people that used to own it." She chuckles briefly, leaning into the throne for a few seconds before getting back up with another sour look on her face. "... This throne is awful. Replace it before I come back." She says to nobody in particular before magicking her sword away into the ether and making her way back out. She gestures at the wyvern to follow, the beast lingering for a moment longer before it and its brethren rejoin her. At least she didn't try to burn the place down. 
}}

6655/A Special Lesson: Multiverse Edition

2020-07-26T01:49:04Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/06/16
|Location=Nord Highlands, Zemuria
|Synopsis=During one of Class VIIs field studies, Rean invites various multiversals to teach the children of Nord about the world beyond Zemuria.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 6888, 863, 7, 42, 6764
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all step out of the warpgate in the middle of this stonehenge looking thing. There's a strong breeze flowing through the area, and at the bottom of the hill it's on is Rean and a few of his classmates. And horses. Two of his classmates should be familiar to Staren - Alisa and Gaius are here, the blonde girl and the dark skinned boy from the last foray into the Old Schoolhouse. Next to them are a bespectacled girl with pink hair, and a blonde haired boy with a stern face. Rean waves to the group and then however you decide to get there, this portion of Class VII leads you all to where the settlement is. Once there, there's an elderly woman and three children - Two girls, one boy- waiting for you at the side of a yurt. Once everyone's settled in, the lesson begins. "I guess we should all introduce ourselves. I'm Rean, and I'm visiting from Thors Military Academy." "The same school as Gaius, right?" Sheeda, the eldest, says. "Yeah." he says, nodding. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     It is completely correct and required that Evangeline showed up overdressed for what should otherwise be a simple lesson. Stuff borrowed out of Yukihime's walk-in (warehouse of a) closet. Stuff acquired during a shopping spree at three separate malls, once she had figured out how to not punch random passer-by for calling her names.     So that's why Evangeline nearly got blown away by the wind when it caught her big fancy black cloak, every stitch of her flowy, ribbony black dress, and her huge white scarf. Only the most stringent of combat training and the ultimate power of the greatest type of vampire kept her from tumbling off stage left, pursued by wind.     The hat's still gone, though. Ripped right off of her head in all its giant-brimmed witchy glory and sailing out into the sky like a particularly badly-drawn UFO.     Evangeline barely acknowledge the whole 'follow me to the yurt' thing, having suffered such a crushing defeat right out of the gate. 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' Haguro's a new face in this neck of the woods, looking more like someone's secretary than any sort of professional warrior or soldier from the Multiverse. Luckily, it seems that even their guide is here as a new face himself, so it helps mitigate some of the new place jitters for the cruiser. Only some, since she's still looking rather tense. The turret emplacements on her wrists and shoulders are on standby, worn more for decoration rather than any plans to actually shoot somebody. Spotting the group of students in the rather rural-looking settlement, she follows up after Rean with a light bow at the waist and a formal salute. "Haguro, fourth of the Myoukou Class Heavy Cruisers, Partner of the Concord, vice-admiral of the Luthan Fleet. It's good to meet you all." She sounds tense. Why wouldn't she be? There's impressionable minds here, and she needs to make sure she's not making a bad first impression! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa would be in more casual clothing but this is a class and she is part of the Paladins so she's kept to her normal config on her smart clothing. Which is a sleeveless long coat, shirt, pants and boots. She seems pretty pleasant as she walks in she's a bit on the short side a bit pale and she has blue hair to boot. That might not mean much though on this world at least there. "Hello I'm Kotone Yamakwa I'm from a planet called Earth and a Nation called Canada which is part of a larger alliance of nations called the Amer-Russio Alliance. I'm a mechanic and vehicle designer by trade originally but I branched out into electrical field and robotics a bit since I started travelling the multiverse." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren steps out of the warpgate and looks around. Oh, they built a henge around it. Looks nice. He scans the stones for magic to see if they're some kind of ward, because hiding a security system as decorations is always his first thought re: warpgates he wants to keep an eye on.     He also flings a drone to chase down the witch hat -- it might take time to recover but he'll send a robot for it once it alights somewhere.     Staren gives those he saw before a friendly nod, then smiles and waves to the group. "Staren Wiremu, Hand and Ingenious of the Concord, pleased to meet you." He offers his hand to shake, then follows along, 'rollerblading' on hovershoes. He quirks an eyebrow at the yurt, leaning over to Rean and whispering, 'Do you need help with building buildings? I figured with the school you had it covered, but...'     When he reaches the new group, he repeats the introduction, and releases another hand-sized quadrotor drone to record their explanations for any students that couldn't be here today. "So, what do you want to know?" 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      "I'm Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts, and Seneschal of the Paladins." This, he says, hovering a good foot off the ground, having not touched it since he floated through the warpgate. He wears rough hewn cotton robes of a deep, navy blue. Upon his shoulders rests the mantle of a rich, red, high-collared cloak which seems to move independently of the wind or lack thereof. Beneath the clasp of that cloak there is a rose-gold amulet with a complex lattice motif.      He abruptly touches down after that whimsical string of titles, and offers something much more banal. "I'm from New York." They can hear it in his tone--it's an utterly 'normal' thing to say, entirely different from all that wizard stuff. The same kind of tone one uses talking about how one's day was, or what was on sale at the supermarker. "Specifically," the wizard continues, his brows raised slightly, "The New York of Earth One Hundred Ninety Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine." He pauses for effect, inclining his head towards the students. "There's a... lot of Earths. That's the first thing you'll notice in the Multiverse."      "...nice kicks, Staren." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Staren finds a lot of magical energy underneath the structure, as if this was built right on top of a leyline. The stones themselves are just stones though. And have been there for a while. There's a bird's cry above Evangeline, and a brown hawk lands on the fence next to her, hat in his talons. He's looking at her as if to say "please don't lose this again". Gaius looks over from his spot and chuckles. Guess he knows this hawk. Rean looks over to Staren like he's got seven heads. "Huh? Oh, no, we're actually outside the Empire right now. This area is technically not under anyone's control or anything, just the nomadic tribes and the two army bases out here. We're just visiting since this area has history. I /think/ they're fine with the yurts and stuff though, but you'd have to talk to Gaius' dad if you want to offer help." Strange's entrance completely enraptures the two youngest children, and they star at him wide eyed. "Whoaaaa, how are you doing that!?" The boy, Cota says, staring at Strange. "That's cool!" Lily, the other girl says. Sheeda giggles at her younger sister and her friend. "Anyway, um..." She thinks for a moment and then says, "What's Canada like? And a fleet is a bunch of boats, right? Are you a sailor?" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Using the chinstrap properly this time (it was previously judged unfashionable-looking), Evangeline secure hat to her head amidst fierce headwinds. The hawk barely gets a nod, mostly because it's really hard to move your head against the wind like this. Long, deliberate stomps over yurt-wards later, Evangeline stops when she sees someone's feet. Not sure whose. She's keeping her head firmly down.     Poke, goes the flopped-over and wildly flailing tip of the hat. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa watches Staren for a moment as well seemingly amused at his entrance but it is question time. She also makes note Haguro who is good to see and Dr. Strange as well Evangeline is a mostly unknown to Kotone but it seems like the entire group should be able to handle a fair number of questions from the students. She sees the bird return Evangeline hat out of the corner of her eyes. "What is Canada like? It's a fairly young country located northern part of my world the terrain ranged from forest and grassland in the south. Massive mountains to the west and tundra to the north. The nation is also a former colony of a large Empire and it has a pretty mixed population with people having settled there from all over the planet. Finally, we can have pretty nasty winters in and cast areas are still undeveloped with it being one of the physically largest nations on the planet but also one of the lowest populations for its size. If your really curious I can live some addtional material for you!" 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' Don't mess this up. Don't mess this up! Taking a second to compose herself, Haguro turns to Sheeda with a quick nod and a gentle smile in return. "That's right. A fleet is a general word that could mean anything from a small squad of ships to an entire navy. In this case, it's the navy for a place called Luthe." She takes a moment to observe her companions/crib ideas from them, between Strange showing off with his magic floating powers and Staren sending his drone out after Evangeline's hat. She doesn't even have that visual pop that someone like Kotone has color-wise or Evangeline does wardrobe-wise, and Rean has the advantage of being on semi-home turf! THe girl /did/ ask about her being a sailor, though. That could be it! "And.. Almost! I'm actually the ship itself. Well... A ship, but the rest of the ships in the Fleet are more conventional... Um.." She flounders briefly, then holds an arm out to show off the gun emplacements on her limbs. "They're ships in the regular sense. I'm actually a Fleet D..." And thens he starts floundering again. "... I can transform into my namesake. I-if you'd like, I can show you what I mean? I just need a clear enough space." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods at 'nice kicks'.     Staren blinks at the question about Canada. Oh right, they're asking Kotone. "I 'm from the Free City of Lazlo. It's on an Earth, but mine is... different than most." He scratches his chin. Then vaguely gestures at the others here. "We can compare timelines a bit... most Earths, it's the 20th or 21st century by the AD calendar... on mine it's the 25th. At the end of the 21st, there were..." He looks over the kids, hoping what he's describing isn't too horrible for their minds, "...worldwide natural disasters as the magic came back and portals opened up all over Earth. It was like the Multiverse in miniature. What came through the portals... some were just lost, nonhuman people, or humans from other worlds, some were just animals from other worlds, and others were demons, monsters that just wanted to make people suffer. The disasters destroyed the global infrastructure and... well, three hundred years later, we're still rebuilding. There are small nations and city-states, but it's nothing like the world before... but now we have magic."     Staren scratches his chin. "Where I come from, the Free City of Lazlo," He sets out a holoprojector and projects a globe that zooms in on the area around lake Ontario, with a glowing dot to indicate Lazlo, "we believe that all people regardless of shape or species can live together. It's..." his ears splay and tail droop briefly, "an idea that sadly many parts of Earth, and even the Multiverse, are too backwards to understand. But I hope to spread that understanding by showing what people can achieve when we share the technological and magical developments of the Multiverse! We can end sickness and give people opportunities they'd never have if they lived locked away from the world!" 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Lily and Cota receive at first not an explanation, but an affirmation. "Yeah," says Strange of his levitation. "It's alright." It's an immense understatement. He /loves/ levitating everywhere. It makes other people have to look slightly up at him. And it looks cool.      "There are a lot of ways to do it," says the sorcerer. "I have my ways," continues Strange with a nod towards Staren, "And other people have theirs. There's a rich history and a set of rules behind everybody's talents. On my Earth, the stuff that Staren is talking about was never really..." He frowns slightly. How best to explain it?      "It was always right next door. Some of our neighbors are good, some aren't. One of our good neighbors saw how the bad ones were picking on us, and he decided to teach some of us how to... fight things that would usually be stronger than us, by using the rules of our existence as weapons. My floating is part of that discipline." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The elderly woman approaches Evangeline, who is clearly not having a good time. "Is everything alright?" she asks. Sheeda hums, before saying "Maybe later. That's cool though!" to both Haguro and Kotone's offers.  "Did it take a long time to get here? I know there's something called a warpgate, but are your worlds far? Also, Rean you came here on a train right? How long did it take for you to get here?" "I think it was around 8 hours." This time Emma, Rean's bespectacled classmate, raises a hand. "...How common is magic out there?" She asks. Lily frowns. "'Rules of our existence?'" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "Yes, sure absolutely." Evangeline says, keeping her face pointed squarely at the elderly woman's feet. "Ah'm just listening. You know. To the others teaching the wee lass. And the wind. Mighty blow, that." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren shrugs. "A few minutes? With the warpgates, you can walk lots of places in minutes. Although some people have ships that fly above the sky at incredible speeds, and can get around even without the warpgates."     "And magic is fairly common. Even though it's not native to many worlds, as they connect to the Multiverse, even the residents of those worlds are exposed to the idea. What else would you like to know?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The elderly woman nods. "The wind carries many a blessing...but also has a silly sense of humor." She says. "Why don't you come stand over here with the rest of us?" She says gesturing to where the rest of Class VII was standing. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "My world has no native magic, for example. It was utter fiction before we unified as was the idea of species other than humans. For example so far as I'm aware I have no way to innately use magic. Didn't take too long from the gate. Maybe an hour or so? As for back home? We have a pretty rapid transit network using trains, aircraft and ground craft as well. I also had magic users be shocked at this." Well more how the hell is your soul still attached lady. Then not being able to use magic. 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Strange nods at Staren. "It also depends on what you consider magic," says Strange. "'Magic' is a really... really, broad term. Like 'warrior.' There's gotta be all kinds of warriors on this world. But that word applies just as well to a guy in heavy armor with a big sword as it does to a guy in leather with a staff, or... something." He waves a hand dismissively. What even is light armor?      Lily gets an answer, too. "Anyway--" He begins moving his hands, tracing orange lines of energy through the air to create a circle. "The Multiverse and all the worlds in it have rules." Within it, a square. "Some are obvious, some aren't." A thrust of both palms, and rings of glyphs in some arcane language flash to life between and outside of the spaces of the shape. It chimes pleasantly when this happens. "The Masters of the Mystic Arts learn those rules, and use them to fight, to protect... to help."      Strange draws one hand back, then bends the other hand downwards. An apple is pushed through the center of the floating mandala, falling to the ground unless she catches it. "Our order isn't the only group of people who are out to protect our world, but we might be the oldest." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Kotone. "That's not /necessarily/ true... although, the kinds of magic they teach in Lazlo are... there have been strides lately, in developing techniques to channel magical energy despite an implant or two, but with your body... even if you learned the technique to cast spells, we'd need to build stuff into your body. But!" He turns back to the group. "The Multiverse makes all sorts of things possible! If you want to be a magician, or a warrior... then don't be afraid to learn what's out there and figure out how you can use it to achieve your dreams!" Staren beams at the group at the end of his speech. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Holding the hat with both hands, Evangeline finally looks up, follows the finger over... spots the class way the heckin over there doing who knows the heck what, and takes a deep breath.     "Right. Of course. They're... over there."     Evangeline arrives somewhere on the end of Staren's introduction of ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS! :D and almost, -almost- adds in something about how the Multiverse is out to get you and is full of bad people and the only way to survive is through strength, either yours or someone else's.     That thought was totally derailed by Evangeline staring whistfully and sadly at the pretty things that Mr. Dr. Strange has going on, with the glyphs and the shapes and stuff. Ah... magic... 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' "It didn't take that long, no. It was pretty easy getting here, all things considered." Haguro replies with a more relaxed tone as she starts to settle into the guest speaker role. "As they've already said, magic can be very different from place to place. Something that might be magic for some people can just be science for another, or the other way around. A ghost might be a supernatural being in one world, but just another form of existence in another." She gestures at herself at that last bit. "I'm the spirit of a warship that sank many, many years ago, but I'm not ship-shaped right now." Indeed, Haguro is not shaped like a ship! The only indications that she's ship-associated at all are her gear and name, really. "And although I was made to be good at shooting things, I learned how to use my hands and feet to improve myself." She clenches a fist in front of her dramatically. "It's... It hasn't been easy, but that's why training hard and being willing to go the extra mile is really important. It's so people like yourselves or those that come after you won't have to go through what we do." 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Strange looks over his shoulder at Evangeline. The mandala dissipates, but the apple remains for whoever wants to claim it. "Yo. What's, uh..." The Sorcerer Supreme gestures vaguely towards her wistful expression. "What's with that look?" He's never met this girl, doesn't know her life--but he has a feeling he knows that look. Better to see if she's willing to discuss it than to guess and be wrong. Or be right. That could be just as awkward. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "Maybe but I was more citing in general due to my world's lack of magic." It does work there just fine but is that the person using the magic bringing it with them? It's something to think n but it would take a lot of work to do and then she pauses. "That is true however my body is a construct rather than still made of flesh. My world is able to integrate machinery to the human body for medical and other purposes before you ask it was medically related in my case." She watches as Strange finishes up his but of magic. "She seems to have really liked that display, Doctor." She's not met Eva either beore so she just presumes she did liked the display. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "It's pretty good," Evangeline lifts her hat brim with one hand and cocks the other one on her hip, which kind of makes a cool pose, with all the fluttery bits of her outfit streaming out in the wind. The wistful expression is crushed by the onset of that old person nostalgia expression, "I used to b- used to see that sort of thing before, but it's been a while. It's nice to be reminded that other people still use it."     Evangeline's voice turns bitter into the last sentence, which means the tone completely mismatches her smile. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I see." Emma says. There's a light smile on her face after the explanations about magic. Relief? "You hear that Cota? Even a crybaby like you could become a great warrior one day!" Lily says, picking up the apple. Cota pouts. "Hey, come on!" "Now, now, no teasing."  Rean says. "Anyway, are there any other questions?" Lily raises a hand. "well..." And so the clas continued on for a bit, with a few questions about the worlds the others were from and about Erebonia as well. Eventually the lass ended and everyone was free to go home, and Class VII went back to their field study duties. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Evangeline. "...I guess I may need to give that speech again." He glances at the other elites, "Or maybe I just worded it poorly?" He looks back to Evangeline. "If you want to be able to do magic again, then find a way! There's a whole Multiverse of possibilities out there! What's holding you back?" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "A great big stupid magical seal," Evangeline's pout is both visible and audible. She crosses her arms in a "And that's that" sort of way. "Sure maybe I can still swing a magic thing around but that's not the same as /doing/ magic." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa seems to take this all in somewhat quietly but seems to have enjoyed herself with htis little primer to the multiverse. She seem a bit sad at Evangelines status, to lose magic would be akin to losing a sense she would guess and it's not a happy thing. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren blinks. And thinks for a moment. "...Well, where'd this seal come from?" As he puts on goggles and channels a little potential psychic energy into them to try and observe the flkow of magical energy around Evangeline, which may or may not be helpful. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Evangeline seems to be completely suppressed by some big, hellish seal that's currently roiling all confused like because it wants to drag her back to some place but can't find the some place, so just the other half, the "no sourcing magic for you hahaha" part, is active. Evangeline, for her part, suddenly turns a little big pink and looks down at the ground, "... some idiot put it on me." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren frowns behind the goggles. "Hmm..." He steps forward, "Just want to test something..." He slowly reaches a couple of fingers out to tap her shoulder, and tries to push some of his meager mana reserve into her. 
}}

6655/A Special Lesson: Multiverse Edition

2020-07-25T10:29:59Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/06/01 |Location=Nord Highlands, Zemuria |Synopsis=During one of Class VIIs field studies, Rean invites various multiversals to teach the child..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/06/01
|Location=Nord Highlands, Zemuria
|Synopsis=During one of Class VIIs field studies, Rean invites various multiversals to teach the children of Nord about the world beyond Zemuria.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 6888, 863, 7, 42, 6764
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all step out of the warpgate in the middle of this stonehenge looking thing. There's a strong breeze flowing through the area, and at the bottom of the hill it's on is Rean and a few of his classmates. And horses. Two of his classmates should be familiar to Staren - Alisa and Gaius are here, the blonde girl and the dark skinned boy from the last foray into the Old Schoolhouse. Next to them are a bespectacled girl with pink hair, and a blonde haired boy with a stern face. Rean waves to the group and then however you decide to get there, this portion of Class VII leads you all to where the settlement is. Once there, there's an elderly woman and three children - Two girls, one boy- waiting for you at the side of a yurt. Once everyone's settled in, the lesson begins. "I guess we should all introduce ourselves. I'm Rean, and I'm visiting from Thors Military Academy." "The same school as Gaius, right?" Sheeda, the eldest, says. "Yeah." he says, nodding. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     It is completely correct and required that Evangeline showed up overdressed for what should otherwise be a simple lesson. Stuff borrowed out of Yukihime's walk-in (warehouse of a) closet. Stuff acquired during a shopping spree at three separate malls, once she had figured out how to not punch random passer-by for calling her names.     So that's why Evangeline nearly got blown away by the wind when it caught her big fancy black cloak, every stitch of her flowy, ribbony black dress, and her huge white scarf. Only the most stringent of combat training and the ultimate power of the greatest type of vampire kept her from tumbling off stage left, pursued by wind.     The hat's still gone, though. Ripped right off of her head in all its giant-brimmed witchy glory and sailing out into the sky like a particularly badly-drawn UFO.     Evangeline barely acknowledge the whole 'follow me to the yurt' thing, having suffered such a crushing defeat right out of the gate. 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' Haguro's a new face in this neck of the woods, looking more like someone's secretary than any sort of professional warrior or soldier from the Multiverse. Luckily, it seems that even their guide is here as a new face himself, so it helps mitigate some of the new place jitters for the cruiser. Only some, since she's still looking rather tense. The turret emplacements on her wrists and shoulders are on standby, worn more for decoration rather than any plans to actually shoot somebody. Spotting the group of students in the rather rural-looking settlement, she follows up after Rean with a light bow at the waist and a formal salute. "Haguro, fourth of the Myoukou Class Heavy Cruisers, Partner of the Concord, vice-admiral of the Luthan Fleet. It's good to meet you all." She sounds tense. Why wouldn't she be? There's impressionable minds here, and she needs to make sure she's not making a bad first impression! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa would be in more casual clothing but this is a class and she is part of the Paladins so she's kept to her normal config on her smart clothing. Which is a sleeveless long coat, shirt, pants and boots. She seems pretty pleasant as she walks in she's a bit on the short side a bit pale and she has blue hair to boot. That might not mean much though on this world at least there. "Hello I'm Kotone Yamakwa I'm from a planet called Earth and a Nation called Canada which is part of a larger alliance of nations called the Amer-Russio Alliance. I'm a mechanic and vehicle designer by trade originally but I branched out into electrical field and robotics a bit since I started travelling the multiverse." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren steps out of the warpgate and looks around. Oh, they built a henge around it. Looks nice. He scans the stones for magic to see if they're some kind of ward, because hiding a security system as decorations is always his first thought re: warpgates he wants to keep an eye on.     He also flings a drone to chase down the witch hat -- it might take time to recover but he'll send a robot for it once it alights somewhere.     Staren gives those he saw before a friendly nod, then smiles and waves to the group. "Staren Wiremu, Hand and Ingenious of the Concord, pleased to meet you." He offers his hand to shake, then follows along, 'rollerblading' on hovershoes. He quirks an eyebrow at the yurt, leaning over to Rean and whispering, 'Do you need help with building buildings? I figured with the school you had it covered, but...'     When he reaches the new group, he repeats the introduction, and releases another hand-sized quadrotor drone to record their explanations for any students that couldn't be here today. "So, what do you want to know?" 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      "I'm Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts, and Seneschal of the Paladins." This, he says, hovering a good foot off the ground, having not touched it since he floated through the warpgate. He wears rough hewn cotton robes of a deep, navy blue. Upon his shoulders rests the mantle of a rich, red, high-collared cloak which seems to move independently of the wind or lack thereof. Beneath the clasp of that cloak there is a rose-gold amulet with a complex lattice motif.      He abruptly touches down after that whimsical string of titles, and offers something much more banal. "I'm from New York." They can hear it in his tone--it's an utterly 'normal' thing to say, entirely different from all that wizard stuff. The same kind of tone one uses talking about how one's day was, or what was on sale at the supermarker. "Specifically," the wizard continues, his brows raised slightly, "The New York of Earth One Hundred Ninety Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine." He pauses for effect, inclining his head towards the students. "There's a... lot of Earths. That's the first thing you'll notice in the Multiverse."      "...nice kicks, Staren." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Staren finds a lot of magical energy underneath the structure, as if this was built right on top of a leyline. The stones themselves are just stones though. And have been there for a while. There's a bird's cry above Evangeline, and a brown hawk lands on the fence next to her, hat in his talons. He's looking at her as if to say "please don't lose this again". Gaius looks over from his spot and chuckles. Guess he knows this hawk. Rean looks over to Staren like he's got seven heads. "Huh? Oh, no, we're actually outside the Empire right now. This area is technically not under anyone's control or anything, just the nomadic tribes and the two army bases out here. We're just visiting since this area has history. I /think/ they're fine with the yurts and stuff though, but you'd have to talk to Gaius' dad if you want to offer help." Strange's entrance completely enraptures the two youngest children, and they star at him wide eyed. "Whoaaaa, how are you doing that!?" The boy, Cota says, staring at Strange. "That's cool!" Lily, the other girl says. Sheeda giggles at her younger sister and her friend. "Anyway, um..." She thinks for a moment and then says, "What's Canada like? And a fleet is a bunch of boats, right? Are you a sailor?" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Using the chinstrap properly this time (it was previously judged unfashionable-looking), Evangeline secure hat to her head amidst fierce headwinds. The hawk barely gets a nod, mostly because it's really hard to move your head against the wind like this. Long, deliberate stomps over yurt-wards later, Evangeline stops when she sees someone's feet. Not sure whose. She's keeping her head firmly down.     Poke, goes the flopped-over and wildly flailing tip of the hat. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa watches Staren for a moment as well seemingly amused at his entrance but it is question time. She also makes note Haguro who is good to see and Dr. Strange as well Evangeline is a mostly unknown to Kotone but it seems like the entire group should be able to handle a fair number of questions from the students. She sees the bird return Evangeline hat out of the corner of her eyes. "What is Canada like? It's a fairly young country located northern part of my world the terrain ranged from forest and grassland in the south. Massive mountains to the west and tundra to the north. The nation is also a former colony of a large Empire and it has a pretty mixed population with people having settled there from all over the planet. Finally, we can have pretty nasty winters in and cast areas are still undeveloped with it being one of the physically largest nations on the planet but also one of the lowest populations for its size. If your really curious I can live some addtional material for you!" 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' Don't mess this up. Don't mess this up! Taking a second to compose herself, Haguro turns to Sheeda with a quick nod and a gentle smile in return. "That's right. A fleet is a general word that could mean anything from a small squad of ships to an entire navy. In this case, it's the navy for a place called Luthe." She takes a moment to observe her companions/crib ideas from them, between Strange showing off with his magic floating powers and Staren sending his drone out after Evangeline's hat. She doesn't even have that visual pop that someone like Kotone has color-wise or Evangeline does wardrobe-wise, and Rean has the advantage of being on semi-home turf! THe girl /did/ ask about her being a sailor, though. That could be it! "And.. Almost! I'm actually the ship itself. Well... A ship, but the rest of the ships in the Fleet are more conventional... Um.." She flounders briefly, then holds an arm out to show off the gun emplacements on her limbs. "They're ships in the regular sense. I'm actually a Fleet D..." And thens he starts floundering again. "... I can transform into my namesake. I-if you'd like, I can show you what I mean? I just need a clear enough space." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods at 'nice kicks'.     Staren blinks at the question about Canada. Oh right, they're asking Kotone. "I 'm from the Free City of Lazlo. It's on an Earth, but mine is... different than most." He scratches his chin. Then vaguely gestures at the others here. "We can compare timelines a bit... most Earths, it's the 20th or 21st century by the AD calendar... on mine it's the 25th. At the end of the 21st, there were..." He looks over the kids, hoping what he's describing isn't too horrible for their minds, "...worldwide natural disasters as the magic came back and portals opened up all over Earth. It was like the Multiverse in miniature. What came through the portals... some were just lost, nonhuman people, or humans from other worlds, some were just animals from other worlds, and others were demons, monsters that just wanted to make people suffer. The disasters destroyed the global infrastructure and... well, three hundred years later, we're still rebuilding. There are small nations and city-states, but it's nothing like the world before... but now we have magic."     Staren scratches his chin. "Where I come from, the Free City of Lazlo," He sets out a holoprojector and projects a globe that zooms in on the area around lake Ontario, with a glowing dot to indicate Lazlo, "we believe that all people regardless of shape or species can live together. It's..." his ears splay and tail droop briefly, "an idea that sadly many parts of Earth, and even the Multiverse, are too backwards to understand. But I hope to spread that understanding by showing what people can achieve when we share the technological and magical developments of the Multiverse! We can end sickness and give people opportunities they'd never have if they lived locked away from the world!" 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Lily and Cota receive at first not an explanation, but an affirmation. "Yeah," says Strange of his levitation. "It's alright." It's an immense understatement. He /loves/ levitating everywhere. It makes other people have to look slightly up at him. And it looks cool.      "There are a lot of ways to do it," says the sorcerer. "I have my ways," continues Strange with a nod towards Staren, "And other people have theirs. There's a rich history and a set of rules behind everybody's talents. On my Earth, the stuff that Staren is talking about was never really..." He frowns slightly. How best to explain it?      "It was always right next door. Some of our neighbors are good, some aren't. One of our good neighbors saw how the bad ones were picking on us, and he decided to teach some of us how to... fight things that would usually be stronger than us, by using the rules of our existence as weapons. My floating is part of that discipline." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The elderly woman approaches Evangeline, who is clearly not having a good time. "Is everything alright?" she asks. Sheeda hums, before saying "Maybe later. That's cool though!" to both Haguro and Kotone's offers.  "Did it take a long time to get here? I know there's something called a warpgate, but are your worlds far? Also, Rean you came here on a train right? How long did it take for you to get here?" "I think it was around 8 hours." This time Emma, Rean's bespectacled classmate, raises a hand. "...How common is magic out there?" She asks. Lily frowns. "'Rules of our existence?'" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "Yes, sure absolutely." Evangeline says, keeping her face pointed squarely at the elderly woman's feet. "Ah'm just listening. You know. To the others teaching the wee lass. And the wind. Mighty blow, that." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren shrugs. "A few minutes? With the warpgates, you can walk lots of places in minutes. Although some people have ships that fly above the sky at incredible speeds, and can get around even without the warpgates."     "And magic is fairly common. Even though it's not native to many worlds, as they connect to the Multiverse, even the residents of those worlds are exposed to the idea. What else would you like to know?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The elderly woman nods. "The wind carries many a blessing...but also has a silly sense of humor." She says. "Why don't you come stand over here with the rest of us?" She says gesturing to where the rest of Class VII was standing. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "My world has no native magic, for example. It was utter fiction before we unified as was the idea of species other than humans. For example so far as I'm aware I have no way to innately use magic. Didn't take too long from the gate. Maybe an hour or so? As for back home? We have a pretty rapid transit network using trains, aircraft and ground craft as well. I also had magic users be shocked at this." Well more how the hell is your soul still attached lady. Then not being able to use magic. 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Strange nods at Staren. "It also depends on what you consider magic," says Strange. "'Magic' is a really... really, broad term. Like 'warrior.' There's gotta be all kinds of warriors on this world. But that word applies just as well to a guy in heavy armor with a big sword as it does to a guy in leather with a staff, or... something." He waves a hand dismissively. What even is light armor?      Lily gets an answer, too. "Anyway--" He begins moving his hands, tracing orange lines of energy through the air to create a circle. "The Multiverse and all the worlds in it have rules." Within it, a square. "Some are obvious, some aren't." A thrust of both palms, and rings of glyphs in some arcane language flash to life between and outside of the spaces of the shape. It chimes pleasantly when this happens. "The Masters of the Mystic Arts learn those rules, and use them to fight, to protect... to help."      Strange draws one hand back, then bends the other hand downwards. An apple is pushed through the center of the floating mandala, falling to the ground unless she catches it. "Our order isn't the only group of people who are out to protect our world, but we might be the oldest." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Kotone. "That's not /necessarily/ true... although, the kinds of magic they teach in Lazlo are... there have been strides lately, in developing techniques to channel magical energy despite an implant or two, but with your body... even if you learned the technique to cast spells, we'd need to build stuff into your body. But!" He turns back to the group. "The Multiverse makes all sorts of things possible! If you want to be a magician, or a warrior... then don't be afraid to learn what's out there and figure out how you can use it to achieve your dreams!" Staren beams at the group at the end of his speech. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Holding the hat with both hands, Evangeline finally looks up, follows the finger over... spots the class way the heckin over there doing who knows the heck what, and takes a deep breath.     "Right. Of course. They're... over there."     Evangeline arrives somewhere on the end of Staren's introduction of ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS! :D and almost, -almost- adds in something about how the Multiverse is out to get you and is full of bad people and the only way to survive is through strength, either yours or someone else's.     That thought was totally derailed by Evangeline staring whistfully and sadly at the pretty things that Mr. Dr. Strange has going on, with the glyphs and the shapes and stuff. Ah... magic... 

:'''{{#var:863|Haguro (863)}} has posed:''' "It didn't take that long, no. It was pretty easy getting here, all things considered." Haguro replies with a more relaxed tone as she starts to settle into the guest speaker role. "As they've already said, magic can be very different from place to place. Something that might be magic for some people can just be science for another, or the other way around. A ghost might be a supernatural being in one world, but just another form of existence in another." She gestures at herself at that last bit. "I'm the spirit of a warship that sank many, many years ago, but I'm not ship-shaped right now." Indeed, Haguro is not shaped like a ship! The only indications that she's ship-associated at all are her gear and name, really. "And although I was made to be good at shooting things, I learned how to use my hands and feet to improve myself." She clenches a fist in front of her dramatically. "It's... It hasn't been easy, but that's why training hard and being willing to go the extra mile is really important. It's so people like yourselves or those that come after you won't have to go through what we do." 

:'''{{#var:6764|Doctor Strange (6764)}} has posed:'''      Strange looks over his shoulder at Evangeline. The mandala dissipates, but the apple remains for whoever wants to claim it. "Yo. What's, uh..." The Sorcerer Supreme gestures vaguely towards her wistful expression. "What's with that look?" He's never met this girl, doesn't know her life--but he has a feeling he knows that look. Better to see if she's willing to discuss it than to guess and be wrong. Or be right. That could be just as awkward. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "Maybe but I was more citing in general due to my world's lack of magic." It does work there just fine but is that the person using the magic bringing it with them? It's something to think n but it would take a lot of work to do and then she pauses. "That is true however my body is a construct rather than still made of flesh. My world is able to integrate machinery to the human body for medical and other purposes before you ask it was medically related in my case." She watches as Strange finishes up his but of magic. "She seems to have really liked that display, Doctor." She's not met Eva either beore so she just presumes she did liked the display. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "It's pretty good," Evangeline lifts her hat brim with one hand and cocks the other one on her hip, which kind of makes a cool pose, with all the fluttery bits of her outfit streaming out in the wind. The wistful expression is crushed by the onset of that old person nostalgia expression, "I used to b- used to see that sort of thing before, but it's been a while. It's nice to be reminded that other people still use it."     Evangeline's voice turns bitter into the last sentence, which means the tone completely mismatches her smile. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I see." Emma says. There's a light smile on her face after the explanations about magic. Relief? "You hear that Cota? Even a crybaby like you could become a great warrior one day!" Lily says, picking up the apple. Cota pouts. "Hey, come on!" "Now, now, no teasing."  Rean says. "Anyway, are there any other questions?" Lily raises a hand. "well..." And so the clas continued on for a bit, with a few questions about the worlds the others were from and about Erebonia as well. Eventually the lass ended and everyone was free to go home, and Class VII went back to their field study duties. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Evangeline. "...I guess I may need to give that speech again." He glances at the other elites, "Or maybe I just worded it poorly?" He looks back to Evangeline. "If you want to be able to do magic again, then find a way! There's a whole Multiverse of possibilities out there! What's holding you back?" 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     "A great big stupid magical seal," Evangeline's pout is both visible and audible. She crosses her arms in a "And that's that" sort of way. "Sure maybe I can still swing a magic thing around but that's not the same as /doing/ magic." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa seems to take this all in somewhat quietly but seems to have enjoyed herself with htis little primer to the multiverse. She seem a bit sad at Evangelines status, to lose magic would be akin to losing a sense she would guess and it's not a happy thing. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren blinks. And thinks for a moment. "...Well, where'd this seal come from?" As he puts on goggles and channels a little potential psychic energy into them to try and observe the flkow of magical energy around Evangeline, which may or may not be helpful. 

:'''{{#var:6888|Evangeline McDowell (6888)}} has posed:'''     Evangeline seems to be completely suppressed by some big, hellish seal that's currently roiling all confused like because it wants to drag her back to some place but can't find the some place, so just the other half, the "no sourcing magic for you hahaha" part, is active. Evangeline, for her part, suddenly turns a little big pink and looks down at the ground, "... some idiot put it on me." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren frowns behind the goggles. "Hmm..." He steps forward, "Just want to test something..." He slowly reaches a couple of fingers out to tap her shoulder, and tries to push some of his meager mana reserve into her. 
}}

6893/Lohengrin Castle Rescue

2020-07-25T10:27:24Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/11/02 |Location=Lohengrin Castle, Legram, Erebonia |Synopsis=During one of Class VII's field studies, the gang goes to rescue some missing chi..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/11/02
|Location=Lohengrin Castle, Legram, Erebonia
|Synopsis=During one of Class VII's field studies, the gang goes to rescue some missing children from a haunted castle.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 994, 7002, 6802, 906
|Tinyplot=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all arrive at the lakeside village of Legram, where there is a motorboat waiting for you if you need it. Otherwise, you can just fly over to the opposite shore if you're capable of that. After all, it's hard to miss the glowing medieval castle. There's three members of Class VII already waiting for you when you get there - Rean, Laura and Emma. The glowing appears to be from some sort of shimmering effect around the building. You all go inside, and almost immediately, the large wooden doors slam shut. Uh oh. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Boat? Where we're going (over to that island) we don't need no stinking boat!... Well, at least Athela doesn't. Because she just rides on the back of her Samurott as an aquatic steed. Enjoy the view of a large sealion-like beast in metal armor cruising across the lake like an organic jetski. On the opposite shore nothing stops them from heading inside, but once they are the castle doors slam shut. And Athela doesn't even flinch at the thudding sound. "That was expected." She would be more surprised if they didn't get trapped in side. Though locking them in? May be the biggest mistake the culprit made. Resolute Blade remains resting against her shoulder, but her grip tightens noticably around the long hilt to keep ready. "Be on thy guard. We still do not know what opposition we may face." Lancer gives a snort of agreement, rising on his back legs and drawing the dual shell-pommels from the armor on his forelimbs. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto takes the speed boat, because of /course/ she does.  Ending up on the other side, she jumps out and yawns, stretching her arms out before walking towards the students.   "Yo," She says to them, casual because at this point she 's become very friendly with them.  "Cool glowing castle, so I guess we're going inside?  I wonder if the door will slam on us." Once inside, the door slams on them, "Awesome!  I wonder if it's actually haunted, or if there is some guy controlling it from somewhere deeper in.  Alright, let's go explore!" Mikoto chooses a direction at random. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Normally, a random castle would have flown under the radar for Jeanne. What makes this one different from any other one, then? For starters, the strange occurrences and reports of demons. Next, the missing children (even if she'd never admit it). Third... Her wyverns have been getting lazy, and she hasn't caused a real ruckus in a while. This is the perfect opportunity to do so, and what better way to do that than to arrive in style? The motorboat is ignored in favor of flying over with a squad of wyverns, standing atop one's back in the lead while the others trail behind hers. Upon reaching the castle, she directs the other four to keep an eye on things outside, then heads in with one hovering ominously above her like a big floating decoy. "Hmph. They must be afraid if they're relying on parlor tricks so soon." She smirks as she does't give the closing door even a passing glance, marching forward steadily with only a large, inconvenient banner shouldered on one shoulder. "Let them come if they want. If our guard is needed at all, then they might actually be worth something." She doesn't know where she's going, but straight lines are usually a good indicator of where to go. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Well, Yang could be persuaded to try leaping from one shore to the other, but time seems pretty limited, so she takes the guarenteed option that won't result in her getting all soaked. "Hey!" she offers to the locals, and those she recognizes.. which is Athela and Mikoto.     When the group enter and the doors slam shut, Yang turns and in the same motion deploys her gauntlets. "Great... and I was hoping to avoid any Geist-types..." She goes to try and open the doors again, but likely finds them unwilling to budge even to her impressive strength, and thus goes along with the group, lifting one arm and igniting a shell on slow burn to act as a makeshift torch. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto wanders off into one of the side rooms, where there's a sort of spiral ramp leading further downwards. Jeanne wanders off in the opposite direction into a similar room, but the ramp is going upwards. Both of you encounter red skull monsters with blue flames coming off them. These are probably the demons. Or some of them at least. Yang finds that yes, she can't just bust the door down. In fact, doing so just makes a spell circle pop up every time you hit it. Seeing as those are basically the only other doors in here than the one that's locked, Rean and Laura split up and go into Mikoto's door, with Emma following Jeanne. Athela and Yang are free to go with whoever, but there's only one way forward. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "See, I hadn't even started to get nasty and the ghosts appear!" Mikoto says, as there is a flash of green and ~Sparkles~.  In front of her, a jade crystal bursts out in front of her, as it shatters into her sword.  Drawing the weapon up she looks over the demon ghost thing.   "Alright, time to get going downstairs!" she says, and charges, aiming to swing the weapon upwards, and through the demon in her way.  "I swear the GHOST THAT INHABITS THIS PLACE IS SUCH A GIANT NERD!  I BET IT CAN'T EVEN PROPERLY SPOOK A SMALL ANGRY CHILD!" Mikoto says, even as she's stabbing another monster. Look, nobody is saying Mikoto doesn't have issues, nor does she have sane role models. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' On one hand, they shouldn't get too divided. On the other, splitting up is the best way to check all the rooms and make sure they don't miss anything. Rean and Laura go after Mikoto, so Athela opts to follow Emma after Jeanne, with her pokemon bringing up her rear. Though unlike the impulsive girls the young knight's pace is measured and wary, she's on alert for the first sign of danger. Like flaming monster skulls. Yeah, that fits the bill of threat. If they're demons or some other kind of monster doesn't really matter in the end. "Lancer, watch our backs", Athela commands even as she uses a burst of water to launch herself forward at one of the creatures, pulling her weapon from her shoulder and immeadiately into a downward slash. Her pokemon does as he's told, remaining by the doorway they came in and creating two elemental blades in his forepaws to strike anything that tries to get past them, or come in from behind the group. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Finally, an obstacle! They don't strike much of anything into Jeanne, though, beyond disdain and the slightest amount of pity. She does notice that Mikoto's gone off in another direction, but she doesn't appear all that worried about the girl in favor of just glowering at the skull monsters. "Tch... Fine, you'll have to do." Pointing her flag at another creature that Athela isn't already dealing with, Jeanne conjures up multiple spears that circle around behind her, igniting with dark flames as a trio of them launch towards the unlucky target with clear intent to impale it terribly. Her gaze, however, falls on the creature to the side. "You there. Bring us to your leader. Don't waste our time, or you'll suffer the same fate as the others!" 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang frowns at the door, giving it a final haymaker just to make herself feel better, then finds out she's been left alone in the entryhall.     "Okay then..." she heads off in the wake of Rean and Mikoto, rounding the corner only to find a party already started. "Huh... okay then, you guys want some help?" she asks, fists raised defensively, in case something tries to come after her, but Mikoto seems to have the spooky ghosts in check for the most part. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's Group: The skull ghost gets impaled and fades away, and the other one just...chatters at you, before it lets out a ghastly cry. Emma wavers on her feet upon hearing this, using her staff to keep her self upright. Some sort of sleep-inducing sound? Still clinging to her staff, Emma is surrounded in a ring of blue light, before a burst of warmth surrounds her, Athela, Lancer,and Jeanne, raising their strength. There's a loud clanking noise as a suit of possessed armor comes clanking down the ramp to join the skull ghost. Mikoto's group: Mikoto successfully bisects the skull ghost, but is greeted by what looks like a pair of spiked cannons on spiked chariot wheels. There's also some floating swords with it. It charges up the ramp, straight at Mikoto. Like, ungodly fast. Those spikes look like they'd hurt a LOT too. The swords meanwhile gun for Rean, Laura and Yang, swinging as swords are wont to do. Both Rean and Laura parry the ones gunning for them with their own blades, with Laura basically slamming the sword attacking her into the ground with her greatsword. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang uses the strikeplate on the outside of her gauntlets to crossguard against the phantom sword. Sparks fly from the edge of the blade, and the metal of her gauntlets, until she shifts one arm away, turns the blade aside then slams her other fist into the side of the ghost sword, firing her gauntlet shotgun at the moment of impact. Hopefully that shatters the thing, or at least does significant damage to it.     "You've got some really weird monsters in your world Rean." she mentions conversationally. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The ghost goes down easily enough, "Like I said, A gia-oh no," She says as the spiked cannons charge at her.  She blocks with the sword, but the force of the blow sends her flying backward.  She hits the ground at a weird angle and rolls but manages to flip to her feet just moments later.  Ending with her sword in the ground she looks up, narrowing her eyes. As it charges at her, a magic circle appears below her, as a giant elephant charges out of the ground, aiming to try and knock over the chariot with its own overrun manuever.  The two collide, sparing Mikoto, and attempting to in turn return the chariot's attack. "Like I was saying.  /Giant Nerd/!" 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne sighs as the skulls give a grand total of zero answers, then flicks her wrist to draw a darkened blade out of the air in front of her. "Good help is so hard to find some days... You're not even going to listen, are you?" She glares daggers at the possessed armor coming to join them, rolling her shoulder a few times and taking note of that lighter feeling in her arms. "You should be more like... This one here." She gestures vaguely at Emma for a brief moment, then charges at the armor. "But you... If you can't even listen to a simple command, then I have no need for you!" She rushes for it with a broad slash down the middle, definitely not going for one of those samurai-like running slashes before sheathing her blade at the end. (She totally is but she's using a long sword it doesn't really look the same with that.) 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Athela Valemore shifts her attention at the sound of armored footfalls, eyeing the armor clonking down from the stairs. Ghostly armor? It's no Golurk but not really a surprise considering it's a haunted castle, either. "Let no fiend stand in our way!" she calls, channeling some aquamancy through her weapon and causing the glaive's blade to glitter as if reflecting light off the surface of water. Then grips it in both hands and swings, throwing herself forward with the arc aimed at the impending armor with all the force of a torreting stream of water behing her strike, aiming to come in right after Jeanne's charge to hopefully catch the foe on the rebound from that attack. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's Group: Jeanne's definitely not weeby sword strike slashes across the armor's chest, staggering it a bit with Athela's strike fully knocking it to the ground like a heap of metal. Ir rallies, though and quickly rebuilds itself, swinging its arms at both women. Also that skull is still here, but Emma's got it, surrounding herself in blue light again and piercing it with a series of ethereal blades. Like the one before, it vanishes. Mikoto's group: "I'm pretty sure these aren't normal monsters..." Rean says, bisecting the sword that was acosting him. Like the skulls, it vanishes. Same goes with the one acosting Yang as she shatters it. Mikoto's elephant rams the chariot, and the chariot spins its wheels for a while as it tries to charge THROUGH the elephant. Meanwhile the other chariot fires at Yang with a fairly large cannonball. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang spots the incoming cannon shot, and braces. She extends her right hand, palms the cannonball, then turns with the momentum. Aura flares across her body as it absorbs the impact, and as the blonde turns and redirects the shot's momentum, it pulses and covers the cannonball with a golden light. "As a wise man once said." she grins. "Skadoosh."     Yang then hurls the cannonball straight back at the chariot, with all the momentum, plus some extra force added on top, thought her Aura evaporates briefly after performing that little stunt. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The elephant and the chariot clash.  Both pushing against the other as they try and gain better footing against the other.  There is a moment when the Chariot might look like it was winning before the elephant released a mighty elephant noise and put it's back into it.   However, Mikoto was not going to stand still, running on top of the elephant's back, she runs to the head of it while looking to Rean and Laura.  She nods to them and leaps from its head.  They have to move in sequence, aiming each strike to try and weaken the chariot, before she comes down in a hammer blow. Aiming to bisect the monster in twain.   

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' When the armor goes down, Jeanne scoffs once more as she swings her blade downwards at her side to flick off the nonexistent blood. Before she can finish, however, it pulls itself back up faster than Jeanne would have expected it to. "Oh? Maybe this won't be a complete waste of time if these minions can take one hit." Grinning a little bit more, she draws her blade up once more to block that swing, holding it there for a second to get a better look at the armor before bringing her armored boot up to punt it back. "But I'm getting tired of this... Show yourself, master of this castle, or I'll burn this entire place to cinders!" And as if on cue, that floating wyvern finally makes its move. It follows up on Jeanne's kick by spitting flames at the armor, distinctly more red and orange and looking much more like normal fire than the Servant's. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:'''     A shout from the other side of the house asks a very important question to Jean, "HEY JEAN, ARE WE BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE NOW?" Mikoto asks. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' There's a brief pause before Jeanne answers. It's not the pause of someone hesitating, but the pause of someone weighing her options. "It'll be a good plan B!" On one hand, castle. On one hand, burning things. Decisions, decisions. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' On their respective sides of the castle, Emma and Laura both say, "Please don't" and "This place is a part of my family's heritage, I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that." 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Athela Valemore's divine intuition sparks as the armor reconstructs itself, giving her just enough split-second warning to step back and bring her weapon up into a defensive stance. The swinging arm slams against Resolute Blade, shielding her from harm but still hitting with enough force to make her slide backwards. They don't have time to waste dealing with every minion in the castle. "Lancer, lock it down." "Samurott!" The large pokemon moves with some considerable speed for his size. There's a kick and fire to knock them armor over again, and he goes to drive his two icy blades into the armor's arms in an attempt to pin and freeze them to the floor. So even if the armor does just get back up, it will be, shall we say, disarmed, and unable to stop them so easily. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's Group: The armor is incinerated and pinned to the ground, basically now just a pile of old burned metal and no longer ghostly. Emma lets out a sigh of relief, and starts down the path again. Mikoto's group: The chariot gets dunked on, with the cannonball going straight back at it and exploding. Rean and Laura come at the stalled chariot from both sides, with Rean doing a definitely weeby sword run with his actually weeby sword and slashing one wheel and Laura basically smashing off the other. Mikoto comes in with the coup de grace, bisecting it from the top. For both groups the way is clear now, with a glowing orb waiting at the bottom / top of the path respectively. On Mikoto's side it's yellow, and on Jeanne's it's red. Also on Mikoto's side is a large door with a familiar looking flaming flower pattern. "...Doesn't this look like that door from the Old Schoolhouse?" Rean notes. Jeanne's side has a much smaller and plain looking door with a spell circle on it, almost identical to the one that appeared when people smacked the front door, except orange. "...May I?" Emma says, taking the red orb and holding it up to the spell circle. The orb vanishes, and shifts from orange to yellow. "Is there a yellow orb on your side?" She asks the other group. "Can you bring it over here?" She's oddly calm about this dungeon puzzle. Once the groups reconvene and hand over the orb, you all pass into a larger room... where there's two boys being accosted by a bunch of those flaming skulls. One of the boys is crying, and the other is alternately panicking and trying to act tough. Laura immediately draws her blade and charges in, slamming her weapon into one of the skulls. Emma and Rean follow suit, slashing and blasting one each. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Simple enough puzzle, the locals are handling that part at least.     When the missing kids are found being accosted by more monsters, the blonde is quick off the mark. She jinks around the group with a shot from her gauntlet, then fires the other to redirect the momentum and launches herself clear across the room. Mid-flight, she brings her left arm around and aims to clobber one of those skulls with all the boosted momentum from her launch, and a blast from her shotgauntlet on impact. "I've got a bone to pick with you lot." she quips, landing with a skid and interposing herself between the boys and the skulls. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto looks at the sigil, "Huh...it's the same." She says, with a thoughtful look.  "We should check out what this means later.  First killing the bo-I mean rescuing kids.  She says, remembering her priorities.   Walking through the door leads them to one kid trying to act tough, and the other pissing himself.  With a burst of speed thanks to Nanoha's flight and speed, she soars ahead, aiming to crash into the flaming skulls and put herself between the innocents and the monsters.   "What, picking on something your size and power too hard?  It's ok, I'm a bigger fish than you anyway, so it's not fair for you either.  The bigger fish eats the smaller one and all," she says, with a grin.  Her head turns back to the other two, "You better get behind us, leave this to the professionals." And then a skull gets blasted by a buckshot.  She gives Yang a thumbs up, "Nice shot." 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Magic door lock puzzles. And the 'keys' are apparently at opposite ends of the structure? That's actually clever, so it's apparently a good thing they went both ways at once with two groups, and takes less time to get the right door open over all without as much running back and forth. Others are already working on doing that so Athela will leave the puzzle to them. That just means that she's already ready to go as soon as they can make their way into the other room. There's the kids, and more ghosts. "Rear guard, make sure we have a way back out." Her pokemon again waits at the doorway to do just that. While Athela herself gets into the action. "Back to whatever cold nether spawned you, fiends!" She leaps forward while raising her weapon and then swinging down with it, a cluster of jagged snow and ice manifesting with it to come smashing down onto a demonic skull, her version of Icicle Crash. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne is more than willing to let Emma handle the orb, still visibly distracted from the merits of burning the entire place to the ground. That earlier request not to burn it down does have her pausing for a moment, but more out of amusement than anything else. She opts not to set more fires for the time being. When the groups converge, Jeanne's already moving ahead and letting her banner flap above her from the light winds provided by her wyvern follower. When the group encounters the skulls, she doesn't lift a finger to strike at those skulls. There's plenty of firepower between the six other people charging ahead. Instead, she starts taking stock of the room they're in. Obvious entrances, fancy places to sit, signs that someone else might be here besides the minions. "Now where is the lord of this castle? Surely you've got some interest in this place beyond terrorizing some pissant children, right? Come on out, or I might have to do something a little more drastic." Fire may be involved again soon. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Whoa..." The cap-wearing little boy that was trying to be tough says as people start jumping into action. The other boy stops crying and looks up at the group, specifically Laura. "Lady Laura...?" They both then skitter behind Yang and Mikoto, letting them handle the skulls. Eventually the skulls are all gone, and Laura sheathes her sword, turning to the two boys. "Are you alright?" she asks. The boy in the cap nods. "That was so cool!" he shouts, a huge grin on his face. The other boy nods. "Y-yeah..." Rean chuckles. "Looks like they're fine." Laura nods, and then says, "Do you understand how worried everyone in the village is? Not only did you steal a boat, but you both could have gotten hurt." After some stammering, both boys apologize to Laura, and she gives both a gentle pat on the head. Jeanne will notice that there's only one way forward- A long staircase spiraling upwards out of this room. Emma looks up towards the ceiling, and then closes her eyes, as if listening or waiting for something. And then with some hesitation, she says, "...I think whatever is keeping us here is on the floor above us.  It feels like a mass of powerful energy..." Rean raises an eyebrow at this, and then takes on a similar pose. "...Yeah. " He says, opening his eyes. "Do we want to split up? Some of us watch the kids, while the others deal with whatever's upstairs? Or do we want to take them with us?" 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' "They shouldn't be endangered in the fighting, but they cannot leave until we get the gates decharmed, either." Athela turns to look over her shoulder, and her Samurott nods his head. Turns back to the group. "My pokemon can guard the children so we can focus on whatever fiend is behind all this." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     "More monsters could spawn while we're gone." says Yang, turning to kneel down in front of the two boys. "As long as they stay out of the way, I say we take'em with us." She gives them both a big, reassuring grin, and ruffles them both.     Then Athela mentions her pets, and the blonde brawler shrugs. "That'll work. too, I guess." she remarks, then stands and adjusts her jacket. "I'll take point. My Aura should protect me from the worst of whatever it can throw at me, I'll bait it out, you guys follow up and pound it flat."     With that, she sets off toward the spiral staircase, bounding up it two steps at a time. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Right. The kids. Jeanne lets out an irritated groan as she keeps moving towards the staircase, not answering Rean at first as she starts heading up right away. After the first few steps however, she beckons her wyvern decoy over and jerks a thumb backwards. It takes a few moments, but the wyvern soon joins the Samurott in keeping guard over the children whether the stay behind or join the group. The good thing about being able to command her wyvern wordlessly like so is not having to verbally acknowledge the need to protect them further. Plus, it lets her yell up the stairs for speedrunning the castle. "This place could do with some cleaning up... I think I'll take it from whoever had the bright idea to bring me here today!" She's starting to sound a little more excited with the prospect of getting into a fight again, too. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto thinks about the situation until Athela come sup with a solution.  "Works for me.  The sooner we kill whatever is keeping us here, the sooner they're safe.  Anyway, let's go beat up a giant nerd," Mikoto says and walks towards the way up. Mikoto can see the way forward, so of course, she starts moving to try and find the giant source upstairs so she can punch it into submission.  Her jade sword in hand as she gets ready for yet another fight.  After all, it's always another fight. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Samurott raises one seamitar in a salute to the party, then settles in place with the wyvern to watch over the kids. It's almost like having an actual knight and dragon as bodyguards, if the knight was also a exceptionally large sealion. That's one less concern to distract them in the coming fight. Athela shoulders her weapon as she follows the others up the stairs to their next confrontation, keeping her grip ready on the hilt to draw at a moment's notice. Time to put an end to this matter at it's source so they all can go home. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all continue up the staircase, where there's a large room with an orb lying on a pedestal in it. The orb seems to have some sort of pale energy floating in it, and it looks like a bigger version of the key orbs from earlier. Jeanne's comment about "taking the castle" strikes a nerve in Laura, and she draws her sword again. "Absolutely not." Laura says, "This castle was given to my ancestor by the great Lianne Sandlot, and neither fiends nor outsiders will take it from us!" "Uh, Laura? I think you should work that out /after/ we finish up here..." Rean says. "Besides, she's probably joking. I think." Assuming that someone decides to punch the orb, whatever attack gets thrown at it is deflected by another spell circle barrier. Then the orb starts rumbling, leaking out energy until it becomes a giant, skull faced ghost holding a large staff. The boys hide behind Samurott and the Wyvern, and the rest of Class VII gets ready to fight. "A Nosferatu?!" Emma says, beginning to cast. Rean glances at his classmate, before settling into a fighting stance. She oddly knew a lot about what was going on here, didn't she? THere's not really time to think about that though. "Right, let's wrap this up and get out of here!" Rean shouts. ((Boss: https://i.imgur.com/zYyiTUB.jpg  BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1bNrqTXacU )) 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Rounding the top of the stairs, Yang just racks the slide on her gauntlet, and fires at the most obvious thing in the room ahead of her. The Orb.     And that releases the boss monster. "Uuuuh... you're ugly. HEY!" she bellows, slamming her fists together and taking a pose, her hair billowing out as she charges her Semblance. "Yo mama was so fat she sat on a rainbow and candy popped out!" she goads, then sets her feet, fires her gauntlets behind her and launches at the things face, aiming to give it a good solid punch rush while the others catch up and get ready for battle. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne's getting fired up as she progresses along the stairs, grinning just a bit more when Laura shows some hostility. "Is that so? Well, if you can prove to me that you're worthy of it, I might let you borrow it after we're done here." She turns towards Laura with a hand on her hip and a shit-eating grin on her face, only frowning when Rean interrupts with that pesky logic and reasonable behavior. "Tch. What's wrong with skipping to main event? But if you insist... Wouldn't want anyone to interrupt us." Rolling her shoulder, the Dragon Witch turns towards the orb once more. She smirks once more when the monstrous skull ghost appears following Yang punching the boss fight orb, then draws her own sword while raising her banner. "So you're the one that claimed this castle... Will you serve me, or will you die with nobody to remember your existence? Speak now before I get bored!" Spears begin to form around the tip of the Avenger's flag as she advances towards the skull, launching the whole lot of them at it in a massive shotgun-like spray of... Well, spears. Spears that catch on fire on impact. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' A larger version of the previous orb empowered seals for the main gates. Makes sense. Something about this room was making her skin crawl. Samurott seems to sense it too, his whiskers bristling as he steps partway in front of the boys protectively. Sure enough, as soon as someone tries to break the lock so to speak, the monster behind it reveals itself. "So this is the one behind the disturbances." She is entirely unsurprised by seeing Yang get literally in the necrotic creature's face right off the bat. The young knight stops, planting her forward foot to the ground. "Trespass and abduction; come face justice for thy acts, fiend!" As Athela grips Resolute Blade with both hands the weapon starts to gleam with elemental cold, giving it a frosty sheen. "Have at thee!" She lifts the weapon from her shoulder and swipes out with it, the channeled cryomancy sending several sharp icy shards hurtling at the monsters with surprising speed and accuracy! 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gets up, but Yang just flies by and punches the orb directly in the...orb?  Shrugging, she just swings the blade onto one shoulder to watch the transformation.  Of course, it being IDed by the girl causes her eyes to narrow a little.  Better to not think about it right now, but it's far too much of a mystery for her to pass up. She swings the blade in a circle around her, as a magic symbol appears in the ground below her.  The blade goes down as from it raises...well a monster.  Its face is a mask of stained glass, with arms far too long by half.  Various faces appear in those arms.  Faces familiar and unfamiliar, with two hands ending in the hands of shifting animals.  The body created from various jewels, but Jade featuring prominently.   Though in the center, the heart is empty, so much that you can see through it.   The two disappear, as portals of darkness appear to take them away, and then right behind the monster.  She swings the blade in a wide arch, aiming to cut through the creature, while the creature behind her releases a wave of dark elemental energy in a wave in front of her, trying to blast the creature in sequence with the sword strike.   "Hey look, I was right.  It /was/ a nerd." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone's hits strike true in an explosion of attacks, With Laura and Rean slashing the thing as well. Emma's spell loads, and a burst of fire erupts from beneath the ghost. The Nosferatu turns and makes a wide swing with its staff, aiming to hit Mikoto. It then lets out a screech, turning it's head in an inhuman angle to look at Yang. Yang might feel something tugging at her very soul, as well as pulling her towards the thing physically, possibly INTO it. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang launches herself backwards from the thing, landing with a skid after her beat-rush. She purges the spent shells from her gauntlets, the empty casings clattering onto the stonework. She reloads, toissing a pair of fresh clips into the air, then slamming her arms into them, making the chains wrap around. The slides crank back into place, loading the new shells in.     Then something weird happens.     The usually invisible Aura that surrounds her begins to flicker and flare, bending out toward the Nosferatu as it does whatever it's doing. It takes a look as if something's grabbed onto it, and is pulling the woman closer, while she struggles and flails. "Get your grubby mitts off my Aura ya freak! I'll break you in half, then feed one half back to the other!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The staff swings towards Mikoto, and her sword swings to try and clash with the thing.  The two collide, and while the force is powerful and sends enough of a shockwave through her to make her hands numb up a little, she manages to hold her position.  Launching herself away, but as she flies back... Several spears just fly out of nowhere, aiming to repeatedly impale the creature before she lands.  Mikoto's sword comes up, and then out towards the creature as a wave of fire, akin to a dragon's fire breath washes around her, directly towards the spirit. The entire world becomes an inferno around the creature for a moment, aiming to try and completely burn the creature away.  Fire purges, as Athela says!  Jean will likely recognize this attack. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' "Do not give it time to adjust to multiple attackers! Limit it's focus!" is the tactical advice Athela has to offer in the moment. Boss monsters tend to have nasty area effecting attacks if they get a chance to concetrate on them in her experience. A plume of water erupts behind her to boost Athela into the air. She uses the launch to catch her feet against the wall of the room and kick off from it, changing the angle of her actual attack to come from a different direction than she started in. She's essentially diving in on the Nosferatu from above... but her attack isn't aimed at it directly. Rather she aims for the creature's staff, trying to catch it in the snaring prongs of her own weapon. Then twists mid-air to come down on her feet and yank in an effort to lock up the staff in an awkward position so the fiend can't effectively attack or protect himself with it. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "Hmph! So you can't even speak, then... What a waste." Jeanne sounds increasingly annoyed as she marches steadily along. Her sword bursts into flames as she takes her time to walk menacingly at the skull-headed monster, raising an eyebrow as Yang yells at it from way too close up, Mikoto does something strangely similar to her own techniques, and Athela recommends holding the monster's attention. That seems easy enough to work with. "Well, if we're just going to obliterate it, then we should do it properly!" Jeanne cackles as she lunges forward suddenly, thrusting her blade straight at the Nosferatu's center mass while flames continue bursting forth from the weapon. "At least one of you knows how to use fire a little bit." She doesn't look at Mikoto, but she's totally talking about Mikoto. She even sounds more smug about the fact that Mikoto's using something so similar. What Jeanne doesn't seem to care about as much, though, is how Yang's that close to her flames. That, or... She could be doing it on purpose. Someone has to put the 'friend' in friendly fire. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean clambers up onto the pedestal to get some height, and tries to tackle Yang out of getting sucked in...And misses, hanging off of Yang's leg. "...Crap." Then the fire and spears burst through, nearly singing him as he hangs there. "Whoa, watch it!" he shouts. Athela successfully hooks onto the staff, bending it back in an awkward position. This distracts it from trying to eat Yang and Rean, releasing both of them. Rean lets go of Yang's leg, rolling on the ground for a moment before getting back on his feet. Emma, meanwhile holds her staff out in front of her, as the hook shaped implement on the top glows green. After a moment, she shouts, "Well, it's not weak to fire. In fact it resists it a little. But Earth does well against it, and...It's affected by the higher elements! That's Space, Time and Mirage, but I think we can short hand that to include light and darkness...not sure how that works with magic from other worlds." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang is slowly being pulled in, but that's fine by her. Jeanne's flames lap about her as the Servant uses her attack with little or no regard for the possible safety or lack there-of of the blonde brawler. But that's also fine by her.     Rean tackles her leg, knocking her off balance, but she just rolls with it, putting her even further into the lashing flames from Jeanne.     Emma says something about resisting fire and being weak to something blah blah blah, magic nonsense. Yang only knows one magic spell.     As she gets herself back up, digging in her feet and pulling back away from the boss monster, she lets the damage wash over her, flames singing her flesh, burning her outfit completely away in places, but you can see a pattern emerging here.     Yang's eyes flick from lilac to red between blinks, and as she's nearly absorbed into the Nosferatu, she explodes, a wave of force rippling off of her body as her Semblance peaks, and her hair begins to glow gold. "I." she states with a growl. "CAST." fists clench, shotgun slides rack in preparation. "FIST!" Yang rocks back, and starts whaling on the Nosferatu with explosive punches, tearing up the stonework from the blast waves from each gauntlet. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "Well, I guess fire wasn't that effective..." She says, with a frown. Crossing her arms, however, darkness elemental attacks charge up in the arms of the strange monster behind her, and come down in a massive wave of energy trying to blow through the defenses of the monster.   "Seriously, how does darkness relate to time?  I have no idea.." 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "If you're worried about getting incinerated, you should have thought about that before bringing me here!" Jeanne continues cackling madly as the flames from her sword intensify, pouring even more mana into it when Emma notes the creature's resistance to fire while spouting some other stuff she does't quite care about. "Darkness? Heh... Then this should work just fine!" She draws her sword back as her banner catches on fire, twirling the thing about and readying it in front of her like a giant burning spear with a flag stuck to it. Mikoto's question gets a brief shrug from the Avenger as she thrusts her flaming flag forward, then starts stabbing at the monster repeatedly. "Magi have strange ideas of how things work, but who cares as long as it works?" Yang's apparent powerup has Jeanne raising her eyebrow slightly. "... Like that. Is that your magic's name? Shouldn't it be more long-winded than that?" That's... Something of a compliment? Maybe. Another shrug, and then Jeanne gets back to stabbing and slashing with both flag and sword, each of her weapons hot enough to burn through steel and bone. 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' Athela Valemore raises a brow briefly at the mention of Space and Time as elements. Tch, shame Palkia and Dialga have not been seen active for literal ages. Then Yang literally lights up, and channels all that fury in soaking up the flames towards a fist in the fiend's face. "I swear, that woman posesses Moody ability." But the Huntress has the right idea, at times like this it is best to stick to what they know best and strongest instead of concerning over if a certain weakness collaberates or not. Athela thrusts Resolute Blade overhead, channeling more aquamancy into the artifact weapon. Elemental energy radiates briefly at the point of the blade, then spreads in a spiraling cascade downward until she's entirely engulfed in the rippling water-like aura. "The currents of Justice shalt wash way this foul presence from the land!" She lowers the weapon as she spins around, thrusting it out towards the Nosferatu as she turns to face it again. As she does there's a raging roar not unlike that of a great wave crashing upon the shore as the elemental charge is released and Athela is hurtling towards the monster, the full brunt of her aquaphilic force on the point of her weapon like some massive elemental lance. "TIDAL BREAKER!" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Yang gets all fired up and casts fist, punching the Nosferatu right in the face. Its head tilts back from the force, staggering it a bit. Mikoto's shadow guardian does its shadow thing, slamming right into the ghost's back, while Jeanne comes at it from the front. And then Athela's attack comes crashing down on it like a giant tidal wave. Laura jumps in as well, her greatsword blazing with light as she slams into it with as much force as she can muster. The Nosferatu lets out one last wail, and then fades away, collapsing back into it's orb form. "Did we beat it?" Rean asks, but almost immediately it starts glowing again, outputting that soul sucking force. And then in an instant, a silver lance pierces the orb. It instantly shatters, filling the room with a brilliant blinding light. If you manage to look in the direction of where the lance was thrown, you might see a silhouette of an armored woman, absorbing the blue light that once was within the orb. But she's gone as soon as she came. Probably just another ghost! 

:'''{{#var:994|Athela Valemore (994)}} has posed:''' "Don't let it respa--" Athela is cut off by a lance smashing the orb, and the one that threw it disappearing before so much as a thank you or questions can be given. "--Nevermind." Pause. "At least it didn't Self-Destruct like the damn Golem cultists." The mysterious helper is gone, but what they came to do is done. Athela gives her glaive one twirl before resheathing it to her back and walking over to her pokemon and they wyvern still guarding the kids. "Let's get these lads home before the families worry farther." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Most people would sit around after that wondering what happened... Mikoto was anything but normal. Covering her eyes, but managing to catch a glimpse of the source of the spear, guardian and Mikoto faded into a portal of darkness, only to appear right where the woman was to try and chase.  Between this and Nanoha's superior speed, she hoped to discover the source of the spear. And it's kill stealing wielder. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto catches a glimpse of a blonde haired woman in silver armor, but she's pretty damn fast for someone in armor. She drops off a nearby balcony facing the lake, and it's hard to track where she went. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' Jeanne grunts in irritation as the monster is destroyed, orb and all, and she watches as the ghostlike figure flees with Mikoto giving chase. The Avenger doesn't bother going after her, instead turning her attention back towards the people that had called the Elites here to begin with. More specifically, she turns to Emma as the apparent brain of the locals. "You. Can you sense anything else here thatneeds killing? Because if there aren't..." She glances around a few times before resting that banner on her shoulder, the flames flickering out slowly aside from small embers still coming off the burning fabric of the banner. Jeanne starts moving again, parks herself on a throne, then crosses one leg over the other and grins at the gathered crew. "Take the brats and get out of my castle. Or clean it up before you go. I don't really care." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:'''     "So who's going to cook for you if you live here?" Mikoto says, dropping down from the higher level area near Jean. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Laura glares at Jeanne, then sighs. "If you wish to live here, then I should probably get my father." She ushers the two boys out of the room. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "I never said I'd live here. This place is a dump." Jeanne wrinkles her nose while glancing around again, then turns back to Mikoto and Laura with that same shit-eating grin she had earlier. "But it can be fixed up. It's mine now, so I'll leave that job to the people that used to own it." She chuckles briefly, leaning into the throne for a few seconds before getting back up with another sour look on her face. "... This throne is awful. Replace it before I come back." She says to nobody in particular before magicking her sword away into the ether and making her way back out. She gestures at the wyvern to follow, the beast lingering for a moment longer before it and its brethren rejoin her. At least she didn't try to burn the place down. 
}}

User:StarSketch

2020-07-20T19:01:20Z

StarSketch: Created page with "A bean and a punchy gamer walk into a MUSH..."

A [[Rean_Schwarzer|bean]] and [[Mauve_Gauntlet |a punchy gamer]] walk into a MUSH...

7167/Intermission: Returning Home

2020-05-24T07:50:06Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2020/05/23 |Location=Ymir, Erebonia |Synopsis=Class VII and Allies go to Rean's hometown of Ymir for some relaxation...only for a certain phantom t..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/05/23
|Location=Ymir, Erebonia
|Synopsis=Class VII and Allies go to Rean's hometown of Ymir for some relaxation...only for a certain phantom thief to ruin everything far more than anyone would have expected. Secret identities are revealed (again) and the worst happens to Mikoto...
|Thanks=Thanks Mikoto (or I guess Sumiko now) for the boss suggestion >>
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7, 7002, 1143, 6936, 7075, 7228
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The village of Ymir is in a word, quaint. It's main claim to fame is The Phoenix Wings, an inn with a hot springs, apparently a gift from the Imperial family generations ago. The trip itself is a gift from the current Imperial family for Class VII and allies for helping defend the Empire. You all arrive by funicular cable car in the late afternoon, alongside Class VII, Towa, George, Angelica and Instuctor Sara.  It's supposed to only be an overnight stay, but given how quiet it was up here...Maybe it would be enough to get their minds off of how things have changed for all of them recently.  Ymir is also Rean's hometown, so at one point or another he disappears to go visit his family (possibly with Mikoto or anyone else who wants to see them in tow) since Elise is also taking a day off from school to be here. Otherwise, it's just an average small town mountain village. Not much to do here, except relax. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' It was a very quaint place and the name of Ymir did get Kotone's attention. Why certain gods and things were multiversal happenings had always made her wonder. Then again so were humans so maybe it was something to do with that. The important thing was hot springs, which had the cyborg quite eager for a little downtime today. had a duffle over her shoulder with some extra clothing, she'd also brought some local from where she lived to share with Rean's family as well. "Hot Springs and meeting Rean's family? This sounds like it should be a nice relaxing day. I'm from what's considered a small town for where I'm form and I'm liking what I see here, Rean." She was also curious to check out the town as well if time premitted. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto arrives, being dragged along with Rean.  She's somewhat disinterested, not because she's mean but because something seems to be weighing on her mind lately. She goes through the motions of socially acceptable greetings and mostly stays quiet.  Eyes on the town around her as she sighs.  The snow was a nice change of pace, she admits... Though at Kotone's words she gives him a sly look out of the corner of her eye, "Ooooh?  What's gotten you so excited to see Rean's family?  Is there something you are Rean want to tell me?  Found love unexpectantly in each other's arms?" She says, obviously teasing.   That did seem to cheer her mood up a little, but when hasn't she used Rean as a chew toy, and it had not cheered her up a little? 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     Touta didn't need as much dragging along. He was curious more often than not what Rean's hometown was like, so he was eager to tag along with the group. As they enjoy themselves on the funicular cable car. He hadn't spoken to Rean or the others in a while, though going by the mood of those in the car he tries to keep the conversation light. "Hotsprings huh, that should be great. Hey Rean, how good to you think they'll be? You know Mikoto and I will be very thorough judges if they aren't ya know." He nudges Mikoto a little, a bit to tease her but also a bit to tell her to ease up on teasing Rean. "Anyway, thanks for inviting all of us again. Been looking forward to coming here for a while. Feel like it's way over due." 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Glancing around curiously, Cordelay moves with a skip in her step the warrior didn't normally display as a pack bounces on her back with each step. "Ah, how lovely if that is true! A romance that spans worlds!" Her tone is teasing yet friendy as she surveys the area, eager to experience the rumored hot springs. "I must admit to some curiosity as well. Not every family can produce a warrior of Master Rean's caliber. And these hot springs have me fascinated - Levail territory contains nothing of the sort." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     "Woooooooow! This looks amazing! I can't wait to get there."     The young blonde girl stands on the tips of her toes as she looks out the window of the cable car at the mountain vista spread out below.     Standing beside her daughter, Nanoha grins at the enthusiasm. But in true mum fashion, cautions her, "Now, Vivio, remember to have warm clothing ready when you're outside. It'll likely be cold." Nanoha moves a hand to gently pat Vivio's head.     Vivio beams at the attention, replying, "Yes, mama."     After having participated in several missions to assist the Empire, this gift of a stay at a hot springs village presented a good opportunity for Nanoha to take a vacation with her daughter. If only for a short time. As her work load has picked up more since expanding her efforts out into the Multiverse, there hasn't been as much time for family getaways like this. Nanoha can't help but briefly giggle though as she notices Vivio staring at Touta. The young girl is a little wide-eyed, whispering to her mother, "You know all the coolest people, mama!"     Nanoha will take the opportunity to meet Rean's family, if only to simply introduce herself and ensure them that their son is working diligently and has numerous friends and allies looking out for him. Plus Nanoha understands that Rean's sister will be there. From what she's heard, Nanoha has no doubts Vivio will get along with her. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Angelica gives Kotone a brief wave, remembering her from the bike race. "Nice to see you again." She says, though there's a bit of a somber look on her face. And of course, Mikoto is teasing him again. He's used to it at this point though. "That's not what's going on here..." Rean says. He then sidles up next to Mikoto, a light smile on his face. "Though, you're not wrong about the 'romance that spans universes' thing. You've just got the wrong person." Rean nods to Touta. "Yeah, it has. I'm surprised you didn't come up sooner. And, well it's my point of comparison for this sort of thing, so I think it's good at least. Fairyland Hall has one, too, right?" When everyone arrives at the Schwarzer mansion, You're greeted by Lady Schwarzer. "Oh, hello." She says. "I wasn't expecting this many people to come visit." "Umm...Hi Mom." Rean says, "Sorry, they all wanted to come see you guys too, and I wouldn't be surprised if my classmates come over later-" It's then that Lady Schwarzer pulls him into a tight hug, even with him standing a full head taller than her. "Welcome home, Rean." "Mom-" Rean starts, slightly embarrassed. then he sighs. "Glad to be back." "Mother, is that Rean!?" a girl's voice sounds from inside, alongside some frantic running. Past Lady Schwarzer, is a girl with dark hair and blue eyes like her mother - Rean's sister Elise. She then looks across the large group that's formed - Mikoto especially - and sighs, her excitement fading. "Welcome home, brother. And hello, everyone." She says, giving a small curtsy to the group. Everyone is invited inside for some tea, and to talk some more. Baron Schwarzer is also inside, a stocky man with short brown hair. "Nice to meet all of you." He says." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto is nudged by an elbow, to which she looks almost /hurt/ at Touta.  She, while flashing a sort of grin, shrugs though and then gets it turned around on her when Rean does his own spans the universes thing.  She gets a slight flush in her cheeks but turns her head away.  "Oh whatever, let's go.  Hopefully your sister won't make me feel like an outcast this time." She looks at Vivio, to which she gives a small wave.  She doesn't dislike kids or even feels that strongly about them.   When showing up at the house, Mikoto looks amused at Rean's mother giving him a hug in front of all of his friends.  "Hello, Mrs. Schwarzer..." of course there is the call from upstairs she was dreading.  With her own sigh, she waits for Elise to give her own disappointed sigh.   "Hello Elise, run headfirst into any dungeons lately?" she says, a bit teasingly to probably gain some control of the situation.  Eventually tea is set and Mikoto quietly is back sipping hers.   

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay offers a curtsey to the Schwarzers and states, "I am Cordelay Levail, daughter of Sartaire the Dragon of Sioran. It is an honor to meet the family that raised such a skilled man as Master Rean." A small smile graces her lips as she straightens again, pulling her pack off her back as she continues inside and producing an ornate blade in an equally ornate scabbard from inside before offering it to the Baron. "A gift from my father, as a token of respect." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "I'm Curious and honestly it far more enjoyable than what I been having to do lately, back home. Namely exterminating invasive multiversal lifeforms that got into the public works tunnels under Vancouver." She makes a face about that. She looks over to Cordelay for a moment. "With Hotsprings you in for quite the enjoyable experience." Touta "Ever thought of getting a Stream cast about reviewing hot springs." Nanoha gets a look and Kotone grins, she also pauses at Vivio and smiles at them. "Hello it's good to meet you!" She may have candy for Nanoha's daughter, but that's for later. For now she'll rise up and looks over to Angelica. "It is, and I should invite you for a ride along with one of the highways back in Canada at some point it might help give you some ideas." Soon she's meeting up with Rean's family and she hears the little girl she grins watching the kid dart out for Rean and everyone else. "Hello I'm Kotone Yamakawa." Once she's invited in she would share her gift a slab of vacuum-packed smoked salmon. It's pretty good and there's a slight maple flavour to it once someone tries it. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Vivio is waved at. The energetic young girl waves back happily. She also replies to Kotone, "Hello!" She definitely seems friendly!     The group arrives at the Schwarzer home, where they are met by Rean's mother. As she gives him a hug, Nanoha can't help but smile at the sight. It's always good to see that people have someone around who cares for them.     As Rean's sister comes running out to meet him, Vivio's eyes go a little wide as she looks at the older girl. She then whispers to her mother, "Wow, she's pretty!" Nanoha simply gives Vivio a smile and nod in agreement.     The group are led inside for tea and to meet the Baron. As it comes time for introductions, Nanoha bows to the Schwarzers, "Hello. I am Captain Nanoha Takamachi with the Time-Space Administrative Bureau. It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for your hospitality. I expect we won't intrude on it for too long."     Beside Nanoha, Vivio also gives a bit of a bow, "I'm Vivio Takamachi. It's nice to meet you!"     Soon tea is served and Nanoha and Vivio joins the group. Between sips, Nanoha says to Rean's parents, "I've been assisting your son with some of his missions. Rest assured that he has been doing quite well, along with the rest of his class." 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     This trip was already more pleasant than he expected, he could only hope she felt the same even if he was teasing her just a bit. Being able to relax with his adopted sister, Mikoto. Seeing a few more familiar faces, and even a 'fan' of his! Heck, if he had known Nanoha was bringing her daughter he would have brought her a gift or something. Unlike Mikoto he didn't seem to have an issue with kids. After all, part of his job back home was playing with the orphanage children they had at Fairyland Hall. So of course chatting with someone who had a similar background to his was fun for him as well!     Nods when he asks about Fairyland hall's hotsprings. "Yep! We're a hotsprings inn, it's literally part of the whole reason we have some of our guests come visit us. And uh, yeah, things were kinda crazy for a while. But now that they calmed down a bit I'm glad I can sorta just take time to check up on my pals and all that stuff. Never one when something crazy's gonna pop up so gotta enjoy those moments, ya know." It's something he's started to realize. Something he can reflect on.     Though rather than talk about all that, let's skip to where Rean sees his family again! Touta can't help but give an honestly sincere smile. There's nothing that honestly made him feel smirk as much as seeing Rean's mom hug him so tightly even as old as he was and well...It kinda made him headpat Mikoto for a second. As if to try and share that sort of familial bond if only a fraction of what Rean's family had. Though when there's noise from upstairs and the sound of a sighing, he realizes the situation quickly with a chuckle. "Oh Rean, this is your sister? Huh, she looks nothing like ya. Not that it's a bad thing, still pretty cute though. Nice meeting ya! Name's Touta, I'm Mikoto's brother and a buddy of Rean's."     As per usual Touta has the /best/ ice breakers...Sorta. Though as he sees Rean's father come down as well, he actually takes a moment to look over the family. He actually wanted to say some words to the family but it seems like Nanoha beats him to it as she assures them of his performance as a Paladin...And this is when Touta does something...Very formal.     He walks up beside Nanoha and gives a respectful bow to both his parents. "Uh...I should give a proper introduction too. My name is Touta Konoe, I'm Mikoto's foster brother, but also a friend of Rean. I know Miss Takamichi just said that your son's been handling his missions very well, but uh...I just wanted to give my thanks to you guys for raising him the way you did. Rean's become a close buddy, a trusted friend, and someone I've come to respect. I can only imagine part of that is because of the way you raised him, so I wanted to say how great it is to finally meet you all, and definitely reassure you guys that Rean really is making a difference out there..."     Okay, maybe he was laying it on the family real thick right there but well...When Touta has respect for someone, he gives respect. And this is one of the rare occassions he's meeting someone's family as well. Of course this was the level of courtesy he had to give! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Baron Schwarzer takes the dagger and places it somewhere for safekeeping. "Guys..." Rean says, listening to everyone's very glowing opinion of him. "That's good to hear." Baron Schwarzer says with a laugh. "We've always tried to do what's best for him for the last 12 years." Meanwhile, Elise and Mikoto are...Not getting along that well. "...You don't know anything at all." She mutters to herself, after Mikoto's last barb. Her fists are clenched and she's leering at Mikoto. Rean sighs. "Ok, come on you two." What was wrong with Elise. Lady Schwarzer notices that her daughter is getting riled up. "Oh no...Elise, honey could you put this away?" She says, holding out the smoked salmon tray. Elise nods then takes the fish with her into the kitchen. "...Yes, Mother." On her way out, though she gets one last shot at Mikoto. "It seems I'm mistaken then. After all, I'm sure Rean has the sense to not date a bully." "Elise-!" Baron Schwarzer says. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "Pot and kettle," Mikoto says, with a bit of an edge in her voice, "But it's fine, it seems to be a common trait of those in a higher station.  I'm not good enough.  For either the affection of your brother or your respect.  I mean, I only was responsible for the saving of your life on two occasions, one of which nearly cost me my own," Mikoto says finishing her tea.   "It was delicious, Mr. and Mrs. Schwarzer, I will excuse myself," she says, standing up and bowing.  "I will meet you all back in town," She says to the others and walks towards the door.   Once outside, she took a look at her gem, pulling the item out of her ring to look at its murky surface.  Sigh...she should cleanse this before it got too bad.  "I'm sorry, I'll try and control that more.." She says, talking to the crystal?  Who can say? 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     Can't help but smirk at Baron's laughter. It was hearty and relaxing. The kind of laugh you'd expect from a good father. Though as nice as the family bonding seems to be, the two sisters appear to be butting heads. While it might have been expected for a sibling and a girlfriend to be at each other's throats he was actually...Surprised how things were escalaint, "Ehehe, yeah come on Mikoto. Let's try to play nice, we're guests here still right?" It seemed that something really was getting under Mikoto's skin about Elise as well...     Like a good mother though, Rean's mom can read the room and takes action to try and aid the situation, unfortunately like an upset teen, Elise decides she needs the last word. It's enough that it encourages some rather harsh words from Mikoto as well. "Mikoto..." He knew that she could be a bit rough sometimes but this felt a bit more rough than usual. Then to go as far as leaving out of the blue, "Mikoto? Wait, hold on! Sorry Rean, I'll go check up on her!" He excuses himself quickly following Mikoto out. He doesn't know what's up but he can hear a brief mumbling as she looks at her ring. "Hey...Mikoto...Is everything alright? I know Elise was being prickly, but I've seen you roll with the punches way worse than what she was dishing out. Something up?" He tries to stand by his sister's side, to try to be there and support her as unconditionally as he could. Like family should. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' After watching the exchange between Elise and Mikoto and their subsequent depatures, Cordelay sighs softly. "You have my sympathies, Master Rean. I cannot hope to understand their situation without knowing the history behind it, but I sincerely hope they can learn to respect each other. Hopefully Lady Mikoto will recover her composure in time for our excursion to the hot springs." With Mikoto and Touta having left, she seems unsure of exactly what to say, settling for simply standing in solidarity with Rean. "That aside, Lady Elise is still quite young. Hopefully time will mend their bonds." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Vivio doesn't fail to notice the tension between Mikoto and Elise as she looks between them. As Elise begins to carry the tray of salmon off, Vivio quickly hops down from her seat, exclaiming, "I'll help!" She rushes over to catch up to the older girl and follows into the kitchen. As they do so, Vivio strikes up a conversation, "Mama says you go to a fancy school. Vivio is in the fourth grade at the St. Hilde Academy of Magic. What's your school like?"     Nanoha watches the Elise and Mikoto leave in their own directions. The rivalry is clear, even if Nanoha isn't particularly aware of the reasoning. She gives the older Schwarzers a bit of a sheepish look.     Hoping to try and improve the mood, Nanoha tries for a totally-not-obvious subject change, "So. Do you recommend anywhere in particular that we should visit while we're here?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa enjoys her tea as well she enjoys things like this and is happy to get a chance to try it. She seems pretty happy with her day so far and she looks to Rean for a moment and then to Baron Schwarzer. She keeps out of the verbal sparring match with Mikoto and Rean's sister. She watches as the Salmon is taken to the kitchen and she hopes Rean's family gets a chance to enjoy it. "It's right She is young she will lean eventually right? Yes I'm wondering what are parts of the village that would be good for us to visit aside from the hot springs?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Inside: "Mikoto, wait--" What was going on? Both of them were extremely prickly today. Since Touta was handling Mikoto, he turned to look at the entrance to the kitchen. "Should I..." Lady Schwarzer shakes her head. "I think she needs some alone time right now. I'll go talk to her in a moment." Rean nods, once everyone pitches in about her hopefully growing into it. "I hope so too."   "Hmmm..." Baron Schwarzer says to Kotone and Nanoha, crossing his arms over his chest. "There's the Valley's Echo Tavern, and the area around the village is rather scenic." "It's unfortunate that it's not winter, there's a long hill that the children use to snowboard or sled down." Lady Schwarzer says. "Otherwise, there's a nice area to fish over in the Ymir Valley. Though monsters sometimes appear near that road, I'm sure you all can handle it if something goes awry." "Oh, Rean. Before I forget, a letter came for you." Baron Schwarzer says. He hands Rean a plain envelope, labeled with his name in familiar calligraphy. "Is this...?" "It's from Master Ka-Fai." Baron Schwarzer says with a nod. "He visited not too long ago." "I see.." Rean says, opening the letter. "Master Yun Ka-fai is the man who taught me everything I know about swordsmanship." Rean says, explaining to the others. "He's known as the Sword Hermit, because he's pretty much always on the move." He flips through the pages "He seems healthy, at least. Though..." He's eyeing a sentence at the end of the letter. "...Even after all this time, he somehow knows how to see right through me." Outside: There's no one outside right now, just Mikoto, her Soul Gem, and Touta. It's also starting to snow, despite not quite being the correct time of year for it. Suddenly, there's a whirlwind of petals, passing over Mikoto and Touta. Touta might sense someone passing by in the storm...But there's something more important to notice once the petals cease. Mikoto's Soul Gem is gone. Near her, be it in her hands in its place or on the ground next to her, is a brown envelope with the Thors horned lion emblem on it. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Touta can see from his angle that the Gem was murky.  It was probably why Mikoto was on edge and a bit touchy.  It was also likely why she came outside, to get away and cleansed the gem as to not be a bother.  She looks up to Touta coming out with another sigh.  This wasn't working, she knew it.   Maybe if she said something, explained the situation out?  Then the fear of what might happen once that was let out of the bag would... Snow?  Her head was turned up for a moment.  That's...?  It shouldn't be snowing here now, right?  A freak storm?  No it was still too warm for that... The whirlwind of petals catches the Japanese girl off guard, staggering through the sudden breeze, only to have the item in her hand carried off.  Oh no.... Oh no no no no.  Mikoto's eyes became round.  She looks around, only to see the envelope.  "Oh f-!" Mikoto keels over, falling to the ground but instead of hitting the ground in a slump, her body hits the ground like shattering glass.  Instead of being in tiny pieces of Mikoto, however, the glass laid on the ground as it slowly started to fade away like magic. Instead, what was there was a DIFFERENT young woman, her clothing tattered, dirt on her arms and legs, as well as various scars.  Her body was mostly covered by a Pancho-like covering that had seen better days and was in various bits of tattered.  The hair of the woman was long instead of short like Mikoto's.  Her eyes were also a brilliant green color, unnaturally glowing. She looks at her hand, the nails a bit too long.  Her skin is a bit too pale.  The voice is, oddly the same.  "Son of a bitch...he stole what was mine from me!" she says sneering, as she moves to take the letter.  "Worse she's not even ready for this yet...damn!  Right when those two were ready to find a way to sustain her.  No no, maybe if we act fast..." she seems to be talking to herself out loud.   Opening the note as fast as she can. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Sumiko opens the letter and finds a piece of paper with the following on it: "'Ladies and gentlemen of Class VII, and those from beyond Zemuria:'" Rean says, reading the letter aloud. "'I write in the hopes of entrusting you with an additional field study task. Journey along the Ymir Valley, and may you bring an end to this extraordinary snowfall, and retrieve the crystal heart of a beloved maiden. As this calamity affects many things that are dear to him in particular, Rean Schwarzer must come along.'" It seems whoever wrote this was expecting someone from Class VII to find Mikoto unconcious on the ground with it and not...this. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha nods along as she listens to the suggestions from the Schwarzers. Maybe the tavern will be a good place to get some dinner later. Her eyes widen a little at the mention of the road through the valley, "Monsters?" She taps her chin, "Maybe it could be a good opportunity for Vivio to practice fighting something other than her fellow competitors."     Nanoha is still pondering the idea of taking her ten-year-old daughter out hunting monsters when the gem hanging around her neck softly flashes to life, saying, <Caution, Master. There is a disturbance outside.> Nanoha blinks, looking down at her Device. She then gets a concerned look. Raising Heart wouldn't mention something like this if it wasn't serious.     Nanoha wordlessly stands, swiftly walking towards the exit and making her way out of the Schwarzer's home.     Upon exiting, Nanoha notices a distinct lack of Mikoto and instead someone unfamiliar. Nanoha looks confused, "Who...?" She looks at Touta, "Touta, what's going on?" 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     Walking out and asking what was the issue, he notices the Soul Gem. How murky it wasa and what that had meant for Mikoto. It seemed like the obvious reason that she would be concerned. He could offer to try and extract some of it if she wanted, but rather than offer it he knew that it was better to see if she wanted him to. So as she gives her sigh, he waits patiently for her to speak. though just as she's about to speak...     "Mmmm? Snow?" He sees the small white flakes fall from the sky, "Huh, I thought it was too early for it here to do that. That's so wei-" dancing snowflakes get overrun by the whirlwind of petals that buffet the two of them, though more than petals it felt like another sort of weight had past them both by. His eyes try to perceive what was in the eye of this miniature petal storm in that brief instant that it appears and disappears. And while it's hard to tell if he caught a glimpse of anyone, there's something he can see quite clearly.     Empty. Mikoto's hand was empty. Where that Soul Gem was had vanished all in but an instant. Touta knowing Mikoto's condition knew well enough how important that gem was. Had it fallen to the floor? If it hadn't...Mikoto does! "Mikoto!!!" Her brother shouts as loud as he can into a panic as he slides to the ground to catch her, but as he catches her...She shatters in his hands. Her body fading away like ash..."Mikoto...Mikoto?! MIKOTO?!!?!?" There's a legitimate concern on his face till he sees the differnt young woman that's where her body had been left in his arms.     "...Mikoto? No...You're..." Not his sister. Whowever this was didn't seem to appear like her at all. Everything about her was off. Before he can even ask any questions though the girl springs to life, panicking just as much as he is. "Oi, oi, oi, who the hell are you?! Are you one of Mikoto's familiar....A witch...Thing?" It feels like an odd question to ask but he just has no clue what the hell just happened, and he's worried. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "She's gone to clear her head a bit." She notes for a moment she pauses for a moment as she looks at the letter that Rean gets not that she's going to try and snoop about it as they talk. She's about to say more but she catches Nanoha getting up and the chatter. Kotone catches on she needs to go outside and soon she'll be heading out. "Mikoto? Touta? What's going on out.... where's Mikoto and who are you Miss?" What's going on here she hears Mikoto over the radio but where is she and who is this? Whatever is going on now it's way more than just going out to clear one's head. With Touta's reaction she gets a bit of a sinking feeling about something major is going down... 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay begins following everyone else out, but Touta's shouts make her hasten her steps. "Has something happened to Lady Mikoto?!" She asks forcefully as she bursts outside, her hands instinctively settling into position to draw her swords at a moment's notice. "Master Touta, what- Who is that?" She cuts herself off as she spots the unfamiliar girl in Mikoto's place, her warrior's instincts on high alert. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' /Something/ is going on outside, based on the radio chatter. "...I'll be right back." Rean says, folding up the letter and stuffing it in his uniform pocket. He then heads outside and spots Touta with...someone else. Someone with Mikoto's voice? "Touta, what...This is some sort of joke, right? Where's Mikoto?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Sumiko tosses the letter at Rean, "Read this," she says bluntly.  "I don't have time for games, and neither does Mikoto...or rather, the actual Mikoto." She, meanwhile, takes a look at her hands.  Geeze, been a while as the temporary fusion had taken place, the Glamor must have been dispelled when she was taken away from Sumiko...ugh this was going to be a mess.   Not to mention, being livid at the fact that something of hers was stolen.   

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     There's panic and fear on Touta's face. He had already come to experience loss before, he thought he was ready for more but this...This was too odd. Too sudden. There was no explanation as simpe as death that could explain this, and yet when this person speaks...They say some things that well...Don't go over too well with Touta.     "THE HELL WAS THAT?!"      There were many things Touta could handle. Being belittled, being beaten, he could literally handle death itself...But to say that he didn't care, that was something that actively hurt him more than most wounds could. "...I don't care..." His fists fidget for a moment looking like they're about to slug her for saying that shit...Then she says something as weird and off as 'half of her was still here...That half thought...     He slowly puts his hands on the strangers shoulders. "Oi...Don't screw with me like that...If she felt that way, she would have told me...She may bottle things up sometimes but she would have said...Something..." He looks into the shining green eyes with his dark eyes, yet a glisten can be seen in them. A look holding back tears in this panic. Sumiko may say that he doesn't care but well...It certainly doesn't look that way... 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean takes the letter and reads it over. "What the..." Rean says. His hand are shaking as he tightly  Were they...did someone take Mikoto's soul just to mess with him? (Was it his fault someone he cared about was in danger again?) Not only that but...Was someone lying to him about who they were /again?/ /After/ He'd opened up to them? What the hell did she mean by 'Half of Mikoto' anyway? Rean roughly folds up the letter, placing it in his pocket next to the other one. "...At the end of the valley is an animist monument, and 8 years ago I touched it and it started to snow unseasonably hard. If that's happening again, that's where Mikoto is." Rean says, trying to keep his focus and not let his anger at whoever was doing this get the better of him. "Cordelay's right. We need to move. 'Half of Mikoto' or no, you're coming along." Rean says turning to Sumiko. His eyes are /red,/ not violet. Rean leads the way into the Ymir Valley as the snow starts falling harder and harder. At the very end of the path is a slab of stone with a concentric circular pattern, resting in the middle of a now frozen over spring. And right in front of it is Mikoto's soul gem, gently resting on the icy ground. 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     If Rean says 'leads the way' means getting strong armed by Touta and using Shundo to go at a mad-dash towards the frozen over springs, then yes. He is in fact leading the way. Touta was the only one that saw the gem and he knows how little time they have. They don't have time to argue, they don't have time to figure out Sumiko's deal even. All Touta can hope for is that getting her soul gem back will be enough to return Mikoto to normal. "Rean...Sorry...Just keep your eyes open enough to point alright?"     With that said he looks towards the others, "Sorry to be rushed Nanoha, but if you can get the others to follow behind...And you...You better be as quick as you say you are..." He exhales quickl as he grips Rean. It's probably rude, maybe a bit demasculating, and he'll properly apologize but for now...The earth around Touta's feet begin to crack before he kicks off the ground. In the next instant the boy, and the young man he's carrying dart off in a blur. "Rean! You gotta tell me when to turn! I can't change direction on the dime!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Sumiko's face looks up at Touta's as he puts hands on her shoulders.  Even as the tears come down, she does not look caring or thoughtful, but like a monster with the voice of a girl he knew.  Her hands move up to grab his own, and pull them off.  "I won't lie to you...well not anymore, Touta, but I won't let you lie to yourself.  It seems this is far more for your sake than mine, but my other half was far too worried about everything falling apart around her." She says and moves away.  Her gaze looks over to Rean, to which she sighs... "I didn't want it...we didn't want it to come out like this, this close to what happened.  It was a difficult situation for us both, but she without a body, and me without a home to call my own..." she trails off.  "Well, I won't make excuses, if you want to hold a grudge for what I did, then simply lay it on my shoulders." "After all, I am a Cardinal Vice, it is easier this way," She says as she draws a sword out of thin air.  The blade, seemingly made out of diamonds, thrusts into the ground as from the earth, a horse like an object, made of glass, trots out.  It's wings, also of glass, flap as Mikoto gets on.  If nobody else sits behind her, she takes off following Rean's direction. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa waits for the results on the letter, but it's clear they are going to have to move. As Rean gives the details it's time to move out. Rean has got serious it seems Mikoto has been split in half and wait are Rean's eyes red? He is not a cyborg so that does get Kotone's attention and concern. She will take enough time to recover her matter manipulator which she has some emergency supplies. She soon has some sort of SMG or assault rifle and a few other bits of kit ready but no real-time to get anything more serious. "All right Rean what else do we need to know about this location? Is there anything we can use against the kidnapper?" At Touta talking about going to keep one's eyes open? She'll shift to thermal vision and start tracking heat sources." She will double dash and double jump along as she goes leaving Nanoha to go give someone else who needs a lift more than she does. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay nods and walks over to Nanoha, preparing to fly. Her face is a mask of calm - though she's as angry as any of them, she keeps her expression carefully neutral. She is a warrior, after all, and letting one's emotions betray them can be disastrous in battle. "I will see you all there. We cannot fail, no matter the cost." She looks to Nanoha and nods. "At your ready, Lady Nanoha." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha takes in the revelation of what happened rather well, looking between Touta and Sumiko intently. Then at Rean as he reads out the letter. Anyone who has been paying attention to Nanoha would easily be able to see the difference in her demeanor. Where before she was relaxed, casual, with a friendly smile. She is now a fair bit cooler, projecting an aura of authority more befitting her rank and position as a combat instructor.     The need to act swiftly becomes obvious with the condition of Mikoto's Soul Gem revealed. A soft light engulfs Nanoha, her form changing a little as her combat dress manifests. Once her transformation is complete, Nanoha moves over to Cordelay and says, "Hold on." Nanoha wraps an arm around Cordelay's waist and once she's ready, Nanoha blasts off into the air. The aura of pink surrounds the two, trailing off into a curve as they turn to follow in the same approximate direction as Touta.     As she flies, Nanoha turns her head back in the direction of the village, 'Vivio?'     Vivio's voice echoes back inside Nanoha's mind as the telepathic connection is established, 'Yes, mama?'     Nanoha carefully thinks, 'Something has come up... An incident. Stay with the Schwarzers and help protect the village if something happens. It probably won't... But just in case...'     Vivio replies, 'Okay! Good luck!'     Nanoha smiles, 'Thanks.' She looks forward again, angling down towards their apparent destination.     Slowing down, Nanoha touches down softly on solid ground once more. She releases her hold on Cordelay and looks around... The soul gem is easily visible, out in the open, with no obvious signs of the perpetrator. Nanoha looks concerned, "I don't like this..." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean doesn't respond to Sumiko. Not yet. They needed to deal with this first. "Whoa! Touta!" Rean shouts as the pair are launched forward. It's insanely fast, but Rean manages to guide Touta to the spring area. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Coming into the area of the shrine...the world shifts.  It's like passing into another world, or another place.  Or entering a house and instead of a house there is another world set out before you.  Spread out in all directions are mirrors.  Mirrors like a funhouse, all of them showing your own reflections. The ground, the sky, the walls around you.  In front of each of you, however, are not the people you walked in with.  Instead, there are... Rean, in front of you, sits a man, you have never seen him before in your life, but with the same hair as Rean's when he transforms.  He is sitting down in the house of Schwarzer, waiting for something...is it you?  The mirror in front of you looks like a door waiting for Rean to open the door. In front of Touta is a door, on the other side is his home.  People sit there he has never met, only heard of.  His servant is there too, laughing with the two other adults.   For Nanoha, it is Vivio, strong and brave. taking her mother's place and bringing the peace the world deserves...that it needs. To Cordelay, it is a world where she has proven herself strongest and has become the queen of all of her world's lands. For Kotone, it is a world where she can see herself...whole.  No longer in a cybernetic body.   Entering these doors immerses you in a reality that you've always wanted, always dreamed for...but is as unfulfilling as any false desire is.  The worlds will drive those who enter them into eventual boredom and worse...despair as a world without meaning can be.  The question is not if you break out of these worlds, or if you choose them at all...the question is how?   Regardless, these shallow reflections of what you desire form into glass animals, but not animals you'd recognize.  Misshapen, as if created by a monster who sits outside of reality and happened to look at a few animals, but can't remember how they are put together.  Worse they look /wrong/ outside of that, as if made out of a Picasso piece, rather than flesh and blood.  They fire shards of stained glass but individually are weak.   At the center of this funhouse of horrors, however, is a figure.  Six torsos are connected together, though each one looks like some Picasso painting.  Each one connected, as it spins around connected to a top.  The world spinning for it, but as it spins, it seems the world around you spins.   

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' The mirrored world catches Cordelay off guard for just a moment, drawing a small gasp from her. Her image, a world dominated by her might, could be drawn directly from her dreams, but even she must swallow her pride to see the wrongness underneath. "This is the world I seek, where peace can reign under strong rule. One day I will make this dream a reality. But I have not done so yet, and I know I cannot do it alone." A long breath escapes her lips as she draws her twin blades, not seeing the enemy but waiting for it to be revealed. "I will change my world in truth! This worthless fabrication is nothing more than a pale imitation of my ambition!" The false paradise before her spawns the glass monstrosities, the shards they fire ripping through the air - and now Cordelay is in her element. Her blades flash as she dodges the projectiles to close in, gouging at the beasts with vicious thrusts and fierce slashes before finishing the last by swinging both swords by their chains and decapitating the monster between them. The twisted object at the center catches her attention afterward and, with a grin she only sports in the midst of battle, Cordelay charges forward. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     After landing, a light forms in Nanoha's hand, growing out into the shape of her staff before it flashes into existence. Nanoha begins to take a few steps forward towards that dropped Soul Gem...     ... And suddenly finds herself transported to completely different world. One of mirrors. A pocket dimension?     Confused, Nanoha looks around, seeing her reflections showing equal disorientation. All except for one of those mirrors. Nanoha's eyes go wide, "Vivio!?" She recognises the adult form of her daughter, having seen it numerous times already. Nanoha takes a step forward, starting to smile as she watches Vivio being the one protecting everyone. Helping others. Following in Nanoha's footsteps.     Nanoha slowly reaches a hand out towards the mirror. It would indeed make her happy if Vivio grew up to be that person. The same kind of person that Nanoha is. After all, Nanoha loves her daughter and so of course knows how much she looks up to Nanoha. It's only inevitable that Vivio would follow the same path.             'No, this is wrong.'     Nanoha blinks. Why would it be wrong? Vivio is doing a lot of good. Just like her.         'Vivio's life is her own. She is not you.'     There's nothing wrong with her life. Why shouldn't it be one that her daughter embraces too?                 'Vivio has her own path. One that she will choose. You should be happy with whatever form that takes.'     Well... Sure, there is some truth to that. But-     'You are being selfish.'     ... Yes... Yes, perhaps that's true. Would it be so bad, if Vivio ended up doing something else?         'Now you know what needs to be done.'     Of course. Nanoha raises her staff into the air, pink magic quickly gathering and swirling around it. Nanoha then slams the staff down, the end striking the ground. And with a flash of light, a blast of magical energy radiates outwards from Nanoha. The mirrors of her reflection begin to shatter around her.     But the one in front of her changes. It transforms, shifting into the grotesque form of a warped animal. It begins to spit shards of glass at her.     Nanoha raises her hand, "Round Shield!" The magical barrier forms, the shards striking it. While maintaining the shield, Nanoha sweeps her staff out to the side. Pink orbs form in the air, before blasting forth through the air to impact against the glass creature with multiple explosions.     And through them all, Nanoha can see the horror in the distance. Could that be...? It's horrible, if it is. So much so that for the moment, Nanoha cannot bring herself to attack. Instead she tries to check on the others, "Is everyone alright?" 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     There's little explanation to what goes on. One moment he's dragging Rean, doing as best he can to keep with his directions. Eventually as they make it to the shrine, the Soul Gem is just left there, unprotected un guarded. He returns Rean back down, he wants to apologize but that has to wait. Seeing Sumiko had made it just as she said she would, "Oi, Sumiko you got one of Mikoto's Grief Seeds on you, right?!" The response is clear. Just the one, "That's fine just get ready when we- Eh..."     Something distort about the shrine. Everything just seems to shift in an unexplainable ways. Disorientation kicks in. Mirrors overtake Touta's view and he loses sight of the others, even Rean who was beside him. "Rean? Rean?!"     'No no no...No no no...This isn't...We're too late.'     It's the last thing that transfers over the comms before it cuts out. "Rean?! REAN?! What do you mean?! Oi!!!" No answer...Just a door. A door that opens to his home? His home back in the boonies, where he sees two adults. Their voices seeming familiar yet even as he looks right at them can't make out their faces. As they speak they talk to a visage of a person he was...All too familiar with. Someone who had already passed. Someone who he had already accepted had passed. "Seriously...Rynith...I'm sorry that I end up letting them keep using you. But right now, I need to make sure that I don't lose someone else I care about..." He finds himself reaching into his pocket. Feeling a card that he knows confirmed that she was already past the point of return. That they had both made their peace at her passing.     He breathes in, he has an idea of what this illusion was suppose to be...Maybe. A could have been, a would be, the best route. But it wasn't what he wanted. Not right now...Right now all he wanted was...     "Mikoto...I want to talk...To you...Not sumiko, not half of you, just you..." He wanted to speak properly to his sister. To hear what she had to say, and listen properly. To know if she truly thought she felt that way about him. Not what Sumiko believed, or a half-hearted version of her. He wanted to speak to her, right now, and get things out in the open if they needed to be.     The people before Touta, those two adults and Rynith immediately change when he denies that reality when they change to creatures. Off-set creatures that almost looked like glass versions of the ones that Mikoto would make. As they fire off the glass he doesn't move, he gets struck by the glass shards and yet he doesn't budge. "Heh, Mikoto's magic is way tougher than that..." He pulls each one out by hand letting his wounds close up on their own as he pulls out his hoop. He places it at his hips and just as the world around him had spun earlier, he lets the hoop spin at his hips before charing at the beasts with his fist. Intending to punch through them into the wall with his Magic Cancel Blow. He doesn't know if this was caused by magic, but he's sick of this illusion already! When he does though he still finds himself staring down the oddity of the creature before them...And the words that go on over the comms finally make it through.     'It's easier to say that she's dead.'     "Wait...No...You don't mean...She's not..." He stares once more at the picasso figure..."MIKOTO?!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' There are mirrors now, mirrors everywhere that's strange she can see them all. What does she see as she arrives? Is herself not the face the multiverse knows. Her appearance now is nothing like she used to have it was the stock appearance for the body she was given after her maiming. Only a small handful of people had ever seen what she originally looked like, heck it takes her a moment to go oh yeah that's ME. To see herself like this whole health and still flesh that. She pauses for a moment she moves and the Kotone of the past Moves in time with her. She's pretty much spellbound as she heads for the door, what's behind it? A world where she just went about her life? What would it have been like? It would be saner, quieter that much is certain, and likely far safer too. She opens the door, she's not sure how much time has past she finishes up school graduate well lands a good job opens up her business but it's empty in away. There's a slow creeping of powerlessness as time passes. The Inability to do anything of note, to stand up. To just get walked over. To just be a clay doll, who said that more and more things don't add up she can't do anything she can't stand up for herself. This isn't right and she comes out of the daze finding herself staring at her reflection. "... I can't go back, I'm not you anymore." She The glass around her shatters and soon she finds herself staring down the misshapen animal which she opens fire on she takes a few light hit from it launching glass shards at her, but she dispatches it quickly and catches up with Nanoha. "I'll live...something got into my head." She then beholds the horrors. "Oh no... is that...." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The world shifts when they enter the area around the shrine, and it's an unfortunately familiar sensation to Rean. ...They were too late. Rean collapses to the ground, clutching his chest and trying to stay in control.  The hundreds of mirrors reflecting him back at himself, red-eyed, white haired, and leaking miasma. Kind of ironic too, losing himself again in in the same place it happened for the first time. ...No, one of the other mirrors wasn't reflecting him. There was a white haired and red eyed man sitting in the drawing room of the Schwarzer Mansion, waiting for someone to arrive. "Ngh...Father?" His birth father? No, something about this...he couldn't picture it, it was like reaching for something that wasn't there anymore. But...This wasn't him. And...something was missing. A /lot/ of things were missing. A lot of /people/ were missing. "...I don't...I don't want this." Rean says, drawing his sword. "I don't want...a lie..." What DID he want, then? That instinct wanted to destroy the person who caused this, but he wasn't here. "I...I...AAAAAAAGH!" Rean screams, wildly slashing at the false man, and whatever glass animals it became. He bursts through into the other areas with the others. 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     "If you're half of Mikoto...You should know what I mean when I say I want to talk to her..." 'You didn't even know who Mikoto was.'     The words cut sharper than any blade did. Cause if this person was half Mikoto...If this person was truly emboding what she had felt for so long...He shakes his head. "Mikoto...If I failed as your brother...If I failed as your friend...I wanna hear it from you."     Touta's goal was simple. He wasn't going to do anything that he hadn't done before. In fact, it was something that he had come to do quite often with Witches of her original world. Something that happened on accident at first, but had given him a better perspective of those witches before they passed. What their wishes were...And what was their perishing agony.     Touta's hoop spin's around his waist vigorously. The yin-yang symbol appears before his feat as he charges at the picasso like Witch. His left hand would extend out as he called that girl's name. "MIKOTO!!!" He was going to absorb her magic, and if this was really a truly final goodbye, maybe he could truly absorb all the negative emotions that had been building up within her as well.     If he was right, than like the other times that he had taken magic from a witch, he'd be able to see into their past from their perspective. Be able to feel what they felt, and know the same pain that they did. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' The house of mirrors was a spinning show now, it was hard to tell if the various faces of the Witch that used to be Mikoto were spinning or if she were spinning the room.  Perspective, it's a very complicated thing when you think about it! However, as the funhouse mirror animals are destroyed, more shatter out of mirrors, even as you burst through them.  Blades cut mirrors into bits, shots ring out and magic blasts tear through them.  A path is made towards the witch in the center of this funhouse of horrors. Once there, the entire floor turns upside down, gravity changes.  Mirrors open up attempting to throw each of you into those fake illusions again.  Even as you shatter the mirrors, she tries again...and again..and again.  Repeatedly they would shatter under the force of will of the people here to fight and put a person to rest.   Fighting through some beasts of her own, Sumiko grabs one by the face.  Something happens, some sort of transfer of energy?  The creature, now barely able to move is easily smashed to bits by the arm of Sumiko, which is quite different now.  Demonic looking, encrusted with gems and almost like it's coated with an outer layer of glass.   Those eyes glowing brightly now, inhuman as they are as she charges towards the others.  Not that she wants to, or anything, but it's better than doing it alone right now.   The others cut a way forward for Tou(m)(y)(t)a.  Touta goes in, and with the power of the (anti)god hand, he attempts to draw upon all of that negative energy.  Deeper he goes than he has before... The world is gone for him for a moment.  All that there is is a girl, shorter hair, black eyes...not quite Mikoto, but if you combined them with Sumiko's features you'd get her.  It's just cold...unfeeling...the face is unsettling, a mask as opposed to an actual face.   "What was my wish? What was I doing..?  I just feel cold..." Imagines flood from the energy itself.  The sadness she felt at having no family.  The despair at having to mold herself so that she felt she could keep what she was lucky enough to gain.  The fact that hiding in illusions was easier than dealing with reality.  The only solid rock to reality was Sumiko, who sat back reminding her of what she was doing. Those mistakes added up...the despair became too much for her to bear.  Too much happening, too many witches needed to survive.  What was worse, it was threatening to swallow Touta completely.  Until he felt a kick across the side of his head.   Sumiko aimed the kick so to knock Touta off of the Witch.  "Don't thank me, kicking you across the head was payment enough," She says, with a smirk.  "If you're done...we gotta stop this now." 

:'''{{#var:1143|Touta Konoe (1143)}} has posed:'''     Touta gets kicked back into reality in the most literal way. But his eyes go...Colder. "That's what she thought...That's..." What he saw, what he felt, Touta clings to his own chest. He's an immortal that shouldn't be able to feel prolonged pain and yet he feels such a painful pounding in his chest. He didn't get it, "Mikoto...Is that...Is that...No...I'm sorry. Mikoto I didn't think you were...I wanted to let you have your...Damn it...Damn it...DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!!!"     While he suffered no physical injuries it should have been clear by the way that he was sprawled out on the floor. He wasn't in a position to do anything at this point. In fact, he wasn't even in a position for others to do anything for him. Black Miasma begins to flare around his body. An actual miasma personifying his own negative emotions beginning to swirl around him, slowly enveloping his body at his limbs, constricting and tightening. Solidifying and hardening like scales and flesh around those limbs     Anyone who had seen his loss of Rynith would see that this was just as bad... No worse. A scenario where he had ended up staying months confined within UQ without contacting the Multiverse or even his closest friends for months. That was for failing to save a friend from death. This though...This was failing to see that someone he considered family was sufferring, and the results were speaking for themselves... 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean hears Sumiko call him over the phone, but he doesn't respond. He just rushes forward, a white and red blur slamming and cutting into glass Familiars to clear a path to her. At the very least, it seems he heard 'Focus on her' but this probably isn't what Sumiko meant. Maybe this was how it was always going to end. Was this what she would have wanted? Him joining her in despair? Two monsters (three, maybe) stuck in a loop of pain, railing against the word that hurt them? Or maybe this was a punishment for being too trusting again? Or for failing her as a friend and boyfriend? 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa mutters "I'm sorry..." Before she raises her SMG up she wits until Touta is clear as she starts clearing a path with SMG fire, she moves in she knows Rean is going to suffer a lot from this. She fires, she does her best to cover for Rean. She keeps going in and darting along this is a foe unlike any she'd really faced before. She will turn her fire on the thing that was once a Magical Girl and opens up as she closes. What can she say that's not already be said? 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha blasts through the air, darting around mirrors as they try to corner her. Sending more pink orbs flying at them to explode them into pieces. Finally Nanoha breaks through and touches down on solid footing once more. She looks in sadness towards the monstrous creature before her... What remains of Mikoto. They weren't exactly close. But Nanoha had fought alongside Mikoto enough times to consider her a friend. Nanoha hopes that Touta might be able to do something... To pull a miracle. But it seems that is beyond him. Beyond any of them.     Mikoto is dead. At least, the Mikoto they knew. Or thought they knew. All that's left is this manifestation of her pain, her despair. And Sumiko.     Nanoha looks over at Rean as he cuts his way through the false illusions with his rage and his sword. She looks over at Touta, succumbing to a dreadful realisation. Nanoha then finally looks back to the Witch... And closes her eyes. In that darkness, all she can see is a woman with purple hair falling into an abyss.     Nanoha grips her staff tighter. This can't go on. She takes a step back, her expression full of sadness as she raises her staff to aim towards the Witch. Nanoha then says softly, "I hope you can take comfort in the fact that this suffering will be over soon..."     Nanoha takes a deep breath. A spell circle appears beneath her. Sections of the staff open, causing four wings of pink light to unfurl from within. Raising Heart chimes in response to her master's unspoken command, <Sealing Mode.>     Magic begins to gather beyond the pointed tip of the staff, a large orb of pink rapidly growing in size. Nanoha calls out with more determination, "Photon Smasher-" The sound of charging energy reaches a peak and Nanoha finishes, "-Seal!"     The orb of magic bursts, a large beam of pink rushing forth. It streaks towards the Witch, looking to bombard it with the destructive energies and seal away its powers, relieving the pressure of the illusions on the others and perhaps... Helping to end the Witch itself. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay moves as if in a trance, cutting down Familiars with the grace of a lifelong warrior, until she sees Touta collapse. Her teeth clench and she dashes toward the witch, leaping atop a Familiar and kicking off of it to land on another, her blades swinging like edged flails in a whirlwind of steel as she uses her foes as stepping stones toward what used to be Mikoto. "I wish I had gotten to know you earlier. Even if it wouldn't have been much, I wish I could have helped you weather the storm." Her battle-crazed grin is gone, replaced once again by that stoic warrior's mask. "But now isn't the time for regrets." She takes another leap, pushing her athleticism to its limit as she achieves a position over the witch. "I don't know the truth. I might never know. But I do this to end your suffering and help Master Touta and Master Rean." She grips both her sword-chains, swinging them as hard as she can from her high vantage point, aiming to catch the central connecting point between the blades like a pair of flying guillotines. "Rest in peace, Lady Mikoto." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Despair starts to overcome Touta, as it physically manifests all over his body.  Sumiko kicks him in the head again.  "Stop it.  You're being selfish right now when you should be trying to stop her from what she feared the most." She turns towards the creature, getting ready to fight.  "Life isn't perfect, there were plenty of good times too.  If you want to beat yourself up, then whatever...but if you want to do right by us, then you should at least watch to the bitter end." Rean comes in like a berserker, as she sighs.  Her life was literally falling apart around her, and here she was trying to kick sense into these two morons.  Some of the Mikoto must still be inside her, she muses.  After all, she wasn't even getting paid for this. Balls of glass shatter across the witch, helping to focus Nanoha's laser.  It cuts through the outer shell, blasting away the dangerous defenses of the witch, and keeps her from attacking again.  Even as the heads spin around. Gunshots tear through the witch, followed by sword strikes from Rean.  Followed finally by Cordelay.  Blades slicing through the defenseless witch, as it starts to crumble into pieces.  The land returning to what it should be, the place that you were heading to.  Out of the sky, a black spikey object drops.   A grief seed.   Sumiko sighs, shaking her head.  Then looking around them for the source of this mess. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Despite his behavior, Rean does remember one thing, deep within the darkness clouding his mind. A promise he made to her long ago, early on when Mikoto had first learned of her inevitable fate. To not let her hurt people like she'd been hurt. And that desire, at the very least remained, even if he'd lost track of his version of it at the moment.   Rean ignites his sword in black flame, and rushes forward, slicing through the Witch that was once Mikoto. And with everyone's help, she's defeated. Rean clutches his chest, still leaking miasma. He turns to look at the group behind him, red eyes blazing. Now what? Would he attack his allies next? Then someone claps, from high above the group. A violet haired man in a white suit and cape with a matching mask appears, standing on top of the frozen spring. "Bravo, Bravo! What a wonderful performance, all of you." Phantom Thief B says. "YOU!" Rean bounds up the frozen spring, headed straight for the phantom thief's head. He swings his blade...and it passes right through him. An illusion. "Now, now. That's no way to treat a guest." Phantom Thief B appears again, this time on the ground in front of the monument, and Mikoto's Grief Seed. "I'll admit, this wasn't quite what I had expected. I never knew such a wondrous world could be born from someone's despair. Indeed the Multiverse is full of beauty! But what else could it be, when such people live in it?" He says, identifying the combatants.  Rean jumps down from the spring, slashing at Phantom Thief B again, but it's another illusion. Rean doesn't attack again, though. This time, he collapses, his appearance flickering between normal and berserk. "Damn you..." Rean growls. "You killed her over /beauty?!/" "Well, I merely wanted to see how you would handle having the things you hold dear threatened, and how you and your allies would overcome this challenge. But it seems you're not the only one with hidden beauty." Phantom Thief B turns to look at Sumiko. "How could I have realized there was more to that girl? Truly, you two are - Or I suppose WERE - a wonderful match." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     The Witch is defeated and the group is deposited back into their own world. Nanoha's strength leaves her almost instantly as she has to lean on her staff to remain standing. She's not physically tired, but everything that just happened... It's a lot to go through.     However, Nanoha manages to find some of that strength once more as Phantom Thief B makes his presence known. Rean beats Nanoha to the punch-or the slash-reacting before she can get off a binding spell. Not that it would have done much good, as the thief is revealed to be a projection.     Nanoha silently thinks to her partner Device, 'See if you can track down where he is.' Raising Heart chimes softly in response, a dozen small orbs of pink suddenly appear around Nanoha before rapidly darting off in all directions.     As her magical probes attempt to locate the real villain, Nanoha steps forward and raises a finger to the illusionary one, "Phantom Thief B. You've gone too far this time. Taking a priceless work of art is one thing. But taking someone's life, partial or not, is a grave act. Given how much she meant to the people here and no doubt elsewhere in the Multiverse, do not expect to get off lightly." 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay steps forward to stand at Rean's side as her stoic mask cracks, eyes blazing with fury as she sheathes her blades again. "I hope you enjoyed your little performance, Phantom Thief B." There's a raw edge to her voice, an undertone of pure hatred. "Your foolish game cost Lady Mikoto her life, and that cannot be forgiven. For her, for Master Rean and for Master Touta, you will know the suffering you have wrought before you are put down like the beast you are. I, Cordelay Levail, swear on my honor and the name of my house, that I will kill you and send you to the deepest of hells." Despite the edge to her voice she never wavers as she speaks, her pronouncement resolute and heavy with malice. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Sumiko watches the witch die, and she sighs.  Inwardly, she was depressed.  She had ended up failing her first friend in the multiverse.  That and her life was basically falling apart around her.  The only light right now is that the Concord didn't seem to care much.  At least she'll have a job still. However, the clapping and arrival of B cause her eyes to look up.  That arm still monstrous in appearance as it points towards the Thief.  "Oh you.  Do you realize there will be no safe place for you anywhere?  I will hunt you down.  Do you know why?" "Because you took what was /mine/.  You have no idea the monster you have unleashed.  I am Sumiko, Cardinal Vice of Greed...and nobody takes what is mine and escapes." Quietly she waits for the signal from Nanoha.  She tries to keep the thief's attention...then she can get what she desires. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is ready for more but she sees that it's over that the witch is dead, she feels no joy. Only this empty feeling inside with how everything has played out. Now for the mastermind behind this the thief has shown himself for a moment. "..." There's a twisted look of anger on her face as the reason comes out she's about ready to go off on her own. She only holds back as she catches on there's a plan or there may be one. "You can either come quietly or we do this the hard way. I also doubt the Concord will be happy about this either." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Oh? I look forward to that. Though you'll have to search very hard. After all, we Enforcers of Ouroboros live and work in the shadows, so there being 'no safe place' matters not to me." "Ouroboros...The society that makes those machines the ILF used!" Rean says. He's starting to come down now, but he's obviously still kinda pissed. "Indeed, though we only care for the result their actions would bring about. Much like how I came here today out of my own curiosity." Though all the monologuing, Nanoha's probe finds Phantom Thief B, hiding in the woods to the east of the spring. However, his senses are keen and he instantly throws a knife at it, in an attempt to disable it. "....Perhaps I've overstayed my welcome." The illusory Phantom Thief B says. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     One of Nanoha's probes finds the real location of the thief, shortly before it's destroyed. But too late.     Holographic screens appear beside everyone, showing a top down display of the area they're in, along with the current location and the location of Phantom Thief B. It's not far!     Nanoha nods to everyone, before blasting into the air and heading for a point above Phantom Thief B's location. She knows this world has airships and she's not about to be unprepared for him to make an escape that way. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh definitely.." Sumiko says when Nanoha reveals his location.  Mikoto crouches and makes a run right for the location.  She's fast, next to a standard human, and moves to try and get there to make good on her threat.   Assuming she can close in, she launches herself forward with that hand of hers, aiming to use it to try and catch the legs of the Phantom theif...trying to cause that monstrous arm to start clenching down.   "It's like trying to pull the wings off a butterfly," She says a bit cruelly.  "Much like how you just put Mikoto's soul under a magnifying glass." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa looks none too happy with the situation but she will make sure to file away everything the thief has to say. She can pass the video off to Rean later as she's pretty sure? He's going to be hunting this group. When the warning of the location of where the thief is? She will take off, not hiding anything about how fast she can move, as she will end up trying to also tackle and taser shock the thief with the built-in tasers in her body. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' As soon as Phantom Thief B's location is revealed, Cordelay takes off at a sprint, her stoic expression back in place. Upon reaching her destination and seeing Sumiko leap for their quarry, Cordelay takes a leap of her own and slings her blades by the chains once again to synchronize with the girl that was once part of Mikoto - while she grasps for the thief's legs, Cordelay's blades swing straight for his neck. "Die, you monster." 

:'''{{#var:7228|Arianrhod (7228)}} has posed:'''     Just as Sumiko, Kotone and Cordelay go in for the kill against Phantom Thief B, a swirl of power manifests right in front of him. The form of an armored warrior quickly rises out of the ground. In her right hand is a massive ornate lance, which swings around to block Cordelay's blades. Her foot comes down on Sumiko's arm before it can reach its target, stopping it in its tracks with its heavily armored boot. As for Kotone, she finds it difficult to budge the heavily armored woman, though the shock from her tasers does visibly ripple through her. But she remains standing, if visibly in pain.     Arianrhod glances between the three attackers, before turning her head to look back at Phantom Thief B, "Bleublanc. You've stirred up the hornet's nest this time. You do realise that the point of being a secret society is the secret part, yes?"     Arianrhod looks back at Cordelay and Sumiko, "I must apologise, you two. I know we are each members of the Concord, but I cannot allow you to kill this man just yet." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Sumiko's arm is pinned on the ground by a woman in very heavy armor.  This is very inconvenient, and anger-inducing.  She struggles to free her arm, trying to fight to get it loose...and then she hears something. 'Not yet'.   "Ok, then if you want me to not claim his life until you have no need of him, I am going to have to demand a tithe for the loss of my property until I can exact my toll.  Offer me a deal and I won't mess with him until you give the ok." She says this as she yanks her arm free and glares at the thief.  "I'm only giving you this chance because you're Concord." 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' "No argument or bribe could convince me to spare him." Cordelay lands not far from the thief and his suddenly-appearing defender. "I swore an oath to end his life for the pain he has caused. If you insist on standing in my way, you will share in his execution." As she speaks Cordelay grips both her swords, watching the spear-wielding woman carefully as her entire body tenses like a coiled spring, ready to engage again at the first sign of movement. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...Yes, but it would be unfitting of me as a Phantom Thief to not at least make my presence known-" He then looks at the several women trying to kill him at the moment. "...Understood. I shall leave this to you." He says, vanishing in a flurry of petals. 

:'''{{#var:7228|Arianrhod (7228)}} has posed:'''     Arianrhod releases her pressure on Sumiko's arm as she seems agreeable to delaying Phantom Thief B's death. Though she demands something in return... Arianrhod considers it for a moment, before saying, "I have very little in the way of valuables to offer you. That I am aware of. But I do have my word. As such, I offer you a boon. A single request of any content within my power to fulfill, no questions asked... Short of harming this man as that would defeat the purpose of the deal."     Arianrhod turns her helmet to Cordelay, "I understand and commend your dedication to that oath. But for now I will continue to stand in your way, what may come of it. Perhaps one day that will not be true. But until then, do not think it will be easy to defeat us."     With her word pledged, warning given and Phantom Thief B's retreat, the same power that brought Arianrhod here swirls up around her. As she teleports away, her helmet turns once more to Cordelay as she offers some parting words, "I look forward to an opportunity to engage you properly." And then she's gone. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' "I assumed your organization does, but...hmm..!" A boon over Arianrhod is potentially more valuable.  Sumiko taps the side of her chin for a moment, and shrugs.  "Deal, for now I will not collect the debt that man owes me, but it will come due one day." "I guess I need to go find a place to sleep tonight.  What a drag..."  Sumiko starts walking off. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     From her point above the battle, Nanoha sighs with some regret as the perpetrator of this tragedy is able to escape with the help of an ally. She floats down back to join the others and is initially unsure of what to say...     Finally Nanoha says, "Let's help get Touta and Rean back to the village... I think they could use the rest." Nanoha's staff vanishes as she moves towards those two to help. That said, Nanoha is looking rather tired herself.     -- Later --     Nanoha stands at the edge of the village, staring out at the sunset as it dips below the horizon. There's a pensive look on her face and she's so lost in thought that she doesn't notice her daughter walk up next to her. Vivio looks up at Nanoha and asks, "Mama, are you alright?"     Shaken out of her thoughts, Nanoha looks down at Vivio briefly with surprise. But after a moment, she smiles and responds, "Yes, sweetheart. I'm fine." Nanoha turns to her daughter, "Why don't we go by the tavern and get something to eat?"     Vivio grins, "Okay!" She reaches out to take Nanoha's hand, before turning around to lead the way.     Nanoha follows along beside Vivio. As they walk back into the village, Nanoha looks down at her and asks, "By the way, Vivio. Have you thought much about what you want to do when you're older?" 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay grits her teeth as Arianrhod vanishes, sheathing her swords. "That will be a duel I will relish, just before I remove that beast's head from his shoulders. Nothing will stop me from fulfilling my oath." She turns on her heel and her expression softens slightly upon seeing Rean and Touta. "I will not presume to intrude on your grief - it is not my place. But know that should either of you require my aid you need only ask. Farewell, my comrades." She curtseys slightly and takes her leave, forcing that neutral expression back onto her face. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Sumiko (7002)}} has posed:''' Eventually, Sumiko gets far enough away from the mess that was this horrible situation.  She'd walked far enough out in the forsest to not even care if there were things ready to hunt her.  If anything she could actually deal with the steam release.   Having half of you torn away like that was exhausting...she'd have to start remembering having to live like the monster she was again.  It felt good to be a human, even with all of the issues that Mikoto had.  Eventually, she just sits at the foot of a tree to watch the sunset.   "In the end we couldn't save you.  It's like I said...how can you save others if you can't even save yourself...I should have listened to myself then.  I thought I could really do it, and here I am suffering for my stupid mistakes." "I'd have been easier if I never met them..." she says, and leans her head back, tears running down the side of her face.  Even she didn't believe that, if anything she believed that if they could have been more honest, this might have been avoided.  Who knows at this point?  It was all messed up, and the prospects of having to return home put pain in her chest she didn't want to experience.   "It's easier when you're only enjoying the fun of these worlds.  Indulging in the pleasures...this pain...I hate it." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Unfortunately the Phantom Thief gets away, and Rean just...sighs. He doesn't even have the energy to be mad now, so now he's just...empty. Rean staggers over to the monument, and places a hand on it. The monument glows for a moment, and then stops. Slowly, the snow in the air starts to slow, before ceasing to a halt. At least they managed to succeed at that. Sumiko's walking away, griping about needing a place to sleep. "...Wait--" Rean says, but she's already gone. At the very least she could have stayed at the inn. There was now an empty room that she technically would've been staying in and... "..." Rean looks down at the ground. She probably wouldn't want to be there, would she? Just another reminder of what happened. He kneels down and picks up the Grief Seed, unsure of what to do with it. Eventually he just tucks it into his pocket, as a reminder of her. What a vacation this turned out to be. 
}}

7141/Third Verse: Belief

2020-04-18T21:49:14Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/04/11
|Location=Sachsen Mine, Erebonia
|Synopsis=Class VII and allies enter Sachsen Mine to retrieve some hostages from the clutches of the Imperial Liberation Front, and stop the group from casing damage to one of the country's financial staples. The group eventually faces off with Vulcan and the mysterious leader of the ILF, C. In the process, Mikoto and Rean face their suspicions about Crow - and are unfortunately proven right.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 459, 7002, 7145, 7248, 7075
|Tinyplot=Imperial Liberation Front
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' However you arrive at Sachsen Mine, it's obvious that the complex isn't in the best shape. White smoke floats out of the entrance and some of the windows, and there's alarms blaring. There's two groups of people arguing outside the entry to the mine. One group, in bright orange, 'regal' looking uniforms stands in a blockade formation, while the other group, clad in gray military-style uniforms with armored cars accompanying them stands ready to enter the mines themselves. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a problem. "The terrorists have complete control of the mine!" A slightly more decorated soldier in orange says. "They've taken the miners hostage! Any attempt to enter the mine may put their lives in jeopardy!" A blue haired woman in gray steps forward and shakes her head. "Then why are /you/ out here twiddling your thumbs instead of negotiating with them?!"  Captain Claire says. "They clearly have an objective in mind here -- we can't allow them to buy any further time!" THe front entrance probably isn't the best idea, but you've got help, at least. A manhole opens up not too far away, and a blonde haired girl in the red Thors uniform pokes her head out, waving at you to come over. "This way!" Alisa says.   Upon entry, you find Rean and a couple of other members of Class VII waiting at the bottom, as well as a face Alexis might find familiar. "Oh hey, it's you again." Angelica says, clad in the same biker suit she had on at the race. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Oh look, beaucracy and military intelligence working as well as they always do. Alexis doesn't even need to get much closer to see that big blockup at the main entrance. She's considering just going around to the side and digging her own way in, but that becomes unnecessary when the hatch pops open. Hey saves her risking causing unexpected structural damage so she won't pass up slipping down into the alternate route. The tomboy gives Angelica a casual salute. "I'd ask how the bike was turning out but this ain't really the time for it." Then stuffs hands back in her hoodie pockets. "Got a better site rep than the obstruction at the front gate?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto arrives early enough to hear the noble and the soldier fighting.  She taps the underside of her jaw for a moment, so that is a curious thing to hear.  Why does the noble assume that the terrorists have a secondary goal instead of just holding a mine full of useful materials for their cause?  Is it because they know something that the rest of them don't?  However, the voice from Alisa gets her attention. Deciding that way is better she climbs down to meet up with the Class VII crew.  Hands go to her hips as Angelica comments on them being here again.  "Of course I'm here again.  What would you guys do without me?" She says, perhaps a little bratty, but they know her well enough by now for it to be playful. "So yeah, what's the situation?  Do we have a plan yet or are we having to do this on the seat of our pants?"   

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Crow is squatting on the ground, the holsters for his guns hanging secure along the interior of his red uniform. A couple of gadgets here or there can be seen strung along his belt; grenades, a set of scopes, vials of Tear balm, things of that nature. "Yo." he greets the newcomers flippantly, saluting with his middle and forefingers flicking casually from his bandannae'd forhead. Since everyone who'd be coming along seemed to be present, he pushes himself back into a standing position pretty easily, stretching out briefly. "Don't sweat the details, our fearless leader here has a surefire plan to stop those nasty terrorists in their tracks. Ain't that right?" Taking his position by Angelica with a chuckle, Crow sobers up a little bit. "Well, we've got a backdoor in, so that's something. But the sitch' ain't looking too good, we've got really limited intel on what's actually going on in there. For all we know, it could be swarming with Archaisms." 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:''' Joining the group is a strangely-dressed woman in white garb that probably won't stay that color after a trek through the sewer. Her ears twitch lightly as multiple unfamiliar voices start speaking up, and she wrinkles her nose when the stench of the sewer hits her. "Oh my... This is going to take some getting used to." She murmurs to herself while gripping the handle of her bell tightly, looking from Crow to Angelica when he IDs her as the leader of this mission. "We're going in silently, yes? I can scout ahead if that's the case." She certainly sounds eager enough to do it, and a more observant eye would notice that she's already watching the tunnels further ahead rather than just staring right at everyone else. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha felt some amusing fmailiarity as she arrived to see the two groups arguing. She was just about to step in to try and calm things down. To mediate the two groups. But then Arisa pops out of a hole, signalling the group. Nanoha briefly considers... Deal with bureaucracy, or get things done. Deal with bureaucracy, or get things done... Given the lives of the hostages in danger, Nanoha decides to get things done.     Dropping down into the tunnel, Nanoha glances around and muses happily, "Well, this is thankfully convenient!" She looks at Class VII plus additional and nods, "Hello, everyone." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Angelica shrugs. "Yeah, but we can always talk about that later. Chances are the Mine Chief's stuck in there with the other miners, and as for bureaucracy..." Angelica rolls her eyes. "Well, my uncle's the one at the the top running this place and they're not much better than the guys outside." A short, silver haired girl nods. "The provincial army - the guys in orange - might be in on it too." Fie says.  "That smoke looked like it came from smoke bombs rather than actual bombs. Not to mention some of the rumors floating around." "The plan is to get the miners out safely, and stop whatever's happening in there. True, it's not that much of a plan, but we should be able to handle the evacuation, no matter what they throw at us." Rean says, doing a small fist pump. He then turns to the newcomer. "Feel free to, but the tunnel's been pretty straightforward so far." Angelica nods. "I know the mine like the back of my hand, but we could use the extra eyes once we get in there." Anyway, once any other questions are answered, everyone gets going, scouting ahead aside. The bottom of the manhole isn't a sewer, it's more of an extended underground passage, stretching forward and behind the group. An evacuation exit, more like. There's a few stray, weak monsters wandering around, and at the end of the passage is a ladder. Angelica crosses her arms as she looks up at the ladder. "So, boys in front, girls in back? Since some of us have skirts on, and Crow won't be able to help himself~ I'll take the rear." Alisa glares at her upperclassman. "No, you go in front of the girls, Angelica. Don't pretend you can't help yourself either." Angelica laughs, a cat like smile on her face. "Ok, ok. If it'll make you feel better, I'll go in front." After some more banter between whoever might pitch in here, everyone goes up the ladder, coming out into a portion of road within the mines cordoned off by haphazardly placed barriers.  There's ONE entrance not blocked by barriers off to the side though. But there's two giant clockwork looking machines blocking it instead. There's also a many small hovering turrets hanging around, just like in Garellia Fortress. In other words, the place is swarming with Archasims. Who could've guessed? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gives Crow a sideways glance, shrugging her shoulders at his comment.  "We'll see about that, Rean is sort of a blockhead who just sort of charges into things without thinking," Mikoto says, and is not proven wrong as he doesn't have a plan, per se.  "You got all these people here, and nobody went to try and scout out what's ahead?" She sighs, shrugging her shoulders again. Nanoha comes in, but the cool greeting from Mikoto is obvious, "Hello," Before turning back towards the others.  "You do huh?" She says towards the Upperclassman, "Well let's go then.  The longer we procrastinate the more likely that the terrorists are going to start killing people for no reason." She considers Pramanix for a moment, "Should have probably brought something more suited for battle.  Oh well, too late now." She moves on until the way up appears.  Tapping on her chin as people start going over who goes up first and why.  Once that's decided she eyes Angelica, "Man, we really don't need two Crows.  I hope you aren't as slack off as he is." Once up, she looks towards the way forward.  Barriers blocking their way, but not overly protected, and two machines blocking the third.  Turrets flying around, making things more interesting.  Drawing her blade, she stabs it into the ground and summons forth several rats.  They go forward, attempting to sneak by the robots and other guards and scout ahead.  Maybe they can just avoid this confrontation and remotely trigger the shields. "I'm sending some animals ahead.  If you wanna make noise to give me some help, I'd appreciate it.  It's not likely we're going to be able to avoid the clockwork things." 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' "Hey, hey! Don't throw me under the bus for your own sake. Friggin' skirt chaser ... " Crow sounds exasperated, but his expression betrays his amusement. sending a wink of his own at Nanoha and Pramanix as he moves to ascend the latter after Angelica. After their ascent, Machias frowns, pushing his glasses further up on his face with his free hand, the other balancing his shotgun onto his shoulder. "It's just like at the fortress ... they've deployed all these autonomous weapons. I don't think we can just sneak through." Crow rolls his shoulders a bit before reaching for his guns. "Yeah, seems like it. If we force our way through fast enough, we might be able to avoid alerting the rest of the enemy. "By the way, I wouldn't expect the Provincial Army to let the Captain's people in here anytime soon, at least if our guess is right in that they're playing a little dirty with the situation." As Mikoto summons forth her familiars, both the boys nod in her direction, though Machias seems much less pleased about the turn of events. "Right. On three, we'll -- " Crow moves ahead, firing a volley of orbal gunfire towards the surrounding turrets to try and disable as many as he can with the element of surprise. "Three!" Machias growled, stepping forward with his shotgun raised at the ready position. "Don't you ever listen?! Ugh..!" With their efforts combined, they lay down a hail of orbal-accelerated lead. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis laughs at 'not much of a plan'. "I've got on thinner threads." It's not an exaggeration, though she's grown out of that phase. Mostly. Alexis is not wearing a skirt, but someone already got voted to the front, but that's fine with her. It'll give her a chance to see what they're walking into. Or climbing into as the case may be. Yup, right into trouble. Turrets and traps and some kind of guards. "Tch. I'd almost think I'd walked into another Team Magma hideout," the trainer murmurs to no one in particular. Considers for a moment. Can't let out anything too big unless it's a necessity, but caverns is familiar turf that can be used to their advantage. Eventually she clicks a pokeball, and a minature t-rex ( https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/c3/696Tyrunt.png ) appears next to her. The dino is only about two feet tall, and half it's body size is head and jaws, so yeah minature works as a description. "Oh, I love making some noise. T-Wreck, warm up with Dragon Dance." The small dino starts bobbing back and forth from foot to foot, building up speed and tensing muscles as he does so... And someone besides her charges in recklessly. Imagine that. "Someone can't count," she jokes. "Guess we better not let them get overwhelmed. Zen Headbutt!" "TYRUUUUUNT!" For a small dino he's got a pretty deep roar, barreling past the two boys harrying the turrets and lowering his hard head to slam into one of the clockwork sentries. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''     "Evacuation first... Understood." The fuzzy-eared lady nods, and then she's on the move! Despite her clothing, she's actually pretty good about sticking to cover where it actually exists, keeping her footsteps muffled through careful footwork, and pausing every now and then to listen for approaching monsters.     Mikoto gets a light chuckle and shrug. "Thank you for the concern, miss. It will be fine, though. Our greater concern is securing the hostages." Crow's wink, meanwhile, gets a soft smile and wave in return without commenting outright.      Whatever's going on in Pramanix's head, though, she does seem to be holding back as far as fighting the monsters. Instead, she leaves them to the people in the group that aren't carrying bells.     She's good about keeping that from ringing incessantly.      After climbing the ladder at the end of the group, she keeps her eyes peeled as the group comes across barriers on one side and machines on the other. When the decision to go loud or quiet appears to be made, Pramanix steps back as she starts ringing that bell over her head and... Praying?      Praying. The reason becomes evident rather quickly, though, as the wind starts picking up and snow begins to fall. It becomes an outright blizzard rather quickly, somehow centered on the drones and machines as the hail threatens to gunk up their joints while the wind pummels down on them. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha smiles at Mikoto's greeting, "Hello, Mikoto. Nice to see you again!" Nanoha would offer introductions to the other two she doesn't know. But it's time to get moving. As they make their way down the tunnel, Nanoha takes the opportunity to transform as she expects they will eventually encounter resistance. As she walks, light bright engulfs her. Her Barrier Jacket forms, while the long shape of Raising Heart's staff form appears in her hand. Finally with a flash of light, Nanoha reappears in her white and blue combat dress.     Along the way, Nanoha muses out loud, "I wonder if the terrorists made any demands yet. If not, perhaps they have something else in mind..." Even silence from the hsotage takers can tell them a little about the situation.     As they reach the offending ladder, Nanoha can't help but smile at the banter between the group. It's good to see that they're getting along well with each other. It's important for a team. Of course, Nanoha gives a short chuckle as poor Angela is teased.     Anyway, Nanoha waits for the rest of the group to go up, sticking to the rear like she usually does before she shortcuts the ladder and just gracefully flies up, before landing on her feet once more.     Nanoha's expression turns more serious as they catch sight of the machines guarding the way. She's not actually familiar with them, though it's fairly obvious that they don't belong. Nanoha nods in agreement with Crow's assessment. They'll likely have to break through them. As the others begin the assault, Nanoha waves her staff in front of her. Several orbs of pink light appear in the air. However, they remain stationary as Nanoha doesn't immediately engage. Instead she keeps track of the fight's progress, watching to make sure the front line fighters aren't overwhelmed. While also keeping an eye out for any unseen enemies from catching the group by surprise. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The rats go off to deal with the barriers, but they're concrete walls, not technological barriers. The good news is they can access the door behind the giant Archasims, and find the miners! There's no other guards back there. The assumption must've been that the machines would be able to keep interlopers out. There's also another door going in further into the mines as well. "What the...?" One of the miners says, staring at the jade rats scurrying around. They're behind a high metal fence, but the door can probably get its lock cut open or exploded once everyone gets back there. If Mikoto's rats can chew through steel, that's also an option. Meanwhile, Angelica puts a pair of metal braces over her hands, and them slams a fist into her open palm. "Well, if i's a fight they want!" She shouts, and then engages one of the Archaisms, delivering a few swift punches to its front. Fie follows suit, dashing around the machine to fire her twin dagger guns into its back. The gem on the front of the archaism glows brightly for a moment, before firing a blue laser across the field. It clips Angelica's shoulder as she holds up an arm to guard. The other one, meanwhile starts to glow a bright red, its clockwork mechanism rotating faster. Tyrunt gets there first, ramming into it with a headbutt. This seems to stun the machine for a moment, giving Rean an opening to go in himself, dealing a horizontal slash at the machine's gem. "Alisa!" Rean shouts, and Alisa follows suit, firing a blazing arrow at the gem herself, cracking it a tiny bit. The machine is still glowing though, so maybe it needs another stun before it ceases whatever that is. Pramanix's blizzard starts to coalesce on the backs and arms of the machine, forming an ice buildup on them as well. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Well, good thing that they were magical rats and not normal rats.  They can, in fact, chew through normal metal.  Other, mystical metal might not be so easy, but normal iron is no problem.  They climb up the cell door and start chewing at the lock until it snaps, allowing the miners to get out with time. The walls are another problem, but they at least found a path forward deeper into the mine and the hostages in one fell swoop.   "I see a way deeper in, as well as the miners.  I'm getting them out with my animals, so I'm going to need protection.  So don't waste time, take these things down quickly so we can cut loose." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Popping off that Dragon Dance to up both his speed and attack power paid off, but it's not quite enough to put the machine entirely out of commission. That's okay, it's enough for Alexis to work with. She prefers to build her strategy on the fly. It's clockwork, so electricity isn't going to do much, but impacts might knock something loose and jam. "Now use Dragon Tail!" Tyrunt digs one foot into the ground and swivels hard on it, using the pivoting motion to swing his stout tail into one of the clockwork guard's legs and try to stagger it again, if not just knock it over entirely. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' "Take this!" Machias growls, holding his weapon out with one hand to fire a special shell made for shattering tough hide and thick plates of armor, intent on hitting the large Archaism being attacked by Angelica dead center with it. "Bang~!" Crow teases, firing the large revolver held in one hand. The bullet was infused with Water sepith, giving it a freezing property as he focuses his fire on the same clockwork automaton, as the turrets had been suppressed well enough for the moment. He follows it up with the semi-automatic pistol held in his other hand, firing twice to blast apart a now brittle piece of the machine's chasis.     "Yeah, yeah, Rean'd flip out if you got a scrape anyway, y'know?" 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''      Pramanix continues churning that focused blizzard around the machines to freeze them up as best she can, still keeping the ringing and quiet chanting going while her gaze shifts elsewhere.     The miners are mentioned, and she's anxious to get back on the move once more. After blanketing the machiens in yet more snow and piling it up around whatever qualifies as their feet to make the mere act of moving a hassle, Pramanix breaks off!     Her target: The miners. Leaving what she assumes is the cleanup of the machines to her allies, she heads deeper into the mines, sticking to shadows and cover again just in case she comes across further resistance.     <<"I'm on my way, miss. Once you see me, it should be safe for the miners to regroup with us.">> She relays, ready to issue theall-clear if things are indeed as safe as they seem thus far! 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     The hostages have thankfully been located by Mikoto. Of course, Nanoha is concerned about them, given the fighting going on. So while the others are harassing the Archaisms, she seems to have the same idea as Pramanix, taking the opportunity to push through.     Nanoha lifts up into the air, before surging forward into the battle. It's a brief burst of speed, sending her blasting past the larger clockwork machines that had been guarding the door forward. As she does so, the orbs she had summoned follow her before breaking off and exploding against the machines as she passes by.     Quickly reaching the door, Nanoha lands again, skidding to a stop before heading through. As the battle wages behind her, Nanoha gives the captured miners are reassuring smile, "Not to worry, we're here to get you out!" The rats are handling the escape, good. Nanoha looks over the miners, "Is this all of you, or are there more still imprisoned out there?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Machias' shell hit the second archaism dead on in the gem, shattering it. Crow's ice shots also freeze a bit of the machine's chassis, causing it to fall off and land in the slowly growing snow. Angelica jumps in next, delivering a fierce kick to that same spot. Finally, Fie jumps in, dumping a rain of gunfire into the open spot. After all that fire on it, plus the growing snow getting inside its workings, the second archaism collapses to the ground, disabled. Tyrunt's tail slam whacks the first Archaism, knocking it out of whatever it was charging. It staggers back, leaving an opening for Alisa to fire a flurry of arrows into the air, pelting the first Archaism with a rain of fire. Nanoha's orbs hits both machines, mostly doing more damage to this one than the other one. "I-I would not!" Rean says...Right as he's moving to guard Mikoto. He looks at Mikoto behind him, and then at Crow and sighs. Way to prove his point, Rean. He quickly unsheathes his sword, sending a shockwave at the gem on the first Archaism. This finally shatters the gem on the front, preventing it from lasering anymore. Instead, it tries do something with its arms by slamming them into the ground, letting out an electrical shockwave across the field, albeit weakened because it can't really reach the ground anymore because of all the snow. Rean moves to tank the brunt of the shockwave for Mikoto, Wincing, but still standing strong. "Mikoto can handle herself for the most part though, even if I do worry about her sometimes." Or a lot. The shockwave also hits Fie, Angelica and Alisa, leaving them stunned for a moment, but they should be fine. The remaining Archaism starts glowing red again, but its clockwork is turning much slower due to the snow building up. It's probably too slow to chase after you if the group heads into the next room..or to really defend itself if blown up. The rats get to work, and with some effort, lock on the gate comes loose, hitting the ground with a clang. One of the miners pushes the gate open, just in time for Pramanix and Nanoha to show up. He looks between the two of them, looking slightly bewildered by Pramanix's appearance, but lets out a sigh of relief when Nanoha says they're here to help. "Thank the Goddess... Most of us are here, but they took the Chief further in!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh, bloody of course they did.." One of the Rats and Mikoto says at the same time.  "Boy and girls, we need to go, the miners are safe, except for the chief apparently," She says towards the people fighting the Golems.  She gives a smile towards Rean, who is watching her back as she picks up the sword.   With the Machine looking like it's about to explode, she zips by people and towards the way farther in, holding it open.  "No time to sit around and do nothing lets go!" She says. Rats move farther in, as all she can do right now is open and close a door.  They attempt to scout out farther ahead, so they can find the chief.   

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis takes a few wary steps back as the remaining automaton starts sending sparks at the ground. They spark around Tyrunt's feet a bit, but being a saurian dragon with rock hard scales it is more like getting a bad zap from touching a metal knob with too much static electricity. But there's not point in leaving that thing possibly recovering. "You guys get going, we'll clean this up." Then turns back to the spark spitting machine. "T-Wreck, time to live up to your name. Ancient Power!" "Tyyyy!" The saurian emits a roar more akin to something twice his size, and slams a foot into the ground. But it's under the snowbound automaton that the ground cracks open, and a surge of primordial energy blasts out of the stony split. If that doesn't finish off the machine it will hopefully knock it far enough away to not stop any of them from advancing. Or getting up and trapping them from behind. It sucks when that happens. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' A mirthful chuckle is Crow's only response, as he kips up and makes a graceful jump, pulling his knees up as the shockwave hits the ground to avoid it entirely. Machias on the other hand is left staggered by the jolting sensation, being more of a rock himself than anything else. "Hng.." Putting both of his weapons aside, Crow breathes in as a faint blue glow surrounds him, alongside magical circles. "ARCUS Activate." The ground, despite the snow covering it, turns pitch black as a spear suddenly juts up from the shadows, impaling the Archaism through its center and releasing crackling jolts of red lightning to tear it to pieces before fading away. He'd be coming back through here later, after all. "Hey...so, here's the thing. We can't really leave these guys here, it's irresponsible to let them go back alone. A lot could happen." Putting on his upperclassman face, he looked somber. It's easy to forget that he's a year ahead of the rest of Class VII. "You guys have got yourselves covered pretty well, missing one man won't hurt the team, so I'll make sure these fellas' get to safety and catch back up with you later." Machias pushes his glasses up. " ...well. I can't really argue with the logic there. Not to mention, Crow or Fie would have the easiest time navigating back to our position." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha frowns a little as the miners report that their Chief is still in the clutches of the terrorists, "That's troubling..." If they still have a hostage, it'll make dealing with the terrorists more difficult.     But, Mikoto has the right of it. Sitting around isn't going to help anything. Nanoha watches as she and her rats continue forward, then turns to look at Crow as he volunteers to escort the miners back, "Good. I'm glad to know that they're safe with you." She turns to the miners, "Go ahead. We'll go and get your chief."     Once Nanoha is sure that the miners are all making their way out with Crow, Nanoha turns and starts to run after Mikoto. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''     Pramanix is a good leader! No, she isn't. She's good at taking point, at least, and she breathes a sigh of relief when the miners come out of their temporary prison. She furrows her brow when Nanoha's suspicions are confirmed, then points towards the way they had come in from. "Our allies are taking care of the machines guarding the path right now. Keep your heads down, and find your way out through the sewers. We'll keep moving onwards."     After murmuring a quick prayer for the miners, Pramanix smiles softly at Nanoha while hurrying further into the mine to regroup with Rean and Mikoto. "Yes, let's keep going. Once we find the Chief and whoever's left, we can put a bow on this operation and..."     She pauses for a moment, furrowing her brow while trying to come up with something decisive to end that statement on. It's going to take her a bit, especially while she's on the move! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' And with a combination of orbal arts and Pokemon moves, the last Archahism goes down, hitting the ground with a thunk. The miners come out of the other room not long after, and a couple of them recognize Angelica when they pass her by. "Nice to see you guys a gain." She says with a grin. "..." Rean looks away for a moment when Crow decides to walk the miners back on his own. Concern for his upperclassman's safety, perhaps? One of the miners then clutches his side, and lets out a grunt of pain. "Hahahaah...I think I pulled something back there. Got in a scrap while they were trying to take us, and I'm paying for it now." Rean looks over at the injured miner and then at Crow. He takes a deep breath, trying to put his worry aside for now. "...Yeah." Rean finally says. "Go ahead and take them back, Crow." "See you on the other side, Crow." Angelica says, giving Crow a salute of her own. Once the miners are seen safely off, the group heads out through the other door, and into an area full of lifts Mikoto's rats slip through the area, finding a couple more of those turrets hanging around, but nothing huge like the clockwork machines. There's also a few wild wolf monsters hanging around too. There's a ladder and a bridge at the end leading to a higher section of this area, and another door. Following the rodents' lead, the group easily makes their way over, dealing with whatever monsters challenge them Once they reach the end, there's a loud rumble in the distance behind them. A cave in? Or... 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Good plan." Alexis gives Crow a thumbs up, then motions to her pokemon to follow her after the others. There's wolves. She has a dinosaur that's also a dragon because pokemon are weird. I think we can all guess who's going to win that if the mutts are dumb enough to get in the way. Up ladders and over bridges and down caves and this is starting to feel like like the caves all over again. Except maybe less annoying bats. But they keep moving, waiting to see what comes up next. Which only take so long before there's that ominous rumbling. "Yeah, that ain't good." Alexis looks one way, her pokemon looks the other. Different directions but for the same reasons, looking for signs of it being a natural sound, or something artificial in cause. Considering what they've already dealt with Alexis would put her bet on the latter. "Keep your guard up. We don't know what else they might have down here." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto doesn't say anything to Crow's deciding to get out of here, at least not right away.  Finally, she turns towards the way forward, "Yeah yeah, we get it.  You want to put all of the work on us, and then claim the credit in the end.  What a worthless upperclassman you are," She says, shrugging her shoulders.   As they move forward, the Rats will give them the advantage of surprise and ways to avoid fights if necessary.  However, she pushes the Rats onwards.   Once the Rats get to the door, they squeeze under it to try and get inside to help scout it out.  Meanwhile, Mikoto uses her sword on monsters to help get them forward.  When the rumble hits, she turns back.  Her eyes narrow a little, muttering something to herself, before turning back towards the door. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Crow grins, but there's something about it that just doesn't feel good. "Yeah, I'll catch you guys on the flip side. C'mon, buddy, let's get you some help." With that, Crow helps the injured man in particular as they move back the way that the group of Elites and Class VII had initially come through. And not too long afterwards, a rumble shook the whole mine. It didn't take long for Rean's ARCUS to ring, and for Crow's voice to filter through. "Hey, Rean. Man, what a pain in the neck -- I got the miners out alright, but the mine collapsed behind us. Don't worry, we're all okay, if a little dusty ... but .... you guys are in serious trouble, now." Crow pauses before continuing, "The cave in blocked off the whole area we used to get in. So basically .. I can't get to you, and you can't come back the way you came." In other words, even under the best case scenario, they'd have to fight their way out through the front of the mine. "Listen, I'll look for a way around, so just hang tight."         Crow hangs up. With no other choice but to advance, the group continues onwards until they come to a large metal door. Getting it open hits them with a harsh bit of sunlight, as they find themselves out in open air for the first time in what seemed like hours. Unfortunately, what was waiting for them were a small squad of green-armored soldiers with rifles, bayonets attached to the ends, and a giant of a man built like an ox; V, one of the Liberation Front's big wigs. The man smirks, his reddish brown eyes set in a neutral gaze. "You brats ... really don't know when to quit, huh?" Placing his hands on his hips, the man all but radiates a subtle strength. "He was waiting for us..." Machias surmises with a grimace. "You could say that," V chortles, "We weren't really counting on that blockade to hold up. If the RMP had managed to get through, we set up shop here to lay 'em out. In fact, I was counting on it." Elliot shivers slightly, holding his staff a little closer, eyes narrowing in determination. "W-we need to be careful. We managed to push him out of Garrelia Fortress with all the help we had, b-but.." The man's smirk was a mile wide, now. Like a shark's grin. Fie, who had been looking thoughtful, finally had a flash of realization. "Now I remember. Aren't you a survivor of the Arngarmr Jaeger corps?" Vulcan's expression diminished a little, softening ever so briefly. "Surprised you know the name, Sylphid. It was long gone by the time you were making a name for yourself ... that's right. My name is Vulcan, the former leader of Arngarmr." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Tch.." Mikoto says, blade drawn the moment they cross V's path.  She has no illusions about what is going to happen here, their only way out was through this man and his forces.   "So V, huh?  I guess I get to put another one of your lettered terrorist heads on my mantle.  My name is Mikoto Shimizu, Magical Girl of Envy.  All that I claim is mine, and you are attempting to take what is mine," She boldly declares, pointing her blade towards the man. "The past is the past, right now you're in our way, and your conspirator blocked our way out.  I wouldn't think for a moment that you have us trapped, but rather you are the one between the rock and a hard place." She says, bold. Rean could perhaps see the hand tremble slightly.  She knew the situation was bad, but if she could keep the show going... "Now if you wish to surrender, there is no dishonor in that.  I am sure Rean here would make sure you get a fair trial." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha smiles at Pramanix and offers a option to the end of her statement, "And celebrate? It's always a nice end to a successful mission."     Nanoha continues to move forward with the group. She helps deal with the minor obstacles they come across, casually summoning more orbs of magic and sending them flying to explode against the machines. Once more they come across a ladder. And once more Nanoha deftly bypasses its use by simply floating up to the next level. It saves on a lot of effort of climbing!     However, as they reach another door leading forward, there's a rumbling. Nanoha turns to look back, looking concerned, "I was worried that if we went a bit too far, we might cause a cave in..." Her suspicions are confirmed as Crow reports in. Well, at least it's not like that was the only exit and they're now trapped.     Nanoha shrugs at the others, "Looks like we have no choice but to continue forward and deal with the terrorists. Which is what we were going to do anyway." Nanoha continues forward.     As they make their way through the final door, Nanoha pauses for a moment at the sight of the armed soldiers. Just a moment though. The Mage proceeds to walk forward calmly, watching V as he and the others of Class VII briefly speak.     Finally Nanoha stops, lowering her staff to as she says softly to V, "Vulcan... There's no need for the unpleasantness of a battle. Simply hand over the Mine Chief and surrender. As Mikoto says, I'm sure there will be leniency." 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''     With the group gathered together and stealth a distant memory at this point, Pramanix can focus on support rather than just scoping the place out. The turrets are barraged with hail and clogged with localized bursts of snow, and monsters are held at bay with bursts of holy wind.     "We've almost finished here... It would be so much more convenient if the captors came to us, though." As if on cue, there's a noise from behind! When Crow clarifies just what the problem is, Pramanix lets out a disconcerted noise and her ears visibly droop.     "That could be a problem.. But we'll be fine, friends. The only thing to do is keep moving forward with the Goddess' blessing." She chimes in with an upbeat tone, even going as far as murmuring a silent prayer to raise their spirits!     Her spirits, at least.     Soon, however, the group comes across someone calling himself Vulcan. His reveal might not get the desired reaction from the Feline, however, as she simply gives him a blank stare even as Fie seems to recognize him and his past.     "Excuse me. I don't suppose you'd be willing to let us leave peacefully with the remaining hostages, would you, sir?" Pramanix asks in a polite tone, even going as far as smiling pleasantly with that bell still in hand. "It'd be easier for everyone involved that way, and you look like a reasonable enough person." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis rubs her nose idly with the back of a finger as they end up walking right into the Big Bads waiting. "Knew this was going too smoothly." Sigh, she keeps getting into messes like this. It comes with the Trainer turf, most of the time. She raises a brow slightly at Pramanix. Probably not going to work, but it's nice to see people willing to try to talk still. Never know when it might actually work. But just in case it doesn't she recalls her Tyrunt. If this does likely turn into a fight, and this guy is as much of a Bad Time(tm) as the others are making it out to be, she's going to need a bigger elemental beat stick... 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' When Crow calls to inform them of the cave in, there's a slight tightness to Rean's posture as he talks."So it was a cave in. That's pretty unlucky, alright." Rean says. "We'll be careful, don't worry. Be safe down there." Rean says, hanging up. He lets out another rough breath. Whatever happened next, happened. They enter the room and find the last member of the ILF, V. Rean draws his sword as the others talk. "...We're not leaving without the hostages. If we have to fight you for them, then so be it. It's best for everyone if you just let them go peacefully." Whether or not he actually would was highly unlikely given everything, but it was worth a shot.  Rean moves closer to Mikoto a bit, noticing her shaking. At least they weren't alone in being worried. "What are you guys trying to do here?" Alisa chimes in. "Even if the nobles are helping you, it's not like you share the same ideals. And if anything happens to this mine, it would cause trouble not just for Roer, but the whole country!" 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' The allusion to Gideon's fate didn't go un-noticed. The spike of unadulterated killing intent aimed very pointedly at her is much more telling than any words he could use to state his opinion on it. "Letting the miners go, huh. To tell you the truth, that was always part of the plan. But, you're not the one running this show. They'll go free when they've served their purpose." There's a rough, savage edge to him now that culminates as Alissa inadvertently eggs him on. "You think we don't know that? But I'll do whatever it takes....to slaughter that iron-blooded shitstain and let him twist in the wind!" A visible aura of power explodes around Vulcan, like a galeforce wind as he clenches his fists. "W...why?" Elliot asks, meek in the face of Vulcan's quiet fury. One of the green-armored soldier chuckles dourly. "Kid, we could tell you our life's story, but even then, you still wouldn't get it." His comrade speaks up, though, his young voice seething. He couldn't have been much older than Class VII themselves. "Do you have any idea? How many have had their homes robbed from them because of him?" Gilliath Osborne's expansionist policies were no secret, not to anyone. "Of course, we're not all formed from the same mold. Gideon hated him for his ideology. And Scarlet ... she lost her hometown when he went and smashed it apart so he could build a railway through it." "As for me, I've just got a misplaced grudge, that's all. When we'd take a new batch of kids in, we'd do something laidback .. it was supposed to be another one of those laidback jobs. Back then, he was still rising to power, a common man chosen by the Emperor himself. The nobles just wanted to show him who the boss was, I guess." "But he saw through their plans in an instant; it wasn't even a battle, just a massacre. Even after we were beaten, we weren't even given the option to surrender -- we were never 'brought to justice' ... from the young to the old, I was surrounded on all sides by the bodies of my comrades, the only one who pulled himself out of that hell." "Eventually, I came across the ILF. No high ideals here, I just wanted to kill him. To gut that son of a bitch, avenge my friends, and tear apart everything he's spent his life trying to build." Elliot grimaces. "It...it's heartless to say, b-but..." he pauses. Machias steels his expression, "I'll say it. Terrorists need to be handled with an iron fist. Their fate should discourage others from following in their lead." Vulcan closes his eyes. "Not strained for mercy, huh? I can't deny what you're saying, though. But this isn't about who's right, or wrong." "That bastard loves to fuel the flame of progress. What's left for sad sacks like us? I'll tell you. We'll fan our own flame .. so big and wild that it'll burn up even blood and iron!" "Now, you came all this way, so you might as well show me what you've got! You're the ones who keep jumping into the fire, so don't blame me when ashes are all that's left!" Vulcan raises his massive rotary cannon, spraying the group with loud, roaring gunfire. His soldiers begin moving into position, spreading out to surround the group. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto takes a step forward as the cannon winds up, her sword ready as it flashes ahead.   "Don't let them surround us!  Everyone else, punch through!" she calls out, narrowing her eyes at Vulcan.  Her blade flashes, as she cuts bullets out of the air, her sword flashing in brilliant motions.  She can't catch them all, but most of them go wide.  She can't waste time on ones that won't kill her, so those cause streaks of blood down her arms, legs, and sides.   The moment she has a free second, she dashes for him, aiming to use her speedier movements, to try and get under him, as she slashes upwards towards V's face, attempting to cut him bottom to top.  She does not relent, following each strike with another, even as her own wounds bleed.   "Do not cry when your plans are cut down.  Remember you walk this path of your own volition, so when your plans are dashed by your betters...I do not want to hear your sobs!" 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha listens intently as Vulcan and his group explain their situation. Nanoha has to admit, she doesn't like the sound of of some of the things they claim that Osborne has done. But she also knows that their view is likely biased. And even if everything they say is true...     Nanoha shakes her head, "Even so... Resorting to terrorism. Taking hostages. Trying to kill this man... It's not the right way to go about it! All you're doing is perpetuating the violence and turning yourself into the same kind of person as him. There are better ways to see him held accountable for his actions. Ways that will not make you as guilty as him."     They're not having any of it though, Vulcan opening fire with that large cannon. Nanoha raises her right hand, a barrier of magic appearing beyond it. Most of the rounds sprayed against her splash against that round shield. There's many of them though, some managing to slips past the defense and impact Nanoha herself. Though she winces at the resulting pain, the bullets don't seem to do as much damage as one might expect.     While she maintains her defensive barrier with one hand, the other lifts her staff into the air. Orbs of pink appear floating around her. They glow brighter, before beginning to unleash magic lasers. They sweep through the air, targeting the ILF soldiers, trying to knock them out or at the least suppress them and keep the group from being overwhelmed. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Some of us happen to like playing with fire." In more than one meaning of the phrase. At the same as V raises his weapon to fire Alexis picks a pokeball and pitches it. "Better yet, I'll demonstrate!" Because she's bringing out the literal firepower, in the form of one irrate looking badger. "Tyyyphlooosion!" Flames ignite in a collar around his shoulders, as does a gout from his mouth directly into the path of the minigun fire. Several of the rounds are melted in the heat, while the remainers thump against Scorch's looming form as he stands in front of his Trainer. That stings. And could of done worse. Which just makes him all the more not very happy with these people. Alexis taps her cheek with a finger. "Yeah, he's got a bunch of punks on his side. That might be a problem. Scorch," she spreads her hands out in a widening motion. "Heat Wave." You know that effect that gives the air a rippling effect when heat rises off the pavement on a really hot day? Yeah, it's like that but a lot more intense. He steps threatening towards the soldiers, letting the super-heated suffocating air rolling off his form do most of the work putting these troops at a serious risk of heat stroke. It doesn't take long to go from a really hot day to standing too close to a lava pool. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''      Pramanix flinches as that energy, that raw anger from seemingly bursts out of Vulcan, and it doesn't take a great deak of genius to realize that there's a lot of bad blood involvd in this entire situation just from context. A great deal of that context is given by Vulcan himself, and his retelling of his past is enough to actually have Pramanix holding back for some time as she takes the whole story in.      "How terrible... I can't blame you for holding such a grudge for so long. If this had happened in..." She starts with a thoughtful tone, then cuts herself off at that last part as a firmer expression crosses the Saint's face.      Also, some freaking out when he starts spraying bullets everywhere. Pramanix is relatively quick on her feet and dives behind cover wherever she can find it, but her outfit is soon streaked with red as some of those bullets hit their mark and force her on the defensive. "No... I understand why you'd want your revenge, Mister Vulcan. If not for this current situation, I wouldn't even be involved! But those miners..."      She's actually starting to sound angry-ish at this point. "... I will not sit back and let you take their freedom away to fulfill that revenge!" Once those bullets start turning on her other allies, Pramanix gets back up with her bell held high, and she once again starts ringing it and chanting it rhythmically. As she does, the wind and snow pick up around Vulcan and his soldiers, swirling around them in weirdly-circular blizzard complete with dense hail and heavy winds blowing said hail almost perfectly sideways from multiple angles. Somehow, though, the blizzard seems to be avoiding Pramanix and her allies entirely! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...So that's what happened." Rean murmurs, quietly stowing away that information about Vulcan and the rest of the ILF. They were all united in their hatred of the Chancellor, which while unsurprising, gave just a bit more clarity to what was going on. Unfortunately, it also fueled a suspicion he'd been running from even further. It was sad, but: "...Even so, I can't let you guys harm any more innocent people for the sake of revenge." Angelica nods. "Right. This place is /my/ home, and I'm not gonna let some punks mess with it!" Alisa draws her bow. "Same here!" And so, when Vulcan opens fire, the three of them maneuver around to handle it. Alisa jumps back to get some distance, bullets striking her legs and cutting into her boots.  Once she lands, She kneels down...and then fires a volley of arrows in the air, dousing one of the ILF lackeys in a rain of flaming arrows. Meanwhile, Angelica swings a kick at Vulcan, creating a shockwave that breaks through the wave of bullets, dissolving the ones it hits. Her biker suit is padded enough that not all the bullets go too deep, but she's still got a few cuts here and there. Finally, Rean rushes in in a flash, bullets cutting into his already red blazer and dying it darker. He focuses on the other lackey, a single strike blooming into many as he zooms by. "We can handle them if we keep our focus! Let's finish what we came here for!" Rean shouts. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' The man is large and strong, and his reflexes are excellent, but he's far from a nimble fighter. Mikoto positions herself well and attacks him, causing him to swing his buldging arm in the way to protect his face using the vambrace. "That's a lot of bravado from such a weakling!" he sneers. Pushing back against her sword, which had managed to cut through his defense and draw a little bit of blood, Vulcan whirls his weapon around and unleashes a blasting stream of gunfire at nearly point blank range in an attempt to either drive her back, or kill her outright. At least his aim isn't as well now, given that she'd made him take one hand off of the weapon to defend himself with. "Cheh, persistent..!" he mutters, having to stop his counter-attack to bring the weapon up like a shield, Rean's sword clashing against it as he summons his titanic strength to push rean back and deliver a swift, strong kick towards his sternum to drive him backwards a few paces and give the man himself enough room to hurl a grenade directly at the swordsman's face, the low-yield explosive detonating with a great flash and thunderous noise, a stun grenade. The soldiers are beset by a variety of attacks, unable to do much to defend themselves from the harsh and choking heat alongside Nanoha's assault and Alissa's red hot arrow volley. Their thick, treated armor plates help hold up to their bombardments as they maneuver themselves into guarding positions, but one of the two really does have a heat stroke, hitting the ground due to being much closer to Typhlosion than the other. Thankfully for them both, the sudden blizzard cancels out the overwhelming heat, which in turn lessens the power of the blizzard, as much of it is turned into hot steam instead that makes the ground slick and wet, and the air muggy. Hail still manages to get through and pelt Vulcan and his remaining trooper, though. Speaking of whom, he throws his rifle down, realizing just how dire his straits were. "That's not how our story ends..!" Reaching for his waist, he pulls the pins on his grenades and tries to latch onto the Volcano Pokemon, no matter how bad the heat got. He was going to take this thing out of the fight, if nothing else, he was determined. The battle is interrupted quickly, with a series of red orbs suddenly flung about, spikes protruding out of the cardinal points of their rounded bodies. Nanoha is especially in danger from the floating weapons; powerful orbal mines! The one who'd tossed them out, from a nearby staircase winding around the side of the cliff, was the Mysterious Leader, C. With a long, double-bladed lance in hand, he made his way down the steps, protected from the harsh elements by his environment suit and sealed helmet. "Don't despair, V. S has already boarded the airship and is on her way." Elliot, who'd pulled back momentarily found himself and Machias momentarily pinned down by the mines. "You..!" Fie frowns. She'd been nimble enough to maneuver herself into a position to attack Vulcan, at least, before C appeared. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Hmph!  Weak huh..?  Strong enough to take your comrade's life!" Mikoto retorts, trying to put the large guy off balance.  Anger can make one stronger, but it can force one to over commit...and over-commitment in this engagement would be nothing but disastrous for him, when her comrades took advantage of it. However, with that knockback, she notices the gun pointed at her just in time.  She thrusts her blade down, as jade spikes shoot up around her attempting to protect her from the bullet hell.  However, the situation changes before she can take advantage again.  The arrival of C, causes her eyes to narrow.   Too many coincidences, too many affiliations, as well as the Watch's help at the last attack.  She makes a call to someone before she thrusts her blade into the earth.   Spikes of jade shoot out behind C, attempting to catch him off guard.  They weren't there to try and hurt him but cause him to move in a predictable manner.  She runs forward, as the jade around her finally shatters as she runs right towards C.  Blade extended as she attempts to swing it up. Her target?  The mask.   

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Holy shit, that guy is actually going suicide bomber! That's something you only see in movies and video games. Alexis isn't quite sure what to do. Scorch on the other hand, goes with the first thing he can think up. He tackles the grenade guy tackling him, carrying him as far from the rest of the group as he can before diving to the ground, using Defense Curl to wrap himself around the man and his grenades to pin them to the ground. He can't stop the things from going off so he's going to minimalize what it can do to anyone else as much as possible. It's still going to be a loud and fiery bang, enough for Alexis to recoil from it. "Sonnuva!" That's likely a knockout, taking one for the team as it were. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''      Even from that distance, thatstun grenade thrown at Rean still has Pramanix cringing, and she only barely manages to keep hat bell ringing ritual going to maintain the blizzard turned hailstorm. She's caught off guard when those red mines start coming down, though, one even coming close enough to leave a nasty cut along her side and forcing the Saint to turn her attention to the newly arrived C.     "Who...?!" Seeing those mines floating about, she once again resumes the ritual while moving steadily towards lower ground and more cover whereever she can find it: Rubble, other people, or simply getting away from the mines themselves. "Another strange man..."     To be fair, she probably wouldn't even know who it was without the mask. With those mines in the air, though, the white-haired woman has another trick up her massive sleevse. The wind starts to pick up again sans the hail from earlier, heavy gusts churning around the mines themselves to try blowing them off course into (relatively) safer spots away from her comrades, into walls, and into each other. "This is enough. Release the miners and we don't have to keep fighting!" 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha is not actually in the air yet. That still doesn't save her, as she backs up to avoid more gunfire only to accidentally wander too close to a mine. It explodes, catching Nanoha in the back. Nanoha is blown to the ground, groaning a bit as the back of her Barrier Jacket smokes just a bit.     Raising Heart chimes in concern, <Master?>     Nanoha rises to one knee, leaning on the staff for support, "I'll be alright. Just caught me by surprise. Nanoha looks up at the floating mines, "Looks like we're grounded... Flying mines. Nice trick. I'll have to remember that one."     Nanoha stands, taking a few steps to avoid another mine, when she spots the culprit responsible. Nanoha watches as Mikoto tries to engage him. Nanoha assists, raising her staff in C's direction. A spell circle appears on the ground beneath her as she calls out, "Chain Bind!"     A similar spell circle appears beneath C, magical chains of light suddenly rising out and attempting to wrap around the Mysterious Leader's limbs to restrict his movements and give Mikoto an opening to use. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean lets out a grunt as he's knocked back, sent staggering by the strike and the stun grenade. "Nngh..." Rean says, kneeling dazed for a moment. Then C appears. There's just a tiny bit of unease welling up in him, not as much as before, but still enough to be a distraction. Mikoto radioing him mid combat wasn't helping the situation either. Especially given what it was about. As it turned out, they were on the same wavelength. THough, by the looks of things, she had a slightly different idea than he had, but the answer was stillt he same. "..." Rean withdraws, rushing past Alisa. Alisa turns around. "Rean, where are you going?" and then she notices he has his ARCUS out. "What are you-" "...I'm sorry." Rean says. He'd been keeping a lot from them, and now it was about to come falling apart. To be honest, the same boxes that Mikoto had checked off in her head, he'd checked off too - plus one that he knew that Mikoto didn't. It was something he really didn't want to face. Something that he was praying to the goddess he was wrong about. He makes the call. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Thanks to Scorch's quick thinking, it minimizes the damage to itself, leaving it on the verge of unconsciousness alongside the suicide bomber in question who, even with his sturdy armor, is on death's door. Vulcan bats a wad of hail out of his face, breathing in to calm himself as C appears. He'd been incredibly close to losing his temper, the straw that was going to break the camel's back -- after all, while he and Gideon didn't really get along, they were still comrades who understood eachother. On a fundamental level, even though Vulcan hadn't given a shit about Gideon's goals, or his high horse ... in their own way, they were friends. The four of them against the same bastard that had wronged them all. Knowing what she'd done to him drove him up a wall, but at the same time, he knew no one took it harder than C. "Is that so? Guess we should savor these next few minutes while we can." he rumbles. C nimbly hops forward, easily avoiding Mikoto's opening attack, finding himself intercepted by her blade. Despite how close she'd gotten, the Mysterious Leader of the ILF weaves to try and avoid the brunt of the strike, her sword strike throwing out sparks as it scratched across the left side of his visor and skidding off the side, leaving a gash in it as he produced a volley of lighting fast thrusts of his lance in an attempt to drive her back, right back into his minefield. "Tch..!" Of course, his mines were being blown around, throwing his strategy off. His offensive against Mikoto was waylaid by Nanoha, with C only avoiding instant capture by the grace of his incredible agility and battle instinct, pulling back while angling his lance down to the ground, gripped in both hands. Several of the mines being blown around impacted eachother and exploded, giving the others an opening to resposition himself; namely, Machias moving to attack Vulcan with a shotgun blast to keep him from attacking their allies in the lull. It turned out to be a good idea, as Vulcan had taken aim to fire on Pramanix, an attack that winds up going partially long due to Machias' intervention. "There!" Fie says, jumping off of the glasses wearing student's head, kipping off of him as he let out an indignant "Hey!" after her. With both gunblades drawn, she released a volley of suppressing fire and rushed him, forcing the larger man to slide to the side and drop his gun and instead fire a volley of jabs at her, most of which the white haired girl weaved around before getting clocked in the chin, which sent her skidding back. The altercations pause again, all at one, damning sound. The scratch on his helmet revealed only the tiniest hint to Makoto, the tiniest detail that could give life to her concerns, but this was undeniable evidence as per Rean's fears. It was the sound of an ARCUS unit ringing, coming from one of the pockets on C's outfit. " ... " 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Quick thinking, ol'boy." Alexis recovers from the shock, and uses his pokeball to recall Scorch. This one is going to take more than a night at the Pokecenter to recover from, but he did the right thing. Probably because there's a bunch of girls in the group, but still the right thing. She brushes some soot off herself, winces a bit as she finds a few spots more bruised than she'd like, but now is not the time to deal with it. She grabs a different pokeball and tosses it out to release her Mawile. "Gonna have to step it right up to max, Trowel." The odd fairy-type nods and gets into a stance, her 'ponytail' opening to reveal its jaws in readiness as Alexis rolls up a sleeve and wraps her fingers around the Mega Bracer. Both stop before she actually gets to activating it as the ring goes off from the Big Bad Boss' pocket. Long, baited pause. Then about all Alexis can manage as it's put together what it means is a stilted "Aaawkward." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha's magic chains are deftly avoided. A wave of her staff has them alter course, trying to track the fast moving C. During this, Nanoha is only peripherally aware of Rean's actions. So she doesn't initially recognise the importance of ringing coming from the Mysterious Leader. It does get Nanoha to pause her chains though.     It's only after the radio conversation filters through Nanoha's head that she gains the proper context. At which point she lets out a rather surprised, "Eh!?" Nanoha had no idea, no suspicions at all. To be fair, while she had fought along side Crow a couple of times while she was helping Rean, she didn't really know him that well.     Still. He seemed like a good guy. Cocky, maybe. But not leader of a terrorist group material. And it's even more of a surprise that it turned out to be one of the members of Class VII. Who had direct encounters with the ILF. Quite a coincidence...     ... Or is it? Has Crow been manipulating the Class's assignments? Or someone else?     Nanoha isn't really sure how to proceed at this point, so just remains on guard, watching how the situation plays out. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's strike is not as true as she would like it, but her other plan was already happening.  She hoped Rean was strong enough to face the truth, but just in case... The lightning-fast thrusts of the lance meet her sword, and as she is forced back, and loses ground, she notices the glint of what she was looking for.  Her footing becomes better as the mines behind her are mostly cleared, allowing her to dance back as C is forced to deal with Nanoha's attempt to grab him. However, the ARCUS unit rining causes her to look towards the sound, then back up at him.  Her blade points up, "Well, Mysterious Leader C...or should I saw, Crow!" She says, dramatically.  She does not say anything for a bit, letting Rean and Crow get their business out first.  However, she steps forward, willing to do what needs to be done.  For Rean's sake, because she feared he lacked the...conviction to stop him. "I don't care what your goals are, all that you are is someone who got hurt and is using that pain to justify hurting others.  All you are doing is playing to the tune of the nobility, and in the end, all they will do is keep power in their hands, and out of the hands of people who will actually do something with it.  You are their puppets." "And you are willing to take from me what I hold dear.  As I said before, I am willing to do anything to protect what is mine, and /nobody/ will steal from me," She says, eyes green as she dives in. Her attacks are brutal, aiming to try and overwhelm Crow's lance with her savage swings, trying to catch the lance, and use any leverage she can find to try and break through his defense, and swing his blade up at her.  Even as he declares Crow never existed, her attacks get more focused, more determined to strike a killing blow. He was going to stop hurting what is hers. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:''' With the mines disposed of and nobody firing at her at that moment, Pramanix gets a moment to breathe! It's a good thing, too, since she takes that opportunity to apply pressure to some of those wounds. During her break moment, she peers up atC again as his identity is revealed to be...      ... That person that winked at her before. Rather than looking indignant or angry, she keeps her expression even. Granted, she may not have to try very hard having only met everyone here today, but she can at least appreciate why some of them are upset.      Like Nanoha, she's not quite sure how to proceed with C given the sudden revelation. She keeps that wind churning arund herself along with a light snow, but mostly to avoid lowering her guard while things come to a head. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Sparks fly as blade meets blade, Crow revealing his fighting talents to be many leagues above what he'd previously indicated in most combat situations. Then again, he'd only used orbal weaponry as Crow Armbrust, the Thors Military Academy student. C wasn't beholden to that need to disguise himself and could accordingly pull out all the stops. Which isn't to say that fighting off someone as wholly savage and powerful as Mikoto was easy, only that overpowering him would be equally difficult. Rather than trying to press an offensive, C remains calm and collected, using the superior range of his lance to keep her just far enough away for his greater agility to come into play, never being cornered or cornering her. He tried his hardest to keep the exchange squarely in the middle of the road, as it were. C's helmet is left forgotten on the ground, having thumped wetly there after it'd been removed. Vulcan, despite his bleeding arm, immediately turned his rotary cannon on Machias and Elliot, the latter slamming his staff into the ground. "ARCUS Activate!" The sudden wall of ice being shot at him gave the two boys a moment to reorient themselves and make for cover before Vulcan's weapon chewed it apart. Fie herself managed to get up in this time frame and hurl a smokebomb at the man, weaving around him again. "Playin' with fire, Sylphid?!" They were all upset. It was certainly throwing them off, and the frustration at being unable to even properly react to it from the fighting was indescribable. As if understanding their plight, Vulcan backed off ever so slightly. "Crow...why...?!" Elliot bit out. Machias couldn't form words to what he was feeling. C himself smirks grimly as his lance clashes once again with Mikoto's sword, "That's about the long and short of it. But the thing is, there's nothing you can do to stop me." There's something dark in his eyes. It wasn't evil, per se, but it was the kind of determination that could only be formed from a truly terrible resolve. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' And thus the cat's out of the bag. Rean shuts his ARCUS with a metallic click and turns to face C - No, Crow, a wry smile on his face. "...Why? ...No, I know why. Your grandfather, right? You know, I thought you might join the ILF, since they hate the Chancellor. But their /leader?/"  Rean's smile turns into a full on glare as he rushes forwards again, joining Mikoto in her assault.  "You were their leader this whole damn time?!" However, Rean's not the only person stunned by this turn of events. Alisa is just staring at Crow, a quiet "No way..." leaving her lips, as she nocks another arrow and fires at Vulcan. And Angelica... "You've gotta be..." Angelica says through gritted teeth. "Are you fucking kidding me, Crow Armbrust?!" Angelica weaves through whatever mines might remain on the field and then rushes him, waiting for an opening in Mikoto's assault to do something that she did the year before. Deck him. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Rean comes in, fighting and Mikoto moves to flank with him, especially after Angela comes in.  As the first comes for Crow, Mikoto thrusts her blade into the ground, as spikes aim to shoot right behind him.  Regardless of rather or not they hit, she comes in viciously.   She swings her blade upwards, once more trying to catch that weapon, but instead of trying to savage him with blows, she moves forward, attempting to clinch their weapons so that Rean and Angela can get through his defenses. His resolve is matched by her own.  She won't lose anything ever again, no matter what it takes.   

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:''' The battle continues with C, and Pramanix watches with intense focus. Indeed, it's actualy distracting her from what else needs to be done. Part of her just wants to see where this all goes, but the other part of her knows there's still work to do. That, unfortunately, means looking for an opening to break away from this central area to try and find those miners. C had mentioned the security office, but it's a crap shoot whether or not she can even find said office if she even gets an opportunity to get away in the first place! 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Y'know, fuck it, we'll figure out the complications later." Alexis resumed squeezing the Mega Bracer to activate it. "There's still a fight to deal with." Energy briefly engulfs Mawile, emblazened with a flaming helix, then shatters away to reveal her slightly larger Mega Evolution, now sporting two of those jaw-ponytails. Or would that make them jaw-pigtails? Details aren't really important. Confused as everyone is she's not inclined to butt in on the 'personal' matter with C/Crow, so instead turns attention back to Vulcan. "Trowel, Play Rough!" Mega Mawile sprints towards Vulcan while he's dealing with the other attackers, and swings her dual jaws to try and grab onto his arms and limit how effectively he can move that weapon around. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha watches from the sidelines for the moment as Mikoto and C battle it out. And soon enough Angelica joins them. Processing the revelation, Nanoha recalls Crow's earlier volunteering to escort the miners back. She asks him about it, almost dreading the answer.     But as C indicates their safety, Nanoha is relieved. But the feeling only lasts a moment as Vulcan's cannon firing returns her attention to the fact that there's still a battle raging. Leaving C to those who have a more personal interest in his betrayal, Nanoha turns her attention on the larger ILF officer.     Raising her staff above her head, Nanoha calls out, "Axel Shooter-" Several pinks orbs appear in the air around Nanoha. Then several more. And more. Until there are a couple dozen. At which point Nanoha finishes, "Avalanche Shift!"     The dozens of orbs all fire off beams of light, which dance through the air before raining down on Vulcan. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Fighting Mikoto on her own was controllable. Fighting her and Rean was still well within his abilities in this particular situation, as long as all he had to do was keep them from pressuring him too much. But as he pushed back, deflecting Rean's sword and smashing the side of his head with the flat of his lance's blade before revolving his weapon around to strike at Mikoto's shoulder with the other blade at the end of his weapon, Angelica took this opening to rush him. And punch him directly in the face, sending the ILF's leader skidding back across the wet ground, a bruise already forming where she'd hit him. "Well, that brings back memories ... " he murmurs, mostly to himself. Raising his hand, Vulcan bats the arrow away with astonishing precision, grinning like a shark in Alissa's general direction. Most of Class VII finds themselves suppressed with his rotary cannon, except for Fie, who had hid herself to wait for an opening. "I don't imagine you've got it all out of your systems yet, but our time is about up." he mentions, having seemingly been pushed to the guard rail with no escape. Last year .. the pain of his bruise was almost nostalgic. He and Angelica got along terribly at first; himself being much more cold and prickly rubbed her the wrong way, so they wound up fighting. But those good memories ... even though he wouldn't regret them, he wouldn't let them hold him back, either. The world could burn for all he cared, as long as he was able to kill that man, nothing else mattered to him. Not Rean. Not Angelica. Not Towa. Not the rest of their class, their instructors, or anyone else. C hurls himself off the railing, falling backwards and, momentarily it seemed, to his death. Only for the ILF's airship to raise upwards as quiet as a mouse, Vulcan battling with the Mega-Evolution and keeping it at bay, attempting to shove it away with his cannon before ultimately deciding to leave it behind, giving the weapon a hard shove to let its crushing weight to bare entirely on the creature so that he could have his moment to get out. Fie's gunshots riddle his exposed back as he leaps off to make it onto the escape ride, as well. "Until next time, Class VII!" C's voice comes, over the intercom. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     The ILF are trying to get away...     ... Using an airship.     Their mistake.     With the mines thankfully cleared by Pramanix, Nanoha is not afraid to fly. She runs across the platform and jumps, planting a foot on the railing and then leaping off. Small pink wings of light burst into existence from the sides of her boots and she blasts upwards into the air, looking to give chase.     As Nanoha flies after the retreating airship, she stretches her staff ahead of her, a pink sphere forming just beyond the tip. It grows in size as Nanoha charges the spell, before finally calling out, "Photon Smasher!"     The growing sphere bursts, a large rush of magic blasting forward and lancing towards the airship. Nanoha's aiming to try and disable it, to force them back down to the ground where they can be apprehended. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' That is probably the smartest thing Vulcan could of done. Most of Mega Mawile's strength was in the tremendous grip of those dual jaws, making it hard to break. But she didn't have the size or mass to support that entire weapon herself, and as soon as it's shoved from Vulcan's hands she topples over from the weight. Don't worry, the organic metal that makes up her kimono-like covering keeps her from being crushed, but she's pinned until Alexis comes over, pulls a golf club from her bag and wedges it under one end of the rotary to pry it up just enough for the fairy-mon to wiggle out from underneath. It's enough to keep them too busy from trying to stall the getaway airship though. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto feels like they're finally getting some room here.  She had some tricks left, but she wanted to hold back as long as she could to make sure they landed.  Of course, right at that moment, it seems like Crow falls to his death. Only for an airship to rise up.   Mikoto could fire something at them, but she was the least equipped for that right now.  Nanoha seemed to have it under control...but right now she turned towards Rean and looked at him for a moment.  She places a hand on his shoulder before pulling him into a hug. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Yeah, it better." Angelica says, shaking out her hand. "Had to punch you for being fake back then too. Need another one?" Rean runs to the railing as Crow just casually jumps into the abyss...and into a getaway airship. His body tenses up, it's not like he could reach them from here without risking blowing up the whole airship...Though perhaps they deserved it.  For hurting innocent people, for hurting him, for hurting his friends...it'd be easy for them all to just die. To let that desire just take him. Then Mikoto comes over to him and gives him a hug, dragging him out of that mental spiral. "Ah..." Rean murumers, laying his hands on hers. Angelica raises a fist at the rising airship. "Grrr...Get back here, damn it!" Suddenly, the door opens behind them, and a bunch of people come charging through. It's the RMP and the provincial army, the gray and orange uniforms either standing out or blending in with the surrondings of the mine. The blue haired woman in gray from before raises her hand in command. "Disable the airship!" she shouts, and her men take aim and fire at the getaway vehicle. The regally dressed man in orange from before isn't having any of it though. "You're not authorized to fire in here!" He then looks up at Nanoha. "And you don't have a permit to be flying either! Men, stop them!" The soldiers in orange take aim....at Nanoha and the RMP soldiers. Alisa just boggles at what's going on. "What are you doing?!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto smiles at Rean, it's a sad smile, "Sorry I was right.  I really wanted to be wrong...I wanted to be embarrassed and have to beg for forgiveness...but.." There is a pause as authorities start coming in.   However, it appears that the Orange suited soldiers are being ordered to stop them.  Mikoto breaks the contact with Rean, before her blade thrusts into the ground, aiming to jut spikes all around the shouting man.  Her eyes, still green stare right at him like a demon. "Isn't it obvious?  This man is either in league with the ILF, or afraid that there is something that will be uncovered in here.  Unfortunately, if he does not call off his soldiers, I will end his miserable life right here and right now." "So sir, is your reputation worth your life?  I suggest you call off your men and start being honest." 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' The lasers and orbal gunfire impact the ship, shaking it -- smoke is pouring from virtually every point of escape it can get. "W..what?!" C's voice is panicked. But it's not because their getaway is getting grounded. No, the real reason is abruptly clear to everyone present, as the customized, jet black airship is obliterated. Neither Vulcan, Scarlet, or Crow had been able to act in response to whatever discovery they made just before the detonation. The front, the cockpit, bounces against the railing and crushes it before falling into the ravine, along with the rest of bits and pieces of the airship that had gone up in flames. It'd almost been like the core structure had been laced with explosives that had been triggered by the damage? After all, Nanoha's aim had been spot on. But ... Then again, maybe it was just an unfortunate accident in the heat of battle. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha comes to a halt in the air as the gunship explodes spectacularly. There's a look of surprise on her face. She could have swore that her shot was on target. It shouldn't have caused that much damage! Did something else happen? Nanoha isn't quite sure. She's just about to go and search for survivors when she has several guns aimed at her.     Nanoha briefly considers ignoring the weapons and risking it... But she doesn't really want to go against the local authorities. Besides, that explosion... Nanoha closes her eyes for a moment.     The Aerial Mage then turns in the air, slowly floating back down to the platform. As she gently touches down on the platform once more, Nanoha finds Mikoto threatening the leader of the local soldiers. Nanoha raises a hand to Mikoto to try and wave her down, "Mikoto, that's enough. I don't think threatening him will get us anywhere. The miners are safe and the terrorists have been driven from the mine. Let's be happy with that and call it a day." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Mikoto, hold on-" Rean starts, but Nanoha's got it handled, it seems. The provincial army captain lets out a small yelp as Mikoto threatens him. "Y-young lady, I don't think you understand-" He's interrupted by a large explosion as the escape airship blows up. "Hit the deck!" The blue haired woman shouts, and everyone ducks. There's some arguing between Angelica and the provincial army captain about who is allowed where, who blew up the airship, and why Angelica's father the local marquis gave the provincial army orders to block off the mine, but some timely intervention by of all people, Prince Olivert, gets the group off the hook for 'trespassing.' Before they leave, Rean, Angelica and the rest of Class VII stare up at the where the airship was in silence. Sure, this turn of events made things extremely complicated, and maybe revealed how little they knew about him... ...But at the end of the day Crow was one of them, a member of Class VII, and a student of Thors. 
}}

7141/Third Verse: Belief

2020-04-18T21:48:43Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2020/04/11 |Location=Sachsen Mine, Erebonia |Synopsis=Class VII and allies enter Sachsen Mine to retrieve some hostages from the clutches of the Im..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/04/11
|Location=Sachsen Mine, Erebonia
|Synopsis=Class VII and allies enter Sachsen Mine to retrieve some hostages from the clutches of the Imperial Liberation Front, and stop the group from casing damage to one of the country's financial staples. The group eventually faces off with Vulcan and the mysterious leader of the ILF, C. In the process, Mikoto and Rean face their suspicions about Crow - and are unfortunately proven right.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 459, 7002, 7145, 7248, 7075
|Tinyplot=Imperial Liberation Front
|Tinyplot2=Trails Of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' However you arrive at Sachsen Mine, it's obvious that the complex isn't in the best shape. White smoke floats out of the entrance and some of the windows, and there's alarms blaring. There's two groups of people arguing outside the entry to the mine. One group, in bright orange, 'regal' looking uniforms stands in a blockade formation, while the other group, clad in gray military-style uniforms with armored cars accompanying them stands ready to enter the mines themselves. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a problem. "The terrorists have complete control of the mine!" A slightly more decorated soldier in orange says. "They've taken the miners hostage! Any attempt to enter the mine may put their lives in jeopardy!" A blue haired woman in gray steps forward and shakes her head. "Then why are /you/ out here twiddling your thumbs instead of negotiating with them?!"  Captain Claire says. "They clearly have an objective in mind here -- we can't allow them to buy any further time!" THe front entrance probably isn't the best idea, but you've got help, at least. A manhole opens up not too far away, and a blonde haired girl in the red Thors uniform pokes her head out, waving at you to come over. "This way!" Alisa says.   Upon entry, you find Rean and a couple of other members of Class VII waiting at the bottom, as well as a face Alexis might find familiar. "Oh hey, it's you again." Angelica says, clad in the same biker suit she had on at the race. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Oh look, beaucracy and military intelligence working as well as they always do. Alexis doesn't even need to get much closer to see that big blockup at the main entrance. She's considering just going around to the side and digging her own way in, but that becomes unnecessary when the hatch pops open. Hey saves her risking causing unexpected structural damage so she won't pass up slipping down into the alternate route. The tomboy gives Angelica a casual salute. "I'd ask how the bike was turning out but this ain't really the time for it." Then stuffs hands back in her hoodie pockets. "Got a better site rep than the obstruction at the front gate?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto arrives early enough to hear the noble and the soldier fighting.  She taps the underside of her jaw for a moment, so that is a curious thing to hear.  Why does the noble assume that the terrorists have a secondary goal instead of just holding a mine full of useful materials for their cause?  Is it because they know something that the rest of them don't?  However, the voice from Alisa gets her attention. Deciding that way is better she climbs down to meet up with the Class VII crew.  Hands go to her hips as Angelica comments on them being here again.  "Of course I'm here again.  What would you guys do without me?" She says, perhaps a little bratty, but they know her well enough by now for it to be playful. "So yeah, what's the situation?  Do we have a plan yet or are we having to do this on the seat of our pants?"   

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Crow is squatting on the ground, the holsters for his guns hanging secure along the interior of his red uniform. A couple of gadgets here or there can be seen strung along his belt; grenades, a set of scopes, vials of Tear balm, things of that nature. "Yo." he greets the newcomers flippantly, saluting with his middle and forefingers flicking casually from his bandannae'd forhead. Since everyone who'd be coming along seemed to be present, he pushes himself back into a standing position pretty easily, stretching out briefly. "Don't sweat the details, our fearless leader here has a surefire plan to stop those nasty terrorists in their tracks. Ain't that right?" Taking his position by Angelica with a chuckle, Crow sobers up a little bit. "Well, we've got a backdoor in, so that's something. But the sitch' ain't looking too good, we've got really limited intel on what's actually going on in there. For all we know, it could be swarming with Archaisms." 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:''' Joining the group is a strangely-dressed woman in white garb that probably won't stay that color after a trek through the sewer. Her ears twitch lightly as multiple unfamiliar voices start speaking up, and she wrinkles her nose when the stench of the sewer hits her. "Oh my... This is going to take some getting used to." She murmurs to herself while gripping the handle of her bell tightly, looking from Crow to Angelica when he IDs her as the leader of this mission. "We're going in silently, yes? I can scout ahead if that's the case." She certainly sounds eager enough to do it, and a more observant eye would notice that she's already watching the tunnels further ahead rather than just staring right at everyone else. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha felt some amusing fmailiarity as she arrived to see the two groups arguing. She was just about to step in to try and calm things down. To mediate the two groups. But then Arisa pops out of a hole, signalling the group. Nanoha briefly considers... Deal with bureaucracy, or get things done. Deal with bureaucracy, or get things done... Given the lives of the hostages in danger, Nanoha decides to get things done.     Dropping down into the tunnel, Nanoha glances around and muses happily, "Well, this is thankfully convenient!" She looks at Class VII plus additional and nods, "Hello, everyone." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Angelica shrugs. "Yeah, but we can always talk about that later. Chances are the Mine Chief's stuck in there with the other miners, and as for bureaucracy..." Angelica rolls her eyes. "Well, my uncle's the one at the the top running this place and they're not much better than the guys outside." A short, silver haired girl nods. "The provincial army - the guys in orange - might be in on it too." Fie says.  "That smoke looked like it came from smoke bombs rather than actual bombs. Not to mention some of the rumors floating around." "The plan is to get the miners out safely, and stop whatever's happening in there. True, it's not that much of a plan, but we should be able to handle the evacuation, no matter what they throw at us." Rean says, doing a small fist pump. He then turns to the newcomer. "Feel free to, but the tunnel's been pretty straightforward so far." Angelica nods. "I know the mine like the back of my hand, but we could use the extra eyes once we get in there." Anyway, once any other questions are answered, everyone gets going, scouting ahead aside. The bottom of the manhole isn't a sewer, it's more of an extended underground passage, stretching forward and behind the group. An evacuation exit, more like. There's a few stray, weak monsters wandering around, and at the end of the passage is a ladder. Angelica crosses her arms as she looks up at the ladder. "So, boys in front, girls in back? Since some of us have skirts on, and Crow won't be able to help himself~ I'll take the rear." Alisa glares at her upperclassman. "No, you go in front of the girls, Angelica. Don't pretend you can't help yourself either." Angelica laughs, a cat like smile on her face. "Ok, ok. If it'll make you feel better, I'll go in front." After some more banter between whoever might pitch in here, everyone goes up the ladder, coming out into a portion of road within the mines cordoned off by haphazardly placed barriers.  There's ONE entrance not blocked by barriers off to the side though. But there's two giant clockwork looking machines blocking it instead. There's also a many small hovering turrets hanging around, just like in Garellia Fortress. In other words, the place is swarming with Archasims. Who could've guessed? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gives Crow a sideways glance, shrugging her shoulders at his comment.  "We'll see about that, Rean is sort of a blockhead who just sort of charges into things without thinking," Mikoto says, and is not proven wrong as he doesn't have a plan, per se.  "You got all these people here, and nobody went to try and scout out what's ahead?" She sighs, shrugging her shoulders again. Nanoha comes in, but the cool greeting from Mikoto is obvious, "Hello," Before turning back towards the others.  "You do huh?" She says towards the Upperclassman, "Well let's go then.  The longer we procrastinate the more likely that the terrorists are going to start killing people for no reason." She considers Pramanix for a moment, "Should have probably brought something more suited for battle.  Oh well, too late now." She moves on until the way up appears.  Tapping on her chin as people start going over who goes up first and why.  Once that's decided she eyes Angelica, "Man, we really don't need two Crows.  I hope you aren't as slack off as he is." Once up, she looks towards the way forward.  Barriers blocking their way, but not overly protected, and two machines blocking the third.  Turrets flying around, making things more interesting.  Drawing her blade, she stabs it into the ground and summons forth several rats.  They go forward, attempting to sneak by the robots and other guards and scout ahead.  Maybe they can just avoid this confrontation and remotely trigger the shields. "I'm sending some animals ahead.  If you wanna make noise to give me some help, I'd appreciate it.  It's not likely we're going to be able to avoid the clockwork things." 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' "Hey, hey! Don't throw me under the bus for your own sake. Friggin' skirt chaser ... " Crow sounds exasperated, but his expression betrays his amusement. sending a wink of his own at Nanoha and Pramanix as he moves to ascend the latter after Angelica. After their ascent, Machias frowns, pushing his glasses further up on his face with his free hand, the other balancing his shotgun onto his shoulder. "It's just like at the fortress ... they've deployed all these autonomous weapons. I don't think we can just sneak through." Crow rolls his shoulders a bit before reaching for his guns. "Yeah, seems like it. If we force our way through fast enough, we might be able to avoid alerting the rest of the enemy. "By the way, I wouldn't expect the Provincial Army to let the Captain's people in here anytime soon, at least if our guess is right in that they're playing a little dirty with the situation." As Mikoto summons forth her familiars, both the boys nod in her direction, though Machias seems much less pleased about the turn of events. "Right. On three, we'll -- " Crow moves ahead, firing a volley of orbal gunfire towards the surrounding turrets to try and disable as many as he can with the element of surprise. "Three!" Machias growled, stepping forward with his shotgun raised at the ready position. "Don't you ever listen?! Ugh..!" With their efforts combined, they lay down a hail of orbal-accelerated lead. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis laughs at 'not much of a plan'. "I've got on thinner threads." It's not an exaggeration, though she's grown out of that phase. Mostly. Alexis is not wearing a skirt, but someone already got voted to the front, but that's fine with her. It'll give her a chance to see what they're walking into. Or climbing into as the case may be. Yup, right into trouble. Turrets and traps and some kind of guards. "Tch. I'd almost think I'd walked into another Team Magma hideout," the trainer murmurs to no one in particular. Considers for a moment. Can't let out anything too big unless it's a necessity, but caverns is familiar turf that can be used to their advantage. Eventually she clicks a pokeball, and a minature t-rex ( https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/c/c3/696Tyrunt.png ) appears next to her. The dino is only about two feet tall, and half it's body size is head and jaws, so yeah minature works as a description. "Oh, I love making some noise. T-Wreck, warm up with Dragon Dance." The small dino starts bobbing back and forth from foot to foot, building up speed and tensing muscles as he does so... And someone besides her charges in recklessly. Imagine that. "Someone can't count," she jokes. "Guess we better not let them get overwhelmed. Zen Headbutt!" "TYRUUUUUNT!" For a small dino he's got a pretty deep roar, barreling past the two boys harrying the turrets and lowering his hard head to slam into one of the clockwork sentries. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''     "Evacuation first... Understood." The fuzzy-eared lady nods, and then she's on the move! Despite her clothing, she's actually pretty good about sticking to cover where it actually exists, keeping her footsteps muffled through careful footwork, and pausing every now and then to listen for approaching monsters.     Mikoto gets a light chuckle and shrug. "Thank you for the concern, miss. It will be fine, though. Our greater concern is securing the hostages." Crow's wink, meanwhile, gets a soft smile and wave in return without commenting outright.      Whatever's going on in Pramanix's head, though, she does seem to be holding back as far as fighting the monsters. Instead, she leaves them to the people in the group that aren't carrying bells.     She's good about keeping that from ringing incessantly.      After climbing the ladder at the end of the group, she keeps her eyes peeled as the group comes across barriers on one side and machines on the other. When the decision to go loud or quiet appears to be made, Pramanix steps back as she starts ringing that bell over her head and... Praying?      Praying. The reason becomes evident rather quickly, though, as the wind starts picking up and snow begins to fall. It becomes an outright blizzard rather quickly, somehow centered on the drones and machines as the hail threatens to gunk up their joints while the wind pummels down on them. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha smiles at Mikoto's greeting, "Hello, Mikoto. Nice to see you again!" Nanoha would offer introductions to the other two she doesn't know. But it's time to get moving. As they make their way down the tunnel, Nanoha takes the opportunity to transform as she expects they will eventually encounter resistance. As she walks, light bright engulfs her. Her Barrier Jacket forms, while the long shape of Raising Heart's staff form appears in her hand. Finally with a flash of light, Nanoha reappears in her white and blue combat dress.     Along the way, Nanoha muses out loud, "I wonder if the terrorists made any demands yet. If not, perhaps they have something else in mind..." Even silence from the hsotage takers can tell them a little about the situation.     As they reach the offending ladder, Nanoha can't help but smile at the banter between the group. It's good to see that they're getting along well with each other. It's important for a team. Of course, Nanoha gives a short chuckle as poor Angela is teased.     Anyway, Nanoha waits for the rest of the group to go up, sticking to the rear like she usually does before she shortcuts the ladder and just gracefully flies up, before landing on her feet once more.     Nanoha's expression turns more serious as they catch sight of the machines guarding the way. She's not actually familiar with them, though it's fairly obvious that they don't belong. Nanoha nods in agreement with Crow's assessment. They'll likely have to break through them. As the others begin the assault, Nanoha waves her staff in front of her. Several orbs of pink light appear in the air. However, they remain stationary as Nanoha doesn't immediately engage. Instead she keeps track of the fight's progress, watching to make sure the front line fighters aren't overwhelmed. While also keeping an eye out for any unseen enemies from catching the group by surprise. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The rats go off to deal with the barriers, but they're concrete walls, not technological barriers. The good news is they can access the door behind the giant Archasims, and find the miners! There's no other guards back there. The assumption must've been that the machines would be able to keep interlopers out. There's also another door going in further into the mines as well. "What the...?" One of the miners says, staring at the jade rats scurrying around. They're behind a high metal fence, but the door can probably get its lock cut open or exploded once everyone gets back there. If Mikoto's rats can chew through steel, that's also an option. Meanwhile, Angelica puts a pair of metal braces over her hands, and them slams a fist into her open palm. "Well, if i's a fight they want!" She shouts, and then engages one of the Archaisms, delivering a few swift punches to its front. Fie follows suit, dashing around the machine to fire her twin dagger guns into its back. The gem on the front of the archaism glows brightly for a moment, before firing a blue laser across the field. It clips Angelica's shoulder as she holds up an arm to guard. The other one, meanwhile starts to glow a bright red, its clockwork mechanism rotating faster. Tyrunt gets there first, ramming into it with a headbutt. This seems to stun the machine for a moment, giving Rean an opening to go in himself, dealing a horizontal slash at the machine's gem. "Alisa!" Rean shouts, and Alisa follows suit, firing a blazing arrow at the gem herself, cracking it a tiny bit. The machine is still glowing though, so maybe it needs another stun before it ceases whatever that is. Pramanix's blizzard starts to coalesce on the backs and arms of the machine, forming an ice buildup on them as well. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Well, good thing that they were magical rats and not normal rats.  They can, in fact, chew through normal metal.  Other, mystical metal might not be so easy, but normal iron is no problem.  They climb up the cell door and start chewing at the lock until it snaps, allowing the miners to get out with time. The walls are another problem, but they at least found a path forward deeper into the mine and the hostages in one fell swoop.   "I see a way deeper in, as well as the miners.  I'm getting them out with my animals, so I'm going to need protection.  So don't waste time, take these things down quickly so we can cut loose." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Popping off that Dragon Dance to up both his speed and attack power paid off, but it's not quite enough to put the machine entirely out of commission. That's okay, it's enough for Alexis to work with. She prefers to build her strategy on the fly. It's clockwork, so electricity isn't going to do much, but impacts might knock something loose and jam. "Now use Dragon Tail!" Tyrunt digs one foot into the ground and swivels hard on it, using the pivoting motion to swing his stout tail into one of the clockwork guard's legs and try to stagger it again, if not just knock it over entirely. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' "Take this!" Machias growls, holding his weapon out with one hand to fire a special shell made for shattering tough hide and thick plates of armor, intent on hitting the large Archaism being attacked by Angelica dead center with it. "Bang~!" Crow teases, firing the large revolver held in one hand. The bullet was infused with Water sepith, giving it a freezing property as he focuses his fire on the same clockwork automaton, as the turrets had been suppressed well enough for the moment. He follows it up with the semi-automatic pistol held in his other hand, firing twice to blast apart a now brittle piece of the machine's chasis.     "Yeah, yeah, Rean'd flip out if you got a scrape anyway, y'know?" 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''      Pramanix continues churning that focused blizzard around the machines to freeze them up as best she can, still keeping the ringing and quiet chanting going while her gaze shifts elsewhere.     The miners are mentioned, and she's anxious to get back on the move once more. After blanketing the machiens in yet more snow and piling it up around whatever qualifies as their feet to make the mere act of moving a hassle, Pramanix breaks off!     Her target: The miners. Leaving what she assumes is the cleanup of the machines to her allies, she heads deeper into the mines, sticking to shadows and cover again just in case she comes across further resistance.     <<"I'm on my way, miss. Once you see me, it should be safe for the miners to regroup with us.">> She relays, ready to issue theall-clear if things are indeed as safe as they seem thus far! 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     The hostages have thankfully been located by Mikoto. Of course, Nanoha is concerned about them, given the fighting going on. So while the others are harassing the Archaisms, she seems to have the same idea as Pramanix, taking the opportunity to push through.     Nanoha lifts up into the air, before surging forward into the battle. It's a brief burst of speed, sending her blasting past the larger clockwork machines that had been guarding the door forward. As she does so, the orbs she had summoned follow her before breaking off and exploding against the machines as she passes by.     Quickly reaching the door, Nanoha lands again, skidding to a stop before heading through. As the battle wages behind her, Nanoha gives the captured miners are reassuring smile, "Not to worry, we're here to get you out!" The rats are handling the escape, good. Nanoha looks over the miners, "Is this all of you, or are there more still imprisoned out there?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Machias' shell hit the second archaism dead on in the gem, shattering it. Crow's ice shots also freeze a bit of the machine's chassis, causing it to fall off and land in the slowly growing snow. Angelica jumps in next, delivering a fierce kick to that same spot. Finally, Fie jumps in, dumping a rain of gunfire into the open spot. After all that fire on it, plus the growing snow getting inside its workings, the second archaism collapses to the ground, disabled. Tyrunt's tail slam whacks the first Archaism, knocking it out of whatever it was charging. It staggers back, leaving an opening for Alisa to fire a flurry of arrows into the air, pelting the first Archaism with a rain of fire. Nanoha's orbs hits both machines, mostly doing more damage to this one than the other one. "I-I would not!" Rean says...Right as he's moving to guard Mikoto. He looks at Mikoto behind him, and then at Crow and sighs. Way to prove his point, Rean. He quickly unsheathes his sword, sending a shockwave at the gem on the first Archaism. This finally shatters the gem on the front, preventing it from lasering anymore. Instead, it tries do something with its arms by slamming them into the ground, letting out an electrical shockwave across the field, albeit weakened because it can't really reach the ground anymore because of all the snow. Rean moves to tank the brunt of the shockwave for Mikoto, Wincing, but still standing strong. "Mikoto can handle herself for the most part though, even if I do worry about her sometimes." Or a lot. The shockwave also hits Fie, Angelica and Alisa, leaving them stunned for a moment, but they should be fine. The remaining Archaism starts glowing red again, but its clockwork is turning much slower due to the snow building up. It's probably too slow to chase after you if the group heads into the next room..or to really defend itself if blown up. The rats get to work, and with some effort, lock on the gate comes loose, hitting the ground with a clang. One of the miners pushes the gate open, just in time for Pramanix and Nanoha to show up. He looks between the two of them, looking slightly bewildered by Pramanix's appearance, but lets out a sigh of relief when Nanoha says they're here to help. "Thank the Goddess... Most of us are here, but they took the Chief further in!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh, bloody of course they did.." One of the Rats and Mikoto says at the same time.  "Boy and girls, we need to go, the miners are safe, except for the chief apparently," She says towards the people fighting the Golems.  She gives a smile towards Rean, who is watching her back as she picks up the sword.   With the Machine looking like it's about to explode, she zips by people and towards the way farther in, holding it open.  "No time to sit around and do nothing lets go!" She says. Rats move farther in, as all she can do right now is open and close a door.  They attempt to scout out farther ahead, so they can find the chief.   

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis takes a few wary steps back as the remaining automaton starts sending sparks at the ground. They spark around Tyrunt's feet a bit, but being a saurian dragon with rock hard scales it is more like getting a bad zap from touching a metal knob with too much static electricity. But there's not point in leaving that thing possibly recovering. "You guys get going, we'll clean this up." Then turns back to the spark spitting machine. "T-Wreck, time to live up to your name. Ancient Power!" "Tyyyy!" The saurian emits a roar more akin to something twice his size, and slams a foot into the ground. But it's under the snowbound automaton that the ground cracks open, and a surge of primordial energy blasts out of the stony split. If that doesn't finish off the machine it will hopefully knock it far enough away to not stop any of them from advancing. Or getting up and trapping them from behind. It sucks when that happens. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' A mirthful chuckle is Crow's only response, as he kips up and makes a graceful jump, pulling his knees up as the shockwave hits the ground to avoid it entirely. Machias on the other hand is left staggered by the jolting sensation, being more of a rock himself than anything else. "Hng.." Putting both of his weapons aside, Crow breathes in as a faint blue glow surrounds him, alongside magical circles. "ARCUS Activate." The ground, despite the snow covering it, turns pitch black as a spear suddenly juts up from the shadows, impaling the Archaism through its center and releasing crackling jolts of red lightning to tear it to pieces before fading away. He'd be coming back through here later, after all. "Hey...so, here's the thing. We can't really leave these guys here, it's irresponsible to let them go back alone. A lot could happen." Putting on his upperclassman face, he looked somber. It's easy to forget that he's a year ahead of the rest of Class VII. "You guys have got yourselves covered pretty well, missing one man won't hurt the team, so I'll make sure these fellas' get to safety and catch back up with you later." Machias pushes his glasses up. " ...well. I can't really argue with the logic there. Not to mention, Crow or Fie would have the easiest time navigating back to our position." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha frowns a little as the miners report that their Chief is still in the clutches of the terrorists, "That's troubling..." If they still have a hostage, it'll make dealing with the terrorists more difficult.     But, Mikoto has the right of it. Sitting around isn't going to help anything. Nanoha watches as she and her rats continue forward, then turns to look at Crow as he volunteers to escort the miners back, "Good. I'm glad to know that they're safe with you." She turns to the miners, "Go ahead. We'll go and get your chief."     Once Nanoha is sure that the miners are all making their way out with Crow, Nanoha turns and starts to run after Mikoto. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''     Pramanix is a good leader! No, she isn't. She's good at taking point, at least, and she breathes a sigh of relief when the miners come out of their temporary prison. She furrows her brow when Nanoha's suspicions are confirmed, then points towards the way they had come in from. "Our allies are taking care of the machines guarding the path right now. Keep your heads down, and find your way out through the sewers. We'll keep moving onwards."     After murmuring a quick prayer for the miners, Pramanix smiles softly at Nanoha while hurrying further into the mine to regroup with Rean and Mikoto. "Yes, let's keep going. Once we find the Chief and whoever's left, we can put a bow on this operation and..."     She pauses for a moment, furrowing her brow while trying to come up with something decisive to end that statement on. It's going to take her a bit, especially while she's on the move! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' And with a combination of orbal arts and Pokemon moves, the last Archahism goes down, hitting the ground with a thunk. The miners come out of the other room not long after, and a couple of them recognize Angelica when they pass her by. "Nice to see you guys a gain." She says with a grin. "..." Rean looks away for a moment when Crow decides to walk the miners back on his own. Concern for his upperclassman's safety, perhaps? One of the miners then clutches his side, and lets out a grunt of pain. "Hahahaah...I think I pulled something back there. Got in a scrap while they were trying to take us, and I'm paying for it now." Rean looks over at the injured miner and then at Crow. He takes a deep breath, trying to put his worry aside for now. "...Yeah." Rean finally says. "Go ahead and take them back, Crow." "See you on the other side, Crow." Angelica says, giving Crow a salute of her own. Once the miners are seen safely off, the group heads out through the other door, and into an area full of lifts Mikoto's rats slip through the area, finding a couple more of those turrets hanging around, but nothing huge like the clockwork machines. There's also a few wild wolf monsters hanging around too. There's a ladder and a bridge at the end leading to a higher section of this area, and another door. Following the rodents' lead, the group easily makes their way over, dealing with whatever monsters challenge them Once they reach the end, there's a loud rumble in the distance behind them. A cave in? Or... 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Good plan." Alexis gives Crow a thumbs up, then motions to her pokemon to follow her after the others. There's wolves. She has a dinosaur that's also a dragon because pokemon are weird. I think we can all guess who's going to win that if the mutts are dumb enough to get in the way. Up ladders and over bridges and down caves and this is starting to feel like like the caves all over again. Except maybe less annoying bats. But they keep moving, waiting to see what comes up next. Which only take so long before there's that ominous rumbling. "Yeah, that ain't good." Alexis looks one way, her pokemon looks the other. Different directions but for the same reasons, looking for signs of it being a natural sound, or something artificial in cause. Considering what they've already dealt with Alexis would put her bet on the latter. "Keep your guard up. We don't know what else they might have down here." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto doesn't say anything to Crow's deciding to get out of here, at least not right away.  Finally, she turns towards the way forward, "Yeah yeah, we get it.  You want to put all of the work on us, and then claim the credit in the end.  What a worthless upperclassman you are," She says, shrugging her shoulders.   As they move forward, the Rats will give them the advantage of surprise and ways to avoid fights if necessary.  However, she pushes the Rats onwards.   Once the Rats get to the door, they squeeze under it to try and get inside to help scout it out.  Meanwhile, Mikoto uses her sword on monsters to help get them forward.  When the rumble hits, she turns back.  Her eyes narrow a little, muttering something to herself, before turning back towards the door. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Crow grins, but there's something about it that just doesn't feel good. "Yeah, I'll catch you guys on the flip side. C'mon, buddy, let's get you some help." With that, Crow helps the injured man in particular as they move back the way that the group of Elites and Class VII had initially come through. And not too long afterwards, a rumble shook the whole mine. It didn't take long for Rean's ARCUS to ring, and for Crow's voice to filter through. "Hey, Rean. Man, what a pain in the neck -- I got the miners out alright, but the mine collapsed behind us. Don't worry, we're all okay, if a little dusty ... but .... you guys are in serious trouble, now." Crow pauses before continuing, "The cave in blocked off the whole area we used to get in. So basically .. I can't get to you, and you can't come back the way you came." In other words, even under the best case scenario, they'd have to fight their way out through the front of the mine. "Listen, I'll look for a way around, so just hang tight."         Crow hangs up. With no other choice but to advance, the group continues onwards until they come to a large metal door. Getting it open hits them with a harsh bit of sunlight, as they find themselves out in open air for the first time in what seemed like hours. Unfortunately, what was waiting for them were a small squad of green-armored soldiers with rifles, bayonets attached to the ends, and a giant of a man built like an ox; V, one of the Liberation Front's big wigs. The man smirks, his reddish brown eyes set in a neutral gaze. "You brats ... really don't know when to quit, huh?" Placing his hands on his hips, the man all but radiates a subtle strength. "He was waiting for us..." Machias surmises with a grimace. "You could say that," V chortles, "We weren't really counting on that blockade to hold up. If the RMP had managed to get through, we set up shop here to lay 'em out. In fact, I was counting on it." Elliot shivers slightly, holding his staff a little closer, eyes narrowing in determination. "W-we need to be careful. We managed to push him out of Garrelia Fortress with all the help we had, b-but.." The man's smirk was a mile wide, now. Like a shark's grin. Fie, who had been looking thoughtful, finally had a flash of realization. "Now I remember. Aren't you a survivor of the Arngarmr Jaeger corps?" Vulcan's expression diminished a little, softening ever so briefly. "Surprised you know the name, Sylphid. It was long gone by the time you were making a name for yourself ... that's right. My name is Vulcan, the former leader of Arngarmr." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Tch.." Mikoto says, blade drawn the moment they cross V's path.  She has no illusions about what is going to happen here, their only way out was through this man and his forces.   "So V, huh?  I guess I get to put another one of your lettered terrorist heads on my mantle.  My name is Mikoto Shimizu, Magical Girl of Envy.  All that I claim is mine, and you are attempting to take what is mine," She boldly declares, pointing her blade towards the man. "The past is the past, right now you're in our way, and your conspirator blocked our way out.  I wouldn't think for a moment that you have us trapped, but rather you are the one between the rock and a hard place." She says, bold. Rean could perhaps see the hand tremble slightly.  She knew the situation was bad, but if she could keep the show going... "Now if you wish to surrender, there is no dishonor in that.  I am sure Rean here would make sure you get a fair trial." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha smiles at Pramanix and offers a option to the end of her statement, "And celebrate? It's always a nice end to a successful mission."     Nanoha continues to move forward with the group. She helps deal with the minor obstacles they come across, casually summoning more orbs of magic and sending them flying to explode against the machines. Once more they come across a ladder. And once more Nanoha deftly bypasses its use by simply floating up to the next level. It saves on a lot of effort of climbing!     However, as they reach another door leading forward, there's a rumbling. Nanoha turns to look back, looking concerned, "I was worried that if we went a bit too far, we might cause a cave in..." Her suspicions are confirmed as Crow reports in. Well, at least it's not like that was the only exit and they're now trapped.     Nanoha shrugs at the others, "Looks like we have no choice but to continue forward and deal with the terrorists. Which is what we were going to do anyway." Nanoha continues forward.     As they make their way through the final door, Nanoha pauses for a moment at the sight of the armed soldiers. Just a moment though. The Mage proceeds to walk forward calmly, watching V as he and the others of Class VII briefly speak.     Finally Nanoha stops, lowering her staff to as she says softly to V, "Vulcan... There's no need for the unpleasantness of a battle. Simply hand over the Mine Chief and surrender. As Mikoto says, I'm sure there will be leniency." 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''     With the group gathered together and stealth a distant memory at this point, Pramanix can focus on support rather than just scoping the place out. The turrets are barraged with hail and clogged with localized bursts of snow, and monsters are held at bay with bursts of holy wind.     "We've almost finished here... It would be so much more convenient if the captors came to us, though." As if on cue, there's a noise from behind! When Crow clarifies just what the problem is, Pramanix lets out a disconcerted noise and her ears visibly droop.     "That could be a problem.. But we'll be fine, friends. The only thing to do is keep moving forward with the Goddess' blessing." She chimes in with an upbeat tone, even going as far as murmuring a silent prayer to raise their spirits!     Her spirits, at least.     Soon, however, the group comes across someone calling himself Vulcan. His reveal might not get the desired reaction from the Feline, however, as she simply gives him a blank stare even as Fie seems to recognize him and his past.     "Excuse me. I don't suppose you'd be willing to let us leave peacefully with the remaining hostages, would you, sir?" Pramanix asks in a polite tone, even going as far as smiling pleasantly with that bell still in hand. "It'd be easier for everyone involved that way, and you look like a reasonable enough person." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis rubs her nose idly with the back of a finger as they end up walking right into the Big Bads waiting. "Knew this was going too smoothly." Sigh, she keeps getting into messes like this. It comes with the Trainer turf, most of the time. She raises a brow slightly at Pramanix. Probably not going to work, but it's nice to see people willing to try to talk still. Never know when it might actually work. But just in case it doesn't she recalls her Tyrunt. If this does likely turn into a fight, and this guy is as much of a Bad Time(tm) as the others are making it out to be, she's going to need a bigger elemental beat stick... 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' When Crow calls to inform them of the cave in, there's a slight tightness to Rean's posture as he talks."So it was a cave in. That's pretty unlucky, alright." Rean says. "We'll be careful, don't worry. Be safe down there." Rean says, hanging up. He lets out another rough breath. Whatever happened next, happened. They enter the room and find the last member of the ILF, V. Rean draws his sword as the others talk. "...We're not leaving without the hostages. If we have to fight you for them, then so be it. It's best for everyone if you just let them go peacefully." Whether or not he actually would was highly unlikely given everything, but it was worth a shot.  Rean moves closer to Mikoto a bit, noticing her shaking. At least they weren't alone in being worried. "What are you guys trying to do here?" Alisa chimes in. "Even if the nobles are helping you, it's not like you share the same ideals. And if anything happens to this mine, it would cause trouble not just for Roer, but the whole country!" 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' The allusion to Gideon's fate didn't go un-noticed. The spike of unadulterated killing intent aimed very pointedly at her is much more telling than any words he could use to state his opinion on it. "Letting the miners go, huh. To tell you the truth, that was always part of the plan. But, you're not the one running this show. They'll go free when they've served their purpose." There's a rough, savage edge to him now that culminates as Alissa inadvertently eggs him on. "You think we don't know that? But I'll do whatever it takes....to slaughter that iron-blooded shitstain and let him twist in the wind!" A visible aura of power explodes around Vulcan, like a galeforce wind as he clenches his fists. "W...why?" Elliot asks, meek in the face of Vulcan's quiet fury. One of the green-armored soldier chuckles dourly. "Kid, we could tell you our life's story, but even then, you still wouldn't get it." His comrade speaks up, though, his young voice seething. He couldn't have been much older than Class VII themselves. "Do you have any idea? How many have had their homes robbed from them because of him?" Gilliath Osborne's expansionist policies were no secret, not to anyone. "Of course, we're not all formed from the same mold. Gideon hated him for his ideology. And Scarlet ... she lost her hometown when he went and smashed it apart so he could build a railway through it." "As for me, I've just got a misplaced grudge, that's all. When we'd take a new batch of kids in, we'd do something laidback .. it was supposed to be another one of those laidback jobs. Back then, he was still rising to power, a common man chosen by the Emperor himself. The nobles just wanted to show him who the boss was, I guess." "But he saw through their plans in an instant; it wasn't even a battle, just a massacre. Even after we were beaten, we weren't even given the option to surrender -- we were never 'brought to justice' ... from the young to the old, I was surrounded on all sides by the bodies of my comrades, the only one who pulled himself out of that hell." "Eventually, I came across the ILF. No high ideals here, I just wanted to kill him. To gut that son of a bitch, avenge my friends, and tear apart everything he's spent his life trying to build." Elliot grimaces. "It...it's heartless to say, b-but..." he pauses. Machias steels his expression, "I'll say it. Terrorists need to be handled with an iron fist. Their fate should discourage others from following in their lead." Vulcan closes his eyes. "Not strained for mercy, huh? I can't deny what you're saying, though. But this isn't about who's right, or wrong." "That bastard loves to fuel the flame of progress. What's left for sad sacks like us? I'll tell you. We'll fan our own flame .. so big and wild that it'll burn up even blood and iron!" "Now, you came all this way, so you might as well show me what you've got! You're the ones who keep jumping into the fire, so don't blame me when ashes are all that's left!" Vulcan raises his massive rotary cannon, spraying the group with loud, roaring gunfire. His soldiers begin moving into position, spreading out to surround the group. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto takes a step forward as the cannon winds up, her sword ready as it flashes ahead.   "Don't let them surround us!  Everyone else, punch through!" she calls out, narrowing her eyes at Vulcan.  Her blade flashes, as she cuts bullets out of the air, her sword flashing in brilliant motions.  She can't catch them all, but most of them go wide.  She can't waste time on ones that won't kill her, so those cause streaks of blood down her arms, legs, and sides.   The moment she has a free second, she dashes for him, aiming to use her speedier movements, to try and get under him, as she slashes upwards towards V's face, attempting to cut him bottom to top.  She does not relent, following each strike with another, even as her own wounds bleed.   "Do not cry when your plans are cut down.  Remember you walk this path of your own volition, so when your plans are dashed by your betters...I do not want to hear your sobs!" 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha listens intently as Vulcan and his group explain their situation. Nanoha has to admit, she doesn't like the sound of of some of the things they claim that Osborne has done. But she also knows that their view is likely biased. And even if everything they say is true...     Nanoha shakes her head, "Even so... Resorting to terrorism. Taking hostages. Trying to kill this man... It's not the right way to go about it! All you're doing is perpetuating the violence and turning yourself into the same kind of person as him. There are better ways to see him held accountable for his actions. Ways that will not make you as guilty as him."     They're not having any of it though, Vulcan opening fire with that large cannon. Nanoha raises her right hand, a barrier of magic appearing beyond it. Most of the rounds sprayed against her splash against that round shield. There's many of them though, some managing to slips past the defense and impact Nanoha herself. Though she winces at the resulting pain, the bullets don't seem to do as much damage as one might expect.     While she maintains her defensive barrier with one hand, the other lifts her staff into the air. Orbs of pink appear floating around her. They glow brighter, before beginning to unleash magic lasers. They sweep through the air, targeting the ILF soldiers, trying to knock them out or at the least suppress them and keep the group from being overwhelmed. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Some of us happen to like playing with fire." In more than one meaning of the phrase. At the same as V raises his weapon to fire Alexis picks a pokeball and pitches it. "Better yet, I'll demonstrate!" Because she's bringing out the literal firepower, in the form of one irrate looking badger. "Tyyyphlooosion!" Flames ignite in a collar around his shoulders, as does a gout from his mouth directly into the path of the minigun fire. Several of the rounds are melted in the heat, while the remainers thump against Scorch's looming form as he stands in front of his Trainer. That stings. And could of done worse. Which just makes him all the more not very happy with these people. Alexis taps her cheek with a finger. "Yeah, he's got a bunch of punks on his side. That might be a problem. Scorch," she spreads her hands out in a widening motion. "Heat Wave." You know that effect that gives the air a rippling effect when heat rises off the pavement on a really hot day? Yeah, it's like that but a lot more intense. He steps threatening towards the soldiers, letting the super-heated suffocating air rolling off his form do most of the work putting these troops at a serious risk of heat stroke. It doesn't take long to go from a really hot day to standing too close to a lava pool. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''      Pramanix flinches as that energy, that raw anger from seemingly bursts out of Vulcan, and it doesn't take a great deak of genius to realize that there's a lot of bad blood involvd in this entire situation just from context. A great deal of that context is given by Vulcan himself, and his retelling of his past is enough to actually have Pramanix holding back for some time as she takes the whole story in.      "How terrible... I can't blame you for holding such a grudge for so long. If this had happened in..." She starts with a thoughtful tone, then cuts herself off at that last part as a firmer expression crosses the Saint's face.      Also, some freaking out when he starts spraying bullets everywhere. Pramanix is relatively quick on her feet and dives behind cover wherever she can find it, but her outfit is soon streaked with red as some of those bullets hit their mark and force her on the defensive. "No... I understand why you'd want your revenge, Mister Vulcan. If not for this current situation, I wouldn't even be involved! But those miners..."      She's actually starting to sound angry-ish at this point. "... I will not sit back and let you take their freedom away to fulfill that revenge!" Once those bullets start turning on her other allies, Pramanix gets back up with her bell held high, and she once again starts ringing it and chanting it rhythmically. As she does, the wind and snow pick up around Vulcan and his soldiers, swirling around them in weirdly-circular blizzard complete with dense hail and heavy winds blowing said hail almost perfectly sideways from multiple angles. Somehow, though, the blizzard seems to be avoiding Pramanix and her allies entirely! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...So that's what happened." Rean murmurs, quietly stowing away that information about Vulcan and the rest of the ILF. They were all united in their hatred of the Chancellor, which while unsurprising, gave just a bit more clarity to what was going on. Unfortunately, it also fueled a suspicion he'd been running from even further. It was sad, but: "...Even so, I can't let you guys harm any more innocent people for the sake of revenge." Angelica nods. "Right. This place is /my/ home, and I'm not gonna let some punks mess with it!" Alisa draws her bow. "Same here!" And so, when Vulcan opens fire, the three of them maneuver around to handle it. Alisa jumps back to get some distance, bullets striking her legs and cutting into her boots.  Once she lands, She kneels down...and then fires a volley of arrows in the air, dousing one of the ILF lackeys in a rain of flaming arrows. Meanwhile, Angelica swings a kick at Vulcan, creating a shockwave that breaks through the wave of bullets, dissolving the ones it hits. Her biker suit is padded enough that not all the bullets go too deep, but she's still got a few cuts here and there. Finally, Rean rushes in in a flash, bullets cutting into his already red blazer and dying it darker. He focuses on the other lackey, a single strike blooming into many as he zooms by. "We can handle them if we keep our focus! Let's finish what we came here for!" Rean shouts. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' The man is large and strong, and his reflexes are excellent, but he's far from a nimble fighter. Mikoto positions herself well and attacks him, causing him to swing his buldging arm in the way to protect his face using the vambrace. "That's a lot of bravado from such a weakling!" he sneers. Pushing back against her sword, which had managed to cut through his defense and draw a little bit of blood, Vulcan whirls his weapon around and unleashes a blasting stream of gunfire at nearly point blank range in an attempt to either drive her back, or kill her outright. At least his aim isn't as well now, given that she'd made him take one hand off of the weapon to defend himself with. "Cheh, persistent..!" he mutters, having to stop his counter-attack to bring the weapon up like a shield, Rean's sword clashing against it as he summons his titanic strength to push rean back and deliver a swift, strong kick towards his sternum to drive him backwards a few paces and give the man himself enough room to hurl a grenade directly at the swordsman's face, the low-yield explosive detonating with a great flash and thunderous noise, a stun grenade. The soldiers are beset by a variety of attacks, unable to do much to defend themselves from the harsh and choking heat alongside Nanoha's assault and Alissa's red hot arrow volley. Their thick, treated armor plates help hold up to their bombardments as they maneuver themselves into guarding positions, but one of the two really does have a heat stroke, hitting the ground due to being much closer to Typhlosion than the other. Thankfully for them both, the sudden blizzard cancels out the overwhelming heat, which in turn lessens the power of the blizzard, as much of it is turned into hot steam instead that makes the ground slick and wet, and the air muggy. Hail still manages to get through and pelt Vulcan and his remaining trooper, though. Speaking of whom, he throws his rifle down, realizing just how dire his straits were. "That's not how our story ends..!" Reaching for his waist, he pulls the pins on his grenades and tries to latch onto the Volcano Pokemon, no matter how bad the heat got. He was going to take this thing out of the fight, if nothing else, he was determined. The battle is interrupted quickly, with a series of red orbs suddenly flung about, spikes protruding out of the cardinal points of their rounded bodies. Nanoha is especially in danger from the floating weapons; powerful orbal mines! The one who'd tossed them out, from a nearby staircase winding around the side of the cliff, was the Mysterious Leader, C. With a long, double-bladed lance in hand, he made his way down the steps, protected from the harsh elements by his environment suit and sealed helmet. "Don't despair, V. S has already boarded the airship and is on her way." Elliot, who'd pulled back momentarily found himself and Machias momentarily pinned down by the mines. "You..!" Fie frowns. She'd been nimble enough to maneuver herself into a position to attack Vulcan, at least, before C appeared. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Hmph!  Weak huh..?  Strong enough to take your comrade's life!" Mikoto retorts, trying to put the large guy off balance.  Anger can make one stronger, but it can force one to over commit...and over-commitment in this engagement would be nothing but disastrous for him, when her comrades took advantage of it. However, with that knockback, she notices the gun pointed at her just in time.  She thrusts her blade down, as jade spikes shoot up around her attempting to protect her from the bullet hell.  However, the situation changes before she can take advantage again.  The arrival of C, causes her eyes to narrow.   Too many coincidences, too many affiliations, as well as the Watch's help at the last attack.  She makes a call to someone before she thrusts her blade into the earth.   Spikes of jade shoot out behind C, attempting to catch him off guard.  They weren't there to try and hurt him but cause him to move in a predictable manner.  She runs forward, as the jade around her finally shatters as she runs right towards C.  Blade extended as she attempts to swing it up. Her target?  The mask.   

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Holy shit, that guy is actually going suicide bomber! That's something you only see in movies and video games. Alexis isn't quite sure what to do. Scorch on the other hand, goes with the first thing he can think up. He tackles the grenade guy tackling him, carrying him as far from the rest of the group as he can before diving to the ground, using Defense Curl to wrap himself around the man and his grenades to pin them to the ground. He can't stop the things from going off so he's going to minimalize what it can do to anyone else as much as possible. It's still going to be a loud and fiery bang, enough for Alexis to recoil from it. "Sonnuva!" That's likely a knockout, taking one for the team as it were. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:'''      Even from that distance, thatstun grenade thrown at Rean still has Pramanix cringing, and she only barely manages to keep hat bell ringing ritual going to maintain the blizzard turned hailstorm. She's caught off guard when those red mines start coming down, though, one even coming close enough to leave a nasty cut along her side and forcing the Saint to turn her attention to the newly arrived C.     "Who...?!" Seeing those mines floating about, she once again resumes the ritual while moving steadily towards lower ground and more cover whereever she can find it: Rubble, other people, or simply getting away from the mines themselves. "Another strange man..."     To be fair, she probably wouldn't even know who it was without the mask. With those mines in the air, though, the white-haired woman has another trick up her massive sleevse. The wind starts to pick up again sans the hail from earlier, heavy gusts churning around the mines themselves to try blowing them off course into (relatively) safer spots away from her comrades, into walls, and into each other. "This is enough. Release the miners and we don't have to keep fighting!" 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha is not actually in the air yet. That still doesn't save her, as she backs up to avoid more gunfire only to accidentally wander too close to a mine. It explodes, catching Nanoha in the back. Nanoha is blown to the ground, groaning a bit as the back of her Barrier Jacket smokes just a bit.     Raising Heart chimes in concern, <Master?>     Nanoha rises to one knee, leaning on the staff for support, "I'll be alright. Just caught me by surprise. Nanoha looks up at the floating mines, "Looks like we're grounded... Flying mines. Nice trick. I'll have to remember that one."     Nanoha stands, taking a few steps to avoid another mine, when she spots the culprit responsible. Nanoha watches as Mikoto tries to engage him. Nanoha assists, raising her staff in C's direction. A spell circle appears on the ground beneath her as she calls out, "Chain Bind!"     A similar spell circle appears beneath C, magical chains of light suddenly rising out and attempting to wrap around the Mysterious Leader's limbs to restrict his movements and give Mikoto an opening to use. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean lets out a grunt as he's knocked back, sent staggering by the strike and the stun grenade. "Nngh..." Rean says, kneeling dazed for a moment. Then C appears. There's just a tiny bit of unease welling up in him, not as much as before, but still enough to be a distraction. Mikoto radioing him mid combat wasn't helping the situation either. Especially given what it was about. As it turned out, they were on the same wavelength. THough, by the looks of things, she had a slightly different idea than he had, but the answer was stillt he same. "..." Rean withdraws, rushing past Alisa. Alisa turns around. "Rean, where are you going?" and then she notices he has his ARCUS out. "What are you-" "...I'm sorry." Rean says. He'd been keeping a lot from them, and now it was about to come falling apart. To be honest, the same boxes that Mikoto had checked off in her head, he'd checked off too - plus one that he knew that Mikoto didn't. It was something he really didn't want to face. Something that he was praying to the goddess he was wrong about. He makes the call. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Thanks to Scorch's quick thinking, it minimizes the damage to itself, leaving it on the verge of unconsciousness alongside the suicide bomber in question who, even with his sturdy armor, is on death's door. Vulcan bats a wad of hail out of his face, breathing in to calm himself as C appears. He'd been incredibly close to losing his temper, the straw that was going to break the camel's back -- after all, while he and Gideon didn't really get along, they were still comrades who understood eachother. On a fundamental level, even though Vulcan hadn't given a shit about Gideon's goals, or his high horse ... in their own way, they were friends. The four of them against the same bastard that had wronged them all. Knowing what she'd done to him drove him up a wall, but at the same time, he knew no one took it harder than C. "Is that so? Guess we should savor these next few minutes while we can." he rumbles. C nimbly hops forward, easily avoiding Mikoto's opening attack, finding himself intercepted by her blade. Despite how close she'd gotten, the Mysterious Leader of the ILF weaves to try and avoid the brunt of the strike, her sword strike throwing out sparks as it scratched across the left side of his visor and skidding off the side, leaving a gash in it as he produced a volley of lighting fast thrusts of his lance in an attempt to drive her back, right back into his minefield. "Tch..!" Of course, his mines were being blown around, throwing his strategy off. His offensive against Mikoto was waylaid by Nanoha, with C only avoiding instant capture by the grace of his incredible agility and battle instinct, pulling back while angling his lance down to the ground, gripped in both hands. Several of the mines being blown around impacted eachother and exploded, giving the others an opening to resposition himself; namely, Machias moving to attack Vulcan with a shotgun blast to keep him from attacking their allies in the lull. It turned out to be a good idea, as Vulcan had taken aim to fire on Pramanix, an attack that winds up going partially long due to Machias' intervention. "There!" Fie says, jumping off of the glasses wearing student's head, kipping off of him as he let out an indignant "Hey!" after her. With both gunblades drawn, she released a volley of suppressing fire and rushed him, forcing the larger man to slide to the side and drop his gun and instead fire a volley of jabs at her, most of which the white haired girl weaved around before getting clocked in the chin, which sent her skidding back. The altercations pause again, all at one, damning sound. The scratch on his helmet revealed only the tiniest hint to Makoto, the tiniest detail that could give life to her concerns, but this was undeniable evidence as per Rean's fears. It was the sound of an ARCUS unit ringing, coming from one of the pockets on C's outfit. " ... " 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Quick thinking, ol'boy." Alexis recovers from the shock, and uses his pokeball to recall Scorch. This one is going to take more than a night at the Pokecenter to recover from, but he did the right thing. Probably because there's a bunch of girls in the group, but still the right thing. She brushes some soot off herself, winces a bit as she finds a few spots more bruised than she'd like, but now is not the time to deal with it. She grabs a different pokeball and tosses it out to release her Mawile. "Gonna have to step it right up to max, Trowel." The odd fairy-type nods and gets into a stance, her 'ponytail' opening to reveal its jaws in readiness as Alexis rolls up a sleeve and wraps her fingers around the Mega Bracer. Both stop before she actually gets to activating it as the ring goes off from the Big Bad Boss' pocket. Long, baited pause. Then about all Alexis can manage as it's put together what it means is a stilted "Aaawkward." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha's magic chains are deftly avoided. A wave of her staff has them alter course, trying to track the fast moving C. During this, Nanoha is only peripherally aware of Rean's actions. So she doesn't initially recognise the importance of ringing coming from the Mysterious Leader. It does get Nanoha to pause her chains though.     It's only after the radio conversation filters through Nanoha's head that she gains the proper context. At which point she lets out a rather surprised, "Eh!?" Nanoha had no idea, no suspicions at all. To be fair, while she had fought along side Crow a couple of times while she was helping Rean, she didn't really know him that well.     Still. He seemed like a good guy. Cocky, maybe. But not leader of a terrorist group material. And it's even more of a surprise that it turned out to be one of the members of Class VII. Who had direct encounters with the ILF. Quite a coincidence...     ... Or is it? Has Crow been manipulating the Class's assignments? Or someone else?     Nanoha isn't really sure how to proceed at this point, so just remains on guard, watching how the situation plays out. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's strike is not as true as she would like it, but her other plan was already happening.  She hoped Rean was strong enough to face the truth, but just in case... The lightning-fast thrusts of the lance meet her sword, and as she is forced back, and loses ground, she notices the glint of what she was looking for.  Her footing becomes better as the mines behind her are mostly cleared, allowing her to dance back as C is forced to deal with Nanoha's attempt to grab him. However, the ARCUS unit rining causes her to look towards the sound, then back up at him.  Her blade points up, "Well, Mysterious Leader C...or should I saw, Crow!" She says, dramatically.  She does not say anything for a bit, letting Rean and Crow get their business out first.  However, she steps forward, willing to do what needs to be done.  For Rean's sake, because she feared he lacked the...conviction to stop him. "I don't care what your goals are, all that you are is someone who got hurt and is using that pain to justify hurting others.  All you are doing is playing to the tune of the nobility, and in the end, all they will do is keep power in their hands, and out of the hands of people who will actually do something with it.  You are their puppets." "And you are willing to take from me what I hold dear.  As I said before, I am willing to do anything to protect what is mine, and /nobody/ will steal from me," She says, eyes green as she dives in. Her attacks are brutal, aiming to try and overwhelm Crow's lance with her savage swings, trying to catch the lance, and use any leverage she can find to try and break through his defense, and swing his blade up at her.  Even as he declares Crow never existed, her attacks get more focused, more determined to strike a killing blow. He was going to stop hurting what is hers. 

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:''' With the mines disposed of and nobody firing at her at that moment, Pramanix gets a moment to breathe! It's a good thing, too, since she takes that opportunity to apply pressure to some of those wounds. During her break moment, she peers up atC again as his identity is revealed to be...      ... That person that winked at her before. Rather than looking indignant or angry, she keeps her expression even. Granted, she may not have to try very hard having only met everyone here today, but she can at least appreciate why some of them are upset.      Like Nanoha, she's not quite sure how to proceed with C given the sudden revelation. She keeps that wind churning arund herself along with a light snow, but mostly to avoid lowering her guard while things come to a head. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Sparks fly as blade meets blade, Crow revealing his fighting talents to be many leagues above what he'd previously indicated in most combat situations. Then again, he'd only used orbal weaponry as Crow Armbrust, the Thors Military Academy student. C wasn't beholden to that need to disguise himself and could accordingly pull out all the stops. Which isn't to say that fighting off someone as wholly savage and powerful as Mikoto was easy, only that overpowering him would be equally difficult. Rather than trying to press an offensive, C remains calm and collected, using the superior range of his lance to keep her just far enough away for his greater agility to come into play, never being cornered or cornering her. He tried his hardest to keep the exchange squarely in the middle of the road, as it were. C's helmet is left forgotten on the ground, having thumped wetly there after it'd been removed. Vulcan, despite his bleeding arm, immediately turned his rotary cannon on Machias and Elliot, the latter slamming his staff into the ground. "ARCUS Activate!" The sudden wall of ice being shot at him gave the two boys a moment to reorient themselves and make for cover before Vulcan's weapon chewed it apart. Fie herself managed to get up in this time frame and hurl a smokebomb at the man, weaving around him again. "Playin' with fire, Sylphid?!" They were all upset. It was certainly throwing them off, and the frustration at being unable to even properly react to it from the fighting was indescribable. As if understanding their plight, Vulcan backed off ever so slightly. "Crow...why...?!" Elliot bit out. Machias couldn't form words to what he was feeling. C himself smirks grimly as his lance clashes once again with Mikoto's sword, "That's about the long and short of it. But the thing is, there's nothing you can do to stop me." There's something dark in his eyes. It wasn't evil, per se, but it was the kind of determination that could only be formed from a truly terrible resolve. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' And thus the cat's out of the bag. Rean shuts his ARCUS with a metallic click and turns to face C - No, Crow, a wry smile on his face. "...Why? ...No, I know why. Your grandfather, right? You know, I thought you might join the ILF, since they hate the Chancellor. But their /leader?/"  Rean's smile turns into a full on glare as he rushes forwards again, joining Mikoto in her assault.  "You were their leader this whole damn time?!" However, Rean's not the only person stunned by this turn of events. Alisa is just staring at Crow, a quiet "No way..." leaving her lips, as she nocks another arrow and fires at Vulcan. And Angelica... "You've gotta be..." Angelica says through gritted teeth. "Are you fucking kidding me, Crow Armbrust?!" Angelica weaves through whatever mines might remain on the field and then rushes him, waiting for an opening in Mikoto's assault to do something that she did the year before. Deck him. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Rean comes in, fighting and Mikoto moves to flank with him, especially after Angela comes in.  As the first comes for Crow, Mikoto thrusts her blade into the ground, as spikes aim to shoot right behind him.  Regardless of rather or not they hit, she comes in viciously.   She swings her blade upwards, once more trying to catch that weapon, but instead of trying to savage him with blows, she moves forward, attempting to clinch their weapons so that Rean and Angela can get through his defenses. His resolve is matched by her own.  She won't lose anything ever again, no matter what it takes.   

:'''{{#var:7248|Pramanix (7248)}} has posed:''' The battle continues with C, and Pramanix watches with intense focus. Indeed, it's actualy distracting her from what else needs to be done. Part of her just wants to see where this all goes, but the other part of her knows there's still work to do. That, unfortunately, means looking for an opening to break away from this central area to try and find those miners. C had mentioned the security office, but it's a crap shoot whether or not she can even find said office if she even gets an opportunity to get away in the first place! 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Y'know, fuck it, we'll figure out the complications later." Alexis resumed squeezing the Mega Bracer to activate it. "There's still a fight to deal with." Energy briefly engulfs Mawile, emblazened with a flaming helix, then shatters away to reveal her slightly larger Mega Evolution, now sporting two of those jaw-ponytails. Or would that make them jaw-pigtails? Details aren't really important. Confused as everyone is she's not inclined to butt in on the 'personal' matter with C/Crow, so instead turns attention back to Vulcan. "Trowel, Play Rough!" Mega Mawile sprints towards Vulcan while he's dealing with the other attackers, and swings her dual jaws to try and grab onto his arms and limit how effectively he can move that weapon around. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha watches from the sidelines for the moment as Mikoto and C battle it out. And soon enough Angelica joins them. Processing the revelation, Nanoha recalls Crow's earlier volunteering to escort the miners back. She asks him about it, almost dreading the answer.     But as C indicates their safety, Nanoha is relieved. But the feeling only lasts a moment as Vulcan's cannon firing returns her attention to the fact that there's still a battle raging. Leaving C to those who have a more personal interest in his betrayal, Nanoha turns her attention on the larger ILF officer.     Raising her staff above her head, Nanoha calls out, "Axel Shooter-" Several pinks orbs appear in the air around Nanoha. Then several more. And more. Until there are a couple dozen. At which point Nanoha finishes, "Avalanche Shift!"     The dozens of orbs all fire off beams of light, which dance through the air before raining down on Vulcan. 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' Fighting Mikoto on her own was controllable. Fighting her and Rean was still well within his abilities in this particular situation, as long as all he had to do was keep them from pressuring him too much. But as he pushed back, deflecting Rean's sword and smashing the side of his head with the flat of his lance's blade before revolving his weapon around to strike at Mikoto's shoulder with the other blade at the end of his weapon, Angelica took this opening to rush him. And punch him directly in the face, sending the ILF's leader skidding back across the wet ground, a bruise already forming where she'd hit him. "Well, that brings back memories ... " he murmurs, mostly to himself. Raising his hand, Vulcan bats the arrow away with astonishing precision, grinning like a shark in Alissa's general direction. Most of Class VII finds themselves suppressed with his rotary cannon, except for Fie, who had hid herself to wait for an opening. "I don't imagine you've got it all out of your systems yet, but our time is about up." he mentions, having seemingly been pushed to the guard rail with no escape. Last year .. the pain of his bruise was almost nostalgic. He and Angelica got along terribly at first; himself being much more cold and prickly rubbed her the wrong way, so they wound up fighting. But those good memories ... even though he wouldn't regret them, he wouldn't let them hold him back, either. The world could burn for all he cared, as long as he was able to kill that man, nothing else mattered to him. Not Rean. Not Angelica. Not Towa. Not the rest of their class, their instructors, or anyone else. C hurls himself off the railing, falling backwards and, momentarily it seemed, to his death. Only for the ILF's airship to raise upwards as quiet as a mouse, Vulcan battling with the Mega-Evolution and keeping it at bay, attempting to shove it away with his cannon before ultimately deciding to leave it behind, giving the weapon a hard shove to let its crushing weight to bare entirely on the creature so that he could have his moment to get out. Fie's gunshots riddle his exposed back as he leaps off to make it onto the escape ride, as well. "Until next time, Class VII!" C's voice comes, over the intercom. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     The ILF are trying to get away...     ... Using an airship.     Their mistake.     With the mines thankfully cleared by Pramanix, Nanoha is not afraid to fly. She runs across the platform and jumps, planting a foot on the railing and then leaping off. Small pink wings of light burst into existence from the sides of her boots and she blasts upwards into the air, looking to give chase.     As Nanoha flies after the retreating airship, she stretches her staff ahead of her, a pink sphere forming just beyond the tip. It grows in size as Nanoha charges the spell, before finally calling out, "Photon Smasher!"     The growing sphere bursts, a large rush of magic blasting forward and lancing towards the airship. Nanoha's aiming to try and disable it, to force them back down to the ground where they can be apprehended. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' That is probably the smartest thing Vulcan could of done. Most of Mega Mawile's strength was in the tremendous grip of those dual jaws, making it hard to break. But she didn't have the size or mass to support that entire weapon herself, and as soon as it's shoved from Vulcan's hands she topples over from the weight. Don't worry, the organic metal that makes up her kimono-like covering keeps her from being crushed, but she's pinned until Alexis comes over, pulls a golf club from her bag and wedges it under one end of the rotary to pry it up just enough for the fairy-mon to wiggle out from underneath. It's enough to keep them too busy from trying to stall the getaway airship though. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto feels like they're finally getting some room here.  She had some tricks left, but she wanted to hold back as long as she could to make sure they landed.  Of course, right at that moment, it seems like Crow falls to his death. Only for an airship to rise up.   Mikoto could fire something at them, but she was the least equipped for that right now.  Nanoha seemed to have it under control...but right now she turned towards Rean and looked at him for a moment.  She places a hand on his shoulder before pulling him into a hug. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Yeah, it better." Angelica says, shaking out her hand. "Had to punch you for being fake back then too. Need another one?" Rean runs to the railing as Crow just casually jumps into the abyss...and into a getaway airship. His body tenses up, it's not like he could reach them from here without risking blowing up the whole airship...Though perhaps they deserved it.  For hurting innocent people, for hurting him, for hurting his friends...it'd be easy for them all to just die. To let that desire just take him. Then Mikoto comes over to him and gives him a hug, dragging him out of that mental spiral. "Ah..." Rean murumers, laying his hands on hers. Angelica raises a fist at the rising airship. "Grrr...Get back here, damn it!" Suddenly, the door opens behind them, and a bunch of people come charging through. It's the RMP and the provincial army, the gray and orange uniforms either standing out or blending in with the surrondings of the mine. The blue haired woman in gray from before raises her hand in command. "Disable the airship!" she shouts, and her men take aim and fire at the getaway vehicle. The regally dressed man in orange from before isn't having any of it though. "You're not authorized to fire in here!" He then looks up at Nanoha. "And you don't have a permit to be flying either! Men, stop them!" The soldiers in orange take aim....at Nanoha and the RMP soldiers. Alisa just boggles at what's going on. "What are you doing?!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto smiles at Rean, it's a sad smile, "Sorry I was right.  I really wanted to be wrong...I wanted to be embarrassed and have to beg for forgiveness...but.." There is a pause as authorities start coming in.   However, it appears that the Orange suited soldiers are being ordered to stop them.  Mikoto breaks the contact with Rean, before her blade thrusts into the ground, aiming to jut spikes all around the shouting man.  Her eyes, still green stare right at him like a demon. "Isn't it obvious?  This man is either in league with the ILF, or afraid that there is something that will be uncovered in here.  Unfortunately, if he does not call off his soldiers, I will end his miserable life right here and right now." "So sir, is your reputation worth your life?  I suggest you call off your men and start being honest." 

:'''{{#var:7145|C (7145)}} has posed:''' The lasers and orbal gunfire impact the ship, shaking it -- smoke is pouring from virtually every point of escape it can get. "W..what?!" C's voice is panicked. But it's not because their getaway is getting grounded. No, the real reason is abruptly clear to everyone present, as the customized, jet black airship is obliterated. Neither Vulcan, Scarlet, or Crow had been able to act in response to whatever discovery they made just before the detonation. The front, the cockpit, bounces against the railing and crushes it before falling into the ravine, along with the rest of bits and pieces of the airship that had gone up in flames. It'd almost been like the core structure had been laced with explosives that had been triggered by the damage? After all, Nanoha's aim had been spot on. But ... Then again, maybe it was just an unfortunate accident in the heat of battle. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha comes to a halt in the air as the gunship explodes spectacularly. There's a look of surprise on her face. She could have swore that her shot was on target. It shouldn't have caused that much damage! Did something else happen? Nanoha isn't quite sure. She's just about to go and search for survivors when she has several guns aimed at her.     Nanoha briefly considers ignoring the weapons and risking it... But she doesn't really want to go against the local authorities. Besides, that explosion... Nanoha closes her eyes for a moment.     The Aerial Mage then turns in the air, slowly floating back down to the platform. As she gently touches down on the platform once more, Nanoha finds Mikoto threatening the leader of the local soldiers. Nanoha raises a hand to Mikoto to try and wave her down, "Mikoto, that's enough. I don't think threatening him will get us anywhere. The miners are safe and the terrorists have been driven from the mine. Let's be happy with that and call it a day." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Mikoto, hold on-" Rean starts, but Nanoha's got it handled, it seems. The provincial army captain lets out a small yelp as Mikoto threatens him. "Y-young lady, I don't think you understand-" He's interrupted by a large explosion as the escape airship blows up. "Hit the deck!" The blue haired woman shouts, and everyone ducks. There's some arguing between Angelica and the provincial army captain about who is allowed where, who blew up the airship, and why Angelica's father the local marquis gave the provincial army orders to block off the mine, but some timely intervention by of all people, Prince Olivert, gets the group off the hook for 'trespassing.' Before they leave, Rean, Angelica and the rest of Class VII stare up at the where the airship was in silence. Sure, this turn of events made things extremely complicated, and maybe revealed how little they knew about him... ...But at the end of the day Crow was one of them, a member of Class VII, and a student of Thors. 
}}

7075/Old Schoolhouse Exploration 4

2020-03-21T02:10:36Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2020/03/07 |Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse |Synopsis=People clear out the 6th and apparently final floor of the Old Schoolhouse...."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/03/07
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
|Synopsis=People clear out the 6th and apparently final floor of the Old Schoolhouse. Is this truly the end of the mystery?
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002, 7234, 973, 42, 7075, 7, 6802, 7145
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-EZsZHZOV0 Today at Thors Military Academy, the campus is mostly chattering about the upcoming school festival, and what each respective class is going to be up to. You're not here for that though. What you ARE here for is to deal with whatever might've changed with the Old Schoolhouse, a building hidden away at the back of the Thors Military Academy campus. Anyway, you all arrive at the dilapidated building. Rean and whichever classmates are coming along aren't here yet, but the Old Schoolhouse has a visitor today. A 'visitor' as in there's a black cat with a belled collar and matching blue bow just chilling on the steps. She doesn't move from her spot when people approach the Old Schoolhouse. In fact, she just sits there. /Staring./ Maybe even silently judging, it's hard to tell. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turns up to the campus on schedule and takes a trip towards the old schoolhouse where they were to meet up.  So far it was a good day, nothing bad has happened, she was feeling energized by some new life focus.  Recent talks with special people in her life had gone well.  Overall, living her life had made a big difference. Right now, however, as she moves towards the front, there was a black cat.  Unlike most cultures, there was no stigma on black cats for Mikoto (and she'd likely ignore it due to her background anyway.)  Walking up to the cat, she stares down at it as it stares up at them. Assuming it did not give any aggressive movements, she moved down to pet it, but if it did she backed off.  Not out of fear, but respect of the animal.  After all, Mikoto had a fondness for urban street animals.  "So what's your name?" 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' Fun fact: Cats were created by Tzeentch! Originally made to be avatars of his will, they rebelled against him almost instantly, revering no gods but themselves. At least that's how Tzeentch explained it to Damocles, who found himself here, largely because the whispers of the Chaos God in his head told him there was 'something to learn' here. Damocles doesn't know what that is. From the sounds of it, he thinks they might be burning down a school? To be honest he wasn't listening very closely at the time. Tzeentch was telling him about cats. Upon arriving at the building, he does agree that it should be burned down, though. "So, I say we burn the building down, along with whatever's inside, and then pop over to the party they were chattering about. Eh? Whose with me?" 

:'''{{#var:973|Silica (973)}} has posed:'''     There's a new girl arriving today! Keiko Ayano approaches, wearing a simple pair of jeans, a t-shirt and jacket. She's got her hair done up in a pair of twintails, bound with little red ribbons. On her shoulder, paradoxically, is a small white dragonling, and over her left eye sits her Augma, giving her directions in her field of view.     She spots Mikoto talking to the cat, and approaches, smiling softly. "Hey there." she offers to the magical girl, then crouches down to offer a hand for the cat to sniff, mimicing Mikoto's moves if the cat turns out to be a grumpy gus. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren shows up shortly after Mikoto; his futuristic white plate armor may or may not look out of place on this world. To Damocles, he explains, "It's one of those crazy magical buildings where the inside constantly changes. Burning it down could have unpredictable results... perhaps worth considering if it posed a danger to the locals, but as long as our goal is exploratory, burning it down is counterproductive."     He, too, is drawn to the cat, crouching by it and extending a hand to see if it will let him pet it. "Well hello there." He allows it a chance to respond, and if it talks or something changes tack. If it's silent or only meows, though, he adds, "Are you just a regular cat, or are you magical or something? This is kind of a dangerous place to be near..." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha had actually ended up arriving a little early. She had greeted the chilling cat with a friendly smile and a cheerful, "Hello!" She did not expect the cat to respond. As far as she knew, animals in this world don't talk. And she otherwise tried not to disturb the feline's relaxation. Instead, she had moved to the other side of the steps and taken a seat herself. After several moments of waiting, she waved her hand in the air, a holoterminal appearing before her. Might as well get some work in while she waited.     And that's how the others find Nanoha when they begin arriving. Typing away at that keyboard of magic light. She finally dismisses it though as they reach the steps of the building too. The Mage stands, brushing down her uniform skirt as she greets them with a smile, "Hello, everyone." Nanoha only recognises Mikoto and Staren initially, not having seen Silica outside of her avatar before. This is why she proceeds with an introduction, "I'm Captain Nanoha Takamachi with the Time-Space Administrative Bureau. I look forward to working with you."     As Damocles suggests burning own the old schoolhouse, Nanoha chuckles a little, "Ehehehe... I don't know if that'll really work... It's not an ordinary building?" Nanoha then nods along with Staren's words on the matter. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' So here she was, Kotone was still a bit beat up from the night before. She had been mostly patched up by the Paladins medics. Or was that mechanics in her case at this point? It didn't matter much if at all to her anymore. She had shown up on campus ready to go for this run regardless not sure just what would be waiting for them down there? She would be taking a look over the various people who had arrived. She knew them all either personally or by reputation. Save on that being Damocles whim she's looking over at the hulking seeming wizard for a moment. "Where's the fun in that or are your looks just for show big guy?" She looks to STaren for a moment then to the cat and he's talking to it. She snaps a photo or two with her phone and pockets it. She then will not crowd the cat, but it's clear she wants to pet it. 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' "I'd be careful of that thing," Damocles warns as he motions to the cat with his staff. "It's giving enough enough arcane energy that I can see it even through the 'fog' of this place." 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' For better or for worse, another visitor clad in black and dark blue is here to see the dilapidated building as well. She seems distracted staring at the cat, watching it with mild interest until she hears more voices. "Burning it down sounds good. It'd be faster to sort any bodies out after the fact." Jeanne seems to be in agreement with Damocles despite not looking in his nor Staren's direction at all. "It'd be easier to explore if everything inside is smoked out, anyway." Once Mikoto and Silica both take interest in the cat as well, Jeanne furrows her brow and backs off, but not before peering at that small creature on Silica's shoulder. "This better not be our contact." She mutters, then glances over at Nanoha when she hears that introduction. "Oh. It's you again. I hope you'll be able to fight on foot as well as you do in the air." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto responds to Silica first, "Hey," She responds easy enough.  To Staren she gives an odd glance, "How did you get it being magical?  It looks like a normal cat.  I don't see anything out of the ordinary about it.  You're weird sometimes man." Damocles is already on two misses by the time she turns his attention to him.  Squinting at the berobed man and tilts her head at him just slightly.  "First, nobody is burning down the magical building.  Second, you seem to be the last person that should be passing judgment on others, mister I look like I stepped out of a cult." She gives a wave to Jeanne, who's talk of burning things down is just her way of saying hi.  Nanoha similarly gets a wave, though more reserved than normal. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The cat brushes up against Silica's hand happily, the same with Mikoto's petting, letting out some very pleased purring. Then Damocles points out her magical energy. She immediately stops interacting with the others, and just turns to glare at him. Then she goes back to being pet. "...I'm pretty sure arson should be our last resort." Rean says, walking over. Two other students in the same red uniform as him follow behind. A short silver-haired girl, and a boy in glasses - Fie and Machias. "Oh, hey." Fie walks up to the cat and starts petting her too. "Celine, right? Emma give you anything good lately?" Celine nods, letting out a short "Meow". 

:'''{{#var:973|Silica (973)}} has posed:'''     Keiko smiles as she scritches Celine behind the ears, before standing and waving to Nanoha. "We've worked together before... one sec." she clicks her tongue, making Pina hop off her shoulder and hover beiside her. The Mage would probably recognize the Feathered Dragonling with it's small, beady red eyes.     Keiko strikes a pose, and speaks. "LINK. START!" becoming engulfed in a wireframe mesh that starts at her Augma and expands outwards. Her stature diminishes a little, cat ears and tail manifest, and then the texture resolves atop the wireframe, leaving the Cait Sith Beast Tamer standing in place of the older-looking human previously. "Silica, reporting for duty~." she chirps, her voice taking a little bit higher pitch with the avatar layer.     Pina lands on her mistress' shoulder once again, chirruping at everyone idly. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean looks around, noticing that there's a lot more people today, including some he doesn't recognize. ...Oh wait, the girl with the headset was just Silica. The wizard-looking guy is definitely new though. "Guess I should explain what's going on again." Rean says. "Basically, there's an underground space beneath here filled with monsters, and we're just exploring it to figure out why it's growing new floors. Aside from that one time a few months ago when a door appeared with a living suit of armor behind it, not much has changed. My best guess is that it's some sort of trial, but I'm not sure for what." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa she catches what Damocles says the catches the look the cat gives him as the cat goes back to being a cat. She looks over to Keiko as she transforms into her far better-known form of Silica. "Welcome aboard Silica." She looks to Rean now and pauses for a moment. "A refresher would be good and just how much firepower are we going to be needing? Do I need to call in my ARMED SUIT?" She notes honestly curious about that. "Your school's pretty old, right? Sounds like it might be some sort of old combat test? I have some remotes I could send ahead would you like me to do so?" 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' The voice of Chaos in the back of Damocles's mind perks up at the possible repercussions of destroying the school. "Ooooo extradimensional space? Unpredictable results? I like this plan already! Let's do it!" Damocles shoos the voice of the chaos god away and focuses on the task at hand instead. Though he does take a moment for his glowing eyes to narrow back at the black cat. I'm watching you, /cat/. He gives a brief nod to Rean at the explanation. All this sounds like a perfect reason to just blow the whole thing up and call it a day to him, but hey, it isn't his mission. He's just here because the voices in his head told him he should be. "Well met," He starts when people address him directly. "I'm Damocles. Sorcerer. I'm here to lend my magical expertise to your cause." He glances at the building, and sighs a little. "I hope they built their ceiling tall down there." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Are Nanoha's combat abilities being called into question? Rude. But Nanoha doesn't seem to mind. She simply gives Jeanne a smile, "I'll try not to slow you down."     Damocles points out that the cat is apparently giving off a magic aura. Nanoha is not too surprised. It's not uncommon for creatures to have a little magic of their own. Depending on the world, some more than others.     Silica's transformation of course draws Nanoha's attention. Once it's complete, Nanoha nods along in recognition, remembering back a while, "Of course, Silica. I didn't recognize you!" Nanoha notices the change in stature, "You transformation makes you... Shorter?" Nanoha seems amused by this. Not to mention the Cait Sith looks rather adorable.     Thankfully the arrival of the Thors students draws Nanoha's attention. She turns to them and nods in greeting, "Hello Rean, Fie, Machias." Nanoha looks further amused as the poor cat receives more attention, briefly reminded of her younger years and a certain 'pet' of hers.     But Nanoha figures it's time to get to work. And apparently Rean does as well as he explains the situation. Nanoha actually looks a little concerned as he finishes, admitting, "I'd hoped that there had been more progress in learning it's purpose." Nanoha looks at Kotone as she makes a suggestion. Nanoha hmms thoughtfully, "Perhaps... Although I'm not sure that quite fits the feeling I get from it."     "Well. I suppose there's nothing to do but continue exploring! Hopefully the answers are there to find." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     The cat is magical and /nods/ in response to a question? So not just an animal then.     As Rean gives the overview, Staren stands up and turns to him. "A trial, huh? I hope not -- If this tower ends with us meeting some asshole who's all 'congratulations on passing my test, which was never explained and could have killed innocent people' we're gonna have more than words." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gives the magic cat one last pet and stands up.  "Might be to keep something dangerous in.  If it was something part of the school, I don't see a reason why the monsters inside would attack non-students, especially ones without weapons," Mikoto referring to when Rean's Sister took a run inside. "Staren, seriously, chill.  If it is something like that, then the likelihood of non-students going in there is very low.  No shooting the asshole test giver, if it's that." With that, she turns towards the door and opens it.  "Anyway, daylight's burning." 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "Tch. Fine, we'll do it the slow way." Jeanne grunts and shrugs lightly at Rean and Mikoto, relenting in her desire to set fire to everything. "But if we find anything worthwhile to fight in there, you better not complain if it ends up getting burnt down anyway!" ... For now, anyway. After Keiko's transformation, Jeanne is looking a bit more confused. "Why is your transformation into a smaller and weaker form? That's..." She puzzles over that, not all that different from Nanoha's reaction. She turns her attention back to Rean when he explains the situation. "Someone could be digging while nobody's here. Or it could be some magus with a sunlight allergy." Jeanne shrugs, then holds her hand out to her side as an ornate black blade shimmers into existence. "But we can find that out later. For now..." Right. Introductions. Jeanne weighs her options, then opts to just stick to her more casual black shirt/dress and blue jacket combo rather than switching to her armor. "Jeanne d'Arc, Dragon Witch of France. If you don't want to be consumed by my fire, then don't stand in front of me." And with that, Jeanne heads right on in with her sword ready and... That's about it, actually. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Celine turns her head away from Damocles' stare with a hmph. Rean puts his hand to his chin in thought as he listens to Kotone and Nanoha. "Principal Vandyke did say the original basement sometimes got used for combat tests, and Instructor Sara used it for that exact reason at the start of the year..." There's a quiet grumble from Machias as Rean says that. Probably some lingering 'but why' from that incident. "I'm not sure about it's /current/ setup, though. And I don't think you need to call anything in right now, but it might be good to have as a back up plan in case it throws us something really weird." Rean nods at Mikoto's response. "Right. Nothing's escaped so far. And /usually/ the door stays locked so no one aside from us goes in." Of course there was the incident with his sister, but he probably just forgot to lock the door that time. Definitely. "But for all I know this is just some ancient ruin with a terrible sense of timing."  He grins a bit. " Only one way to find out." And with that, he heads over to unlock the door. As he does up the steps though, Celine moves to sit down next to him and starts /staring/ again. Rean looks down at her, eyebrows furrowed. "Uh...My cat talk isn't that great, sorry." Rean says, unlocking the door. Though...weren't the others talking about Celine being magic as he got there? Something about that made /sense/ somehow, not necessarily because of her intelligence, but perhaps because of her apparent closeness to Emma, who was already kind of weird herself. But that was something to think about later. Everyone heads down to the 6th and according to the elevator panel, at least, the final floor. This floor is much the same as it's always been down here, with the yellow and blue switches and bridges from the 3rd floor returning and switches that lower and raise walls as you go along. By this point the walking wall monsters and flaming skull demons should be easy pickings for both the off-worlders and Class VII, so everyone should make it to the boss room in one piece. Within is a pair of floating machines, shaped in the image of angels with a pair of winged shields floating at both their sides and a pair of bladed arms hanging from their lower torso. One of them slams its sword into the ground, sending a shockwave across the field in Mikoto's general direction, while the other launches both its shields towards Jeanne! 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Do you really need 'cat talk'? It sounds like she understands normal words..." Staren doesn't linger outside to solve the mystery of Celine, though, he heads in with the others to crawl dungeons.     "...On the other hand, I can't think of any other explanations for why there's this mix of switch puzzles and monsters. If it's not a test, then someone is just imitating the idea of a 'dungeon' for no reason... But it's not like REAL dungeons -- ancient ruins, monster lairs, a wizard's base, or the like. Those all serve a /purpose/ and just coincidentially provide a multi-room structure that has some challenges..."     "But this? You might have an ancient magitech lab constructed for a forgotten purpose that requires figuring out how to work the magic elevator or whatever, but that doesn't explain switch-and-bridge puzzles. It's not a security system either, you'd just have like, a keypad where you put in the code... that ISN'T meant to be figured out by interlopers. /Puzzles/ and /security systems/ are not the same thing."     Staren's rant continues into the boss room. He puts up his forcefield but... the guardians focus on Mikoto and Jeanne? His missile racks pop into place and fire, three anti-tank minimissiles at each guardian.     "They just completely ignore me? These aren't here to /win/, they're here to /challenge/... maybe it is a test. But I maintain that leaving deadly tests lying around is a pretty dickish thing to do... then again the 'mysterious, monster-filled building' might've been enough of a 'you must be this powerful to ride' sign..." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto walks along to the elevator and takes it down.  Looking over towards Jeanne, "So how does it go?" She asks, trying to strike up a conversation as they enjoy the ride down.  On the bottom, the final door awaits.  Of course, twin bosses stand before them, and before they can say anything, attack! Mikoto transforms, her clothes exploding into wisps of magic and jade green.  The new clothes solidify into jade first, forming fabric as they shatter again.  Until only the face remains.  A mask appears over her face and a hat on her head which similarly burst into the fabric.  Her sword bursts out of the ground, forming from jade until Mikoto puts her hand on it, and it shatters into the jade sword she is known for. This causes her to thrust the blade immediately into the ground, causing a burst of spikes to try and shield her, the shockwave rushing around her as if she were a boulder in a river.  The spikes shatter, as she dives out of the defensive maneuver, attempting to swing her blade up, but then feints out of it, and slashes from the sword arm across, attempting to bait the shield. 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' The indoor area isn't as cramped as he was worried, but it isn't exactly spacious for the '10 foot something' hulking monster of a human. He's not unused to it, though. Most of the universe isn't built for a Space Marine build. Still, he keeps his shoulders tucked a bit, stays near the back and doesn't mess with any of the switches. As least he doesn't have to bend over constantly. Against the more mundane enemies, Damocles has a surprisingly martial solution for a wizard: He swats them with his staff. The staff itself flickers when swung with a slightly violet-tinted energy, and smashes though things in front of it like they were made of fog. The arrival of the angel looking things worries him a bit more, so he does stop. He doesn't unleash his magic attacks just yet though, mostly because he's worried about catching his allies in the crossfire. Better to hang back and act as support for now. As support, he looks over to Mikoto when she draws a blade. "Hey, hold that blade out to me for one second," he asks politely, and extends his eye-topped staff in her direction. If she complies, he focuses his energy briefly, causing arcs of more violet lightning to extend from the eye on his staff to the blade of her sword. It only takes a moment, but when he pulls back the sword, the energy continues to arc across her blade, a powerful current of pure arcane energy that sends small arcs out at anything nearby. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:'''     A loud, blaring volley of gunfire rings out. Crow, who entered just after the rest and had been forced to play catchup, makes his fashionably late arrival to the party in a way that only he could; with a lot of loud noise. The student is clad in Class VII's crimson garb with his shirt and coat sleeves rolled up to his elbow, with a semi-automatic orbal pistol in one hand and a large revolver in the other. The revolver was empty now, but he continued firing until the pistol's slide went back for a final time, indicating that the ammunition was spent. Hopefully, that would damage the 'angel's wing enough to knock it briefly off balance. "Yo! Looks like you all got yourselves into somethin' of a sticky wicket. But don't worry, your caring upperclassman is here to bail you out. Yep, it's ole' Crow to the rescue!" As he jabbered, he quickly loaded both of his weapons back up before kipping forward to get into the arena proper to join his three classmates in a formation of four. 

:'''{{#var:973|Silica (973)}} has posed:'''     Silica sticks close to the center of the group. She does look at Jeanne, frowning a bit. "Don't judge me by my size." she remarks, flicking her dagger out of its sheathe at the small of her back. She shrugs a bit and uses the downtime to begin chanting. The words are some kind of norse, and after the last yellow symbol locks into place around her, a bubble of blue hexagons appears around each person in the 'party'. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     It's time.     The group proceeds into the old schoolhouse. This is Nanoha's second trip so while not an old hat, she at least knows a little of what to expect. It's on the elevator, on the way down, that Nanoha actually transforms herself.     Nanoha's transformation doesn't have quite as much flair as Silica's or Mikoto's. Although it's still flashy in that there is light involved. A strong pink light surrounds Nanoha entirely. It grows outwards, forming some more bulky clothing. Meanwhile a long pole stretches out either side of Nanoha's left hand, widening at the head as it forms a point.     With a flash of light, Nanoha is revealed once more. Now wearing her white and blue combat dress, steel and gold staff in her hand. Soon enough the group makes their way through the dungeon. Nanoha sticks to the rear, firing off beams of pink magic from her staff. The battles aren't so challenging that Nanoha is unleashing any of her larger attacks.     Once they arrive towards the end of the floor, coming face to plating with those angelic looking machines, Nanona gets a bit more of a serious expression on her face. She turns her focus to the angel that just sworded the ground to produce that shockwave at Mikoto.     Nanoha raises her staff in the direction of her target. A spell circle appears on the ground beneath the robot angel as Nanoha calls out, "Chain Bind!" Chains of pink light rise up out of the spell circle. They attempt to wrap around the blade arms to tie them up and anchor them to the ground, to keep them from being used while also helping Mikoto engage in close with the machine. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa goes over her loadout she has in storage on her internal HUD while she waits for the party to move out. The response to Mikoto's question does set to rest, Kotone's concern about containment breaching. She doe snot question the cat at this point as the group heads down deeper and deeper into whatever lays within this place. Kotone doesn't bother to cloak as she pulls out an SMG some sort of MP5 or related weapon and will open fire at the various monsters that are coming at them the machines, however, catch her attention that gets an eyebrow raise she's got to wonder just what sort of systems they might have. If she runs into them again she might be able to try and hack them. For now, she'll keep shooting at the various monsters confident the party can burn these ones down. 5R She opens fire on the angel thing as well. "I don't you should see my Grandmother!" She calls out to Silicia. Then Suddenly Crow! He makes quite the entrance she has no idea who he is but he doesn't seek to be hostile as he falls in with Rean and his classmates. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "That rules out a digging prankster, then. Still not definite on the magus thing, but.." Jeanne shrugs lightly. She doesn't sound particularly invested in the why of the matter, but... Why /is/ she coming with this group, then? Nothing she'll admit to. "I had nothing better to do. Have you killed anyone else interesting yet?" She responds to Mikoto, almost sounding like she's trying to goad something out of her. That, or she's just being Jeanne. Probably just being Jeanne. If nothing else, she does pull her weight and then some, unleashing fire and steel in equal measure upon those encroaching wall monsters and flaming skull demons as they appear. She hasn't seen them nor the puzzle rooms yet, so it does take Jeanne a fair bit longer to get through those without resorting to following the more experienced members of the group in getting through those obstacles. "You weren't joking when you said this was a trial... At least it's not boring." She... Approves? Somewhat, since it does give the Dragon Witch an opportunity to blow off some steam. When the angel-themed machines appear, Jeanne scoffs briefly as she watches those shields coming her way. "If this is a test, they really picked the right motif to get their toys broken!" Conjuring her flag in front of her, Jeanne whips the bottom end of it upwards to deflect one of the shields, then slams her banner back down to brace against it and withstand the other one slamming directly into her with a painful thunking noise that's not completely metal slamming into metal. "Tch... Now you're open!" She launches herself at the shield-slinger head on, flames shooting forward at it to coincide with her bringing that heavy flagpole down at its face. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I meant 'I'm not sure what you're trying to say, I don't speak cat' Staren." Rean says with a sigh. Otherwise he just lets Staren ramble on. Maybe he'd pick up on something new about all this. Back to the boss fight, Mikoto slashes at the machine's sword arm, her blade scraping across the metal as she moves. One of the shields on the guardian she's fighting lashes out at her, just as expected. Staren's  missiles slam into the guardians as well, exploding spectacularly against their hulls. Nanoha's chains also help make it easier to land hits on this one, which Machias takes advantage of, firing an armor piercing round from his shotgun at the shield that isn't getting lobbed at Mikoto right now, cracking it a bit. It slams its free sword arm down, sending a shockwave towards the support squad of Damocles and Silica. In comes Crow, whose shots ring out against one of the guardians, staggering it a bit. Fie and Kotone both join in, Fie firing her twin gunknives at the guardians and Kotone firing her SMG. "Hey, you made it!" Rean says, giving Crow a brief nod. He then rushes in at the shield lobbing guardian, in sync with Jeanne just smacking it in the face with her flagpole. As Rean rushes past, his sword strike hitting with enough speed that one strike blooms into many, staggering it further. The very staggered guardian that previously was lobbing shields eventually rallies, swinging out both its sword arms at the people engaging it in melee, specifically Rean and Jeanne. Rean raises his sword to block the strike, getting pushed back towards the walls of the arena. It then fires its sheilds again, aimed right at Fie, Crow and Kotone. Fie jumps back to get out of the way of the strike, but what will everyone else do? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's sword starts to glow all the colors of the warp, giving it a look over, she nods once.  "That'll work!  Thanks, cult guy!"  She shouts back over her shoulder towards Damocles.  This comes right as the shield aims for her.  Her sword swings out, aiming to collide with the shield before it can swipe her too hard.  There is a clash before she is launched back, skidding across the ground.   She can feel that in her arms, making her regretting trying to match strength with these things.  She dives in again, aiming to try and dive under the creature, and thrust her blade into the ground, instead of into him.  Triggering the enchantment on the blade, she does also send a spike straight up, attempting to impale the monster from below. To Jean, "Nothing too interesting, I'm afraid.  I've been mostly trying to get my life in order." 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' As Damocles pulls his staff back from offering the weapon enhancement magic to Mikoto, the shockwave strikes his armor, sending him flying backward. He's a big target, so the shockwave does a good job of knocking him around, getting the barrier spells his armor is reinforced with to flicker as he flies backwards a dozen or so feet before his feet slam into the ground. He lands in a crouch, the bottom of his staff striking the floor underneath him to stabilize himself. His glowing eyes arch slightly into 'angry' eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you feeling ignored. Can't have that," he intones dangerously as he stands up to his full height again. He motions forward with his staff, a flicker of energy crossing over his body starting at his feet and shooting through his body, to his hand, up the staff and along to the edge, where it leaps out in a concentrated blast of lightning. The lighting arc lasts for only a couple of seconds, but surges with a tremendous amount of energy in that short time, a cold, electric hiss filling the room as the power arcs between the Sorcerer and his target. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' "Just in time for the party." Crow replies to Rean before giving out a wink and a smirk to Kotone as he caught her looking at him. He doesn't have long to fool around, though, before the Elvavria decide to cut things short. As Fie begins her retreat, Crow's body outlines itself in a blue haze that forms a magic circle. " ARCUS Activate! " The clockface that appears spins rapidly, enacting a change in the flow of time that causes Crow to blur, practically becoming an afterimage as he circles around the fired shields. To him, the speeding rams were practically moving in slow motion before the flow of time began to return to normal. Taking advantage of the remains of his Chrono Drive, Crow fires a volley of water sepith infused bullets from his revolver in an attempt to freeze the circular shoulders while they were exposed, without shields to protect them, and follows up on his flash freeze attack by unstrapping an orbal grenade from his belt loops and kicking it towards the same spot he'd been shooting at, the right shoulder, with the intention of blowing a hole in it.         "Take that!" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren puts up his shields again and gets ready to dodge... but, it seems there are just more people here than these guardians can handle! Well, Staren's not going to let this opportunity slip by!     As one of the guardians is pushed back towards the edge of the arena, Staren manifests energy wings and tries to dash behind it while it focuses on others, so he can unload with the weapons in his armor's arms -- two beam cannons and a dozen tinier missiles!     "I guess whoever set up this challenge didn't expect this many people... oh well. Since they didn't set out any terms at the start, anything goes, I guess!" 

:'''{{#var:973|Silica (973)}} has posed:'''     Silica frowns a bit, then does a quick tap in the air. A moment later, a large tiger-like creature emerges from a flash of light and bodyblocks the shockwave with a bellowing roar. It's body shows bright red damage decals, and the HP bar above its head ticks down a few notches. It then turns and unleashes a beam-breath attack that crackles with lightning energy. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     The party is joined by another, a latecomer. Nanoha remembers Crow from her previous excursion into this building. She also remembers the more recent Paladin reports about him and his connections to the Watch. Nanoha is a little disconcerted as she gives the Thors student a brief look. But she tries to push it from her mind as she focuses on the threat that the robotic angels currently present.     Nanoha is caught on the edge of the shockwave sent towards Damocles and Silica. She's able to simply endure it, planting her feet in the ground as the defensive magics of her Barrier Jacket absorb the force of the blast.     Once the attack has passed, Nanoha quickly switches into an attack stance once more, leveling her staff in the angel's direction. An orb of magic quickly grows beyond the pointed tips of the staff's head, until it bursts. Streams of pink lance outwards, before arcing back in towards the same point targeted by Damocles's lightning. Nanoha is hoping a combined assault will inflict more damage on the machine. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "Oh? Another.. Wait. You're that..." Jeanne squints slightly at Crow as she starts to recognize him. She turns away briefly to pull her flag back and whip her sword out in front of herself, now prepared with both weapons despite glancing his way again. "... The one with that dumb sweater." Of course that's what she remembers. "Don't get too cocky!" That's about as much 'encouragement' as she gives before focusing more fully on the fight. As Rean blocks the blade coming in from one side, Jeanne uses both her sword and flag to block the blade coming in from the other direction, helping to hold the blades at bay and preventing them from cleaving through hersef and Rean. The impact has her wincing slightly, but she grits her teeth through it as she weighs her options. Could she have leapt out of the way easily? Sure, probably. Doing that would put their lead on this operation in a bad spot, though, and it wouldn't look too good. It doesn't mean she's completely stuck, though! As she holds that blade away from her, spears start to materialize in the air above her. She launches them at the arm holding the sword, aiming to impale them and slash them apart at the base if the opportunity presents itself. "Is this going to be like the last couple of times you've tried to get things in order? Or are you finally being more honest with yourself?" She replies to Mikoto, leaving a fair bit of it vague. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone calls out to Rean "You know that guy?" Looks like Rean knows Crow. She's left laying down fire and her SMG doesn't seem to be doing enough as she changes she will leap up into the air jump a second time and leap off the shield. As she does this, Kotone would summon another weapon from her matter manipulator it's a rail gun that's about as big as she is. She snaps off several more shots before she hit the ground and gets on the move once more. "I'm over here come get me, big guy!" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's spike pierces the rounded spike serving as 'legs' for the guardian, basically pinning it to the ground as opposed to it floating around. This puts it in a good position to get warp lightning'd. It pulls its shields forward to block, but in the process, the cracked one cracks even further, and then shatters as Nanoha's spears impact it. This gives Tetsu's lightning free range to just fry the thing, and Machias to shoot it in the face. This makes it kinda mad, and it lets out a howl, wildly throwing it's remaining shield with more force than before at the party. Meanwhile on the other side, Crow fires at the right shoulder of the right guardian, knocking it back again and freezing it. Both his grenade and Staren's missiles impact the brittle metal, resulting in it losing control of the shield hovering on that side. It clatters to the ground, and Fie jumps in quickly, rolling to grab and get that shield as far away as possible. Kotone jumps off of the other shield, landing some clean shots to the thing, leaving holes all over it's 'face.' Jeanne blocks the sword strike, and then her rain of spears impale one of the swords hovering around its torso, pinning it to the ground.  The shield that's still floating whirls around it, aiming to smack Staren and Crow upside the head, while its remaining sword arm repeatedly slams the ground, making shockwaves for the two melee fighters to dodge. Rean ducks and weaves around, trying to find an opening between them. 

:'''{{#var:973|Silica (973)}} has posed:'''     Tetsu snarls as he fries the thing, bracing to take the incoming shield throw in tank position again.     Silica is chanting a spell, meanwhile. "Ek skýt fjórir ískaldur ör!" four 'spears' made from ice form around the little Cait Sith, then lash out as she points them at the incoming shield as it flies, aiming to deflect it, or at least slow it down to reduce the impact when it hits. The spears don't track, but lash out quickly in a straight line. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:'''     "Alright!" His victory whoop is short lived as the shield comes back around for him. Crossing both weapons in front of his body and bracing himself, the shield attack sends him skidding to the side with a grunt of strain and pain, a shower of sparks exploding where the barrels of his guns met the hard edge of the Elvavria's shield. "Ugh. Okay, blocking's a bad idea.."         " ARCUS Activate! " Tremors run through the air as time-space rumbles and glass-like shards, reflective sickles made from extra-dimensional energies fire off and barrage the un-guarded right side of the 'angel' alongside a volley of orbal bullets. 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' Damocles pulls his staff back after his blast, but immediately starts gathering power for a second strike. He takes just a second to observe how their concentrated attacks for affecting it, and smiles a little as it seems pretty angry. Not very 'robot' of it. Maybe it's Warp possessed? Still, when it throws its shield in his direction, he moves. He doesn't move away from it, but instead steps towards it, moving at a speed one really wouldn't expect for someone as big as him. "Mistake, sister," he says quietly as he pushes his staff forward again. This time, as he does, he releases a shockwave of his own: A sudden, short ranged but extremely powerful blast of repelling force, aimed at the shield, designed to repel the guardian's attack right back into its stupid robot face. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto lets out a small laugh at that, it sure didn't like it when it's defenses were sundered.  Though it decides that the attack was the right move.  Mikoto braces as the shield is launched at the group, using her sword to try and swing up and over the weapon.   There is a gride, as the sparks from the two colliding spill everywhere.  She moves her body, and as she does so the shield moves by.  It catches her in the right arm, causing her to swing wildly and force herself to use the blade to stop her momentum by dragging it along the ground.   Jeanne gives her the standard Edgejean response, but maybe a bit more cutting that she was prepared for.  However, she just flashes a smile, and not quite a kind one.  "Yeah, I have actually Jeanne." She launches at the monster, leaping up the side of the spike and attempting to land on top of it.  "I've learned to embrace what I am.  That what I want in this world belongs to me, and what I lay claim to is for only I to hold." She says, driving the blade repeatedly into the creature's face, before leaping up. "I am the magical girl of envy, after all!  All that I want will be mine, and woe to who will deny or steal from me!" she says, as the blade comes down with her body, attempting to slash right through the impaled monster.   

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     The right guardian turns around, and this time its shield hits his forcefield, knocking off a chunk and somewhat humorously sending Staren smashing into the ground where his forcefield cracks more on impact and bounces him into the air while Staren tumbles about inside it -- in less than a second, though, he's dropped the field and stabilzied himself upright with wings and thrusters.     "Oh, NOW you pay attention..." That hit knocked him for a loop, but he can't help quipping. Perhaps a mix of anger at the creator of this place, at the guardian for ignoring him, and now at the guardian for NOT ignoring him?     At least hovering in the air puts him above the shockwaves. But he's also fired all his missiles, and he hasn't seen any sign that a particular weapon would be more effective, so for now he falls back to pew pewing with his beam cannons as they cool down every few seconds.     Staren frowns slightly as he hears Mikoto's speech. It's very dramatic, but it kind of comes across as a bit greedy and selfish... now doesn't seem the time to critique her though, as his previous ranting annoyed her enough. 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' "'Just cocky enough' my ass... Whatever. Maybe you should have some of that confidence rub off on some of these other kids!" Jeanne shouts towards Crow, cracking a slight grin when that blade gets stuck firmly in the ground. With only those slams against the ground to contend with, the Dragon Witch gets to use something mildly clever to avoid getting launched too far away. She utilizes the power of VERTICAL MOVEMENT. Leaping right over the guardian, Jeanne channels dark flames around her blade while looking for her target. "So you are... Hmhmhm. Pretending to be benevolent or conniving never seemed to be your style, anyway." She replies to Mikoto, then starts laughing while diving towards the guardian's back with her blade held out, aiming to cleave it right through the back. "No... If you want something, take it. If you can't, then you're just not strong enough. No excuses, no posturing or acting like you're 'good' when... Well!" Once Jeanne lands, she brings the flag up next, aiming the sharpened tip upwards to try impaling it from below and lifting it off the ground as a demonstration of PURE POWER. "It does't take a genius to see that you aren't, so why bother fooling yourself?" 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha finds a shield streaking towards her. She quickly raises her hand, a magical barrier forming between her and the oncoming weapon. It smashes against the round shield, which absorbs part of the blow before shattering into sparkles of light. Nanoha is able to get her staff into position to take the rest of the impact, though it still smashes her and sends her flying backwards.     Nanoha skids to a halt, before quicky flipping over and beginning to rise. As she does so, she reaches her staff out towards the angel that attacked her. Motes of pink appear in the air around it. They gather in strength before raining down on the angel as beams of light from multiple directions. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Things are going for Kotone fairly well all things considered but it's not over just yet. The thing is still attacking them and it's not going down even with all the damage they have done to it. She keeps moving with her massive weapon. Snapping off shots as she moves timing her attacks to not catch her allies who are fighting up close but this slows down her rate of fire. She doesn't fair well agianst the shockwave they are too fast for her to handle and Kotone is sent flying from them. Which has left her down and now more open to attack. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Silica's spears impact the shield as it comes for her, sending it spinning off trajectory. It goes back to its maser, then whirls around at Damocles...who just blasts it right into it's face. It goes out /again,/ This time at Mikoto, who does actually get hit. Of course that doesn't stop her from leaping up and stabbing the thing in the face, cutting into it with warp sword magic. Nanoha's lasers slam into the guardian, scorching it and leaving holes in it. "Clear the way!" Machias shouts, drawing a larger shot gun and firing it multiple times. The combined assault is too much for the guardian, and it falls off of the spike, collapsing onto the gound before bursting into a cloud of violet smoke. Rean doesn't say anything in response to Mikoto's speech. After all, he already knew that was the path she chose to take. He just had to hope it didn't lead to disaster. Meanwhile, Crow's Demonic Scythe spell and bullet spray cuts into the guardian, same with Staren's lasers. Jeanne's fancy flipping also slices up the guardian, and Fie joins in by jumping on it and stabbing it with her gunknives and then firing. Rean finally finds an opening, and runs in again,taking many rapid sword slashes at the guradian, sword blazing with fire. Kotone's shots still land, and while she's caught off guard, it's enough for this guardian to fall, just like its companion. There's silence for a moment afterwards and....nothing happens. "...Nothing again." Rean sighs. "There's no other floors on the elevator, but that can't be it, can it?" Fie sighs. "Lame." Machias shrugs. "Maybe we need to check the other floors?" 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha stands up proper once more as she watches the machine angels crash down after the punishment they've received has become too much. It's really only then that Nanoha takes the opportunity to wonder at their appearance. Who would design them that way? And why?     Nanoha is quickly distracted though as... Nothing happens. She sighs quietly. Is she disappointed? It would seem so. Though it's not too obvious as she tries to hide it, instead putting on a smile and saying, "Well, another floor completed!"     As Rean points out that there's no other floors, Nanoha looks a little confused, though wonders out loud, "It's recongifured itself before, right? Maybe it'll do so again. I sincerely doubt anyone would go to all the trouble of making this place like this, only for this to be the end. It doesn't seem like there would be any purpose to such a fantastical creation." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto raises swinging the sword down once to remove any other debris from her blade as the monster turns to ash.  Turning only once the monster is dead, she regards Jeanne.  There is a smirk on her face, but she shrugs her shoulders. "No, I wasn't.  I tried to be something I was not, to fit in with people because I was afraid to be rejected for not being what they thought I was.  Anyway, I'm over that now, and yeah...strength comes next.  We're working on that whole witch problem too." "What?  That's it?  That's megalame.  Maybe there is a..." a pause.  She gets a vision, randomly thanks to Tetra 'I'm not Zelda', which causes her to see something.   Class VII and other students of Thors, with faculty, stand outside of the old schoolhouse's courtyard.  It slowly pans to the schoolhouse itself, as a bright blue barrier seems to surround the building.  The light is bright enough to read by, but a loud ringing can be heard.  As it pans up, the bell rings endlessly, the night is lit by only the light of the barrier.   Shaking her head, Mikoto snaps out of it and looks towards the others.  "Uh...I am sure it's not done, but I don't think anything is going to happen until it's ready to." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is thankfully not ripped apart by the guardians as the rest of the team seem set to finish them off before she can get back up on her feet to just see the aftermath of the guardian going down. Koton will banish her weapon and dust herself off a bit and pans around looking for any signs of other attackers. She pauses for a moment and voices a thought. "You don't think this is some kind of lethal prank set up by people from long ago do you?" She now looks to make sure everyone else is all right. "If that's the case Nanoha we may need to give this puzzle trap sometime to do whatever it's going to do. I'm starting to see why the idea to burn this place down might be a valid one." She makes a bit of a face. "So anyone wants to get something to eat on me?" 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' Damocles walks up to the wreck of the machine they were fighting, and pokes it with the bottom of his staff. You going to jump up and try and eat my face, huh? Come on, jump up, just try it ya' fucking monster. Let's see you do it. No? Well okay then. Guess the fun is over. He looks around, searching the room for anything magically significant, but he doesn't spot anything immediately. Of course there's a lot of fog due to the fight they just had, so it may take a few minutes for the energy to settle down again and notice anything subtle. "Alright, well, I don't see anything that stands out, but I can snoop around a bit. I'll let you know if I find anything. Stick a Post-It note to one of those flaming skulls or something." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     The guardians fall, and Staren lands, wings disappearing, and looks around.     What did he expect? A secret door to open? A chest to appear? A hologram of the dungeon's creator to appear, congratulating them? Something like that, but... there's nothing.     He looks up and says to any hypothetical dungeon overseer, "No loot? Zero out of five stars, would not reccomend dungeon to other adventurers."     He looks around the others. "Everybody alright?"     Nanoha points out that the dungeon regularly reconfigures itself. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean ANY of the 'endings' it presents in any configuration have to be anything special. ...Maybe it's some wizard's magic experiment in procedurally-generated space warping, made to see if it was possible rather than to serve any purpose itself." 

:'''{{#var:6802|Jeanne Alter (6802)}} has posed:''' As the guardians and the fighting dies down, Jeanne lets out a light breath as she surveys the damage. "... Not bad. Not bad at all. So you're not all hopeless." She smirks, chuckling briefly to herself while looking over at Rean and Crow's classmates. Or are they just Rean's classmates? She's not too sure, but she sure as hell isn't going to ask. "You mentioned that more of these floors appeared, right? There'll be more sooner or later." She mirrors Nanoha's prediction, shrugging once while that sword and flag dematerialize. "Magi do strange things. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have any other purpose but this." A shrug, and Jeanne turns to Mikoto again. "What's wrong with being a witch? You've seen me." She leaves it at that as if that actually answers anything. Damocles, though, gets a raised eyebrow. "You're going to just stay here, then? Do what you like, but don't blame us if more of these decide to steal your body or... Something while we're gone." Kotone's offer of food doesn't go ignored, of course. "... What's the local specialty here? I want it." 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' Releasing an almost dramatic sigh of satisfaction and faux-exasperation, Crow shoves his weapons into their holsters before folding his arms behind his head. "Well, that's all she wrote, then." Taking stock of what was being said so far, Crow kept his expression neutral. But, there's something cryptic about his lopsided grin that he just can't get rid of. "That so, uh...Mikoto? Yeah. That's it. More or less, I agree with you. We've still got one more, so we should enjoy the time we've got left before the end." Without missing a beat, he turns his back. "Everyone did pretty good this time! But I'm beat. I think I'll take my own advice when we're ready to go back." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "A witch from my world is when a Magical girl uses all of their magic...they turn into some sort of eldrich abomination, and basically lose themselves. It's kindof horrible and terrifying." 

:'''{{#var:7234|Damocles (7234)}} has posed:''' Damocles waves off Jeanne's...well, not concern, but, disdain for the risk, perhaps? He waves a hand in either way. "Your concern is touching, but I'll be fine. I haven't sensed anything here that would block my teleporting away if I did get overwhelmed. Investigating weird arcane stuff is my stock in trade, though. I'll be careful not to push any shiny buttons." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Yeah. That's how it's worked so far, so maybe we just need to wait." He then turns to Kotone and Jeanne. "There's Kirche's cafe, or if you really want to the Cafeteria at Thors is pretty ok. And you're free to explore, if you want. Just don't burn the place down. /Please./" 
}}

6574/Old Schoolhouse Briefing

2020-03-06T19:13:32Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/05/09
|Location=Thors Military Academy
|Synopsis=Principal Vandyke of Thors Military Academy explains what's going on with a dilapidated building at the back of the school - namely, it turning into a JRPG dungeon.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 1149, 7, 42
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The warpgate for this area opens up behind a shed, covered up with several crates, Past that, is an academic field and what smells like a nearby horse stable. Unfortunately, it's currently the rainy season, so the field itself is muddy and gross. Even further past that, is what looks like several old looking buildings. Basically, an average looking campus. There's fewer students outside today. Not only because of the rain, but because midterms are coming up soon. Despite this, the occasional teenager in a green or white blazer passes by, unbrella over their head, or huddled under a bulding's awning. And standing in front of the main building is a student in a red blazer - Rean. He's holding a black umbrerlla over his head, eyes casting about for whoever decided to answer his (and by extension, Principal Vandyke's) request. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty is one of those who has accepted the request and invitation. He steps out of the warpgate to... Find himself behind a shed. Krusty looks a little confused for a moment, before looking up as he realises it's raining. A few finger swipes at thin air and a closed umbrella appears as a flash of light in front of him. He takes it and opens it up. Much better.     Krusty moves out from behind the shed in search of someone, anyone, who might represent this school. He's wearing a uniform himself with an official feel to it. A shield patch on the shoulder showing a circle with a sword and magic staff crossed over it. He probably doesn't look too out of place here.     Seeing Rean apparently waiting and looking around, Krusty heads over in his direction. Stopping in front of him, Krusty gives him a friendly smile, "I suspect you are here to greet us?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has no trouble in arriving, the rain wasn't bothering her at all, she was used to it where she was from. She a bit wet rhoufh and she'll fall in behind Krusty. She likely pulls out an odd gun like device and then pulls the trigger. A umbella ppear in hand and the device is returned to her coat's pcoekt. She'll now take sight of Rean grinning abit at him. Her sleveless long coak, the bots, pants and shirt scream she's not from around here nd there's a bit something almost off about her apperace too she grins widely though and that seem normal enough. "Hey there, have you been sent to meet us?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren steps out of the gate and is... confused as he looks around. Stepping out of the gate's hiding place he sees... they /hid/ it? Ugh. He frowns in disgust. That's not going to last, they should just accept it already.     Oh, also, it's raining. His labcoat reshapes into a raincoat; he pulls the hood up. He's considered whether he should have something more formal and impressive for public appearances; on the other hand, the labcoat's probably pretty emblematic of him by now.     Staren spots Rean, and Krusty, who gets a nod, and Kotone, who gets a friendly nod and a smile. "See, I told you you'd get heroes. Why is the warpgate hidden, though? Trying to hide the Multiverse from your people won't end well." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Yeah." He holds out a hand to Krusty and Kotone. "I'm Rean. Thanks for coming." Staren soon approaches, and asks why the gate is hidden. Rean frowns. "I think it's just to keep people from wandering in there by accident. Hopefully they'll tell the rest of the school soon." He looks around. "Anyway, if that's everyone, we should head inside." And with that, he closes his umbrella and heads inside the building. Rean leads the group to Principal Vandyck's office. There's a number of trophies near the window, and a red and gold banner with a horned lion on it behind his desk - the school's emblem. Vandyck himself is an elderly man with long hair, but he's tall and muscular enough that he could probably handle himself on the battlefield still. "Good afternoon," he says, looking up from his paperwork. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa looks to Staren as he arrives and grins a bit. "Hey Staren so you are interested in this too?" She'll look to Krusty for a moment too. "I see you are interested as well?" then she'll shake Rean's hand firmly with a grin. "Taking it slow isn't bad sudden contact can cause a lot of upset. Such as my world finding out magic wasn't a fairy tale anymore." She'll trot along with the group and her umbrella will vanish after they get inside. "Hello, It's good to meet you. I'm Kotone Yamakawa!" 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty shakes the offered hand, "Krusty. Good to meet you."     Krusty agrees with Staren that trying to keep the warpgate hidden for very long won't last. Though he doesn't outright say it. There's usually reasons for the attempt. And keeping people, especially students, from wandering into it is a good one.     At the question from Kotone, Krusty nods, "From what little info I've heard, I am. Though I will admit that I'm still not entirely sure what the request is about." It seems they're going to find out soon though.     Krusty closes up his own umbrella as they proceed into the school proper. He glances around as they walk through the halls, taking in the sights, students and teachers. He's never seen a military school in person and the idea is somewhat fascinating.     Soon enough the group comes face to face with the principal. As they are greeted, Krusty returns it by placing his hand to his chest and bowing slightly in respect, "Greetings. I am Krusty. Official representative of the Round Table Alliance." He straightens again, "I understand you require some assistance?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Well, I was one of the first to meet him so I figured I should follow up." Staren replies to Kotone. "Oh, that reminds me." He adds, as Rean leads them, "Show me a local electrical outlet so I know what design of charger to make for your ecto."     Staren takes in the room, giving the principal a '...is that it?' look.     "Good... afternoon." Staren echoes, uncertainly. "Did you have anything to say...?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean looks puzzled for a moment. "Uh...I can show you an outlet, but we don't use electricity here. And I get the feeling orbal energy is not the same thing." Principal Vandyk gets up from his chair. "My apoligies- I was focused on my work. My name is Aedelbert Vandyck, Principal of Thors Military Academy." he says, returning Krusty's bow. He then turns to Staren. "Yes, of course. There is an old building at the back of the campus that dates back to the dark ages - 1200 years ago on our calendar - And while it has been there since before the school's founding, it's recently begun to change on its own. Over the past two months I've tasked Schwarzer and his classmates to investigate the building and report any new changes." Rean nods. "Right. Last month, for instance, an elevator appeared, as well as a second floor. We haven't gone in yet this month, but I'm expecting at least another floor." "As Schwarzer has explained to me, there are people from other places in the Multiverse that may be able to figure out why and how this building is changing. So, my request is for you to assist Class VII in their investigations going forward." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty side glances at Staren, but says nothing in relation to his rudeness.     Returning his attention to the principal, Krusty listens intently. The revelation of a old building changing of its own accord causes Krusty to hold his chin in thought. He has raided a few dungeons in the past that had the quirk of reconfiguring themselves. Which he mentions as much, "I have encountered similar circumstances before. Though those cases were assumed to be connected to the strange magics and technology of an ancient race. I suppose it's possible there might be something similar here. Though I am unfamiliar with your world's history." Perhaps some investigation into that is required.     "Regardless, I am happy to offer my services and those of my guild in attempting to solve this mystery. I'm sure we can come to an acceptable agreement." Krusty has judged from initial impressions that Principal Vandyck is a wisened man of the world and knows how things work. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "I thought of that, here's some spare batteries." Staren hands Raen small rectangles with contacts on them, like phone batteries.     And then, meeting the Principal: Staren rubs his chin. "Hmm. Are these changes in the nature of additions rather than complete restructurings? Or is there risk that rooms might go away with people inside them?"     "In any case: I'm interested, but as I told Rean, you want to get the word out on something like this, you should contact the Syndicate. You'll have adventurers kicking your door down in no time. Call Arthur Lowell and tell him what's up. Although... I will forward word to the Concord." Staren glances back in the direction of the gate. "Is there anything else you can tell me to put in my report? What's been in the building before, what supernatural abilities were demonstrated by things inside...?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "I see Sir." She takes a note listening as Vandyk give them more details. "I see, have lifeforms or constructs been found within the new floor? I see and it would be a good idea to keep checking it out. Better that than it turns out to be, be some Hellmouth which will let the dark lord into the world going undisturbed while it powers up. A good suggestiona nd I can bring word to the Paladins as well. Any history from the dark ages about it? Wild stories? Legends?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Vandyck nods. "Much of what archeologists find from that era and beyond tends to be rather strange, so you may have a point. As for legends, the task of preserving the building has been passed down from headmaster to headmaster since the school's founding 220 years ago. The founder, the great Emepror Dreichels said to leave it as is until 'The Promised Day,' whenever that may be. Perhaps the time has come, in fact. " Meanwhile, Rean takes the batteries from Staren. "Thanks. The other floors have had monsters on them, just like the 'original' floor did. We've also run into at least one huge monster at the end of the floors that we've visited already. Those ones were more like demons or fiends, though. The last one was uh...A set of floating angelic stone doors that shot lasers." His eybrows furrow at the last bit, like he barely believes what he's describing. "I have some notes on some of the monsters we encountered in there. I'll give you some copies later, and to anyone else who asks." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa thinks for a moment "I would continue with the observation and have some level of guards posted at the entrances if something were to come pouring out it would be bad." She pauses for a moment as she hears about the Emperor and then the promised day she is worried about that. "Sounds like there's hostile and combat kit would be wise to bring on any further trips down there I would like the information you have. Also, have your guards in pairs and call in if anything /strange/ happens they should not go sticking their noses in there." A bit forceful but she's also clearly speaking from experiance. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods at the description, not seeming disbelieving in the least. "I see. Certainly, unusual morphology and powers may be worth investigating, at least." Staren extends a hand to the headmaster. "Nice to meet you, thanks for inviting us here." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Vandyck puts a hand to his chin, eyes closed. "I'll look into that. There are many people on campus, both staff and students who would be able to perform that duty." He then turns to Staren and smiles. "You're very welcome. It was very nice to meet you as well." 
}}

7076/Thors Amateur Grand Prix

2020-02-24T15:52:04Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/02/22
|Location=The roadway between Trista and Celdic
|Synopsis=Angelica Rogner invites multiversal bikers to a race. Things get pretty intense.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 459, 906, 7, 934
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone meeets up outside the eastern entrance to the village of Trista, where there's a long stone roadway stretching out into the distance. There, you find Rean and three other students: a petite girl in the green version of the Thors blazer, a pudgy boy in yellow coveralls, and a tall, violet haired girl in a leather biking jumpsuit. "What do you know, people actually came!" the violet haired girl says. She holds out a hand for people to shake. "Angelica Rogner. " She then gestures at a motorcycle behind her. It looks pretty stangard, just magenta in color, and a glowing element on the underside, presumably its power source. "And /that/ Is my- or well, /our/ baby." George, the boy in the coveralls gives everyone a wave. "George Nome. The four of us - That's Angie, Towa, Crow and I- have been working on this prototype since the start of the year, with some help testing by Rean." Rean sheepiushly rubs the back of his head. "It was pretty fun getting to ride it." Towa, the petite girl speaks up next. "All of you are going to race up the road from here to Celdic, the next town over. George, Rean and I are going to wait alongside road as checkpoints. Just give us a wave as you pass by!" 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis is always up for a challenge, even if it isn't a battle. Sometimes specifically because it isn't a battle. There's more to Training to staring some kid in the field in the eyes and then beating the snot out of his Lv30 Rattata that he refuses to evolve because then it wouldn't be in the top ten percentile of Rattata. "Race, huh? Yeah, we can do that." But not with the bike she road up on. Not to mention she already put that away (somehow collapsed and shoved it into her hiking pack). No, she plucks one of her pokeballs, giving it a twirl on the tip of a finger as it expands. "But there's more than bikes to race out there." The ball is flicked in front of her. "Let's go, Roadburn!" There's a brief flash of energy, and a loud neigh as a rearing stallion appears from it. But not just any stallion, as this one has a blazing mane and tail, and embers flickering around his hooves for feathering. Also a big sharp horn like a unicorn, even if the species is closer to a nightmare with all the fire and smoke. Not that fire apparently poses a threat to the rider as Alexis hoists herself onto his back with little issue. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang comes riding up on Bumblebee. The deep growl of the engine heralding her approach long before she can be seen.     The blonde comes skidding to a stop, turning her bike fully sideways and stopping with a practiced ease before taking off her helmet and dismounting. She's wearing a fully riding suit, much like Angelica's, but done in black and yellow. "Yo, name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long. I've worked with Rean a couple times. Thanks for the invite." she says, shaking the hand firmly with a big grin.     She waits for everyone else to arrive, before remounting her vehicle. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has heard the words bike race and that was more than enough to draw Kotone to it like a moth to the flame. She was clad in a form-fitting motorcycle suit bearing the logo of her garage business. She had a helmet cucked under her arm, and she's had her motorcycle delivered to the site of the race. It's a very sleek, looking craft with some glowing highlights and it a dark blue colour it has some sort of ID plate fit into the back of the cycle, it's not hanging from the seat. It's integrated into the back end just under it. "So you been working on a cycle of your own?" She grins for a bit having no idea if it's a new technology for the world or not. Though it has to at least be a brand new design. "This is the Knight, I designed and built it myself. I admit I used some stock parts but that's how it is these days. I can take a look at yours after the race if you like!" She's giving George and company bike a look over. "What kind of engine you use? Combustion? Electic? Nuclear? Something else?" She looks over to Alexis and yang with a big old grin on her face. "Oh this is going to be fun." Kotone would move to mount her cycle and pulls a cable out of it, thinking nothing odf it she would move to pull out several more which she plugs into the back of her neck. Whichg might not be something George and his friend would expect. She pulls her helmet on and then remounts her craft. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' "Y'all should have told me you were workin' on buildin' yerself a bike!" A vehicle that can only be described as 'some kind of sci-fi motorbike' rolls in on a set of armored wheels. Its rider, one William Pauwel Jr, grins from behind the controls as he rolls up to the starting line. "I would'a helped out iff'n I'd've known. Ah well, it is what it is. "Name's Will," the scifi cowboy drawls up at the assembly of Super High School Level Bike Geeks. "And this here's my iron horse. The Mistral's been in the family for a couple generations now, and we ain't ever stopped improvin' it. She's got a built-in stable plasma generator paired to a couple of electric motors for propulsion. Frame's composite metamaterial for a strong, lightweight construction. But that's just the start." "So, just to double-check the rules of this little competition. Y'all don't mind if we get a bit of air time here n' there, do you? Just, you know, t' check for sure." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Nice to meet other bike enthusiasts." Angelica says. Her eyes linger a tiiiiiiiny bit too long at Kotone and Yang's biker suits before she continues. "Also good to hear our underclassman's been making some impact out there."   Towa looks up at Alexis' Rapidash, eyes wide. "Well, no one said you /couldn't/ race a horse...But sure, why not?" She then turns to Will. "Uh...As in launching yourself into the air? Well... What do you think, Angie?" Towa says. Angelica crosses her arms thinking about it for a moment. "Y'know what sure. Let's do it." "It's orbal energy, like most things out here. I guess you could say it's magic powered." George says.  "And wow...I'll have to talk to you guys after the race, I think. Just to see what I can implement for further updates to our design." Once everyone's done talking, Rean and Towa start walking up the road to get to their checkpoint positions. George stands in front of the entrance, holding a green chunk of fabric. "Alright. Everyone, on your marks, get set..." (BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Mn2mvlyNQ) "GO!" Angelica bolts off, rocketing up the road. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Oh don't worry. We'll be fine. Won't we?" The rapidahs wickers in agreement, and Alexis crouches down into a proper riding position on his back. "Ready when you are." Wait.. wait.. and there's the flag. And a harmless but very flashing burst of flames behind the flaming equine as he takes off with the others. To be fair, Rapidash lives up to the parts of its name very well, and while not taking the lead has little trouble keeping within distance with the rest of the pack. There's a few sparks every time his hooves pound the road. Once they're going Alexis leans forward a bit, and grins. "Let's make sure they actually have a challenge, cycle or not. Agility!" Anyone that thought Alexis might be biting off more than she could chew with this bravado is quickly proven wrong as a tremendous burst of speed has Roadburn quickly pulling alongside the other vehicles, holding his own at a full out gallop. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang rolls up to the start line, and grins back at Kotone. She flips the visor down and revs her engine, a definite orange glow appearing within the central core of her bike's engine. When the call to GO is given, she revs and peels away, kicking up dirt and pulling a wheelie before slamming the front wheel down again and zooming off. Bumblebee isn't exactly a 'Super Bike' but she's heavy, good in turns and has a decent power to weight ratio. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa grins to George from under her helmet. "I'd be happy to though it seems like I'd not be able to help on the power systems. Still, it's a nice looking ride." With that Kotone will gun her engine, as the speaker system gives off the sounds of an old school motorcycle. Yes, they sell those given most places have internal combustion engines no longer street legal back home. With that, she will floor it as everyone else takes off from the starting line. She's considering Yang a Danger not from the Bumblebee, no it's more Yang's experience that worries her. Kotone will pop on some music as she goes as some music older than her /dad/ starts playing. It's some kind of metal and the singer is going on about fuel and fire. William? She has no idea about other than he'll likely be so crazy he'll be a danger to himself and Alexis? She does not know what to expect from the very long experienced Elite. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' "Ahahaha, that's all I needed to hear," Will answers Angelica with a laugh and a grin. "Well, I ain't really a very magical-y kind of guy, but if it's got movin' parts, I should be able to give y'all a hand down the line! But enough talk!" A flag waves. "HAVE AT THEE!" Will guns the engine and slams his fist down on a button in the middle of his console. Acceleration is usually a slow thing, no matter what kind of vehicle you're driving. But Will... has apparently solved(?) that problem(??). The back end of Will's sci-fi motorcycle blossoms open, revealing a STACK OF vernier THRUSTERS. Will's grin is visible for a split second before the roar of a half-dozen rockets igniting simultaneously sends him hurtling forward at frankly unreasonable speeds. His /everything/ struggles to hold on, desperately trying not to go flying out of his seat. The fact that his legs are neatly secured in place by a set of interlocking mechanical supports doesn't help particularly overmuch, and there's a brief moment where it seems like he's about to go tumbling into a ditch...! But Will's a better rider than that. His tires grip the dirt road as he surges forward. Just as the bike hits its top cruising speed, the thruster array deactivates and folds back into the Mistral's chassis. The other two cycle riders might have their own advantages, and Alexis is riding a literal super-horse, but... Will (re)built this bike with his own two hands. He's been riding it for years, and all its gadgets and idiosyncrasies are as familiar to him as the back of his hands! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone makes their way down East Trista highway, which is a mostly flat area lined with trees and bushes. there's a few creatures milling about in the distance, most closer to the Pokemon of Alexis' world than regular animals, like a rather large beetle or a very red and spiky wolf. Most of them seem to be staying away from the roadway, though - or maybe the lantern like lights lining it. Will rockets ahead, with Alexis, Yand and Kotone not far behind him. Ange isn't too far off from them either. Ange's bike is...a bike. Probably not as heavy as Bumblebee, and can't transform like the Mistral or even play music like Kotone's bike, but it's reliable. "Oh you are /not/ beating me that easily!" Ange shouts, and she floors it, zipping forward to trail after the others. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang's bike doesn't have any special devices built into it. She jinks away as Will comes blasting past her, then leans forwards and guns the engine to try and close the distance again. Heavier bike means she's not picking up as much speed as quickly as the others, but it's a steady pace and she might just have a higher peak on the straights. The exhausts begin to emit orange flames as the engine reaches higher revs. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis glances over her shoulder with a smile at Ange. "That's the spirit! You only win when you keep trying harder!" Then turns back forward and resumes her horse-jockey riding position, leaning into their run. "Thrusters, huh. Well we can do that too. Flame Charge!" Roadburn leans forward, lowering his head to point his horn forward. There's a spark at the tip, which crackles back from it in streaks of red and orange sparks in an igniting corona. There's nothing to strike with the attack, but the blazing aura actually helps make things more aerodynamic and push a little more speed out of the pokemon's... well... horsepower. Don't worry, Alexis is perfectly safe inside the blaze. Rapidash's flames will never burn a rider as long as it is comfortable with them. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa does not seem afraid to gun it, she will floor her bike and is going to push her creation as hard as she can. It also helps she can abuse a few things due to her nature and she's going to do that. She's out riding on a new road enjoying it no GPS, no freaking digital adds trying to pop up ion her face, it's wonderful. She does not care if she wins or loses. She floors it again trying to catch up to those in the lead. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' Wow, that horse is fast. How fast can a horse even really be!? It should have a single horsepower, right? That's only sensible. One horse, one horsepower. But that thing seems to have way more than just the one. Will regards Alexis and her mighty steed with a tip of the hat as she Flame Charges into the lead. This is a straightaway and his jets are still literally cooling. Aside from straight up /shooting/ the poor thing, there's not much else Will can really do to boost his top speed... OTHER THAN THIS. "Not bad!" William Pauwel, certified crazy man, grins as he unlimbers his favorite gun. Is he planning on shooting the horse after all!? No. Not quite. "But I ain't licked just yet! Judgment, I'm gonna need a boost!" A boost how? Is he going to plug it into his bike somehow!? Nope. It's stupider than that. "Kinetic mode, wide area burst, low intensity, high fire rate-- Parameters set!" Will smirks as his weapon's glow turns from bright blue to blinding white. He turns and locks it to a rear-wheel-mounted gun bracket and holds down the trigger... With a string he's gripping between his teeth. A cone of pure force erupts from Terminal Judgment's barrel, adding the thrust of a makeshift impulse booster to his overall speed...! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Further down the road you go, towards a wooden bridge crossing over a river. On said bridge is Rean, doing his job as checkpoint. "You're about halfway there!" He shouts, waving his arms. If you look out ahead of the road, you might see some windmills in the distance... The current rankings are something like Alexis, Will, Yang, Ange and Kotone. Not wanting to be left behind by everyone pulling out different tricks, Angelica shouts, "ARCUS, Activate! CHRONO DRIVE!" A blue ring of light surrounds her, the sounds of gears and a ticking clock ringing out. Both Angelica and her bike gain a boost of speed, rocketing ahead of Yang and gaining speed on Will. It's TECHNICALLY not cheating, right? 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang can't compete with people that literally have special boost skills and gear. She pulls back and drops in beside Kotone. "Looks like we're being left behind." she says, grinning behind her visor. "Should we just take it easy? I wasn't expecting all of these guys to have these special gizmos." She waves to Rean as she passes, not really taking the race all that seriously now, since she really can't compete. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' 'Very competitive, this Pokémon will chase anything that moves fast in the hopes of racing it.' The old Pokedex entry sums up the scenerio very well here, as we've got several things that can move fast, the elmental equine included. There's a river ahead. And there's Rean, waving his arms from a bridge crossing over it. Alexis leans down, nudging heaving shoulders to actually steer her steed a bit off to the side. Towards the actual river bank instead. That thing is on literal fire, she's not going to run it into the water is she? Nope. Alexis spurs her heels into his sides firmly. "Bounce!" If there is one thing after running that Rapidash is really good at, it's jumping. Granted he's got to slow down slightly so they can time it right, but it's worth the spectacle of Roadburn leaping from one bank to the other with little difficulty, Alexis sitting partway up just to wave back at Rean as they lunge past. Bridge? They don't need no stinking bridges! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is pressing her bike hard. Will has surprised her in a rather good way and Alexis having a pokemon? Which could outpace her it does not shock her just given Alexis' reputation and length of activity in the multiverse? She keeps going pulling off several more tricks as she does so, and she's going to press it to catch up with the rest and she will be leaving Yang behind. She knows Yang has a talent for it just she's pushed more of her skills in what she does when she gets off her bike. Kotone never wants to CQC Yang outside a friendly duel. <<Oh so you want to play huh>> She peeling rubber and pulling off manoeuvres which might be considered unwise it's like Kotone might not care too much if she wipes out... 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' Will narrows his eyes at Alexis and her ride as they charge toward the riverbed. She has to slow down to make the jump, but... That Rapidash isn't the only thing that doesn't need a bridge! After all, the Mistral is some kind of AWESOME SCI-FI MOTORCYCLE. It just wouldn't do if the thing couldn't jump a simple bridge...! But. This is why... This is why Will had to ask...! He grins and hits that big red button again. The motorcycle's back end unfolds into those thrusters again-- but more than that! Instead of just drawing his fist away, Will pushes it in deeper. The motorcycle's undercarriage opens up as well, revealing a secondary set of boosters! Jump jets! "Hey Rean!" Will waves as he liberates himself from gravity's tyrannous grasp. "Watch this!" He reaches up and guns the Mistral's motor. Its thrusters flare, launching him up and over the river at top speed! There's no need to pause to brace for a launch, no need to calculate a trajectory...! Not when he can course-correct mid-flight, not when he can make sure he's going to land exactly where he wants to! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Whoa!" Rean laughs as everyone starts taking off, with Will doing so literally. As you approach Celdic, the scenery changes from trees and bushes to farmland and windmills. There's a few houses out here, with chickens and cows and the like. The rankings are Will, Alexis, Ange, and Kotone, with Yang deciding to take it slow. Ange is still flooring it, her speed buff having worn off, and being a lot closer to Kotone now, especially with Kotone making her crazy maneuvers. The town proper is coming up on the horizon, with Towa waving her arms near the town gate. Time for one last push to the finish line! 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' With the jumping and flashy stunts over with Alexis settles her steed into a steady gallop once more. Sure Rapidash is said to hit upwards of 150mph or so at full throttle. But that would also crash and burn, possibly literally, pretty fast. A solid pace is the best way to go about a race, only pushing the limits when the time is right. Stamina is just as important speed, as is managing both. Also who knows how accurate that measurement is. You don't get solid accuracy when you're sending out 10 year olds to help fact check your database. "Not much farther, buddy. Just hold it steady." Some smoke puffs from the horse's nostrils like exhaust as he puffs a few times, and keeps galloping towards the town ahead of them. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa does not even stop she clearly playing hardball it would insult everyone else after all. George and his team are testing their design, Will is going all out Yang too would get mad if you went easy on her. Alexis? Well, she's not about to let a pokemon beat her without /fight/. She's loving it though it's like she does not have a care in the world as she keeps pushing after the rest of the pack and she won't be afraid to play a bit aggressively with everyone else either. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' They're in the home stretch now. The plains and wilderness have yielded to the idyllic, pastoral sights and sounds and smells of a rural town at the heart of a vibrant and thriving farmland. Will waxes nostalgic for a brief moment before the wind whipping against his face brings him back to the here and now. They're getting to the end. Close... To the end. To the gate. Will and Alexis are neck-and-neck. It can be anyone's race...! Will slams his fist into another button on his console. He can't use the thrusters in a place like this-- it'd set this whole harvest on fire! So instead... He uses /something else./ At the very last moment, a pair of grappling hooks launch out of the front of his cycle's chassis, each one aimed at either side of the town gate. As soon as they make contact, he slams the button again! Twin servo motors whirr and reel in, slingshotting him with just a little bit more speed at the very last stretch...! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' And thus, by a hookshot, the winner is Will! Alexis comes in a very close second, with Kotone, Angelica and Yang coming in not long after. "Argh...I lost." Angelica says, pulling to a stop and getting off her bike. She then holds out a hand for Will to shake. "You pulled some crazy stunts, though so I'm not /that/ disappointed. You deserve it." Rean and George eventually show up, also congratulating the racers as things wrap up. All in all, an exciting race. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Or in this case, winning is as much being clever as it is fast. There's not much Alexis can do to counter that maneuver without causing some collateral damage due to riding something that is -on fire-. But she takes it in stride, as it was all in good fun. Once she's reigned her mount to a stop she hops off, giving his side an affection pat. "You did your best, that's what counts." Nothing wrong with second place, either. Then she ambles over to give Will a slap on the shoulder. "That's some neat trickery you pulled out there, good job!" And smirks at the rest of Rean's group. "Well now you know what you have out there to contend with, shouldn't be hard to refine your work, right?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa will come in at the end of the race she'll pull to a halt and she looks Angelic for a moment and looks at her for a moment she then move to pull the jacks out of her neck and she grins more. "Look this is a new thing to your world? Mine has been making and improving on these for over a hundred years. So don't get down, you kept up better than our first workable design would have! I also make these things for a living when I'm not tromping about the multiverse. If you want some help I might be able to do so. So who wants to go get something to eat on me?" 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' Will dashes first across the finish line! He... Has something of a time stopping. He has to fire another pair of those grappling hooks to arrest his velocity. In so doing, he almost launches himself clear off his ride! Fortunately, it's only his hat that goes flying! It ends up on some unsuspecting NPC's head. Or potentially on a cow's. Either way, Will has to go retrieve it. But first...! He has a hand to shake! "Y'all didn't do too bad, yerself! That was some fancy... Magical nonsense? Back there? I couldn't really tell, t'ain't my wheelhouse." Will gives Angelica a broad grin. "My offer stands though! If y'all want some crazy stunts of yer own, jus' look me up!" Someone slaps him across the shoulder. It's Alexis! Will offers her a hand to shake, too. "That was some fine riding on yer part, pardner. Ain't never thought there was a horse out there anything like thattun. I had to pull out all the stops, an' even then t' was a close thing." 
}}

7076/Thors Amateur Grand Prix

2020-02-24T15:49:54Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2020/02/22 |Location=The roadway between Trista and Celdic |Synopsis=Angelica Rogner invites multiversal bikers to a race. Things get pretty intens..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/02/22
|Location=The roadway between Trista and Celdic
|Synopsis=Angelica Rogner invites multiversal bikers to a race. Things get pretty intense (and flashy)
|Cast of Characters=6994, 459, 906, 7, 934
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone meeets up outside the eastern entrance to the village of Trista, where there's a long stone roadway stretching out into the distance. There, you find Rean and three other students: a petite girl in the green version of the Thors blazer, a pudgy boy in yellow coveralls, and a tall, violet haired girl in a leather biking jumpsuit. "What do you know, people actually came!" the violet haired girl says. She holds out a hand for people to shake. "Angelica Rogner. " She then gestures at a motorcycle behind her. It looks pretty stangard, just magenta in color, and a glowing element on the underside, presumably its power source. "And /that/ Is my- or well, /our/ baby." George, the boy in the coveralls gives everyone a wave. "George Nome. The four of us - That's Angie, Towa, Crow and I- have been working on this prototype since the start of the year, with some help testing by Rean." Rean sheepiushly rubs the back of his head. "It was pretty fun getting to ride it." Towa, the petite girl speaks up next. "All of you are going to race up the road from here to Celdic, the next town over. George, Rean and I are going to wait alongside road as checkpoints. Just give us a wave as you pass by!" 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis is always up for a challenge, even if it isn't a battle. Sometimes specifically because it isn't a battle. There's more to Training to staring some kid in the field in the eyes and then beating the snot out of his Lv30 Rattata that he refuses to evolve because then it wouldn't be in the top ten percentile of Rattata. "Race, huh? Yeah, we can do that." But not with the bike she road up on. Not to mention she already put that away (somehow collapsed and shoved it into her hiking pack). No, she plucks one of her pokeballs, giving it a twirl on the tip of a finger as it expands. "But there's more than bikes to race out there." The ball is flicked in front of her. "Let's go, Roadburn!" There's a brief flash of energy, and a loud neigh as a rearing stallion appears from it. But not just any stallion, as this one has a blazing mane and tail, and embers flickering around his hooves for feathering. Also a big sharp horn like a unicorn, even if the species is closer to a nightmare with all the fire and smoke. Not that fire apparently poses a threat to the rider as Alexis hoists herself onto his back with little issue. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang comes riding up on Bumblebee. The deep growl of the engine heralding her approach long before she can be seen.     The blonde comes skidding to a stop, turning her bike fully sideways and stopping with a practiced ease before taking off her helmet and dismounting. She's wearing a fully riding suit, much like Angelica's, but done in black and yellow. "Yo, name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long. I've worked with Rean a couple times. Thanks for the invite." she says, shaking the hand firmly with a big grin.     She waits for everyone else to arrive, before remounting her vehicle. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has heard the words bike race and that was more than enough to draw Kotone to it like a moth to the flame. She was clad in a form-fitting motorcycle suit bearing the logo of her garage business. She had a helmet cucked under her arm, and she's had her motorcycle delivered to the site of the race. It's a very sleek, looking craft with some glowing highlights and it a dark blue colour it has some sort of ID plate fit into the back of the cycle, it's not hanging from the seat. It's integrated into the back end just under it. "So you been working on a cycle of your own?" She grins for a bit having no idea if it's a new technology for the world or not. Though it has to at least be a brand new design. "This is the Knight, I designed and built it myself. I admit I used some stock parts but that's how it is these days. I can take a look at yours after the race if you like!" She's giving George and company bike a look over. "What kind of engine you use? Combustion? Electic? Nuclear? Something else?" She looks over to Alexis and yang with a big old grin on her face. "Oh this is going to be fun." Kotone would move to mount her cycle and pulls a cable out of it, thinking nothing odf it she would move to pull out several more which she plugs into the back of her neck. Whichg might not be something George and his friend would expect. She pulls her helmet on and then remounts her craft. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' "Y'all should have told me you were workin' on buildin' yerself a bike!" A vehicle that can only be described as 'some kind of sci-fi motorbike' rolls in on a set of armored wheels. Its rider, one William Pauwel Jr, grins from behind the controls as he rolls up to the starting line. "I would'a helped out iff'n I'd've known. Ah well, it is what it is. "Name's Will," the scifi cowboy drawls up at the assembly of Super High School Level Bike Geeks. "And this here's my iron horse. The Mistral's been in the family for a couple generations now, and we ain't ever stopped improvin' it. She's got a built-in stable plasma generator paired to a couple of electric motors for propulsion. Frame's composite metamaterial for a strong, lightweight construction. But that's just the start." "So, just to double-check the rules of this little competition. Y'all don't mind if we get a bit of air time here n' there, do you? Just, you know, t' check for sure." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Nice to meet other bike enthusiasts." Angelica says. Her eyes linger a tiiiiiiiny bit too long at Kotone and Yang's biker suits before she continues. "Also good to hear our underclassman's been making some impact out there."   Towa looks up at Alexis' Rapidash, eyes wide. "Well, no one said you /couldn't/ race a horse...But sure, why not?" She then turns to Will. "Uh...As in launching yourself into the air? Well... What do you think, Angie?" Towa says. Angelica crosses her arms thinking about it for a moment. "Y'know what sure. Let's do it." "It's orbal energy, like most things out here. I guess you could say it's magic powered." George says.  "And wow...I'll have to talk to you guys after the race, I think. Just to see what I can implement for further updates to our design." Once everyone's done talking, Rean and Towa start walking up the road to get to their checkpoint positions. George stands in front of the entrance, holding a green chunk of fabric. "Alright. Everyone, on your marks, get set..." (BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Mn2mvlyNQ) "GO!" Angelica bolts off, rocketing up the road. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "Oh don't worry. We'll be fine. Won't we?" The rapidahs wickers in agreement, and Alexis crouches down into a proper riding position on his back. "Ready when you are." Wait.. wait.. and there's the flag. And a harmless but very flashing burst of flames behind the flaming equine as he takes off with the others. To be fair, Rapidash lives up to the parts of its name very well, and while not taking the lead has little trouble keeping within distance with the rest of the pack. There's a few sparks every time his hooves pound the road. Once they're going Alexis leans forward a bit, and grins. "Let's make sure they actually have a challenge, cycle or not. Agility!" Anyone that thought Alexis might be biting off more than she could chew with this bravado is quickly proven wrong as a tremendous burst of speed has Roadburn quickly pulling alongside the other vehicles, holding his own at a full out gallop. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang rolls up to the start line, and grins back at Kotone. She flips the visor down and revs her engine, a definite orange glow appearing within the central core of her bike's engine. When the call to GO is given, she revs and peels away, kicking up dirt and pulling a wheelie before slamming the front wheel down again and zooming off. Bumblebee isn't exactly a 'Super Bike' but she's heavy, good in turns and has a decent power to weight ratio. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa grins to George from under her helmet. "I'd be happy to though it seems like I'd not be able to help on the power systems. Still, it's a nice looking ride." With that Kotone will gun her engine, as the speaker system gives off the sounds of an old school motorcycle. Yes, they sell those given most places have internal combustion engines no longer street legal back home. With that, she will floor it as everyone else takes off from the starting line. She's considering Yang a Danger not from the Bumblebee, no it's more Yang's experience that worries her. Kotone will pop on some music as she goes as some music older than her /dad/ starts playing. It's some kind of metal and the singer is going on about fuel and fire. William? She has no idea about other than he'll likely be so crazy he'll be a danger to himself and Alexis? She does not know what to expect from the very long experienced Elite. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' "Ahahaha, that's all I needed to hear," Will answers Angelica with a laugh and a grin. "Well, I ain't really a very magical-y kind of guy, but if it's got movin' parts, I should be able to give y'all a hand down the line! But enough talk!" A flag waves. "HAVE AT THEE!" Will guns the engine and slams his fist down on a button in the middle of his console. Acceleration is usually a slow thing, no matter what kind of vehicle you're driving. But Will... has apparently solved(?) that problem(??). The back end of Will's sci-fi motorcycle blossoms open, revealing a STACK OF vernier THRUSTERS. Will's grin is visible for a split second before the roar of a half-dozen rockets igniting simultaneously sends him hurtling forward at frankly unreasonable speeds. His /everything/ struggles to hold on, desperately trying not to go flying out of his seat. The fact that his legs are neatly secured in place by a set of interlocking mechanical supports doesn't help particularly overmuch, and there's a brief moment where it seems like he's about to go tumbling into a ditch...! But Will's a better rider than that. His tires grip the dirt road as he surges forward. Just as the bike hits its top cruising speed, the thruster array deactivates and folds back into the Mistral's chassis. The other two cycle riders might have their own advantages, and Alexis is riding a literal super-horse, but... Will (re)built this bike with his own two hands. He's been riding it for years, and all its gadgets and idiosyncrasies are as familiar to him as the back of his hands! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone makes their way down East Trista highway, which is a mostly flat area lined with trees and bushes. there's a few creatures milling about in the distance, most closer to the Pokemon of Alexis' world than regular animals, like a rather large beetle or a very red and spiky wolf. Most of them seem to be staying away from the roadway, though - or maybe the lantern like lights lining it. Will rockets ahead, with Alexis, Yand and Kotone not far behind him. Ange isn't too far off from them either. Ange's bike is...a bike. Probably not as heavy as Bumblebee, and can't transform like the Mistral or even play music like Kotone's bike, but it's reliable. "Oh you are /not/ beating me that easily!" Ange shouts, and she floors it, zipping forward to trail after the others. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang's bike doesn't have any special devices built into it. She jinks away as Will comes blasting past her, then leans forwards and guns the engine to try and close the distance again. Heavier bike means she's not picking up as much speed as quickly as the others, but it's a steady pace and she might just have a higher peak on the straights. The exhausts begin to emit orange flames as the engine reaches higher revs. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis glances over her shoulder with a smile at Ange. "That's the spirit! You only win when you keep trying harder!" Then turns back forward and resumes her horse-jockey riding position, leaning into their run. "Thrusters, huh. Well we can do that too. Flame Charge!" Roadburn leans forward, lowering his head to point his horn forward. There's a spark at the tip, which crackles back from it in streaks of red and orange sparks in an igniting corona. There's nothing to strike with the attack, but the blazing aura actually helps make things more aerodynamic and push a little more speed out of the pokemon's... well... horsepower. Don't worry, Alexis is perfectly safe inside the blaze. Rapidash's flames will never burn a rider as long as it is comfortable with them. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa does not seem afraid to gun it, she will floor her bike and is going to push her creation as hard as she can. It also helps she can abuse a few things due to her nature and she's going to do that. She's out riding on a new road enjoying it no GPS, no freaking digital adds trying to pop up ion her face, it's wonderful. She does not care if she wins or loses. She floors it again trying to catch up to those in the lead. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' Wow, that horse is fast. How fast can a horse even really be!? It should have a single horsepower, right? That's only sensible. One horse, one horsepower. But that thing seems to have way more than just the one. Will regards Alexis and her mighty steed with a tip of the hat as she Flame Charges into the lead. This is a straightaway and his jets are still literally cooling. Aside from straight up /shooting/ the poor thing, there's not much else Will can really do to boost his top speed... OTHER THAN THIS. "Not bad!" William Pauwel, certified crazy man, grins as he unlimbers his favorite gun. Is he planning on shooting the horse after all!? No. Not quite. "But I ain't licked just yet! Judgment, I'm gonna need a boost!" A boost how? Is he going to plug it into his bike somehow!? Nope. It's stupider than that. "Kinetic mode, wide area burst, low intensity, high fire rate-- Parameters set!" Will smirks as his weapon's glow turns from bright blue to blinding white. He turns and locks it to a rear-wheel-mounted gun bracket and holds down the trigger... With a string he's gripping between his teeth. A cone of pure force erupts from Terminal Judgment's barrel, adding the thrust of a makeshift impulse booster to his overall speed...! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Further down the road you go, towards a wooden bridge crossing over a river. On said bridge is Rean, doing his job as checkpoint. "You're about halfway there!" He shouts, waving his arms. If you look out ahead of the road, you might see some windmills in the distance... The current rankings are something like Alexis, Will, Yang, Ange and Kotone. Not wanting to be left behind by everyone pulling out different tricks, Angelica shouts, "ARCUS, Activate! CHRONO DRIVE!" A blue ring of light surrounds her, the sounds of gears and a ticking clock ringing out. Both Angelica and her bike gain a boost of speed, rocketing ahead of Yang and gaining speed on Will. It's TECHNICALLY not cheating, right? 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang can't compete with people that literally have special boost skills and gear. She pulls back and drops in beside Kotone. "Looks like we're being left behind." she says, grinning behind her visor. "Should we just take it easy? I wasn't expecting all of these guys to have these special gizmos." She waves to Rean as she passes, not really taking the race all that seriously now, since she really can't compete. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' 'Very competitive, this Pokémon will chase anything that moves fast in the hopes of racing it.' The old Pokedex entry sums up the scenerio very well here, as we've got several things that can move fast, the elmental equine included. There's a river ahead. And there's Rean, waving his arms from a bridge crossing over it. Alexis leans down, nudging heaving shoulders to actually steer her steed a bit off to the side. Towards the actual river bank instead. That thing is on literal fire, she's not going to run it into the water is she? Nope. Alexis spurs her heels into his sides firmly. "Bounce!" If there is one thing after running that Rapidash is really good at, it's jumping. Granted he's got to slow down slightly so they can time it right, but it's worth the spectacle of Roadburn leaping from one bank to the other with little difficulty, Alexis sitting partway up just to wave back at Rean as they lunge past. Bridge? They don't need no stinking bridges! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is pressing her bike hard. Will has surprised her in a rather good way and Alexis having a pokemon? Which could outpace her it does not shock her just given Alexis' reputation and length of activity in the multiverse? She keeps going pulling off several more tricks as she does so, and she's going to press it to catch up with the rest and she will be leaving Yang behind. She knows Yang has a talent for it just she's pushed more of her skills in what she does when she gets off her bike. Kotone never wants to CQC Yang outside a friendly duel. <<Oh so you want to play huh>> She peeling rubber and pulling off manoeuvres which might be considered unwise it's like Kotone might not care too much if she wipes out... 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' Will narrows his eyes at Alexis and her ride as they charge toward the riverbed. She has to slow down to make the jump, but... That Rapidash isn't the only thing that doesn't need a bridge! After all, the Mistral is some kind of AWESOME SCI-FI MOTORCYCLE. It just wouldn't do if the thing couldn't jump a simple bridge...! But. This is why... This is why Will had to ask...! He grins and hits that big red button again. The motorcycle's back end unfolds into those thrusters again-- but more than that! Instead of just drawing his fist away, Will pushes it in deeper. The motorcycle's undercarriage opens up as well, revealing a secondary set of boosters! Jump jets! "Hey Rean!" Will waves as he liberates himself from gravity's tyrannous grasp. "Watch this!" He reaches up and guns the Mistral's motor. Its thrusters flare, launching him up and over the river at top speed! There's no need to pause to brace for a launch, no need to calculate a trajectory...! Not when he can course-correct mid-flight, not when he can make sure he's going to land exactly where he wants to! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Whoa!" Rean laughs as everyone starts taking off, with Will doing so literally. As you approach Celdic, the scenery changes from trees and bushes to farmland and windmills. There's a few houses out here, with chickens and cows and the like. The rankings are Will, Alexis, Ange, and Kotone, with Yang deciding to take it slow. Ange is still flooring it, her speed buff having worn off, and being a lot closer to Kotone now, especially with Kotone making her crazy maneuvers. The town proper is coming up on the horizon, with Towa waving her arms near the town gate. Time for one last push to the finish line! 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' With the jumping and flashy stunts over with Alexis settles her steed into a steady gallop once more. Sure Rapidash is said to hit upwards of 150mph or so at full throttle. But that would also crash and burn, possibly literally, pretty fast. A solid pace is the best way to go about a race, only pushing the limits when the time is right. Stamina is just as important speed, as is managing both. Also who knows how accurate that measurement is. You don't get solid accuracy when you're sending out 10 year olds to help fact check your database. "Not much farther, buddy. Just hold it steady." Some smoke puffs from the horse's nostrils like exhaust as he puffs a few times, and keeps galloping towards the town ahead of them. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa does not even stop she clearly playing hardball it would insult everyone else after all. George and his team are testing their design, Will is going all out Yang too would get mad if you went easy on her. Alexis? Well, she's not about to let a pokemon beat her without /fight/. She's loving it though it's like she does not have a care in the world as she keeps pushing after the rest of the pack and she won't be afraid to play a bit aggressively with everyone else either. 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' They're in the home stretch now. The plains and wilderness have yielded to the idyllic, pastoral sights and sounds and smells of a rural town at the heart of a vibrant and thriving farmland. Will waxes nostalgic for a brief moment before the wind whipping against his face brings him back to the here and now. They're getting to the end. Close... To the end. To the gate. Will and Alexis are neck-and-neck. It can be anyone's race...! Will slams his fist into another button on his console. He can't use the thrusters in a place like this-- it'd set this whole harvest on fire! So instead... He uses /something else./ At the very last moment, a pair of grappling hooks launch out of the front of his cycle's chassis, each one aimed at either side of the town gate. As soon as they make contact, he slams the button again! Twin servo motors whirr and reel in, slingshotting him with just a little bit more speed at the very last stretch...! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' And thus, by a hookshot, the winner is Will! Alexis comes in a very close second, with Kotone, Angelica and Yang coming in not long after. "Argh...I lost." Angelica says, pulling to a stop and getting off her bike. She then holds out a hand for Will to shake. "You pulled some crazy stunts, though so I'm not /that/ disappointed. You deserve it." Rean and George eventually show up, also congratulating the racers as things wrap up. All in all, an exciting race. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Or in this case, winning is as much being clever as it is fast. There's not much Alexis can do to counter that maneuver without causing some collateral damage due to riding something that is -on fire-. But she takes it in stride, as it was all in good fun. Once she's reigned her mount to a stop she hops off, giving his side an affection pat. "You did your best, that's what counts." Nothing wrong with second place, either. Then she ambles over to give Will a slap on the shoulder. "That's some neat trickery you pulled out there, good job!" And smirks at the rest of Rean's group. "Well now you know what you have out there to contend with, shouldn't be hard to refine your work, right?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa will come in at the end of the race she'll pull to a halt and she looks Angelic for a moment and looks at her for a moment she then move to pull the jacks out of her neck and she grins more. "Look this is a new thing to your world? Mine has been making and improving on these for over a hundred years. So don't get down, you kept up better than our first workable design would have! I also make these things for a living when I'm not tromping about the multiverse. If you want some help I might be able to do so. So who wants to go get something to eat on me?" 

:'''{{#var:934|William Pauwel (934)}} has posed:''' Will dashes first across the finish line! He... Has something of a time stopping. He has to fire another pair of those grappling hooks to arrest his velocity. In so doing, he almost launches himself clear off his ride! Fortunately, it's only his hat that goes flying! It ends up on some unsuspecting NPC's head. Or potentially on a cow's. Either way, Will has to go retrieve it. But first...! He has a hand to shake! "Y'all didn't do too bad, yerself! That was some fancy... Magical nonsense? Back there? I couldn't really tell, t'ain't my wheelhouse." Will gives Angelica a broad grin. "My offer stands though! If y'all want some crazy stunts of yer own, jus' look me up!" Someone slaps him across the shoulder. It's Alexis! Will offers her a hand to shake, too. "That was some fine riding on yer part, pardner. Ain't never thought there was a horse out there anything like thattun. I had to pull out all the stops, an' even then t' was a close thing." 
}}

7107/Rean and Mikoto on Ice

2020-02-24T14:04:24Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2020/02/21 |Location=An ice rink in Winter |Synopsis=Mikoto and Rean go ice skating. |Cast of Characters=6994, 7002 |pretty=yes }} {{Poses |Poses=:..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2020/02/21
|Location=An ice rink in Winter
|Synopsis=Mikoto and Rean go ice skating.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Out in the depths of Winter is an ice skating rink, decked out in bright string lights, and  an ice statue in the back of a woman creating a swirl of ice with a gesture. There's a food court with a cafe off to the side, perfect for warming up after being on the ice.  There's plenty of people here, still getting in some late winter skating. ...Not that it ever /stops/ being winter in this corner of the multiverse, but still. Rean gets here first of the two of them. He's never been to a rink before. Most of his experience was with skating on the river that ran through the Ymir valley when it froze over, and he hadn't done so for quite some time. He goes over and rents some skates,  and then goes back over to the entrance to wait for Mikoto. While he waits, he looks down at the two tickets...and the note he got from Santa. ["Show her you care. Help her through what she needs. And, remember, have fun! Being angry all the time isn't good for your health."] Rean lets out a sigh. Well, he's been doing a bang up job of that, hasn't he?  But, well, they /were/ here to have fun, right? Hopefully whatever Mikoto had to tell him wasn't too big a deal, either. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The rink wasn't TOO far from the nearest portal, but still, it was no reason for Mikoto to not be dressed for winter.  A green coat with a similarly colored hat and gloves sit on her body.  Black stockings with a dark gree dress keep her legs covered, as she makes her way towards the rink itself.    Her eyes roam over the skating rink itself, the statue of the woman seemingly making ice, the lights... Then finally Rean stands there waiting for her.  With a smile walking up to the boy and giving him a nudge as she moves by him.  Letting him catch up as she walks inside the area proper.  She doesn't have a pair of skates, so she'll have to worry about renting some, but still.  She takes a moment to breathe in the surroundings figuratively before speaking.   "So have you actually ever been skating before?  If not prepare for falling and blisters," She titters a little, "Something I got to enjoy once I got my second family.  You know a few winters with them, and then a few by myself.  It was tradition to hit the rink once the first freeze came...tradition my father said," She says without losing a beat as she normally does. "So what about you?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean gives Mikoto a wave and a smile when she shows up. "Hey." he says, handing her her ticket. He's got on the same red winter jacket and black pants that he had on back when they were trying to save Christmas, plus a pair of matching brown gloves and scarf. Rean nods. "A few times. There's a river that flows near my hometown, so sometimes us kids would skate on it when it froze over. I'm not sure if we have anything like this, though. Maybe in Heimdallr or something. Did the rink near you look like this?"  He then laughs a bit. "Let's see how rusty I am, then!" Once Mikoto gets her skates and anything else, Rean gets on the ice. He shakes a bit, holding onto the wall for support. He eventually steadies, though, letting go of the wall and making a small circle on the ice. He then looks around. There's a lot of people here but... "...Want to warm up with a race? Just 2 or 3 laps around the rink. We'll have to be careful not to run anyone over, though." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Nah, not like this, except maybe the lights.  No mini-mall near or food courts.  There was an old man who ran it, apparently had since my dad was a kid.  I wonder what's going to happen when he can't do it anymore...the last few winters had been hard on him," Mikoto says, with a shrug.  "Maybe he has a son or a daughter to take over for him." "On a river eh?  Little dangerous, eh?  With the possibility of weak spots in the ice?" She asks as she gets her skates on.  Once on the ice, she takes a few moments to get her legs again, taking small glides and keeping her arm stretched out towards the wall.  Confidence builds as she finally starts moving freely again.   "A race huh?  Hmmmm...Sure.  Three...two..." And then she peels off, trying to get a head start.  She laughs making sure to avoid people, but not unwilling to take chances to get a lead.   

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Oh wow." Rean says. "Hope things turn out ok." Rean shakes his head. "Most of the adults know what parts of the river are safe to skate on, and how to check for weak spots before anyone got on. Pretty much everyone in the village has lived there their entire lives, so..." Rean takes off after Mikoto, also trying to not knock anyone over as he rushes forward. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' It feels nice to throw off the weight of the world, even if for a little bit.  Right now all she cares about is trying to win the race, even as she pulls some tight maneuvers around people.  After a second lap it's not even about the race anymore, but just weaving around and having a good time with Rean behind, next to, or just slightly in front of her.   Once the race calms down, she grabs his arm and pulls into a calmer pace, "So a quaint, quiet village, huh?  Does this make you a /country/ boy?" She says, though teasing it's not mocking.  "I could never live that life, the city is where my heart is.  The people, the places, the power," she says with a shrug. "Which do you prefer?  City or country?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The adrenaline rush as the two of them chase one another around the rink, weaving between the other patrons, and ahead or behind one another. He just focuses on passing her, or even just keeping up, letting his worries disappear for a bit. He needed this, didn't he? Eventually the two come together again, and Mikoto takes his arm, slowly looping around the rink. Rean pulls Mikoto a bit closer when she calls him a country boy, letting out a soft laugh.  "Maybe. Too quaint for a city girl like you?" Rean hums, deep in thought for a moment. He'd seen a lot of places by now, both city and country. Varied, and each had their perks and moods... Eventually, he says, "...I think I'll always have a soft spot for country life. Sure, it's not always exciting, but it's nice, feeling that close knit with people. And being able to just take it slow."   

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Mmm...maybe, I haven't decided yet.  Then again, maybe I just like things that are opposite of me," Mikoto says with a bit of teasing in her voice.  "But maybe I can be convinced to forgive your lack of refinement," a smile on her lips as she goes through her favorite past time.  Teasing a bean. Mikoto isn't afraid of the closeness, enjoying it.  "I figured then, I expect you to find some land when you get older and be like 'I'm going to make a hamlet there,'" she giggles, "Seems very...you.  I don't think I'll ever be happy with just being still.  Enjoying new things, exploring fun ideas...but maybe that's what draws me in.  The desire to have someone who is more grounded." "So...before this gets, even more, lovey-dovey..." She says, with an air of seriousness.  "I need to make something clear.  I realized that...I've been acting in a way I thought that people would accept me, instead of how I really am.  I think it's the desire to be close to people, to be accepted by them..." "However, after what happened with Lillian, and really thinking about my own desires.  I'm not going to pretend to be something I am not anymore.  I am going to seek what makes me happy, and seek what I really am.  I'm not a good person, I'm a selfish girl who wants to control what she can in her life so that she is never taken advantage of again.  It means I'm going to deal with shady characters when I feel I can get an advantage..." "It means I'm going to do things you might not agree with.  Not because I have some high minded ideas like you or some others..but because I am going to protect myself from being hurt again.  Eventually, I am going to make it so that I can control the system I am caught in.  This might mean I get a stronger position in the Concord." "I'm not selfless, and I am not going to pretend to be anymore." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Opposites indeed. Though, moving around all the time is fun too. Maybe one day we'll just...go off somewhere for a while, disappear for a bit."   And then Mikoto suddenly gets serious. Rean stays silent as she talks, explaining that she didn't want to pretend to be a selfless person anymore. ...Was it wrong for him to expect this? To expect her to just...continue to be selfish and guarded? Wanting to see her move forward, but remaining who she apparently was? And yet, that desire to be accepted and be close to others, to feel like a part of something even if you had to hide parts of yourself to do so was in him too. They were the same feelings that kept him from defending Mikoto. So...maybe he had no right to judge. "...Alright." Rean finally says. It's quiet, tinged with sadness. Not because he was disappointed in her or anything like that, but because of the fact that she felt the need to pretend to be someone she wasn't. That, and because of the apparent certainty that one day their desires would conflict with one another. But they knew that was going to happen from the beginning, didn't they? Still... "...You have at least one person who accepts you, despite everything. And I probably shouldn't speak for Touta and Sarracenia, but I think they do too. It's for the best, you being honest with yourself." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto listens, noting the sound in his voice as he starts.  She was expecting this, and better to rip the bandage off now than later.  She can take this because she knows that nothing is going to control her life anymore.  If he can't be hers or her partner in crime... However, the surprise from her is palpable when he says those words.  Staring at him for a moment as he tells her this.  "Are you sure?  I might do things that violate your code.  Or get me into trouble with you and yours." "I'll have views that you might find terrible.  Are you going to be able to not sit there and shout me down like with Lezard?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean Schwarzer says, "...Well, we knew what we were getting into when we started dating. And even when we started being friends." Rean goes silent again, his grip tightening a bit. He can't lie to her.  "...I don't know. I realized my issue with Lezard isn't that he uses people. It's the /callousness/ behind it. To just...not care about who it hurts at all with no remorse. I don't know if you'll ever become like that. But that's something only you can answer. Maybe you have a limit somewhere to what you're willing to do to protect yourself. Maybe not. ...Maybe we'll fight for a bit, and somehow, be ok with some of it." "...I want to at least try, first. Is it silly for me to hope?" Was it silly for him to not want to let her go yet? Especially not like this?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Maybe understanding why Lezard is the way he is might shed light on why he is callous," Mikoto says, "It's not a quality I like of him, but at the same time...he lives entirely in logic.  Even his obsessions have a detached logic to them.  He removes the human element, and approaches his problems like a science experiment." "Sure, he can be manipulative, but...well, can't we all?  Getting people to see our point of view is manipulation to a point.  The difference is the ends." "And...no I won't judge you either.  Part of what I find attractive to you is that hopeful side.  That desire to think the best in people, even when you see the ugliness of the world.  Maybe it's something I wish I could do more.  At the same time, it's not.  I have accepted that I am not a good person, that Lilian and I aren't too different.  She is just better at hiding it, and doing it."   "I don't want to hurt you, and I hope you want the same.  It's not going to get easier from here.  We might come to cross purposes.  We might disagree on a fundamental level...and that fighting is the only way to resolve it.  One of us might lose...or get hurt." "Are you okay with that?  That I won't hold the same values you do, and that we might fight on it.  Or I might hurt someone to fulfill my own goals?  That I ally with people like Lezard, and I do so willingly and without being deceived." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...Hmm." Rean says. That didn't really...help his opinion of Lezard much, but it at least made sense. "And I suppose so. Politics boils down to social manipulation, when you think about it." "Of course I don't want to hurt you. Part of me is scared that I might go too far if we do fight." Both verbally and physically. Maybbe their eventual differences would become an irreparable rift...But, in a way, wasn't that why Class VII existed? Bringing a bunch of students with different backgrounds, abilities and values together and see if they could work together. Rean nods. "...I think I can." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto smiles, the desire to want to retain some small part of this life before she feels she has to plunge into the deep end...it was nice.  Foolish, maybe, but nice all the same.  She reaches a hand, as they skate, towards the side of his face. She pulls him into a kiss, before letting go and returning towards the skating part of their activity.  "Thank you, Rean.  I really do hope you keep to your promise.  I do hope, it all works out...and even it doesn't that we can hold on to these moments." A laugh, a soft one.  "Well, let's just enjoy the moment." 
}}

Rean Schwarzer

2020-01-22T01:06:15Z

StarSketch: replacing Rean's themesong with the full version. Yes it's literally the first game's op but but it's a rean motivational speech in song form >.>

{{CharacterRedux
|NameOnMUSH=Rean Schwarzer
|Color=#0099FF
|Char_id=6994
|Img=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/0/04/Rean_-_Menu_Art_(Sen).png
|FullName=Rean Schwarzer
|Gender=Male
|Species=Human
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Chartype=FC
|Active=Active
|Function=Student of Class VII
|Faction=Paladins
|Rank=4-Chevaliers
|Ranktype=Member
|Quote="If we have the power to save someone and we don't use it to do that, what kind of people would that make us?"
|PAge=17
|AAge=17
|Aging=Yes
|Height=5'8
|Hair=Black
|Eyes=Violet
|Voice=Sean Chiplock / Kouki Uchiyama
|Song=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v9nuNiyEns - Ashita E No Kodou
|Profile=The adopted common-born son of Baron Teo Schwarzer, Rean stands directly in the middle of Erebonia's class divide. Kindhearted and hardworking,Rean's sincerity and passion is what lead the other students of Thors Military Academy's Class VII to look up to him as a leader and confidant. He is accepting of most people, and generally polite. However, beneath his friendly exterior lies a lot of turmoil. Bearing a power he can barely control or understand and being the subject of scorn by his parents' peers left him with a negative self image. The one person he fails to be kind to is himself, and he truly desires to no longer be a burden on those he cares about and find his place in the world. He is a practitioner of the Eight Leaves, One Blade sword school and as a member of the Class VII project, a user of the prototype ARCUS spellcasting device.
|Defining=Eight Leaves, One Blade:
A sword style that specializes in the use of Eastern swords such as katana or tachi, and a general focus on swift strikes and agility.
Weapon Mastery - Swords: Rean's weapon of choice.
Attack List - Melee: Rean can launch sudden, rapid combo attacks, create small shockwaves, and use a variety of fire-based elemental strikes. He also knows how to fight unarmed with punches and palm strikes.
Extraordinary Senses: Rean is capable of sensing the aura of living things in the environment around him, picking up on their location and distance from him. However, he can't tell specifics of what something is, just that it's there.
|Significant=ARCUS Combat Orbment:
A Combat Orbment is a device that allows its user to cast magic spells known as Arts. The Quartz crystals slotted into it defines what Arts the user can cast.
Attack List - Ranged, Healing - Self: Rean's setup allows him to use offensive darkness and fire magic and water and wind magic for healing.
Share Powers: Healing and buffing magic can also be used on allies as a general function of Combat Orbments.

Mysterious Power:
Ever since he was 9, Rean's been aware of a strange power dwelling within him.
Superhumanity, Mobility: When active, Rean's physical abilities become stronger, allowing him to deal more damage, withstand more damage, and perform maneuvers he normally wouldn't be able to.
Flash Movement: It also grants him enough speed to move between points in line of sight almost instantly.
|Minor=Raised by Nobles:
Wealth: Rean's family rules over the mountain village of Ymir in Northern Erebonia, and have the money to do so behind their name.
NPCs: The residents of Ymir are devoted to their lords, and despite not being blood related, Rean is no exception. If he needs a place to stay or whatever degree of help a bunch of average villagers can give him, they'll help.
|Disadvantages=Your Own Worst Critic <Trouble>: Rean's sense of responsibility is almost wholly based on a desire to not be a burden on those around him. He is especially aware of his hand in other people's suffering, even if it's minor or imagined. As a result, he is motivated by a desire to do the right thing in general and to make up for the suffering he causes. His own suffering in the process matters much less, if at all. So basically, he's very self-sacrificial. This ranges from becoming the Student Council's errand boy because they're swamped with outside requests to taking a hit by a monster for two arguing classmates. He also tends to be exceedingly modest because he genuinely believes he's worth very little in comparison to those around him. As an extension of this, If he believes someone truly wants to make up for their mistakes, he'll give them that second chance. After all, where would he be if no one gave him a chance? This applies to even heinous crimes like murder, as long as the person displays a desire to lessen the impact on others said murder caused. He also disagrees with death as a punishment for a crime - you can't clean up the mess you made if you're dead.

Rage Mode <Significant>: Rean's control over his power is limited. If he feels an intense desire for vengeance (or just an extreme desire to beat something's face in), his powers activate on their own, and he becomes hyper-fixated on destroying his target until either he runs out of energy, or someone manages to bring him back to his senses. He is extremely protective over those he cares about, and bringing them serious harm will most definitely set him off. It is because of this lack of control over himself that he only actively uses this ability as a last ditch trump card. Keeping the ability on for a long period of time also exhausts him.

Captain Cornball <Minor>: Rean is incredibly sincere about how he feels about people. In fact, he's overly so. The kinds of positive things he says about people borders on flattery, and while he truly thinks of them that highly, it's not hard to see why it's difficult to take him seriously when he does that. He's also a bit too forthcoming with encouragement and advice, and this coming from a teenager with only so much life experience.
}}

Rean Schwarzer

2020-01-20T18:49:08Z

StarSketch:

{{CharacterRedux
|NameOnMUSH=Rean Schwarzer
|Color=#0099FF
|Char_id=6994
|Img=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/0/04/Rean_-_Menu_Art_(Sen).png
|FullName=Rean Schwarzer
|Gender=Male
|Species=Human
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Chartype=FC
|Active=Active
|Function=Student of Class VII
|Faction=Paladins
|Rank=4-Chevaliers
|Ranktype=Member
|Quote="If we have the power to save someone and we don't use it to do that, what kind of people would that make us?"
|PAge=17
|AAge=17
|Aging=Yes
|Height=5'8
|Hair=Black
|Eyes=Violet
|Voice=Sean Chiplock / Kouki Uchiyama
|Song=https://youtu.be/2i6oXzKANqU
|Profile=The adopted common-born son of Baron Teo Schwarzer, Rean stands directly in the middle of Erebonia's class divide. Kindhearted and hardworking,Rean's sincerity and passion is what lead the other students of Thors Military Academy's Class VII to look up to him as a leader and confidant. He is accepting of most people, and generally polite. However, beneath his friendly exterior lies a lot of turmoil. Bearing a power he can barely control or understand and being the subject of scorn by his parents' peers left him with a negative self image. The one person he fails to be kind to is himself, and he truly desires to no longer be a burden on those he cares about and find his place in the world. He is a practitioner of the Eight Leaves, One Blade sword school and as a member of the Class VII project, a user of the prototype ARCUS spellcasting device.
|Defining=Eight Leaves, One Blade:
A sword style that specializes in the use of Eastern swords such as katana or tachi, and a general focus on swift strikes and agility.
Weapon Mastery - Swords: Rean's weapon of choice.
Attack List - Melee: Rean can launch sudden, rapid combo attacks, create small shockwaves, and use a variety of fire-based elemental strikes. He also knows how to fight unarmed with punches and palm strikes.
Extraordinary Senses: Rean is capable of sensing the aura of living things in the environment around him, picking up on their location and distance from him. However, he can't tell specifics of what something is, just that it's there.
|Significant=ARCUS Combat Orbment:
A Combat Orbment is a device that allows its user to cast magic spells known as Arts. The Quartz crystals slotted into it defines what Arts the user can cast.
Attack List - Ranged, Healing - Self: Rean's setup allows him to use offensive darkness and fire magic and water and wind magic for healing.
Share Powers: Healing and buffing magic can also be used on allies as a general function of Combat Orbments.

Mysterious Power:
Ever since he was 9, Rean's been aware of a strange power dwelling within him.
Superhumanity, Mobility: When active, Rean's physical abilities become stronger, allowing him to deal more damage, withstand more damage, and perform maneuvers he normally wouldn't be able to.
Flash Movement: It also grants him enough speed to move between points in line of sight almost instantly.
|Minor=Raised by Nobles:
Wealth: Rean's family rules over the mountain village of Ymir in Northern Erebonia, and have the money to do so behind their name.
NPCs: The residents of Ymir are devoted to their lords, and despite not being blood related, Rean is no exception. If he needs a place to stay or whatever degree of help a bunch of average villagers can give him, they'll help.
|Disadvantages=Your Own Worst Critic <Trouble>: Rean's sense of responsibility is almost wholly based on a desire to not be a burden on those around him. He is especially aware of his hand in other people's suffering, even if it's minor or imagined. As a result, he is motivated by a desire to do the right thing in general and to make up for the suffering he causes. His own suffering in the process matters much less, if at all. So basically, he's very self-sacrificial. This ranges from becoming the Student Council's errand boy because they're swamped with outside requests to taking a hit by a monster for two arguing classmates. He also tends to be exceedingly modest because he genuinely believes he's worth very little in comparison to those around him. As an extension of this, If he believes someone truly wants to make up for their mistakes, he'll give them that second chance. After all, where would he be if no one gave him a chance? This applies to even heinous crimes like murder, as long as the person displays a desire to lessen the impact on others said murder caused. He also disagrees with death as a punishment for a crime - you can't clean up the mess you made if you're dead.

Rage Mode <Significant>: Rean's control over his power is limited. If he feels an intense desire for vengeance (or just an extreme desire to beat something's face in), his powers activate on their own, and he becomes hyper-fixated on destroying his target until either he runs out of energy, or someone manages to bring him back to his senses. He is extremely protective over those he cares about, and bringing them serious harm will most definitely set him off. It is because of this lack of control over himself that he only actively uses this ability as a last ditch trump card. Keeping the ability on for a long period of time also exhausts him.

Captain Cornball <Minor>: Rean is incredibly sincere about how he feels about people. In fact, he's overly so. The kinds of positive things he says about people borders on flattery, and while he truly thinks of them that highly, it's not hard to see why it's difficult to take him seriously when he does that. He's also a bit too forthcoming with encouragement and advice, and this coming from a teenager with only so much life experience.
}}

6972/Ymir New Year

2019-12-31T22:38:32Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/12/30 |Location=Schwarzer Mansion |Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto have a quiet moment at Rean's house. |Thanks=Touta for this hilariously cute prese..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/12/30
|Location=Schwarzer Mansion
|Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto have a quiet moment at Rean's house.
|Thanks=Touta for this hilariously cute present
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/1/13/Ymir_4_8sen29.png It's pretty cold this time of year in Ymir. The foot bath at the center of the town emits a whole lot of steam, and most of the villagers are indoors at this time of night. There's a couple  freshly made snowmen lying around, including one looking like a cat with an odd facial expression. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/b/b8/Ymir_6_%28sen2%29.png Once Mikoto arrives at the Schwarzer Mansion, she's greeted by Elise....And a Husky. The Husky barks excitedly, almost jumping up on Mikoto.  "Down, Badeux," Elise says, gently waving the family dog down. "Good evening." Elise says, closing her eyes giving Mikoto a rather stiff curtsy. "Rean's upstairs. He should be down in a moment." She opens her eyes, and just...stares at Mikoto for a second. "Is that Mikoto?" Rean says from upstairs, and rushes down the stairs to greet her. "It's nice to see you! Again, congratulations on the whole adoption thing. So do I call you Mikoto Konoe now, or-" Elise coughs, and Rean rubs the back of his head, slowly coming down from his excitement for Mikoto. "Er, right. I don't think you two have properly met yet. Elise, this is Mikoto, Mikoto, Elise." Elise stiffly curtsies, again. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The Husky nearly knocks over Mikoto, to which she laughs and provides the doggo as much petting as he can take.  She seems exceptionally happy at the fact that it's a dog, and assumes it is a very good boy.  With a laugh, and possibly being licked in the face once or twice, she looks at Elise.   She gives a short bow in return, "Yeah, we've met...when you walked down into the old schoolhouse, and when the rebels took you and the princess hostage.  Though with Rean doting on you, I might have not been that noticeable." To Rean she shrugs, "Probably not, I still plan on keeping my assumed name.  Not out of disrespect to my new family, but out of respect to my old one.  And yes, I was just reminding your sister we've briefly met a few times before." "So did you ever apologize to her for you being stupid?" she says with a glance towards Rean.  "But yes, Hi!  I am Mikoto, Magical Girl of Envy.  Nice to meet you!" she says with another bow.  "So there, are we all awkward out?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Elise nods. "Right. Thank you for that." "Oh. That makes sense." Rean says. "And yeah, I did." "Mmm."  Elise says. "I think I'll leave you two alone for now." And with that, Elise heads upstairs herself. Badeux is still here, though he wanders off to lie down near the fireplace in the living room pretty quickly. "Anyway, how about we open up that present from Touta?" Rean says, walking into the living room. He sits down on he couch, pulling out the little box. Once Mikotot is sitting down, he opens it and... It's mistletoe. Specifically, a magically enchanted mistletoe that floats above the pair once the box is opened. Rean stares at it for a second, before he remembers what misteltoe traditionally represents. Rean groans. "TOUTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto shrugs, Elise's attitude is probably to be expected.  Hopefully, it'll improve with time. However, she is determined to enjoy this outing with Rean.  She never got to see his home before, so it was a nice change of pace.   Once the box is opened, she starts laughing a little at the revelation of the gift.  Rean groans, which causes her to laugh a little longer.  Of course, Rean might be distracted by his overwhelming rage for Touta.   She takes the moment to lean over, place a hand on Rean's chest, and kiss him.  Mikoto, if anything, is forward. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Seriously, what was Touta even thinking giving him something like this as a Christmas present? Did he think he was hopeless or something? ...Ok, that was probably true, but he didn't need /that/ much help, right? Or...maybe it was just Touta's way of cheering them on. He laughs too, liking this interpretation a tiny bit more. There were a lot of people looking out for the two of them, wasn't there? Then Mikoto just goes ahead and kisses him. Rean leans into the kiss as well, pulling Mikoto closer to him. Once they're done, REan pulls back, grinning. "Happy holidays, Mikoto." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' There is maybe a slight blush on the Magical girl, perhaps, but don't call her out on it or it might backfire.  She leans against Rean, enjoying the moment.  The first time they had something like this happen...or perhaps the first opportunity for something quiet to happen.   "You too Rean," she says with a soft smile, "I hope you enjoyed your Christmas gift?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' It's ok Mikoto, Rean's blushing too. "Yeah, I did." Rean says, wrapping his arm around her. Quiet moments like this didn't happen that often for either of them, and it was nice. Just the two of them, sitting in the silence. 
}}

Trails of Cold Steel 1

2019-12-30T05:49:39Z

StarSketch:

{{TPPage
|Summary=A year-ish in the life Class VII, a small group of students at Thors Military Academy. What will they learn about their homeland - and what will they learn now that it has become united with so many others?
|Scale=Major
|Plot_id=-1
|Runner=6994
|Contacts=Crow Armbrust
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Audience=Everyone
|Genre=Moderately Serious JRPG
|Info=None.
|State=Current
}}

Trails of Cold Steel 1

2019-12-30T05:47:36Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{TPPage |Summary=A year-ish in the life Class VII, a small group of first years at Thors Military Academy. What will they learn about their homeland - and what will they lear..."

{{TPPage
|Summary=A year-ish in the life Class VII, a small group of first years at Thors Military Academy. What will they learn about their homeland - and what will they learn now that it has become united with so many others?
|Scale=Major
|Plot_id=-1
|Runner=6994
|Contacts=Crow Armbrust
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Audience=Everyone
|Genre=Moderately Serious JRPG
|Events=Principal
|State=Current
}}

6939/Bean makes a house call

2019-12-22T06:48:13Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/12/08 |Location=Fairyland Hall |Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto have a heart to heart. |Cast of Characters=6994, 7002 |pretty=yes }} {{Poses |Poses=:..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/12/08
|Location=Fairyland Hall
|Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto have a heart to heart.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean shows up to Fairyland Hall with a basket of tomato and chicken sandwiches, enough for the two of them. After asking for direction to Mikoto's room from some of the staff, he thanks them with a nod and heads over. When he got there, though it clicked that he was going to hang out with a girl. In her room. A girl that he was currently dating. /In her room./ He had some teasing incoming, didn't he?  He slaps his cheeks really quickly to regain focus. He could do this. "Hey, I'm here." Rean says, knocking on the door. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Come on in," Mikoto says from the inside.  The situation is not lost on her, but she's not going to make a huge deal out of it.  She's far too hurt for that, both physically and mentally.  She was just tired, and right now it hurt to even think of funny names for Bean.   Besides Bean. "Hey Bean," she says, with a smile when he enters.  She was sitting up in her bed.  Blanket over her as she was in her sleeping clothes still.  Which made sense, she was still recovering. "So what did you bring me?  I'm hungry." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean sits down at the foot of Mikoto's bed, putting the bag of sandwiches on his lap. "Tomato and chicken sandwiches." Rean says, reaching into the bag and handing Mikoto a sandwich. "So...what even happened over there?" he asks, pulling out one for himself. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Where to start on that..." she says, taking a sandwich and starts eating it.  Thinking while she munches, she knows where to start. "So there was this invisible bitch, I think she was leading the outworld forces that look like Marines but from the future?  I think she's from the watch?  So she was psychically moving the gun." "I tried to stop her, she got into my head and brought up some...stuff I didn't want to remember.  Next thing I know my head is pounding and I'm bleeding from the nose and falling...then I'm being rescued." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean takes a bite of his sandwich. Someone from Karian's world maybe? Then again, Invisible Psychic brings Nova to mind, though he doesn't know much about her world or what she'd want an entire railway gun for. He doesn't prod her about the memories, though it's not too hard to guess what it was. "Yeah, it's a good thing Millium and Airgetlam can fly. Don't know what I'd do if she'd..." Even if Mikoto could survive the fall, it'd still mess her up pretty badly. And if she hit the ravine Soul Gem first... He shakes his head, trying to get the image of a mangled Mikoto out of his mind. "You're rooming with Jeanne, you said? What kind of roommate is she?" Rean asks, changing the subject. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Missed?  Well, she didn't and I got caught...so alls well that ends well.  I'll have to get better to deal with people like that, in the end the weakness is mine, I suppose," Mikoto says, without really blaming anyone.  She just takes it like it was given to her. "You'd be fine, I imagine you'd be mopey for a while, but you'd get better and keep on," She says, with a smile.  "So buck up," She says, munching again, feeling a bit better now she's got some real food in her.   "Oh she's...different.  I mean, real fun, and her Wyvern's are the best." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...Ok." Mikoto's faith in him is nice, at least. "She seems very...fiery." Rean says, smiling at his own joke. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Hey, no thinking about what COULD have been.  We're both in a dangerous occupation.  We didn't get hurt seriously or die, so we will live to see another day and learn from our bruises," She says, trying to get Rean a bit more cheerful. As far as Jeanne, "Ha, yeah.  Literally somedays.  She's not as bad as she sounds...but she is very angry.  I haven't pried enough into her stuff yet, but...not really my place to yet." "So what about you?  You seem a bit down, and not just about me.  So what's on your mind?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...Yeah. Both of us have things we need to learn, and we're both still here to learn them, whatever they are. For instance now you know to be more careful with psychics. Maybe those old memories have something you can learn from them too, though it might not be the best time to start digging around in there." Rean sighs. "I just feel...lost, I guess. There's a lot of problems out here and  as you saw yesterday, back home. It's a lot. I guess I'm just afraid I'll make things worse somehow. And what if that's not ok? What if it's so bad that people feel it's better that I'm not here?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto grabs another sandwich and starts to eat it slowly.  After some time she speaks. "It was the name of my mother and father.  It put me off guard because I wasn't expecting it.  It...I guess I am not really over it, losing them like that to the Witch's influence.  The world thinks my father was a murderer, and that I'm...pitiable because I came back to see the aftermath." "Maybe it wasn't my fault, but I feel like I drew it on them.  That I ducked out of my responsibility.  Then I kept on doing it, trying to avoid the consequences.  I still want out of this bad deal, but...you helped show me that I can't just throw my responsibility on others.  I have to deal with what I got myself into.  I dug my own grave, and pushing others into it ahead of me isn't the way." "But that I can live while doing this too," She says, "So what if everyone curses your name, you'll have one person that won't." "Besides, let's be honest...you're worried that you'll make the wrong choice.  Rean, we're all capable of being wrong.  It's not what we do right that makes us who we are, but what we do when we're wrong or make mistakes.  Besides, if people really think that about you, are they really people you want beside you?" "So, you know, at least know you have one person!  Also, if you go disappear or kill yourself, I'll get my friend to drag your soul back and put it in a golem or something.  You don't get out of this so easily." "Besides, if you weren't there things would have been worse.  Your classmates rely on you, and you on them.  I am sure you didn't manage to make up with me on your own.  You're too thick for that~" She giggles, trying to lighten the mood again. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean reaches out and gives Mikoto a gentle pat on the head. It seemed like she needed it after pulling up those memories. "...Right. We both have to take responsibility for what we do when we screw up." Rean says, smiling. "...But it also doesn't mean we can't have good things - or good people- in our lives, either." "Guess I'd better not do that, then. Being Lezard's rock slave doesn't sound very fun." Rean laughs. "Yeah, they did. I know I'm thick, but...I guess that's just fine, if it's good enough to have people like you guys in my life. Princess Sarracenia tried to cheer me up by hitting me with a rocket launcher the other day, so she counts too." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto blushes a little at the head pat, looking away and giving more of a pout than anything.  It's not ENTIRELY seriously either, because well...she does enjoy the pat.  She sighs, finally deciding to open up a little. "I know I had a father and mother in my first life.  I just never knew them, and they were my first real family.  My father worked hard, but always made time for us.  Mom...I would say she was the opposite of me in quite a lot of ways.  Refined and collected, I always tried to teach me the value of grace and womanly things.  My time on the street kinda...made me rough and tumble.  It took time to get back to something resembling a normal childhood, even with the new memories." "It's sad...the memories of them fade over time, but the memory of that night won't go away..." She tries to smile at the comment about Lezard, "Yeah, so you better not die or do anything stupid like that." "Well good, because it means you're not thick enough to not know you're thick.  Anyway, just...believe in yourself more.  I'm just curious at where all of this doubt comes from.  You're strong, you're kind, you're...ok well not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but we all got our flaws!" she giggles, "Also she did?  That does sound like her, but I imagine it was that fight with the Watch and the Concord had?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "They sound like good people." Rean says. Rean sighs and leans back on the bed, resting his hands on his chest. She opened up to him, it was only right he responded in kind. "...I mentioned I was adopted too, right? My parents and Elise care for me like I'm their own flesh and blood..." Rean says, closing his eyes. "...Thing is, they're minor nobility. And since no one knows who left me behind, I'm assumed to be of common birth. The other nobles didn't like that, thinking my parents were trying to mess with the order of things, or that I was a bastard...Eventually, my dad got bullied out of high society. All because they took in some random kid. I guess I just...never felt like I really belonged with them. Not after all of that. Where else would I go, though? For all I know my birth parents didn't want a monster in their family, and even if they're still alive...that part hasn't changed. Whatever this power is...it's not normal for the standards of my world. Maybe it's less weird out here, but...An eight-year old shouldn't be able to beat a bear to a pulp with a hatchet." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh," She says, after a moment finally putting the pieces together.  Rubbing her face with one hand, she finally reaches out and places a hand on Rean's head.  Returning the head pat with one of her own.  With a moment of levity injected into the situation, she leans back a bit and looks at him. "You're no more a monster than I am right now, you know?  I think I see what's going on here though.  You're feeling guilty because of your father's withdrawal from society.  Yet your family cares for you as their own, right?  You feel you're not worthy of that love somehow, especially with that thing you do." "Like them, that power is also part of who you are.  You can run from your family as about as well as you can run from your power as you can run from yourself.  So don't, recognize that your father gave up something valuable because he felt YOU were more valuable to him. Running from them would be slapping him in the face and telling him you don't appreciate his sacrifice or the love they all give you." "And if you are worried about that power...do what I am doing.  Make it yours, learn to use it, learn to master it.  More than that, learn about it.  Try to find something about it, if you have it then there has got to be documents or history or something that can tell us more.  Maybe ask your parents, confide in them..." "Family is...it is the only real thing you can have in this world." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean's eyes snap open. He wasn't expecting the return headpat. But it feels nice, so he just lets Mikoto keep going without any comment. "You're not a monster, though!" " he pauses and then sighs. "...Which means that I shouldn't consider myself one, either. But that's it, I think. You hit the nail right on the head." "You know that fight I had with Elise right before she got lost in the Old Schoolhouse? It was about exactly that, me trying to run away from my family via my plans after I graduate. I definitely deserved being called 'the worst,' if that's why she got so mad..." "Majima asked to fight me while I'm like that...I should really take him up on his offer. Also, my parents know already. It's why I started training in the Eight Leaves - the sword style I use.. But maybe there's something out there that I haven't seen yet." "...Yeah. I have them, and...I don't know if Majima and I are enough to be your family, yet but I'll try my best to at least give you some stability. Besides, we have to make more good memories to make up for the ones that are fading." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "No, I am not...not yet.  We both know where the end of my road probably will end.  Good thing I have a lot of dumb people willing to put everything on the line to make sure it doesn't come to pass." "Oh is THAT what happened?  No wonder she got mad at you.  Good thing you and I were there to pull her out of that place.  Well, they know so they don't know anything.  Then I guess we just gotta dig through books," A beat, "Wait, doesn't Doctor Strange Know everything?  Maybe he can hunt down knowledge on it, at the very least?" A pause, "If not, then I guess there is Homura, apparently she can time travel or something?  I already gotta talk to her about something else, but I don't wanna overload the poor girl either.  I mean, she's...well, a field mouse would be a bit braver." "Pfft, of course, Majima-san wants to fight you.  And...yeah, I guess you two are.  The world has a funny way of working out sometimes." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I...Hm. I don't think he knows /everything,/ but he might know a good place to start. What do you need to ask Homura about? Magical Girl stuff?" Rean smiles. "IT really does." 
}}

6892/Second Verse: Atrocious Raid

2019-12-22T06:39:26Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/12/07 |Location=Garellia Fortress, Erebonia |Synopsis=The Imperial Liberation Front shows their faces again. Garrellia Fortress has been invad..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/12/07
|Location=Garellia Fortress, Erebonia
|Synopsis=The Imperial Liberation Front shows their faces again. Garrellia Fortress has been invaded, with the intent of firing two large railway guns at Orchis Tower in the neighboring country of Crossbell, threatening the lives of many civilians and visiting dignitaries. Meanwhile, an unexpected visitor has her eyes on the weapons, having teamed up with the ILF to serve her own goals.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 6936, 7002, 446, 7148, 7141, 7145, 6381
|Tinyplot=Imperial Liberation Front
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' (BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXAqwxwamE) Garellia Fortress is the largest military complex in Eastern Erebonia, serving as the barrier between the Empire, the Calvard Republic and the Citystate of Crossbell. And right now, it's utter chaos. There's small fires everywhere, lit by oddly shaped autonomous turrets that stand out in appearance to everything in their surroundings. Soldiers in the same green armor from the attempted kidnapping are running around, gunning down soldiers in the purple uniform of the Imperial Army. You might even catch a glimpse of the gatling toting man and the eyepatch wearing woman Mikoto described back then entering the fray. A loud and boisterous voice calls out, as a red haired man in the Imperial Army uniform riding on top of a manned tank leads his battalion against a bunch of autonomous tanks blasting holes in the walls. Class VII is already ahead of you in the accompaniment of their instructors. There's still some of the autonomous turrets mulling around once you enter, and maybe an ILF member or two. Across the radio, a call goes out: "Group B and I are headed towards the right railway gun. These damn Archaisms are everywhere, and we could use some backup!" Instructor Sara says. If you can fly (or are coming in by airship) you could possibly get there before her by flying straight towards the two sets of large reinforced doors on the eastern side of the complex. What awaits you when you get there? 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Cordelay takes in the chaos around her, her jaw tightening at the sight. She's not unused to such things - she's led troops on the battlefield more times than she can count - but it's never pleasant. Upon hearing the call for backup she begins to sprint toward the right railway gun, her speed like that of a charging warhorse as she rushes to the aid of the instructor and her group. "Cordelay Levail incoming, hold out until I can get there!" She calls into her communicator as she runs, unsheathing her swords in preparation for the incoming enemy. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto was actually in the area, about to head over to hang out with Bean and friends.  Of course, that was until everything went to double hell.  Soldiers coming out of the woodwork to gun down other soldiers.  Fires everywhere being set by turrets.  Mikoto sighs, so much for a day of fun.  Hopefully, the Seed had enough left in it for another recharge if this got hard.   She starts running, through the streets until she gets a message.  "Mikoto here, I'm on my way," She says, hopefully, to give Class VII some hope.   There is a flash, the transformation sequence takes hold as the light of her Magical girl transformation takes hold.  The Soul Gem coming out of her ring and into her hand.  Holding it up as the Emerald light shines down on her.  Jade crystal seems to form around her, forming into her clothes, her hat, mask shoes, and stockings.  The emerald shatters, revealing the clothing in full force. Her hand coming up to grab a spike of jade that comes from the ground, revealing the sword.  She runs, taking to the air and surging towards the point of meet up.  Thankfully, the stolen power of Nanoha is very convenient for this mission.   While she avoids fights, because she wants to get with the others, she will defend herself.  Cutting through soldiers with her blade, or release animals to charge through where she needs to.   

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      News goes out of an attack and soon the large form of one of the Sundew Kingdom's airships flies into the area, providing air superiority for the Imperial forces and Class VII. The few dozen cannons of the Sundew Sovereign, the flagship and Sarracenia's favorite warship, start firing Bullet Bills downward at the robotic tanks. The person-sized shark-faced shells explode on impact while the airship catches up with and starts escorting the class.      Sarracenia can be seen perched on the bow of the ship, looking down over the battle. She looks rather distracted though, and not with the battle below. Her piranha plant sailors are pretty much handling things on their own right now. She is just watching, contemplating things. Their only order is apparently to keep the robotic tanks at bay. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' Someone's here. The big man himself, the dealer of destruction. Guzma is a man in his twenties, with fluffy white hair, weird asymmetrical glasses, wearing a gold watch, a gold chain with a strange logo as a medallion, and several bands and bracelets. He's wearing a black jacket with white shoulder patches, each with a black zigzag pattern. The distress call went out, and so, here he comes, walking through the place. He's yet to see any bodies, so he's fine. He's not alone, of course - he's got flunkies here. Tupp, Rapp, and Zipp, with their colorful hair, face bandanas, and skull hats, coming forward. Tupp is a blue-haired man, Rapp a pink-haired girl, and Zipp, a large brown-haired boy. The three slouch and wave their arms as they walk, as if they're hip hop dancers, while Guzma walks ahead of them, confident in every step. This is because they're kind of blocking out 'all the violence' and focusing on just heading ahead towards the gun battery while others, well, clear the path. "Alright, you three. Once we're up there, you go find a way to get us known. I'll show them who Team Skull really is." The three go 'yeah, boss!' and then split off from him once they reach the gun terminal, Guzma himself grabbing one of the red and white spheres from his pocket. The Pokeball is juggled up and down in his hand, and then, the button is clicked, the ball thrown outwards. It bounces off the ground, before ricocheting back into Guzma's hand, releasing a beast. A large humanoid bug, red armored with massive pincers, and a pair of metallic wings. "Use X-Scissor." Scizor looks for the first soldier it sees, and rushes forward. Massive pincers go to slice in an x-shape, enough to cut into the soldier, but likely not kill him, and just send him spiralling to the ground. "They don't have Pokemon, so guess we're gonna have to fight them directly." 

:'''{{#var:7141|Linehart (7141)}} has posed:'''      The world is bright and wonderful.      There's something unnerving about being freed from the script that defined your life. But, at the same time, there's something, well, *freeing* about it. By definition, once you are your own man, you can go where you please, see what you like. You can do as you want.      Wheresoever you go, you go under your own power, and of your own will, and of your own decisions.      That is an appealing thing, and it lends itself to wandering. Wandering felt...right. It felt like the sort of thing the Hero would do - wander about and find problems to solve, and thereby earn things to help solve more problems down the road. The Hero's path had been a troublesome one, Linehart understood, one full of difficulties and dark struggles. So, his would be as well.      That led him to Erebonia, where he got...      Certain reactions.      It might have been that he's extremely tall. He towers over most people. His spear, too, is enormous, even by the standards of Erebonia - a weapon larger than it has any right to be, which surely requires some form of inhuman strength just to lift, let alone wield with any competence at all.      It might have been the ominous music that follows him wherever he goes. There is no obvious source, nor obvious reason for it. It is low, slow, but builds to a frenetic pace, suggestive of heated, desperate, struggling battle. It floats around him, though it is subdued and of a more neutral pace as he walks through the streets from the Warp Gate.      Most probably, though, it's that he's fucking terrifying.      The man's armor is blacker than night. It seems to drink in the light itself, as if he was wearing ambient shadow only barely defined by the metallic pauldrons, the gauntlets, the edges. The only splashes of color are the strange slash-mark visor of his helmet and that aforementioned giant spear, both glowing an ominous red, and the white fur that holds his shadowy cloak to his body. He exudes a sense of grinding, impossible inevitability as he walks, not especially fast, but neither especially slow. He is taking his time. He is seeing the sights.      He is hearing a battle.      The phone Sarracenia gave him yesterday speaks into his ear. He stops for a moment, listening to the plea for help.      Very well. The Hero would go help them. The Hero was better than Linehart. Therefore, he ought to go do the same.      When the massive Mirror Knight arrives, he cuts an imposing figure through the force of purple. He is a moving glacier of a man. He passes through the lines, unstopped and unheeding of cries to do the same, straight towards the green-armored invaders.      Once he hits the front lines...      Well.      The music that surrounds him kicks up. The dark, ominous beginning thunders over the noise of the violence. Then it becomes quick and heated, the desperate, struggling terror of a battle with a monster exactly like this massive black thing.      A text box appears above him. No sound comes out of his mouth.      Hear me! Know that I am Linehart, the Mirror Knight! I have come to show you the path to the end! This dark spear shall be your doom!      His hand rises.      The blaze at the heart of the brave sun -Fiat Ignis!      A column of fire just comes smashing down out of the sky, as if the sun itself just punched the planet. It crashes against the green-clad soldiers with all force.      It doesn't hurt a single purple soldier, no matter how close they are to it. It also doesn't seem to...actually...damage...the battlefield.      Sucks for those green guys caught in it though. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' "Sounds like they've got it rough over there, huh?" Crow murmurs, standing next to another student wielding an Orbal Shotgun as they both concentrate their gunfire to open up the defensive formation of the small squad of Archaisms in their path. Group A was pursuing the left Railway Cannon and was composed of himself, Machias -- the gunman beside him -- Alisa, a girl wielding an orbal bow, a staff-wielding musician named Elliot, and their tactical instructor, Neithardt the Mighty.     "Where'd they even get all this junk, anyway?"     The irony of his quip wasn't lost on him. With the four drones down for the count with an impressive show of sudden swordsmanship from Neithardt, Group A advanced. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' LINEHART: The Imperial soldiers watch you in awe as you strike down the oncoming ILF soldiers. "W-whoa..." One says. In fact, you did catch an Imperial soldier in that, but he's unharmed aside from wounds he'd already taken from a now scorched ILF member. He looks /incredibly/ confused, though. Two of the unmanned tanks suddenly stop trying to ram the wall, and start rolling towards you. SARRACENIA: You land hits on the robotic tanks, and they explode. The redheaded man standing on one of the normal tanks shouts up to you, "WaAn airship that looks like a fusion of a helicopter and rudders like your ships comes up within range and starts firing bullets at your sails. GUZMA, MIKOTO, CORDELAY: "Thanks a bunch. We'll see you there." Sara says over the radio. Cordelay and Guzma run into 4 small turrets whose heads are just spinning around...at least until they catches their attention and fire bullets at them. Meanwhile, Guzma's goons catch up to Group B, who are engaged with a large twin armed cannon. It's Gaius, a tall, dark skinned boy with a spear who deals the last blow, and the machine crumples into a heap. They all rush outside, and meet up with Mikoto. Rean's part of this group as well, and he gives her a nod as she arrives. Suddenly, there's a rattling noise coming from the doors where the cannons are located- they're starting to open. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' The sight of the turrets turning to face her and Guzma brings an excited smile to Cordelay's face. "Mere constructs!" She laughs. "Hardly a challenge for the daughter of the Dragon!" She leaps into the air above the turrets, grasping the chains linked to her swords and swinging them like edged flails at the turret barrels in an attempt to cut through them. Given that she's strong enough to punch holes through oak barehanded, cutting metal with a sword doesn't seem too implausible. "Guzma, keep up! Show me your strength!" 

:'''{{#var:7141|Linehart (7141)}} has posed:'''      Linehart walks past the uninjured man. His cloak swirls about him, trailing off into shadow. The unmanned tanks turning towards him gives him pause only for a moment, largely because he's never seen the like. There is a brief moment where he just kind of stands there, staring at them. One might almost think he's waiting for them to take their turn.      He's not, it's just got that funny sort of impression.      But then the party says they need to open the doors.      He tells Mikoto that he has a solution.      A text window appears in front of him. It reads, INVENTORY.      The tanks are still coming at him.      From one of the swords laying on the ground, a black fist emerges.      A second, almost identical, Linehart, pulls itself out of the sword. Everything is the same, except the slashed visor is reversed, and the cape is blowing the wrong way. The second Linehart starts walking towards the tank as the first Linehart continues scrolling through the strange menu in front of him, passing by things like POTION.      The second Linehart brings that enormous spear down into one of the tanks with enormous smashing force. He drags it upwards, punching into the armor with superhuman might, aiming to tear it in half in a single blow.      The first Linehart finally finds what he was looking for and produces an item for Mikoto to come pick up.      Take this and delay them.                   A DAY AGO ON THE ROAD TO SUNDEW KINGDOM                        An old man looked up at the dark-clad man. "Sir," he said quietly, "I am hungry beyond measure. Could you spare some coins?"      The dark-clad man wordlessly held out his hand. A pouch fell from nowhere. He handed it to the old man, whose eyes widened with shock. "Sir, no. I could not..."      The dark-clad man pushed the bag into the old man's hands. Tears filled the old man's eyes. "I have nothing in the world to give you but this, sir. I cannot accept such generosity without offering you something in return. A few coins would have been enough, but this is...a kindness I cannot imagine. I swear I shall repay you one day. For now, take this."      The old man held out a jar of glue. "I was a sculpter. I used this to hold together my finest works. It's something wonderful, this glue, filled with my heart. Please use it for a good purpose."      Wordlessly, the knight accepted the jar, and moved on, leaving the old man in tears as he clutched the coinpurse.                              RIGHT THIS MOMENT                                    The item pressed into Mikoto's hands is a jar of some unbelievably strong glue.      He means for her to use it to seal the cannons long enough for the party to take control.      It's a Key Item. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' As Guzma and Cordelay approach the turrets, they begin firing bullets. Guzma's eyes widen, as that is...real bullets. Scizor dashes into the way, taking the bullets, hitting metal armor and not ripping the bug apart thanks to it. "Scizor! Bullet Punch!" Guzma shouts, as Scizor makes a buglike noise, pulls back its fist, and then moves. Before they even have another chance to fire, the turrets are being impacted by those pincers, slamming into them with great strength to punch a hole in them. Two for Guzma, two for Cordelay, easy enough. Guzma's a little unnerved by the ordinance, though. Speaking of ordinance, the trio reaches Group B, and flashes gang signs. Tupp takes the lead. "Yo, yo. We're Team Skull." And then, he gestures to his pals. "Yo, let's force them outta that there cannon." As the doors open, Team Skull rushes the doors, throwing out pokeballs. As soon as they're in the cannon, they'll probably be glued inside by Mikoto. That's okay. Their pokemon are a giant pile of trash, a flying bat, and a fiery lizard. Yep. If there's any immediate resistance inside the cannon, they spit poison from their mouths at them after a call to attack. "Garbodor!" "Zubat!" "Salandit!" 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     With group A making their way towards the left Railway Cannon, they'll start to find the wounds on the dead Imperials starting to look less like they expect. And the path of bodies is heading in the direction of their destination: The left Railway Cannon.     At the moment that Crow and his squad reach the bay containing one of the great twin cannons, the large doors leading outside begin to open. This causes more light to spill into the large room, providing the squad (and those who are flying outside) a better view of the interior.     There's quite a commotion inside the bay. A number of large men in equally large power armour stand around, holding large weapons as they watch. What are they watching? Several mech suits hovering along on thrusters, large claws and laser welders making structural changes. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gives Rean a smile, she was alright, but it wasn't her idea of another date. The cannons come out, causing Mikoto to look confused.  She didn't see anything that artillery pieces like that needed to hit.  Of course, then the announcement was made that the cannon was taken over by the enemy forces.  That was their plan?   Oh, this wasn't going to go well if they fired those.  The key item is handed to her from Linehart.  She blinks at it, but already knows what it does.  Somehow.  She has a grin on her face, "Alright, I'll do it.  Everyone else goes ahead.  If they shoot at me I can distract them to buy you more time." Then behind her the strange creature that hurts to look at appears.  A mask of stained glass, but in the shape of a gem.  Arms formed out of animals, as well as other people.  It seems connected to Mikoto with puppet strings.   A dark portal opens, and she appears above the cannons, throwing the glue solution into the cannon barrels themselves.  She flies to the next one, attempting to seal each one up while the puppet shadow thing hangs behind her.  For those who have seen a witch, it looks like one.  For those who have seen Riku's Heartbrand, it looks like it.  For those who have seen both, it looks like both. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' Crow grimaces as the group is led onwards. He didn't doubt that Neithardt had noticed the abrupt change in the injuries of the various soldiers scattered about as they approached the hangar, but he figured that the only ones who had were himself and the instructor. The rest of Group A was in too much of a hurry, news of the blast doors beginning to open had lit a frantic, frenzied flame under everyone's rear to get moving. Time was almost up. "W-what the heck are those?" Alisa stutters before regaining her composure, bow in hand. Unlike the rest who momentarily mistook the suited men as a kind of Archaism, Crow knew better -- he was a little more versed in the ways of the multiverse. "Some kinda' armored shell. Those guys mean serious business!" Instructor Neithardt brandished his blade, looking contemplative. No doubt he was figuring out the best way to approach the situation, while Crow changed his stance so he could move at a moment's notice. "Those Archaisms they're guarding, they're totally undocumented ... Class VII, spread out!" Given the composition of their team, they would lose in a straight firefight, so the only option the mostly ranged fighters of Group A had was to spread out and try and break up the enemy formation. Divide and conquer. Neithardt charged forward as a blur to draw attention to himself while Crow separated himself to begin peppering some of the power-armored men with gunfire from his Orbal Pistols, charging behind a supporting steel pillar for cover. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarracenia is shaken out of her introspective stupor by the impact of those shells to her ship. Though it has no sails, those shells could do severe damage to the huge spinning propellers which keep the airship airborn. Her ship fires back at the attacker even as it lists forward from one of its propellers being damaged, then it moves forward to hover over the right cannon.      A huge hatch opens on the underside of the airship, and...prefabricated pieces start falling out, perfectly aimed so that within a few moments there is a full wood and stone tower on or directly in front of the extending cannon. Hopefully that will stop it from aiming wherever it is intending to aim! "Hahaha! What do you think of the might of the Sundew Kingdom?" she calls down to the ILF forces below. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' LINEHART:  Linehart's Mirror Shadow punches a hole into the turret, and it explodes, leaking smoke everywhere. The other tank is still around though, and fires artillery rounds at both him and his shadow. CORDELAY AND GUZMA: Cordelay cuts the top off off the turrets, causing them to start sparking. They're still ticking though- one of them rolls up next to her, and suddenly shoots out two thin metal spikes in front of it. Scizor meanwhile punches both turrets into a nearby wall, causing them to spark a bit and then shut down. 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     Neithardt's attempt at a distraction makes him the first one to be noticed. One of the power-armoured Marines turns in his direction, spotting him. The man calls out, "Hostiles!" The rest of the Marines respond, turning to face the instructor. Large gauss rifles are raised and begin firing, spitting out the large spikes of metal in the running man's direction. Though given the speed the man is going at, they're going to have a hard time hitting him.     This gives group A the chance they need to flank the squad of Marines who are focused on Neithardt. Their attacks begin to rain down on the squad. Crow's shots in particular rip into one of the Marine's armour, causing him to cry out in pain and drop to the ground. The off-world soldier is still moving, so not dead. But down.     As the flanking maneuver is recognised by the Marine squad, they begin to fall back and rearrange their formation. Half switch targets, beginning to unload those spikes towards the rest of group A. The hovering mech suits known as SCVs diligently continue about their work, the pilot engineers hidden inside hoping that the Marines can keep them occupied.     Of course, all of this is visible to Mikoto as she flies over to release her payload of glue. It splatters inside the large barrel, gunking up the weapon. It looks like she was successful!     From her perch upon a raised catwalk along the large cannon bay wall, the invisible Nova quietly mutters to herself, "Annoying..." She raises her rifle, scoping in on the flying Mikoto and pulls the trigger.     The resulting sniper shot is muffled, but still audible at this range. Nova's cloak shimmers from the shot, briefly showing her location as the bullet streaks out up into the air towards Mikoto. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' The spikes come out just as Cordelay lands from her aerial attack, forcing her to quickly attempt to parry. While one them is deflected by a sword, the other finds its mark as it pierces her leather gauntlet and punctures her arm. Cordelay hisses in pain before bringing both her swords up to stab into the damaged turret in an attempt to finally disable it. Her current predicament doesn't prevent her from noticing the exploits of Guzma's Scizor, however. "Your Pokemon is well-trained, to deal such crushing blows so easily. It speaks to your skill!" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' MIKOTO AND SARRACENIA:  Mikoto gets fired at as she approaches the turret. Suddenly, a barrier tinted like stone appears before her, blocking the bullets. Emma's standing at the platform where the others were, her staff raised. "I'll help you! Keep going!" she shouts. Mikoto has no problem getting the glue inside the right cannon, but the left.... Sarracenia's tower makes it into position, too, though it blocks some of Emma's view of Mikoto. GROUP B AND THE GUZ SQUAD: Meanwhile, Team Skull and the rest of Group B runs into a bunch of ILF goons as they enter the some with swords, and some with guns. "What in the hell-" One says as he's splashed with poison. He's got a helmet on covering his eyes, so he's fine there, but he starts spitting and choking...looks like he swallowed some. "A freaking garbage bag?!" Another one says, firing his gun at the Pokemon. "What is going on out there?!" A voice says, and a red haired woman with an eyepatch steps out of a side door attached to the cannon. She looks at the Pokemon Trainers, and the group of students + one Instructor coming up the path behind them. "Of course it's you again." She grumbles, drawing her sword. She then waves her other arm, and another machine appears between Team Skull and the advancing Group B. The red-haired woman runs towards Tupp, swinging her sword in a wide arc at him- and anyone standing near him. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' Crow remains behind the pillar to protect himself from the volley. Machias and Alisa spread out to the other ends of the bay to exchange fire with the marines, while Elliot tried to stay closer to the middle to better support everyone, including Neithardt, who couldn't go on the offensive. The instructor was a tough nut to crack, but he was pressured out of any risky attacks by the skilled opponents they all faced.         "ARCUS Activate." The device glowed, enshrouding Crow in a blue aura as he stepped out from behind his cover, guns raised. The ethereal image of a clock's face spinning out of control appeared over him before he blurred into an afterimage, time having sped up tremendously for himself as a way of boosting his speed. He ducked and weaved through the assault, skimmed by the enemy gunfire as he span, fanning his gunfire with surprising accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' Cordelay cuts the top off the turrets, and then they come at her with metal spikes. Guzma considers what to do. She's an ally, right? Better let the big boss handle one of those, as Guzma grins at the compliment, before shouting out. "Scizor. Iron Head." Scizor's head suddenly flashes, as it charges one of the turrets, pushing past the spike and moving to headram it. It is strong enough to just bulldoze through, and then, as Cordelay presuambly handles the other one, it preens for her. Tupp, meanwhile, is having a very bad day. His Pokemon can, luckily, resist bullets because they're tough, as Garbodor leaks trash and oil as it's shot, but the trio is screaming. As the red-headed woman comes at him with a sword, he freaks out, as the blade shallowly cuts him as he leaps backwards, spilling fresh red blood. "Y-you can't just attack a trainer! What the heck, man, what the heck?!" But, they're not useless. Tupp, trying to maintain composure, shouts out. "Salandit, use Ember!" It spits out a ball of fire at the red-headed woman, hopefully burning her, and possibly keeping the burn going longer than a single strike. Rapp and Zipp shout out as well. "Toxic!" They shout in unison, as their pokemon spray poison at the redheaded woman, trying to force her back from literally killing them. 

:'''{{#var:7141|Linehart (7141)}} has posed:'''      The Mirror Image splits the tank in twain from stem to stern. The leaking smoke mingles with the shadowy armor and cloak, shrouding the Mirror Image completely. Only the frightening red cross-slash visor pierces the smog, a fell and evil glow.      The artillery shell comes down in the midst of it all. The shadow, the smoke, the red glare, all are swallowed by the fire and the dust from the impact. The second shell crashes down on Linehart himself, swallowing him, too, in fire and dust. For a moment it looks as if the dark-clad knight is gone.      That's not how this works.      Simultaneously the two emerge from their respective clouds of debris. The scratches on the armor are identical, the splintered remains of the shell and the rocks it kicked up. No, wait - they're not identical. They're mirrored. There's also more scratches, more damage, than either of them should've taken alone - mirrored dents. Mirrored scratches. The smoke roiling off them as they emerge in exactly the opposite flows.      It's *weird*.      The Mirror Duplicate advances on the tank. The red lights on the end of the spear begin twisting and shifting, some sort of spinning puzzle or password. Eventually the runes lock together.      The Duplicate shoves the spear up into the tank, and a dark aura pours out of it. The energy of the tank flows into the duplicate, slowly repairing some of the dents and scratches - not only on the duplicate but on Linehart himself. The Mirror Duplicate rips the spear out, trailing shadow in its wake, and turns to face the oncoming line.      Meanwhile, Linehart said he would hold the line, so he will hold the line. He walks forward, massive spear slung over his shoulder, at the head of the line, directly into the advancing green-clad forces. The cross-scar visor on his helmet is as imposing as his music.      He is a monster. An unstoppable beast. He is the advancing shadow of night ready to fall, the beast that waits at the edge of the darkness, the fear that lurks in the bumps and thumps of midnight.      The first soldier he meets, he grabs by the throat. He drives the man into the ground, smashing the green-clad enemy so hard it leaves a crater around him. His spear whirls around to crash into the second, the sheer hilt of the weapon big enough to knock a human to the ground and possibly even crush a skull.      The crouched Evil Knight rises. He looms.      He marches into the horde, heedless of the chaos and the danger, leaving a wake through the sea of soldiers. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' CORDELAY AND GUZMA: You both take out your respective turrets, slicing them in half or punting them against the wall again. You're free to move forward to where the others are! THE GUZ SQUAD: The red-haired woman just glares at Tupp. "The hell are you talking about?" She says, continuing to swing her sword at him. Salndit's fire hits her though, and she lets out a cry, backing off for a moment. Also, that guy with a gun is still there. He fires at Zubat and Garbodor to suppress their usage of Toxic. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The first cannon is down, and an explosion of magic taking down defenses before they could take her down.  She gives a thumbs-up back down before flying around Sarra's tower, but this makes her a target.  That's fine...she has an idea.   She uses her sword and somehow manages to stab the air, forming a magical circle.  Then a storm of small birds forms around her, before flying out in all directions.  Their goal?  Aiming to get into the eyes and faces of things trying to stop her. And peck the shit out of them. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' Guzma, after the turrets are done, catches up with the others and heads towards the cannon where his gang is. If the door's closed, he's going to try and force his way in, otherwise he waltzes in, ignoring the giant clock robot, having returned Scizor to its pokeball. As his team is being stabbed and shot, Zubat narrowly getting clipped by a bullet and Garbodor leaking more trash, Tupp taking another (nastier) cut from the sword, they start panicking further. However, it'll be fine. Guzma is here, having avoided everything help for a chance to help his Guys out of a pinch. Another pokeball is clicked and released. A swordswoman and a gunner. It releases a bipedal blue and white bug, an isopod of sorts, hunched over and preparing a fist. "Golisopod. First Impression." Golisopod, the big bug only a bit taller than Guzma, suddenly blurs way too fast. It moves full force at the gunman, slamming a fist into his ribcage with the force to break a bone, and send him flying backwards. The swordswoman gets a glare. "The hated foe who beats you down and beats you down and never lets up is here, big bad Guzma! You gonna play ball with me now, or are you gonna turn and run with your tail between your legs?" 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Following after Guzma, Cordelay watches him bolt past the clock-robot and smiles devilishly. As he confronts the ones attacking his team, she once again leaps into the air - this time, however, she lashes out with one of her sword-chains in an attempt to ensnare any obvious weapons the mech is sporting before landing atop it and stabbing fiercely down into it, hoping to find something important to gouge out. "You have made a very dangerous enemy this day." Her smile morphs into a gleeful smirk as she addresses the red-haired woman. "Master Guzma! I understand if you wish to deal with her yourself, but know that if you call for my aid, the Dragon's daughter will assist you!" 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     "How the HELL is he moving so fast!?" The Marines begin to start putting their focus on Crow as he's the obvious threat here. Thankfully this relieves the pressure on the rest of group A. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much to help the Marines. A few more fall under the assault from Crow's weird pistols, their fellows grabbing them and pulling them back behind the slowly retreating line.     Nova watches a flock of birds move to support Mikoto. 'Neat trick.' Nova decides to leave the girl be for now, instead turning her attention on Crow. Through her scope, she can see the young man forcing her troops back, 'Not bad.'     As Nova watches the firefight down below, she receives a comm signal, <"Ma'am, alterations are complete.">     Nova responds, "Good, get to evac position." Headset tap, "Condor One, you're up." That done, Nova returns her attention to Crow, 'Let's see how he handles this..."     Nova reaches out with her mind, gripping one of the large metal beams supporting the roof. The telekinetic force causes the beam to warp, ripping it out of the concrete structure.     It then plummets down towards Crow and group A's position. 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     Mikoto's birds swarm around towards the bay containing the other cannon. But, being birds, they mistake the source of the shot and instead swarm down towards the two SCVs that have just moved around into view behind the cannon. The birds land upon the mech suits, beginning to poke and claw at the machines.     The pilots begin to panic.     "What are they doing!?" "Gah! They're damaging the cameras!" "Get off! Get off you damned things!"     The SCVs start flailing, mechanical arms trying to swipe the birds away, claws reaching out to try and grab them, laser cutters trying to burn them. All the while banging into each other in the process. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' With a cocky smirk on his face, Crow bites back some smarm -- he didn't want to waste the limited time he had in this 'clock up' state as it were, as ironic as it was for an ability that altered the passage of time to work. With the formation of the marines broken by his attack, Machias is given an opportunity to load a shell infused with Wind Sepith into his Orbal Shotgun. "Keep it up!" the glasses wearing gunman yelled before firing into the air, creating a dust of healing powder that fell over Elliot and Neithardt, who had both taken damage in the interim.         "Ah, damn!" By the time Crow realizes he's in danger, it was already nearly too late to do anything about it. With some quick thinking, he ejected the half-emptied clip of his weapon to replace it with one infused with Water Sepith, releasing a volley of shots into the falling debris. What was struck quickly iced over until it was frozen solid. "Alisa!" "Okay!" Alisa readied her Orbal Bow and strung back an arrow infused with Fire Sepith, releasing the Flamberge with a small shout, the projectile splitting open into a barrage of burning hot needles that pepper the frozen debris as it falls. The abrupt change in extreme temperatures warp and shatter the beam into far more manageable chunks for Crow and the rest to avoid, although Elliot cries out as he becomes pinned by a larger piece that fell on him. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Ok great, both cannons are gunked.  That'll make things easy for Rean to shut them down.  Starting to turn away and float, he saw that the building was starting to come down on her allies.  Ok, what the fuck..? The Eidolon disappears from behind her as she fades away.  The monster aims to appear to hold up the roof in places, as she summons large elephants in others to try and brace in others to try and cover those on the ground.   She just needs to set this down gently somewhere else...of course, this does make her a target while she tries to calmly take care of a collapsing roof. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' CORDELAY AND GUZMA: Cordelay's sword wraps around one of the machine's arms. It starts to groan against the weapon, leaving an opening for a blonde haired boy with a sword - Jusis- to come in with a flurry of piercing strikes. Cordelay also pierces through the top of the machine, though it's not quite dead. The machine starts sparking....and then discharges, unleashing a pulse of electricity around it...and above it. Jusis cries out, being way too close to the machine. Rean is also in that radius, and falls to his knees. Meanwhile with Guzma, Golisopod rams into the gunman, breaking a rib. He grunts, hitting the floor, but he 's not quite down yet. He fires at the bug Pokemon, trying to get it off of him. The woman laughs. "Is that a challenge? Well then, Let's play!" She shouts, igniting her sword. It then /extends/ in a straight line towards Guzma. 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' An electrical pulse around you is one thing, but one coming from a machine you're currently stabbing a metal implement into is much, much worse. The shock sends Cordelay tumbling from the machine's top with a piercing cry, barely able to grasp her sword's chain and yank it free once the pulse stops, and for a few moments she lies on the ground as the smell of singed leather and hair permeates the air. "What a cheap trick..." She coughs once her muscles quit spasming from the shock. "Master Schwarzer, are you alright? And your friend?" She begins forcing herself back to her feet, both swords in hand. Her allies are still fighting, after all, and there's no way she can give in while that's happening. Cordelay Levail is always the last to retreat. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' Two attacks come off at Guzma and his Golisopod. As the bullet impacts, Guzma grimaces, but Golisopod takes its arms and puts them together, shell blocking the bullet, though it carves a gash into it that'll need to be healed. The sword is the actual freaky part - Guzma thought he could try and dance past it, maybe, but when it extends, he's clearly out of his league, as the flaming sword gashes his side, cutting into his jacket and knocking him backwards. "Agh!" He's angry. Very angry. Tupp, Rapp, and Zipp come forth. "Boss, let us handle thi-" "Shut it! They want the dealer of destruction, they're gonna get him. What's your name, lady? I need to know what to write on your tomestone! Golisopod, Swords Dance!" He tries to laugh, though the pain knocks him back, as Golisopod starts shining, apparently doing some weird sort of dance. He could run...but that'd show his men a bad time. Not yet. If he gets hit again, he will, but he can take a single cheating gash, can't he? Another pokeball is grabbed and released. "If there's two of you, it's only fair." The pokeball releases a navy blue and yellow beetle-like pokemon, with very long pincers, about the height of a large dog but overall smaller, and it's making the air feel like static. "Vikavolt. Zap Cannon." He points at the boss lady, which might give her a second to move for Vikavolt, until he then, suddenly, as soon as she's moving to intercept, points at the gunman. "Golisopod. Pin Missile." Two shots fire. A massive electrical cannon blasts out of Vikavolt's maw, moving to fry the gunman. It probably won't kill him, but he'll wish he's dead if it manages to knock him out, and his bones will be like jelly. Golisopod, meanwhile, fires green-tinted energy missiles from its back, multiple hits moving to impact into the swordswoman and try and hit her from multiple sides. If Vikavolt manages to knock out the gunman, Guzma simply returns it to the ball. 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     Nova watches as the falling debris is shattered like ice. Smart. Yet more is held up by that... Thing, whatever it is. And, ELEPHANTS? What the hell? Damnit, stupid magic.     Still, the move by Nova creates a brief lull in the battle, which Nova attempts to use to her advantage. She stands up, saying into her radio, "All troops to evac positions. It's time we get out of here." Blue light shimmers around Nova, revealing her form as she decloaks and vaults over the catwalk railing. She lands atop the large cannon.     The Marines begin to pull back. Some help their wounded up onto the cannon itself, while others move to hold onto the side. Meanwhile, Nova reaches down and detaches one of the thin cylinders from the leg of her suit. She presses a button on top and then throws the object towards Crow and the rest of group A, "Here, catch!" Yeah, catching it would be a bad idea. As shortly after, the flashbang explodes in a blast of light and energy to disorient those caught in the radius.     As for Nova, she kneels down and places a hand against the railway cannon she's standing on, closing her eyes as she concentrates. With screeching metal the large wheels of the cannon begin to move along the track that gives it its name. The large mobile artillery begins to move out of the bay. Though where it's going to go once it reaches the end of the rails, and the massive ravine beyond that edge, is anyone's guess. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto finally sets the debris down, taking a breath.  Ok, that's another emergency taken care of.  She gives a thumbs up towards the other students until there is a rumbling.  The cannon is moving?  Her eyes track the cannon until she sees someone on it.  Well, to a magical girl, it is obvious MAGIC is being used.   She flies, as the Eidolon returns to her back, as she tries to fly at high speed towards the slow-moving cannon.  Her sword is drawn as she pulls it over her head, and attempts to descend on Nova like a white-haired villain in a JRPG.  YOU KNOW THE ONE! "I'm going to need you to stop doing whatever it is you think you're doing here." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' CORDELAY AND GUZMA: "Ghh...I'm fine. How about you?" Rean says, slowly getting to his feet. Jusis also gets up though he's a lot more singed than Rean is. He coughs. "It'll take much more than that to finish me." Laura, a ponytailed girl with a greatsword rushes forward, with Sara behind her. "Instructor, with me!" she shouts, and Sara fires a salvo of pistol shots at the machine, while Laura slams her weapon into it. The robot sways a bit, but is undeterred. The clockwork like wheel on its back turns faster, and it's surrounded by a ring of blue light, almost like a spell circle. "Shit, it's casting, get back!" Sara shouts. The redheaded woman smiles. "Scarlet, or 'S' for short." She says. She jumps back, expecting to get zapped...But then the attack hits its true target. The gunman screams, getting absolutely fried by the Zap Cannon. He's out cold. "Very sneaky." Scarlet says, frowning. She weaves through Golispede's missiles, bu isn't quite fast enough for one of them and gets struck on the side, tearing into her red dress. She hisses a bit, then laughs. She swings her sword down...and it breaks evenly into little chevrons, like it was built to do so. The pieces fly through the air, swarming Guzma and his squad like tiny sharp birds. Also that guy that got poisoned is dead now. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:'''         "Phew.." With crisis averted, Crow gives a small and playful salute to Mikoto for her help in holding up the roof. Neithardt is left with a nasty gash on one of his legs while Alisa and Machias sport what are ultimately just flesh wounds, both of them moving to try and push the debris off of Elliot before it crushes something important. By the time they recover from their disorientation from the flashbang escape of Nova, the Railway Cannon is already moving. "N-no!" "We failed..?!" Neithardt's expression hardens as he holds up his orbment. "Valestein, the left Railway Cannon is moving out!" he warns. Crow, in the meantime, fires a careful volley of orbal gunfire. He hits neither of his targets, an oddity for someone usually so tricky with his aim. "Hey, I can't really get a clear shot, lady!" 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' "What an annoyance!" Cordelay snaps as the machine begins charging up. "Are any of you familiar with this type of enemy? If so, tell me where to strike to do the most damage to it!" She tenses, her muscles still aching from the previous shock, ready to leap clear of the machine's next cast. "We must take care of it quickly and break out of this encirclement, with this machine at our front and Scarlet harassing Master Guzma at our rear we are in a rather poor position." 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     Schhluck.     Drip. Drip.     Mikoto's blade sticks down through the shoulder of the kneeling Nova, going in one side and coming out the other. Blood trails down from the tip, before dropping down onto the cannon housing below. Nova grunts at the pain, the speed of the already slowly moving cannon dropping. But it then picks up again, continuing forward.     Nova lifts her head to look up at Mikoto above her, opening her eyes to reveal them lit up with psychic energy. Through gritted teeth she says, "I. Will. Not."     The dormant psi-blade on Nova's back flares to life, psychic energy forming into the molecular thick edge. It then detaches from the suit, rising up into the air as Nova directs it with her mind. The blade then whips outwards, spinning around through the air before stopping some distance behind Mikoto, tip pointed at her back.     There's a sonic boom.     The psi-blade launches forward, threatening to pierce right through Mikoto if she doesn't move. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' Tupp is bleeding, and Zipp is holding him while Rapp moves over to the poisoned guy, who is probably spilling bile and blood now. "H-hey, are you okay?" She kicks him gently, and then ducks down when she realizes he's dead. Mortified, she recoils backwards into Zipp, who grabs her. "Hey, hey, Rapp, it's gonna be okay, y-yo!" They're scared delinquents. This isn't how the world should be. Guzma, meanwhile, has Golisopod fire more pin missiles to intercept the shots on the trio. They're safe, but Guzma is cut up by chevrons, as is Golisopod, causing both to bleed. "Alright. Let's play seriously." Guzma says. He can't flee with a bleeding Tupp and a scarred Rapp. So one more attack might be able to drive her off, especially as everyone else is getting to work. "Messing with me. Messing with my goons. Who do you think you are, S? Some sort of hotshot? You're nothing. You're trash. And you know what I do to trash? I crush it! I throw it in the bin! Smashed to bits!" "Razor Shell!" Golisopod lifts its shell on its arm, sharpened, and suddenly charges it with water energy, before rushing forward at Scarlet. It's moving to batter her and cut into her as much as possible. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The blade shoots up, catching Mikoto's eye.  Just because it moves fast doesn't mean it doesn't escape her notice.  Already moving, thanks to Nanoha's Superior Speed and Flight, she moves to try and avoid the thing.  There is a sharp pain in her side, as the blade cuts through her dress and slashing the side of her body.   Both she and the Eidolon are hit, causing the Magical girl to double back.  However, she was not out of this yet.  She moves around attempting to draw Nova's concentration on her.  Obviously, she couldn't be a sitting duck, or else that blade would cleanly cut through her back.   However, Nova might notice something.  The Eidolon was gone. That is because it forms into existence right behind her, aiming to grab her in both of its malformed hands to start squeezing her body.  Crushing, choking...whatever it took to break her concentration.   "I. Insist." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean looks over at the machine, catching onto something. "Try stopping the wheel!" Rean shouts, and then runs in, moving to stab his sword between the turning device and the robot's back. The discussion about death catches his attention, but he's not really up for multitasking right now because well, stabbing a robot. Scarlet is rammed into with the shell, and it cuts into her body more. She grunts, staggering back and holding onto her wounds. "Heh...Sounds like that other lady is almost done. You win this round, Guzma." She says. She pulls out a smoke bomb, and throws it to the floor, before running off. There's a distant sound of an airship pulling up, and the sound of someone leaping onto a metal deck. 

:'''{{#var:7148|Guzma (7148)}} has posed:''' As Scarlet escapes, Guzma...doesn't try to stop her. "Golisopod, return." He clicks the pokeball, returning Golisopod, as he grabs his wound and shifts in place. He starts moving over to his grunts, before smacking himself in the side of the face. "Guzma! What is wrong with you?! Your grunts got hurt because you were off fighting stupid turrets! Keep it together, man!" After wiping the impression of his palm from his face (he hit himself pretty hard), Rapp calmed slightly by Linehart but now recoiling from Guzma's outburst, he extends a hand to her. "Yo, let's get me and Tupp over to treatment. Time's a wasting. Zipp, you think you can help him walk?" "Y-yeah, boss!" And so, Team Skull lives another day. But the world's changed for them in one day. Waltzing into a battlefield and out...what new excitement might come for them?" 

:'''{{#var:6936|Cordelay Levail (6936)}} has posed:''' Upon hearing Rean's suggestion, Cordelay regains her smile. Running to the other side of the robot, she slings her sword-chains at it again - both of them this time, attempting to bind the wheel and stop it from spinning. "I'm counting on all of you to disable it if this works, I won't be able to use my swords while restraining it like this!" Her voice is strained with tension as she focuses all her efforts on stopping the wheel and the spell, bracing for the inevitable yank on the chains that's certain to come. As she does this, she spots Team Skull withdrawing and nods respectfully toward them. For a group of what seemed to be petty criminals, they certainly acted more like heroes. She had certainly underestimated them. 

:'''{{#var:7141|Linehart (7141)}} has posed:'''      The line is held.      The juggernaut, surrounded by the fallen, is unmoved. His armor is dented, damaged - perhaps even broken in places, though how could one tell through that smoky, light-drinking darkness - but he himself still looms like the oncoming night. The cloak that turns to shadow at its tip whirls about him. That glowing red visor stares after the man with the machine gun as he departs for the airship. There is no pursuit. Linehart does not pursue. Linehart stalks, and threatens, and inexorably advances. But he does not pursue. He does not chase. Chasing and pursuit are for others to do.      One of the massive clockwork machines lies, shattered, around him, the bits of clock melted from intense flame. Soldiers are crumpled about the machine, too, bodies scattered as petals in the wind. As he turns to walk back towards the fortress, each heavy bootfall cracks bullet-casings underfoot. He ought to be covered in blood, but he is not. There was never such art drawn for him, perhaps. Or maybe that dark armor simply does not show such stains.      Linehart passes through the Imperial lines without a textbox of acknowledgement. He stops for a moment to look back over the line, over the dead on both sides.      Then he goes to find someone in charge and stand near them until they give him money or an item of some sort, point him at a dungeon, or offer some key treasure for later. He won't say as much, but he will just wait there until they give him something, even if it's simply another quest, at which point he will walk through the nearest reflective surface and disappear like a bad dream. 

:'''{{#var:6381|Nova Terra (6381)}} has posed:'''     Nova's in a rather difficult situation. Half her attention is focused on moving the giant cannon. So she's having trouble holding out against the Eidolon that is now slowly crushing her. Her suit helps, the artificial muscle fibers providing the extra strength to at least keep her from being immediately hugged in half. But she's going to need to do something to break free soon, already feeling her mind cloud.     She just needs an opening...     Nova focuses on Mikoto, the telepath's mind trying to grasp at something, anything within the other girl. It's difficult enough to get through an Elite's natural defenses under normal circumstances. But Nova persists. There must be something...     There!     "Souji... And Nishi."     Names that are probably meaningless to most here. But they mean something to Mikoto. Nova knows that. She doesn't know exactly why. But it should be enough to shock the magical girl.     At that point, a number of things happen in unison:     An aura of psychic energy flares up around Nova, then launches itself at Mikoto to strike not her body, but her mind.     The railway cannon reaches the end of the track. Crashing through the stone railing and beginning to roll off the edge of the platform. For several moments, it appears to defy gravity, held aloft by Nova. But the Ghost's concentration is fading and soon the cannon begins to tip.     A large Terran Hercules transport comes streaking down from the sky above. The pilot sees the tipping cannon and starts to panic, crying, "Shitshitshit! This was not part of the plan!" Still he maneuvers the craft into place, engines spinning around to rapidly slow the transport's speed and park the open rear doors in the path of the now falling cannon. To catch the incredibly heavy artillery before punching the thrusters to get the bulky craft rising again with the added weight. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The names jolt Mikoto in a way she wasn't expecting.  How did she know those names?  It was just the moment that Nova needed to get through her mental defenses.  The psychic attack strikes at her mind, causing her a great amount of pain. And she falls.  And screams.   The Eidolon is gone, unable to sustain the magic needed to keep it up.  She can't control her descent.  smacking off the side of the cannon before going ass over teacups towards the canyon.   This was going to hurt. 

:'''{{#var:7145|Crow Armbrust (7145)}} has posed:''' The battle on both sides reaches a crescendo before victory ultimately falls part and parcel to both sides. And seemingly at the last second, a pitch black state of the art airship quickly maneuvers itself in, swerving around the right Railway Cannon in time for the red-haired S to board it. The man with the gun was there, too, it seemed. With the core members of the ILF secured, it curves up and to the right to avoid getting caught in the disaster going on at the left-most platform. An electronically garbled voice filters out to reach everyone present willing to lend an ear. The baritone is simulated, but the hardness in it, the resentment was doubtlessly authentic. "My name is ... C. I am the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front .. you all fought very well to repel us both this time and the last. But don't think you're out of the woods, this isn't over. The hammer of justice will fall again, I'm ready."         "Are you?" The airship turns smoothly and as quick and quiet as a shadow, disappears into the horizon. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The wheel grinds to a halt, and the machine stops glowing. "Ok, now!" Rean shouts. Everyone rushes the machine, Swords, spears, gunshots and metal puppet fists slamming against the robot. It falls down with a clank, stilled. Sara runs ahead of the Guz Squad, running to shut the cannon down. "Cannon disabled." She says, stepping back out. Then the Terran transport shows up. Everyone looks out the opening towards the ravine, noticing Nova moving the entire cannon. "Wait, is she /stealing/ it?!" Sara shouts, running to the guardrail. She fires her pistol at the transport, probably futilely. Emma starts firing arts at the passing transport from her position as well, launching bursts of fire and light at it. "MIKOTO!" Rean shouts, watching her sail into the ravine. Suddenly a silver and blue blur passes him, as Millium flies into the ravine riding on one of Airgetlam's arms. The silver puppet reaches out its other arm, catching Mikoto before she can become a splat on the ravine walls. Her stomach probably hurts though. Then the ILF ship passes by and C does his speech. They would be ready, next time. 
}}

6840/Old Schoolhouse Exploration 3

2019-12-22T06:34:24Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/09/21 |Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse |Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the fifth floor of the Old Schoolhouse. |..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/09/21
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
|Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the fifth floor of the Old Schoolhouse.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002, 7075, 446
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone meets outside the Old Schoolhouse, a somewhat dilapidated stone building at the back of the Thors campus. It's still pretty hot out, and there's still cicadas chirping, a sound that becomes more prominent in this quiet corner of the campus. Rean's already here when you arrive. With him are Elliot, the red haired boy from the visit to Heimdallr,  a small teal haired girl that looked to be around 13 instead of in her late teens like the others, and a tall silver-haired boy who had on the green version to the Thors uniform instead of Class VII's red one. "Ok, I think that's everyone." Rean says. "These are my classmates, Elliot, Millium and Crow. Millium and Crow are the two new ones I mentioned the other day". "Hey there!" Millium says, giving an enthusiastic wave.  Crow also waves. "Nice to meet 'ya!" he says, grinning. "Nice to see you again." Elliot says with a smile. "So, there's an underground space beneath here filled with monsters, and we're basically just exploring it to figure out why it's growing new floors." Rean says, explaining for Nanoha and Sarrencia's benefit, as well as Crow and Millium's. "It's usually pretty straightforward, got through the new floor beating up monsters, and then deal with the big one at the end. Though..." He looks away for a moment, thinking about what happened last time. "...Last time a door appeared on the 4th floor, and it eventually let out a giant suit of armor. So something like that might happen again and we end up fighting something extra. Otherwise, that's really it?" Once any questions are answered, you all head inside. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto was here in her civilian clothing, hands behind her head as the explanations and introductions are made.  She raises a hand in greeting towards the two new people, "Yo," She says, calmly.  No formal bow today, this appears not to really be a thing here. "Dangerous bosses, exciting levels, potentially treasure..." She says, liking that last one quite a bit.  "Let's just hope we don't find Rean's sister on the fourth floor again." Perhaps chiding, perhaps serious...who can say. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha arrives at the campus wearing a pink blouse and jeans. It is a weekend, after all. At least, where Nanoha's from. It's hard to tell on other worlds sometimes. The military school has a familiar feeling to it, seeing as how the aerial instructor works in one like it. Perhaps not architecturally, as this one looks like one of those old-school schools. But the atmosphere is certainly similar!     Meeting up outside the Old Schoolhouse, Nanoha looks up at it. She smiles, "It certainly has that feeling of an old haunted house full of monsters!"     But for the moment, introductions are in order. Nanoha nods to the new students as each is mentioned by Rean, finally responding with, "Captain Nanoha Takamachi of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau. But, Nanoha is fine!"     The instructions are pretty clear. Although, "It grows new floors on its own? Interesting! Sounds like construction magic. I wonder if it's following a predefined plan or just creating things randomly..." Nanoha will have to ask someone about such magic when she returns home. It's not one she ever learned. But thankfully she knows someone who has.     Nanoha is still silently pondering the mechanics of the shifting building when the group begins to enter. She realises they're all heading off and quickly follows behind. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      As is more and more common for her nowadays, Sarracenia is in her black toughened leather dress with red metal armor segments bolted on it. A dress she calls her battle dress. She greets both Rean and Mikoto with a quick little hug, then listens to the short briefing. As introductions are made she curtseys royally to the two new members of the group. "Greetings. I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom. It is nice to meet all of you." she says, then reaches into her purse to pull out her massive DK Hammer and gives it a showy twirling flourish before resting it over her shoulder.      She then smirks lightly. "It does sound interesting. If not for your assurances that it is a magical phenomenon, I would definitely think it was from Kirito's world or something similar." she adds after Nanoha speaks. She then looks to Mikoto. "Are you certain you are feeling up to this?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean sighs. "She's back at her school, so that's not going to happen." Back at her school and /safe./ "So /that's/ where she wound up. Heard you guys were looking for her back then, but I didn't know she wound up in /there./" Crow says. "...Yeah. It was...rough, but we got her out safely." Rean says, dodging around his secret. No need to talk about the specifics of what happened down there now, right? Then Sarraencia comes over and hugs Rean. He stares into space for a second, not expecting this at all. "Uh...Hi, your highness." Rean says. "Is this what you've been doing in your free time?" Crow says, feigning a shocked gasp. "Seducing princesses?" Rean groans. "Please don't." Anyway, once everyone is actually inside, everyone gets on the stone platform elevator and goes down to the 5th floor. The floor has bridges that fold and unfold when certain switches are pressed like on the third floor, and as expected, there's monsters here too. Notably, large earthy sea turtles and purple accordion shaped jellyfish, and living boulders that are cold to the touch. Of course, the group is able to handle these well, including Millium, who has a silver object appear behind her that follows her motions, swinging its 'arms' when she swings hers and punching one of those boulders across the room at one point. Crow keeps up just fine as well, using his twin guns to strike from afar, and Elliot keeps everyone patched up with Arts or his orbal staff's ability to heal via sound. Eventually, everyone reaches the door at the back of the floor. The door opens, and reveals a large dragon made of ice and stone. It roars, filling the room with a chilling sound. Not just because it's spooky, but because the temperature just dropped a few degrees. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarracenia blinks at Rean's tone there, then blushes a bit at Crow's teasing. "Is that not a proper greeting between friends?" she asks uncertainly. She coughs a bit, then smirks lightly. "Besides, Rean and Mikoto is much more likely than Rean and me." she adds, just to make a bit of trouble and to deflect a bit from her. "...not to mention heroes do not appreciate a princess of my type."      They descend and fight monsters! Sarracenia takes out plenty of them...and likely takes plenty of damage in the process. It is a good thing they brought a healer! She wields her hammer to deadly effect and shows little hesitation when it comes to leaping into the fray despite not being a sturdy combatant at all. She is all damage with little defense.      When they reach the ice dragon she shivers from the chilling roar before pulling out a fire flower. It disappears in a puff of white smoke and her color palette changes to a more fiery one. It might help her to keep warm, but more importantly it will allow her to throw some fireballs. Everyone knows that is good against ice! 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "I'm fine, I don't need defending.  If I was doing not fine, you'd know by now," Mikoto says, a touched annoyed but not enough to make it a big deal.  She does, after all, return the hug.  It's a bit PERSONAL for her, but unlike most, she is open to multiversal ideas.   "No, we're just.../friends/," Mikoto says, "Besides, he's too focused on his sister," She says about Bean and her.  Instead of standing around and elaborating, she just charges ahead.  There is a flash of ~Magical Girl~ sparkles. The normal outfit is replaced by the jade one, including a jade sword that seems to burst out of rough jade.  She simply charges forward through the monsters.  Her blade swings like a whirlwind, until they come to the dragon, who gives them a /chilly/ reception. "Wow, talk about the cold shoulder.  Alright, let's chill down." She says, with a giggle.  Spinning her blade once and getting ready.  "I mean, dragons are cool...so if you want to stop being a jerk and be a pet of mine.." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha glances around, looking rather excited as the group is lowered down on the stone platform. As they reach the target floor, she briefly glows with light as she transforms. Her combat dress takes shape and her staff appears in her left hand. She then follows the others into the dungeon.     Nanoha sticks towards the rear as the battles proceed, using her ranged spells to blast the monsters to support the others. She doesn't go too explosive, concerned about bring the dungeon down upon the group. Though Nanoha wouldn't be surprised if the structure was magically reinforced. Nanoha looks impressed by Millium's combat pet/doll/golem/whatever she calls it. It's a unique means of fighting.     As they reach the boss, Nanoha is still looking rather fine. Partially in thanks to the efforts of those fighting at the front. The previous monsters weren't too difficult which allowed the Mage to pace herself well enough too. There's a scorch mark on her dress where one of the monsters got in a lucky shot, but it's hardly any real concern. Especially with Elliot having provided support so far.     As the dragon lets of an icey roar, Nanoha instinctively moves an arm to protect her face from the wind. Her Barrier Jacket helps provide protection against the ambient cold generated by the large creature. But she suspects its attacks are not going to be so easier.     As Sarracenia switches her magic over to a more fire focused set, Nanoha is a little jealous of the elemental affinity. Leveling her staff to point towards the dragon, Nanoha calls out to Mikoto, "While some dragons can make good pets, I don't think this one will be very interested!" Especially as they've already started shooting at it!     An orb of pink appears beyond the tip of Nanoha's staff, before bursting into a bright beam that streaks towards the dragon and explodes on impact. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Nanoha's attack streaks towards the dragon, smacking it in the head and exploding. It really doesn't like that though, and launches a bunch of ice spikes towards Nanoha and anyone who might be standing near her. "Lammy, barrier!" Millium says, pointing at Nanoha. The silver puppet chirps and moves to block the spikes for the instructor with a force field, if Nanoha doesn't deal with them some other way first.  Meanwhile, Rean has the same general idea Sarra has and ignites his sword, as Crow fires off a few shots as a distraction for him. Rean then runs in, delivering a strike to one of the dragon's legs. The fire does /much/ less damage than expected, and the dragon looks down at Rean, swinging its tail into him to knock him away. Rean skids across the floor,  "Fire MIGHT not work as well as you might think it would." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Well... let's just see what exactly is beneath the surface of this dragon," Mikoto says, as she holds a hand out.  Around her arm data seems to form in the form of a bracelet.   Spikes made out of data shoot out of it, before pointing towards the dragon, like a gun.  Even as it fires ice towards Nanoha, she leaps back, aiming to force herself to skid back, before firing a dark ball of energy forward.   Should it hit the dragon, it would attempt to apply /every/ status effect it can from 'The World', as well as shoot data back to Mikoto, hopefully, something useful for them.   "Hey, I don't judge a dragon by its appearance or temperament.  Sometimes they just are hungry.  Others it is because they are jerks...this one is more a jerk." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarracenia looks confused as Mikoto declares she doesn't need defending. "What? What said you did? I was merely concerned that..." She huffs softly and shakes her head. "..nevermind."      Rean's sword and Sarracenia's fireballs do little it seems, and Sarracenia huffs in annoyance as she watches Rean slide past. "Well, if fire does not work...I suppose I'll go back to my hammer!" She giggles a bit at what Mikoto says, then charges in and leaps. She aims to hit the dragon right in the head if she can, her hammer causing a resounding thud when it hits and sending out a small shockwave.      She bounces away after her attack, then looks to Mikoto. "...did you always have that sword and outfit? Well, either way they are quite fetching. Jade always seems to be in style." 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha seems to have drawn the dragon's ire, a wave of spikes sent flying her way. Thankfully, Nanoha has some help! A forcefield appears, created by Millium's strange bot. Nanoha quickly glances at the owner, "Thanks!"     Not needing to worry as much about defense at this point, Nanoha raises her staff in the air above her, calling out, "Axel Shooter!" Several orbs of pink flash into existence around her. She then swings her staff down in the direction of the dragon, shouting, "Shoot!"     The orbs begin to fire multiple beams of magic that arc up and then down atop the dragon, targeting multiple spots with explosions in an attempt to either overwhelm or identify a weak point.     As she concentrates on her barrage, Nanoha counters to Mikoto, "I don't think it's so mucha jerk as it is created to defend this place? So it's just doing its job." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The dragon tilts its head, and Mikoto's attack goes wide, blowing up on impact with the back wall. Nanoha's attack DOES hit, though, exploding as it breaks the ice spikes growing out of the dragon's back. Sarrancia hits too, the impact ringing out with a loud thud. Airgetlam comes flying in after her, delivering a punch of its own. Crow starts firing at the broken spikes, and Rean quickly sheaths and unsheathes his sword with a flourish, sending an arc shaped wave at the same spot. Elliot's still in the back, and after a few moments with a casting ring around him, he raises his staff, and three balls of golden light surround the dragon before ramming into it from all sides. The dragon roars again, and the room gets even colder. Frost might even be forming on weapons or clothes now...unless you're Sarrancia and extremely hot. Then a ring of light surrounds the dragon, before becoming a bunch of arc shaped chunks of ice headed off at Sarrencia, Mikoto, and Nanoha, as well as at Rean and Crow. Crow tries to side step the attack but gets a gasg in his arm for it while Rean tries to block and skids back again. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      "Defend it from what though?" Sarracenia wonders aloud, then blinks. "Wait, do monsters from this place actually threaten the surface? Or did we simply come down here because there were monsters in a strange growing dungeon?" she asks. Just before one of those ice arcs catches her and sends her sprawling across the ground. Her fiery color-scheme disappears in a puff of smoke, and she mmphs as she gets back to her feet.      What little warmth the power-up provided is gone, and Sarracenia is quickly shivering as frost forms on her hammer and the metal parts of her dress. "I-it does not even have to fight us! Merely freeze us!" she exclaims irritably before she reaches into her purse.      And with a few flicks of her arm she sends a number of the cute little creatures known as Bob-ombs flying toward the dragon. The explosions aren't huge, but they are quite powerful! "We had better handle this creature quickly!"      She reaches into her purse again after that and pulls out what looks like some kind of raccoon doll with just a black area for a face. She squeezes it, and in a puff of smoke...she is wearing a full body tanuki suit! The plush fur does more than the fire flower actually was anyway. And it looks cute! If you ask her, at least. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Blasts of ice are sent at Nanoha again. This time she protects herself as she raises her hand towards them. A spell circle appears beyond her palm, forming a barrier. The crescent icicles smash against the shield, shattering in the process. Some of the shards blast past the edge of the round defense, piercing Nanoha's Barrier Jacket in a few places along the edge. Nanoha winces as a little red begins to stain her clothes. But nothing serious.     Nanoha notices the cold beginning to rise, her quick breaths beginning to freeze. Nanoha nods along in agreement with Sarra, "We can't let it continue decreasing the temperature for much longer!" Although the unusual tanuki suit does draw a brief stare from Nanoha.     Returning her focus to the icy dragon, they might have found a weakness in the form of those now destroyed spikes on its back. At the very least it's a decent enough spot to aim. And Nanoha plans to make doing so easier. As her defensive barrier fades, Nanoha shifts her hand to point towards the dragon itself now, calling, "Ring Bind!" Several rings of light appear around the dragon, quickly shrinking moments later in an attempt to wrap the creature up and limit its movements. Hopefully to give the others a better chance of striking it.     Nanoha takes advantage of her own bind as well, a quick blast of pink firing from her palm to streak towards the damage they've already done to the dragon. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Seriously..?  How does that even miss by the dragon moving its head slightly?  That's bullshit!" Mikoto complains, before thrusting her sword down into the ground as the ice attempts to wash out and consume the three of them, plus friends.  Jade spikes out of the ground around her, protecting her from the ice magic as she waits for the attack to subside. Then leaping out of the top, she rushes for the dragon by jumping off of Rean's head as he slides past and attempting to get some air.  Swinging down in a mighty blow, channeling the Superior Strength of Haguro, she attempts to bring the sword down in a mighty arch. This would put her just slightly behind or to the right of the dragon, blade extended as the force of the blow would come through seconds later. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Nanoha's Ring Bind spell wraps around the dragon, holding it in place. Rean grunts as Mikoto jumps off of his head, and her attack lands, placing her slightly behind the dragon. Nanoha's attack hits the broken spikes, and the dragon roars again, but it's a normal pained roar this time, and not one that lowers the room's temperature. "Alright, together now!" Rean shouts, and Class VII makes a directed attack at the broken spikes with guns, sword, puppet fist and magic, and any other attacks others want to throw in here. The dragon lets out one last roar, before exploding into a burst of violet light. The room returns to a more normal temperature, and then.... Nothing. "...Huh." Rean says, looking around. "No quake this time."  Maybe there's no extra door? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Well, that's anti-climatic," Mikoto says the sword coming up and then down, flicking whatever was left on it off as she turns towards the now dead dragon.  Thankful that the temperature wasn't freezing now.  The sword on her shoulder, she turns around, looking for a door or something to find. "Man, that's it?  Or is this one of this weird 'Oh hey we're going to just sit here and not advance for a few weeks' things like one of the last few locks were?  Ugh, and here I thought there was some treasure to be found." "Not even a dragonscale.  Worst dragon ever." 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      Sarracenia watches the dragon explode like that and peers. "...are you certain this is not some sort of game zone?" she asks Rean once things seem calm. She nods in agreement with Mikoto. "Nor any jewels." she says, looking around the room. "Well fought, though! This dragon never stood a chance, despite the cold temperatures and the fire resistance."      She dusts off her dress, then smiles to the group. "Well, it was a short adventure overall, but it was nice working with you all. And it was nice to meet you Nanoha, Elliot, and Millium." She curtseys, then starts for the exit. 

:'''{{#var:7075|Nanoha Takamachi (7075)}} has posed:'''     Nanoha shields her eyes at the unexpected light, but quickly looks again. She relaxes a little as the dragon appears to be defeated. Though a part of her still expects something else to show up. But she's just being cautious.     As Mikoto expresses her disappointment, Nanoha considers the dragon's vanishing, "It does seem like it may have been a magical construct. Rather than a real creature. Which isn't unexpected given this place is apparently expanding on its own. Still, I'm curious as to why it's doing all this."     There's a brief pause. As yet more stuff doesn't happen. Then Nanoha smiles and shrugs, "But I guess we don't get to find out today?"     Nanoha begins to head out herself, "I think some dragon slaying deserves a nice reward. How about cake?" Nanoha appears to be offering! 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Sold to the woman with the cake," Mikoto immeidately says to Nanoha. 

:'''{{#var:446|Sarracenia (446)}} has posed:'''      "Yes! Let there be cake!" Sarracenia agrees. Even a princess won't turn down free cake! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Sorry to disappoint you?" Rean says in response to Mikoto and Sarra noting the lack of treasure. "I...hope not?" Rean says in response to Sarra's comment about game worlds. That'd be all kinds of weird, if their world was a game and they didn't know it! It wouldn't really change much, though. It'd still be real, right? "I'm pretty sure the bigger monsters that show up down here aren't normal, that's for sure." Rean says to Nanoha. "Ooh, Free cake! Let's go!" Millium shouts, unsummoning Lammy and immediately bolting out the door. "Millium, wait-" Rean says, and then chuckles. "I guess that's that. The cafe near the train station should have cake, if you want to stay here. Or if you know a place outside, that works too!" 
}}

Rean Schwarzer

2019-12-22T03:15:57Z

StarSketch:

{{CharacterRedux
|NameOnMUSH=Rean Schwarzer
|Color=#0099FF
|Char_id=6994
|Img=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/0/04/Rean_-_Menu_Art_(Sen).png
|FullName=Rean Schwarzer
|Gender=Male
|Species=Human
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Chartype=FC
|Active=Active
|Function=Student of Class VII
|Faction=Paladins
|Rank=4-Chevaliers
|Ranktype=Member
|Quote="If we have the power to save someone and we don't use it to do that, what kind of people would that make us?"
|PAge=17
|AAge=17
|Aging=Yes
|Height=5'8
|Hair=Black
|Eyes=Violet
|Voice=Sean Chiplock / Kouki Uchiyama
|Song=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwHjrdU0DhM
|Profile=The adopted common-born son of Baron Teo Schwarzer, Rean stands directly in the middle of Erebonia's class divide. Kindhearted and hardworking,Rean's sincerity and passion is what lead the other students of Thors Military Academy's Class VII to look up to him as a leader and confidant. He is accepting of most people, and generally polite. However, beneath his friendly exterior lies a lot of turmoil. Bearing a power he can barely control or understand and being the subject of scorn by his parents' peers left him with a negative self image. The one person he fails to be kind to is himself, and he truly desires to no longer be a burden on those he cares about and find his place in the world. He is a practitioner of the Eight Leaves, One Blade sword school and as a member of the Class VII project, a user of the prototype ARCUS spellcasting device.
|Defining=Eight Leaves, One Blade:
A sword style that specializes in the use of Eastern swords such as katana or tachi, and a general focus on swift strikes and agility.
Weapon Mastery - Swords: Rean's weapon of choice.
Attack List - Melee: Rean can launch sudden, rapid combo attacks, create small shockwaves, and use a variety of fire-based elemental strikes. He also knows how to fight unarmed with punches and palm strikes.
Extraordinary Senses: Rean is capable of sensing the aura of living things in the environment around him, picking up on their location and distance from him. However, he can't tell specifics of what something is, just that it's there.
|Significant=ARCUS Combat Orbment:
A Combat Orbment is a device that allows its user to cast magic spells known as Arts. The Quartz crystals slotted into it defines what Arts the user can cast.
Attack List - Ranged, Healing - Self: Rean's setup allows him to use offensive darkness and fire magic and water and wind magic for healing.
Share Powers: Healing and buffing magic can also be used on allies as a general function of Combat Orbments.

Mysterious Power:
Ever since he was 9, Rean's been aware of a strange power dwelling within him.
Superhumanity, Mobility: When active, Rean's physical abilities become stronger, allowing him to deal more damage, withstand more damage, and perform maneuvers he normally wouldn't be able to.
Flash Movement: It also grants him enough speed to move between points in line of sight almost instantly.
|Minor=Raised by Nobles:
Wealth: Rean's family rules over the mountain village of Ymir in Northern Erebonia, and have the money to do so behind their name.
NPCs: The residents of Ymir are devoted to their lords, and despite not being blood related, Rean is no exception. If he needs a place to stay or whatever degree of help a bunch of average villagers can give him, they'll help.
|Disadvantages=Your Own Worst Critic <Trouble>: Rean's sense of responsibility is almost wholly based on a desire to not be a burden on those around him. He is especially aware of his hand in other people's suffering, even if it's minor or imagined. As a result, he is motivated by a desire to do the right thing in general and to make up for the suffering he causes. His own suffering in the process matters much less, if at all. So basically, he's very self-sacrificial. This ranges from becoming the Student Council's errand boy because they're swamped with outside requests to taking a hit by a monster for two arguing classmates. He also tends to be exceedingly modest because he genuinely believes he's worth very little in comparison to those around him. As an extension of this, If he believes someone truly wants to make up for their mistakes, he'll give them that second chance. After all, where would he be if no one gave him a chance? This applies to even heinous crimes like murder, as long as the person displays a desire to lessen the impact on others said murder caused. He also disagrees with death as a punishment for a crime - you can't clean up the mess you made if you're dead.

Rage Mode <Significant>: Rean's control over his power is limited. If he feels an intense desire for vengeance (or just an extreme desire to beat something's face in), his powers activate on their own, and he becomes hyper-fixated on destroying his target until either he runs out of energy, or someone manages to bring him back to his senses. He is extremely protective over those he cares about, and bringing them serious harm will most definitely set him off. It is because of this lack of control over himself that he only actively uses this ability as a last ditch trump card. Keeping the ability on for a long period of time also exhausts him.

Captain Cornball <Minor>: Rean is incredibly sincere about how he feels about people. In fact, he's overly so. The kinds of positive things he says about people borders on flattery, and while he truly thinks of them that highly, it's not hard to see why it's difficult to take him seriously when he does that. He's also a bit too forthcoming with encouragement and advice, and this coming from a teenager with only so much life experience.
}}

Rean Schwarzer

2019-12-22T02:53:22Z

StarSketch:

{{CharacterRedux
|NameOnMUSH=Rean Schwarzer
|Color=#0099FF
|Char_id=6994
|Img=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/0/04/Rean_-_Menu_Art_(Sen).png
|FullName=Rean Schwarzer
|Gender=Male
|Species=Human
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Chartype=FC
|Active=Active
|Function=Student of Class VII
|Faction=Paladins
|Rank=4-Chevaliers
|Ranktype=Member
|Quote="If we have the power to save someone and we don't use it to do that, what kind of people would that make us?"
|PAge=17
|AAge=17
|Aging=Yes
|Height=5'8
|Hair=Black
|Eyes=Violet
|Voice=Sean Chiplock / Kouki Uchiyama
|Profile=The adopted common-born son of Baron Teo Schwarzer, Rean stands directly in the middle of Erebonia's class divide. Kindhearted and hardworking,Rean's sincerity and passion is what lead the other students of Thors Military Academy's Class VII to look up to him as a leader and confidant. He is accepting of most people, and generally polite. However, beneath his friendly exterior lies a lot of turmoil. Bearing a power he can barely control or understand and being the subject of scorn by his parents' peers left him with a negative self image. The one person he fails to be kind to is himself, and he truly desires to no longer be a burden on those he cares about and find his place in the world. He is a practitioner of the Eight Leaves, One Blade sword school and as a member of the Class VII project, a user of the prototype ARCUS spellcasting device.
|Defining=Eight Leaves, One Blade:
A sword style that specializes in the use of Eastern swords such as katana or tachi, and a general focus on swift strikes and agility.
Weapon Mastery - Swords: Rean's weapon of choice.
Attack List - Melee: Rean can launch sudden, rapid combo attacks, create small shockwaves, and use a variety of fire-based elemental strikes. He also knows how to fight unarmed with punches and palm strikes.
Extraordinary Senses: Rean is capable of sensing the aura of living things in the environment around him, picking up on their location and distance from him. However, he can't tell specifics of what something is, just that it's there.
|Significant=ARCUS Combat Orbment:
A Combat Orbment is a device that allows its user to cast magic spells known as Arts. The Quartz crystals slotted into it defines what Arts the user can cast.
Attack List - Ranged, Healing - Self: Rean's setup allows him to use offensive darkness and fire magic and water and wind magic for healing.
Share Powers: Healing and buffing magic can also be used on allies as a general function of Combat Orbments.

Mysterious Power:
Ever since he was 9, Rean's been aware of a strange power dwelling within him.
Superhumanity, Mobility: When active, Rean's physical abilities become stronger, allowing him to deal more damage, withstand more damage, and perform maneuvers he normally wouldn't be able to.
Flash Movement: It also grants him enough speed to move between points in line of sight almost instantly.
|Minor=Raised by Nobles:
Wealth: Rean's family rules over the mountain village of Ymir in Northern Erebonia, and have the money to do so behind their name.
NPCs: The residents of Ymir are devoted to their lords, and despite not being blood related, Rean is no exception. If he needs a place to stay or whatever degree of help a bunch of average villagers can give him, they'll help.
|Disadvantages=Your Own Worst Critic <Trouble>: Rean's sense of responsibility is almost wholly based on a desire to not be a burden on those around him. He is especially aware of his hand in other people's suffering, even if it's minor or imagined. As a result, he is motivated by a desire to do the right thing in general and to make up for the suffering he causes. His own suffering in the process matters much less, if at all. So basically, he's very self-sacrificial. This ranges from becoming the Student Council's errand boy because they're swamped with outside requests to taking a hit by a monster for two arguing classmates. He also tends to be exceedingly modest because he genuinely believes he's worth very little in comparison to those around him. As an extension of this, If he believes someone truly wants to make up for their mistakes, he'll give them that second chance. After all, where would he be if no one gave him a chance? This applies to even heinous crimes like murder, as long as the person displays a desire to lessen the impact on others said murder caused. He also disagrees with death as a punishment for a crime - you can't clean up the mess you made if you're dead.

Rage Mode <Significant>: Rean's control over his power is limited. If he feels an intense desire for vengeance (or just an extreme desire to beat something's face in), his powers activate on their own, and he becomes hyper-fixated on destroying his target until either he runs out of energy, or someone manages to bring him back to his senses. He is extremely protective over those he cares about, and bringing them serious harm will most definitely set him off. It is because of this lack of control over himself that he only actively uses this ability as a last ditch trump card. Keeping the ability on for a long period of time also exhausts him.

Captain Cornball <Minor>: Rean is incredibly sincere about how he feels about people. In fact, he's overly so. The kinds of positive things he says about people borders on flattery, and while he truly thinks of them that highly, it's not hard to see why it's difficult to take him seriously when he does that. He's also a bit too forthcoming with encouragement and advice, and this coming from a teenager with only so much life experience.
}}

6863/When a Martyr and A Broken Bird Love Each Other Very Much

2019-12-22T02:35:36Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/09/30 |Location=Thors Military Academy - Backwoods |Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto move forward in their relationship. |Cast of Characters=6994, 700..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/09/30
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Backwoods
|Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto move forward in their relationship.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' This is the second time in the last few months or so Rean's pulled Mikoto aside to talk to her privately. This time, he asked to meet Mikoto in the area in front of the Old Schoolhouse. It's quiet, and generally other students don't go back there unless they have to. This in comparison to someplace more stereotypical like the school's rooftop or something, which probably would've been more romantic, but also more prone to people sticking their noses in. And, well...he didn't need further embarrassment attached to what he was about to do. Rean takes a deep breath, and looks Mikoto straight in the eyes, maybe a bit more intensely than needed. "I thought about it, and the truth is...I like you too. I just assumed it wasn't mutual because you seem to have more fun teasing me than anything else. And I don't mind, even if's annoying sometimes. What happened in the Archives was a bit much, honestly. I can't imagine what I did for you to fall for me, and I'm flattered, really." He then sighs. His gaze shifts away from her, as he looks towards the old building. "...But I don't think I'm the right person for you." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto came to the call from Rean, dressed in one of her many good outfits.  Hands held behind her back as she greeted the young man, and of course sharing the slight embarrassment of the obvious subject of discussion.  Of course, Rean's...very direct stare into her eyes cause her to blush slightly, thinking this was going to go somewhat differently.  Of course, it turned into an admission, ok that's good too.  Also, commenting about her trolling of him during the Archives thing.  She giggles a little at that, it was funny...but she recovered quickly.  There seemed to be a but waiting to happen. Oh, there it is. She pauses a little, is this because he's just a pushover or because of his crippling self-esteem issues?  She thought she had issues, but well, it takes all types she supposes.  Tilting her head slightly at him she holds up a finger.   "You like me, I like you.  What makes you think you aren't the person for me?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "That's...kind of the problem." Rean says. "If you honestly want me to not get involved in your business because you're afraid I'll get hurt, well...I think we both know I have a hard time /not/ doing that. It's /because/ I like you that I keep trying so hard to help you, and /actually dating/ will most likely make that worse." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh.  You misunderstand just a little on what I meant about that...well, the most recent one, not the one I gave you when we first met because hooo boy, that seems like forever ago now," Mikoto says, and leans back against something.  "The issue is that Sarra was doing it because she hated the man, and was using me as an excuse to get at him.  I don't want to be used as a REASON for you to do something if that's not the reason you're doing it.  It's dishonest and I won't stand for it." "I don't think she even gets that now, but she kinda sees the problem.  We sort of had a sleepover while we were waiting for people to come get her.  Look, if you are going to do something /because/ you love me...then yeah, ok.  Then your reasoning is honest and all that and your being open about the true reason and stuff..." "But if you went to punch Lezard in the face because you disliked him before that, and now you just wana use me as an excuse, well then we got issues." There is a pause, "We should also make an agreement now.  Work is work, pleasure is pleasure.  No mixing.  If we're on opposite sides, then you can't take it easy on me, and I can't on you. We both can take it.  When we're not at work, then...we just don't talk about it, ok?  I don't see it happening a whole bunch, but better to set ground rules earlier than have it be a landmine later." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...Oh." Rean says, rubbing the back of his head. Well, that cleared things up a little. She just wanted him to be honest about his intentions. Thinking about it, he probably /did/ just want to deck Lezard for well...being Lezard Valeth, smug sorcerer when he jumped in on Sarra's duel. "I'm fine with that. Jumping in on her duel request was kind of stupid of me, anyway." The conversation then shifted to how they would handle the possibility of having to fight one another. After all, they were in different factions with different priorities. Still, Rean nods. She was right- if either of them held back against the other, it'd just cause trouble for everyone else. There was /one/ last elephant in the room, speaking of them fighting each other. "...I still can't control my power. You know, that thing I did on the 4th floor. So there might be a time where that happens again. And it might be /you/ I go after, or you're nearby and it darkens  your Soul Gem." Rean says, putting one hand on his chest. He sighs. "...But if you're not going to run from your problems anymore, then it wouldn't be right if I kept running from mine. So if you're ok with that risk until I figure this out, then..." Rean blushes. "I guess we can give this a shot?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "And I still need to better use my power so I don't drain myself stupidly.  I...learned that what I was doing was running away from my problems, finding the easy way out.  Lilian was right, which is a bitter pill to swallow.  That is why I joined the Concord, to master my own power and control my fate.  Once I can do that...then I can think about breaking this cycle.  Learning how to harness the powers coveted by that little furry bastard." "And you have to control yours...aren't we a pair," She says, with a slight laugh.  "We can't get through life thinking of what has been, or what could be.  We have to just experience...the good and the bad.  So..." She places a hand on his.  "I'm glad to hear you say that," She says with a blush.  "So where are you taking me on our first date~?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...First date?" Rean said quietly, his blush basically spreading to the rest of his face. This was actually happening. This was actually /happening./ And thus, Rean.exe has crashed. Again. Rean shakes his head, trying to get all sorts of thoughts out of his head. "The maid at our dorm's a pretty good cook. I'm sure she'd love to make something for us." He then remembered that Sharon also had the tendency to troll as hard as Mikoto did. "...Oooooooooon second thought, maybe that's not the best idea." Rean said, wincing. Having them both in the same room was probably more chaotic energy than he could handle. "There's also Kirche's out in Trista. Their food is pretty good too." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto thinks about this for a bit and grins.   "That sounds good!  Though maybe going to your room is a bit early in this relationship~..." Mikoto teases him. Oh yeah, this is going to be hell for Rean if they ever joined forces. 
}}

6823/Time to Talk

2019-12-22T02:21:55Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/09/02 |Location=Fairyland Hall |Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto explain themselves. |Cast of Characters=6994, 7002 |pretty=yes }} {{Poses |Poses=:'''..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/09/02
|Location=Fairyland Hall
|Synopsis=Rean and Mikoto explain themselves.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean sighs, looking up at Fairyland Hall. In the end, he couldn't figure out a place out in the main world to talk to Mikoto that was private enough given the subject. So he figured the inn proper would work. 'Just be honest with her.' He thinks, sitting on a nearby bench outside. At least it was nice out, right? Perfect weather to fix a friendship...or screw it up further. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto was not exactly thrilled to have this conversation.  Whatever it was, she expected the worst.  It was easier to expect the worst in all things, because when they didn't turn out pear-shaped, then you could be surprised.  Of course, she does admit this would sometimes lead into her making what she feared happen come to pass, but...well, hope and despair. The hotel was somewhere she got to crash in the meantime.  She did somethings for people, you know because she wasn't one to mooch.  She earned her keep, and of course, had fun doing different things she wasn't used to.  Also the Wyverns. The Wyverns were /awesome/. In a dress, green of course, Mikoto sits down at the bench but doesn't say anything.  Not right now.  She doesn't really know how to start this off.  'Oh, thanks for being friends with the woman trying to use my normal life against me because she's a giant bitch.'  That or 'thanks for stopping me from murdering my uncle.' There just wasn't a card for this kinda thing. "So..?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' He's not really sure how to start this off either. He knows that his actions hurt her, even if they were the right thing to do in his mind. And as he told Sara the night before, he still kind of did. But it's not like he /hated/ her for trying to kill her uncle. Hating people was saved for those who harmed others purely for their own benefit, and not out of desperation like Mikoto.   Eventually, finally, Rean says, "...I'm sorry." He gives Mikoto a quick glance, before continuing. "If I'd known that's what happened all those years ago, I'd have done a better job of helping you move past that. I don't think I'll ever be outright 'ok' with you trying to kill your uncle. But I also don't think you deserve to go to jail or get blackmailed for just /wanting/ revenge. Wanting and actually acting on it are totally different things. The fact that you had several people going 'Do it, I dare you' didn't help. My attempts at talking you down probably sounded like I was condemning you with everyone else, which wasn't my intention." "I just want to see you be truly happy despite the whole contract thing, and I don't think hurting your uncle will do that.  But maybe I'm still not getting it. Maybe despite also being an abandoned child, I had the fortune to end up with a good family, and that prevents me from truly understanding what it's like. But I /do/ want to understand. I can't do what I wanted to do when Majima and I came over that one time if I don't." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh!" Mikoto says, actually surprised.  "I thought this was the 'I am going to give you a chance to come over peacefully' kinda deal, not the 'I'm sorry, but I'm not wrong.'" Mikoto says, not mockingly, just actually surprised. "I know you feel that way.  Maybe in your words, you were right.  I just can't bring myself to forgive him.  I can't forget either.  That life is still apart of me as the new one made by that wish."  There is a pause, and a sigh escapes her lips.  It's easier to be calm and rational when you're not in the moment. Of course, he still makes the offer to help her, because...?  She still does not understand.  Right now, if Lilian were here, she'd nail him to a wall for saying those things.   "Alright.  You don't get it.  Then the whole story.  I was born to the brother of that man, a different lifetime ago.  It will make sense as I explain.  That man, my father...left me with him often, because he worked.  My mother died in childbirth, giving her life so that I could come into the world." "My uncle said as much, not in a mocking tone.  Matter of factly at the time, and at that time I really did not understand it.  It was why my father never was around, presumably.  He threw himself into his work to support me, but really it was because I reminded him of her...of what he had lost." "Then he too died.  My Uncle, I guess, was not prepared for the responsibility?  Maybe it was he who I reminded him of someone he had lost?  I don't know...he just said one day that we were going to go to Tokyo.  I thought maybe it was to try and cheer me up.  I didn't leave Tokyo with him." "You see, Orphanages in Japan do not work the same as they do in other places.  You don't go there to get adopted.  You go there to be thrown away.  The law makes it nearly impossible to be adopted.  I was the youngest, so I was abused.  Told I wasn't wanted and told that nobody cared." "Only in strays did I find any happiness.  I could understand them.  I guess they knew I, too, was abandoned.  And then a strange rabbit came across my path.  He could talk, he asked me that I could have any wish I wanted...if I made a pact with him.  I was desperate, young, afraid...tired of the life I was living." "So I made the deal.  Nine years I grew up like that, and then...there was a light, and I woke up in a bed.  I had new memories...I had a father, a mother...siblings." "Until that too, was taken by the witches instead.  I wasn't just abandoned to a good family, Rean.  I wasn't just given to someone who wanted to care for me.  I lost the only family I had, and the other part of it tossed me into the gutter." "I'm not sorry for what I did." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "What...? Oh, no. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Paladins or anything like that." Rean says, waving his hands in front of him. "It's just me." Lilian would totally nail him to the wall for being a naive derp. A lot of people would. But that's just how he rolls. He listens intently as Mikoto tells her story. "That's...wow." Rean says, looking away. He figured her wish was something like that, and her thing with her uncle made it clearer. But just hearing the whole story made a lot of things make sense. Rean sighs. "I figured as much. I wasn't expecting you to forgive him immediately, not after that. Maybe not try to kill him again, but I get the feeling that's not gonna happen either."   

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto becomes quiet, the conversation didn't go the way she expected, but at the same time, she is not surprised by the result either.  The resolution wasn't going to be as clean-cut as Rean might have wanted.  Because she refuses to promise anything, especially when it comes to her uncle. With a sigh from her, she just turns her head slightly away.  Finally, she speaks, though a bit colder.  "Was that all you wanted to say to me, Rean?  A radio conversation could have relayed that to me." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean sighs. No response. Figures. Better than 'No I'm definitely going to go kill him again,' at least. He just had to hope they wouldn't need to clash over this particular issue. Both of them were stubborn like that. He laughs when Mikoto points out they could've just done this over the radio. "Yeah...I just thought it'd be better if we spoke face to face. Just know that if you need someone to vent to, I'm still here. I won't spill your secrets all over the radio, or anything like that. Like I said, I want to see you find happiness and if that means being a verbal punching bag, to help you get there, then by all means." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' There was another sigh...it was like communicating with a wall.  A very dense wall.  Of stupid. "You shouldn't get hurt because of me.  People who care about each other shouldn't do that to each other.  I can find my own happiness, I can fight against this on my own.  I don't need to hurt others who have nothing to do with it.." "And let's be fair, we both know if you keep trying to do this, you'll get hurt.  Either I'll do it, or Lillian or some other crazy Paladin will.  Besides, we both know you care for someone else MORE.  It's not a secret..." "Just...go be happy." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Unfortunately for Mikoto, Rean IS that stupid.  She's trying to get him to leave for his own safety, which doesn't matter at the moment. "...Didn't you try that line on me a while ago? And it ended in Touta, Arthur and I 'bullying you?' Like it or not, I'm already involved." Someone he cared about more? "...Who, Elise? I mean...that's true, I guess. But that shouldn't stop me from trying to help you. I'll be fine. I can't stand by and watch someone I care about at all suffer. If I have to do that to be happy, then I don't deserve it. " 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Oh.  Right." Mikoto says, maybe a little dejected, but at least that was out of the way.  There is a sigh, and then she seems to slump just slightly, maybe in defeat. "Alright, sure.  As friends.  Just... don't go killing yourself or those you care about over me, ok?  No one needs to suffer on my behalf." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Yeah. As friends." He says, smiling. "And don't worry, I'll try not to do that." No actual guarantee on the former, but on the latter, definitely. 
}}

6803/First Verse: Exceed

2019-12-22T02:03:52Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/08/31 |Location=Heimdallr, Erebonia |Synopsis=Heimdallr's summer festival is in full swing, and everyone is having fun. And then a previously..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/08/31
|Location=Heimdallr, Erebonia
|Synopsis=Heimdallr's summer festival is in full swing, and everyone is having fun. And then a previously unknown group of terrorists take advantage of the festivities to cause chaos in the capital and kidnap Princess Alfin and Rean's sister.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7084, 7002, 7095
|Tinyplot=Imperial Liberation Front
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Maybe you're just wandering around Heimdallr, enjoying the summer festival. Or maybe you got a request from your respective organization to help the Railway Military Police guard the city for extra security. Or maybe you're with Rean and the half of Class VII that's on his field study team doing patrols of your own. Whatever you're doing, you might've heard chatter of people suddenly quitting jobs at the docks today, and moving out of apartments suddenly and without warning.  It's not too weird for someone to want to move out, but during a holiday and en masse? Other than a few similarly weird things happening across the city, it's a fairly peaceful day. And then at 3:00, the ground starts to shake in Dreichels Plaza as water erupts from the manholes and the fountains. Meanwhile in Mater Park, some large and kinda dinosaur like crocodiles come out of the river to the minor scale sound of a flute playing a tune in a minor scale.  The Royal Guard takes point against them, and an explosion sounds from inside the Crystal Garden. ....Wait, isn't Princess Alfin supposed to be attending a party in there? Indeed, she is in there being held at gunpoint by helmeted men in army gear alongside her attendant, Rean's younger sister Elise. There's a hole in the ground behind them, leading into the underground sewers. Governor Regnitz is kneeling on the ground in front of them, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the shoulder. And between him and the girls is a bespectacled man holding an oddly shaped flute in his hand. "You...Those girls have nothing to do with this! Let them go!" Regnitz grunts, glaring up at the man with the flute. The man with the flute grins. "I'm afraid I can't just yet. After all they have yet to play their role in your faction's greatest failure!" 

:'''{{#var:7084|Lory Thumper (7084)}} has posed:'''      Lory Thumper just happened to be here enjoying the festival after enjoying the sights despite the case last time she was here. But, she didn't just happen to be fully equipped. The multiverse seems like a place where you have to be prepared at all times, and so she has taken to wearing her riot gear and equipment belt anytime she goes out.      When the shots go off, she hears them from a pretty long distance away and rushes to the scene, eyes widening at water erupting from the manholes. "...what in the...?" Hearing the voices from the garden, she tries to make her way to a point she can at least see the suspects and victims without being seen or heard herself. She is pretty good at that sort of thing, after all. Although giant dino-crocks around make that more difficult, since Lory gives them a very wide berth. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Rean's friends had invited Mikoto out on another patrol, probably ignorant of the...issue between Rean and Mikoto.  Mikoto did not say anything and had joined.  She avoided talking with Rean when she could, and instead she spoke to the others.  If anyone asked her if anything was wrong, she changed the subject very quickly. However, the disturbances came, and Mikoto could sense the danger ahead.  Well, you know, with Dinosaurs and other monsters coming out of everywhere.  With a sigh, Mikoto transformed in that quick transform way, as the Jade sword came to her arm.   "I'm going to shoot ahead and try and draw attention, move in and get a good scope of the situation.  Try not to die to a dinosaur, because that won't be open casket." Mikoto says, with a bit of a smile.   Mikoto shoots through the garden with her SONIC SPEED, and aims to zip into the Palace itself.  It takes her all of a few seconds to look at the situation before them...of course, she COULD go for the Princess and Rean's sister...but that'll end in gunshots.   Instead, she zips with her sonic speed towards the man with the Flute and aims to literally tear the thing out of his hands with Haguro's SUPERIOR STRENGTH, before dancing back towards the door.  "Don't care about your political thing, but I always wanted to control dinosaurs." 

:'''{{#var:7095|Solomon Lau (7095)}} has posed:''' Solomon Lau would love to be enjoying a festival. Sadly, he's on guard duty, as a newer Paladin recruit. He's in the middle of patrolling Mater Park, wearing a suit, tie, and his Paladins badge lapelled to his suit. The good news about being on guard duty, actually, turns out to be that he can be openly armed. So when the dino-crocks climb out and the explosion sounds off, two pistols come out of that suit, drawn from their hiding places by Solomon. Anyone in the way gets a gesture to get the hell away, as there are...dino-crocks. Unless the dino-crocks move to actually interfere with Solomon's passage, he rushes for the Crystal Garden, and pushes his way in. As he spots the gunmen holding hostages, Solomon grits his teeth. This is a bad situation. He takes a few seconds to glance around the room and pick out exactly how many threats he has, and then he knows his plan. A normal person would take it calm, try and diffuse it. Solomon Lau is not a normal man. He's a ball of instincts and nerves, and he has one solution to a violent situation like this. Bang. Bang. Bang. 9mm pistols light up as they blast into the army men, Solomon dashing into a slide to avoid gunfire, twin pistols blaring. He's aiming for the most sensitive spot of their bodies he can find - if their helmets seem tougher than their armor, he shoots for the armor, otherwise he shoots for the helmets to take them out with headshots. "Solomon Lau, Paladins! Hands in the air, drop your guns!" Yes, you usually ask that before you start firing. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto: Having been through a similar song and dance within their own ranks twice already, Class VII totally noticed the change in atmosphere between you and Rean. But they didn't say anything about it. Not yet anyway. You grab the flute and jump back towards the door. "What-" the now-fluteless man says. "You brat!" He shouts, and draws a pistol and starts firing at you. Solomon: Your attacks ring out, but these men are trained And avoid your shots well. They don't shoot the girls, but they do shove them behind their backs towards the hole in the floor. One of the men aims his machine gun at you and starts firing. Lory: You hide under a nearby bench, getting a good vantage point of the girls and the men. They're getting pretty close to the hole in the floor. Class VII charges in not long after this, weapons drawn. "Elise!" Rean shouts spotting his sister being shoved towards the escape route. Unfortunately there's too much gunfire now to get back there. Machias runs ahead of the group, kneeling next to Governor Regnitz. "Dad, are you alright!?" He says. 

:'''{{#var:7084|Lory Thumper (7084)}} has posed:'''      Lory actually wanted them to go down into the sewer. Less people to worry about, less chance of those not even involved getting hurt, easier to pin the perpetrators down. But, Mikoto and Solomon get things started early. Which, given that the flute seems to be somehow controlling those creatures may not be an entirely bad thing. And with shots already being exchanged she uses the men's focused attention to sneak around behind them.      She pulls both of her gauss pistols as she nears the men, flips them into stun mode, and tries to stun at least two of the men who are pushing at the girls. And since her plan is pretty much useless at this point anyway, she places her little bunny self between the men and the escape route. "You may as well give up! We're with the Paladins! Surrender and no one else has to get hurt!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto grins, as the man looks very mad.  Spitting mad, if you will!  Her blade cuts in front of her, as shots are sent flying wide because of her skill with the blade.  Though a few graze her as she moves, causing her to look at the shooter.  She notices the girls being pushed towards the hole.   She twirls the flute and grins, pocketing the flute for the moment, as she looks towards the former flute bearer.  Her weapon spins around dangerously as she gives him a look.   "So, buddy.  You wana be the pied piper?  Well...instead of Dinosaurs, you're supposed to summon rats.  Though I guess you ARE trying to steal children." She chuckles.  She slams the blade into the ground, as the magical runes formed.   From the hole they were trying to escape from, a horde of rats start flooding out, aiming to try and swarm the people with guns who are shooting people she doesn't want to be shot, and the piper.  This, hopefully, gives the girls a chance to break away, as the Rats attempt to bite at eyes, arms, skurry into uncomfortable places, and generally be VERY ANNOYING.   "So I heard you were talking about someone failing?  The only loser I see here is you, piper-san.  This place is under the Protection of Mikoto Shimizu...so you best bring your A-game.  I, the Magical Girl of Envy do not do things by half-asses!" 

:'''{{#var:7095|Solomon Lau (7095)}} has posed:''' Solomon's shots are fierce, but the guards are, too. As they avoid the shots, he grits his teeth, as machine gun fire bursts back at him. He takes a breath, and focuses. Reflexes fire up. Several bullets graze Solomon as he starts moving, dancing around bullets and sliding between automatic bursts. He's fast, but his reflexes are what's truly sharp. He rolls out to the closest cover, trading out his magazines for hollow-points hidden in his sleeves. When he springs out of cover, it's like an acrobat, as both pistols move to fire rapidly into the machine gunner, the hollow points avoiding much penetration if he manages to succeed, so that the rounds don't penetrate into the hostages behind them. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Lory's stun gun hits the guy with the machine gun, making him a prime target for getting shot by Solomon. He falls over dead. The other soldier scowls, and levels his gun at Lory.  "A talking rabbit?" Alfin says, clearly having the right priorities at the moment. And then the rats come and start swarming the soldiers. "What the-" the soldier says, as rats get all in his uniform and gear. Elise rams into her captor, both to escape the rats and to give herself an opening to run. "Your Highness, this way!" Elise shouts, running for one of the rooms off the main one where everyone is. Alfin follows after her, and Fie and Laura go as well, ready to give them backup if needed. Meanwhile, the fluteless man laughs. "...A loser? Oh, I've only just begun!" He says, and he levels his weapon towards Alfin as she runs past. "Not a chance!" Laura says, moving to block his aim. "That's enough, Comrade G." A distorted voice says from the depths of the hole. Someone using a voice changer? "Comrade C, you...I apologize, my plan seems to have failed." 'G' says, lowering his gun. "That is fine. After all, we should have expected outside elements to become involved." C continues. "But we have succeeded in our primary objective - to show this country that we are here." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' People cover the Princess and Rean's sister...well good, that's one last thing, and they even got away with her distraction.  Good.  The flute is tossed towards Elliot, making sure he can use that later to deal with the monsters.   However, as the man takes her low-quality bait, she grins.  Even as he points the gun at someone, she's already moving.  Sonic speed and Haguro's strength, as well as her own sword power, is a frightening thing. Especially as she just appears right in front of the fluteless man, sword-swinging up as he finishes his conversation with the man in the tunnel.  "And now you're gone!" she says, as she swings the blade upwards, aiming to cleave him in twain! 

:'''{{#var:7095|Solomon Lau (7095)}} has posed:''' As the machine gunner falls over dead, Solomon approacehs the other soldier, but the rats attack him, and Elise rams into him. Solomon rushes him, pistols moving with grace and technique to club him in the head and solar plexus, taking the wind out of him and hopefully knocking him out. With Mikoto murdering the leader, they need to have at least one guy to interrogate, after all. Solomon grimaces at her attacking him, but, he can't say anything. It's not his place. 

:'''{{#var:7084|Lory Thumper (7084)}} has posed:'''      Lory is moving to join Laura in blocking for Alfin when that distorted voice calls out from the tunnel. Her ears twitch and swivel toward it, then...in a flash of motion she sends a number of those small discs she keeps on her belt sailing into the hole. With expert precision, the collection of flashbangs and riot foam grenades explode. With her extraordinary hearing and precision training, she is pretty sure she can hit this mysterious C without even being able to see him. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Elliot catches the flute and kinda just stares at it before running outside to go make the crocs go home. Solomon successfully knocks out the soldier, who falls over and stuff. All of Lory's grenades go into the hole and erupt in an explosion of light and foam. C doesn't say anything after this. Did you get him? Only one way to check. G tries to jump back, but he's just a bit too slow and gets slashed across the torso for his trouble. He doubles over, clutching his stomach as he bleeds from the mouth. "Very well then...I leave this to you...C, V and S...."  He spits out, and falls over, dead.   "Freeze! Don't move!" A blue haired woman in a military uniform comes in through the door with her pistol raised and Instructor Sara in tow.  "Is everyone alright?!" "Captain Claire?!" Machias says, having finished tending to his dad's wounds off to the side. "Guess you guys were able to handle it after all." Sara says, and then frowns at G's corpse on the ground. "Well, guess we're not getting any answers from /that/ guy." Rean frowns at dead Gideon and the dead Jaeger wannabe too, though it's more over the fact that things escalated the way they did. But at least Elise and Alfin were safe for now. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto swings the blade once, throwing the blood off of it.  The sword swings into her back as she points her hand down towards the corpse.  A strange data-like bracelet forms around her hand, as she attempts to use it to DATA DRAIN the corpse, and see what she could get through the use of literal hacking. "I wouldn't be so sure...and if this doesn't work then just call Staren to resurrect him," Mikoto says, dismissively.  "Besides, he was a major player, and we have his flute.  There is no guarantee that he'd talk no matter what you did to him." She looks over her shoulder towards Sara, "Unless you were going to use unsightly means to get him to talk?  Do you know torture isn't a very good method of getting information?  Learned that one in school." 

:'''{{#var:7095|Solomon Lau (7095)}} has posed:''' Solomon moves to secure the unconscious guard. Once that's done, he moves over to Rean and the dead Gideon. "We got something in his last words. C, V, S. The fact he explicitly said all of them means that there's four of them, or at least, I'd bet on it." He turns to the captain as she approaches, and taps his badge. "Solomon Lau, Paladins. One guard was taken out through lethal force. The girl took out the mastermind, but retrieved his flute. We should be able to find the rest of the terrorists like this." 

:'''{{#var:7084|Lory Thumper (7084)}} has posed:'''      After her grenades explode, Lory hesitates only a moment to look toward where Mikoto cut down G before she leaps into the hole and flicks on a flashlight so see if she caught anything. And of course if she finds anyone she tries to cuffs them quickly. "Four of you, huh?" she says to whoever is down here. "And just who are you anyway? And what caused all that trouble in the streets? The geysers from the manholes and all that?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "...Wait, what?" Sara says. Apparently no one gave her the memo that Staren knows how to resurrect people. She then side eyes Claire. "Anyway, I wasn't going to torture him. Not sure what Icy Maiden and her cohorts were planning, though." Captain Claire frowns, and then turns to face Solomon. "Claire Rieveldt, Railway Military Police. Good work." She says, giving Solomon a salute. "I see, that's how Elliot got that flute..." Sara says. Speaking of Elliot, he's back now. He looks exhausted, like he was playing the flute to save his life. "All the Crocodarks are back in the sewers!" He says. Down the hole is a stone tunnel, built up with brick and lanterns. There's a single archway going forwards and...a radio.  It's coated in riot foam, but it appears to still be functional. It crackles to life, and C's voice comes out of it again. "Very clever. You almost got me. To answer your first question, we are the Imperial Liberation Front. In our hearts, the flames of silent anger. In our hands, the hammer of judgment that shall topple the dictator. The water was just a distraction to keep people away from our real target - the princess." Mikoto data drains Gideon, and she gets...flashes of a woman with an eyepatch, a large man carrying a gatling gun, and a man in a face obscuring helmet and cloak. There's also voices, mostly of the three before saying the name 'Osborne' with scorn. And then, that's it. Rean disappears to check on his sister (and Alfin). 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto, in turn, describes each of the people she can see, to the best of her ability.  Also describing their voices...and then the name Osborne with scorn.  That's all she can get, which is good enough for her, as far as she cares.   To her 'we wouldn't torture them' she shrugs.  She really doesn't care what they were going to do, but felt her methods were the right ones.  After all, she cut off a fourth of their might with a single blow.  Now they were only three, and no more smart ass animals would come out of the sewers to eat town's people when they attacked. "Anyway, looks like Rean is busy with his sister...and this place is quickly becoming too Paladin for my tastes.  See you guys." She says, towards Rean's friends.  Though perhaps a bit more acidly then she might have wanted to be. 

:'''{{#var:7095|Solomon Lau (7095)}} has posed:''' "Imperial Liberation Front...feh." Solomon says after Mikoto explains everything. Once this is all done, he pauses to look at the man he killed again, frowning a little, and then moves to leave himself. He'll be on call if the locals need his assistance. 

:'''{{#var:7084|Lory Thumper (7084)}} has posed:'''      Lory makes a face as she finds just a radio. She picks it up as C speaks and pulls out a small knife to clear the foam from it, then takes it outside to Sarah and Claire. The bunny cop holds out the radio once C is done talking. "Here you go. C got away, but he can't be too far if this radio is still picking him up. We might be able to track the signal somehow." she says, then offers a respectful salute. "Officer Lory Thumper, MPD. Glad I could be of assistance. Is the man who was shot going to be okay?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I see." Claire says. "They more than likely are referring to Chancellor Gilliath Osborne. He's not the most popular, depending on who you talk to." "Generally just nobles and people who get in the way of whatever he's working on." Sara says, a slight amount of scorn in her voice. Claire sighs again. "Anyway, those descriptions, and the radio are useful. We'll get right on searching the catacombs." "Ah...Ok." Elliot says to Mikoto. Rean comes back with his sister, Alfin, Laura and Fie in tow, and notices that Mikoto is gone. Of course she is. He sighs. "I'm fine." Governor Regnitz says, standing up. It appears Machias performed first aid on him off to the side. 
}}

6702/Old Schoolhouse Exploration - First Lock

2019-12-22T01:58:50Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/07/14 |Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse |Synopsis=After a surprise visit goes south, Rean's sister runs into the Old Schoolho..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/07/14
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
|Synopsis=After a surprise visit goes south, Rean's sister runs into the Old Schoolhouse and gets waylaid by a monster. Things explode spectacularly.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 7002, 1149
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Anyone hanging around the main academic building half an hour after the expedition ends will hear a girl on the roof shout the following: "You're the worst! Why do you always have to be so stubborn?! I hate you, I hate you!" Moments later, a black haired girl in a black dress with tears in her eyes comes barreling out of the building, running further into the campus. Not long after that, Rean runs out of the building. "Elise, wait!" he shouts, looking around for his sister. He sighs, realizing she's nowhere near. What even happened? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto was actually coming out of the cafeteria after the mission, deciding to stay behind a bit longer to eat (thanks Rean) and rest before she'd be moving on her way home again.  This causes her to hear the fight, looking towards the building curiously, thinking she may remember that voice..? This becomes apparent when Rean comes out of the same building calling for someone to wait who was long gone.  Mikoto, curiously, walks towards Rean raising an eyebrow.  "What's wrong, Bean?  I mean, I know you're bad talking to girls, but wow." She teases Rean a little, but it's in good fun...well for her.  She's still in a mostly positive mood, trying to read the boy a bit.  Maybe she pushed it a bit far, but at the same time, she wouldn't be the same without teasing him a /little/ bit. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty is still here, though returned to wearing his uniform rather than parade around the school in his armour. He's not alone though, standing outside the building talking to a young woman in glasses wearing the same uniform as him.     The shouting does briefly interupt them, Krusty looking towards the rooftops but unable to see anything specific. But then such drama isn't unexpected at s school. Even a military one.     But soon enough a girl comes running out of the building. Krusty glances at her briefly as she heads off, before returning to his conversation, "Alright. We'll have to discuss the details of how to deal with this when we return."     Then Rean quickly follows out of the building, no doubt searching for the girl. Recognising something of potential concern, Krusty hmms to his companion, "Though we might just delay leaving for the moment."     Krusty walks up to join Rean and Mikoto. There's a light smile on his face as he asks the boy, "Someone you know?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto and Krusty approach him, and while Mikoto's teasing earns her a brief glare, he eventually sighs and explains. "My sister." Rean says. "She came to talk to me about my last letter to her, and she didn't take my response very well." He looks around, hand on his chin. "It's her first time visiting so I've got no idea where she'd go." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto crosses her arms at Rean, sticking her tongue out at him.  "See this is what I am talking about," She chides, but as he states the issue, she sighs.  "Hm...well..." She says, and points in the direction she ran.   "She went that way, any idea where that way goes?" Mikoto asks.  She says and is already walking.   

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     The concern that Rean has for his sister resonates well within Krusty, drawing out his own look of concern. He nods along slowly, moving a hand to hold his chin as she thinks. Unfortunately there's just not enough information to divine the girl's destination.     So. "We'll just have to search then."     Krusty turns his head to look at his companion, "Misa, head back to the school entrance and monitor it in case she ends up doubling back and leaving." Misa nods and turns, heading back towards the school's main gate.     Krusty begins to follow Mikoto, agreeing with her initial indication of Elise's direction. He does ask Rean, "Anything specific in the letter's contents that might indicate where she went? If you don't mind the inquiry." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Not...not really." Rean says to Krusty. "It was mostly about what I was up to at school, and I mentioned that I might not come home after I graduate." He says this last part rather nonchalantly, like it wasn't super important. Rean nods, running ahead of Mikoto. "That way's the Student Union building and the library, so maybe she's hiding in one of them. Or..." He trails off. "The area in front of the Old Schoolhouse is pretty quiet, though there's no way she'd be able to actually go inside. I locked the door when we finished." Meanwhile, Misa might spot a silver-haired boy in a green blazer...Or get spotted by him. "Hey!" The boy says, giving her a quick wave. "Pretty sure that's not a Thors uniform. Making a visit?" 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty doesn't want to pry too much into the boy's personal life. But he does admit, "A rather heavy thing to drop on a family member simply through a letter."     But that's enough about that. Considering their options... "Are you sure you locked it?" The quiet, isolation presented by the Old Schoolhouse would be an ideal place to go when upset. Of course, that could turn into a big problem if...     "We should check there first. Just in case." Krusty picks up speed as he starts heading for the Old Schoolhouse.     Misa meanwhile adjusts her glasses as she looks over the student addressing her. She's not impolite, but not exactly warm either as she responds, "In a manner of speaking. I'm looking for a young girl named Elise, who may have rushed past in an emotional state. Have you seen anyone like that?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gives Rean a look and shakes her head.  The look is full of disappointment and resignation.  Truly, Rean may have mucked this one up bigger than normal.  Not that she's mad, but boy oh boy does she understand the girl's feelings now.   "Hmm...well it'd be weird if someone got in, wouldn't it?  However...if I were a betting girl..." She says and walks up to the door of the schoolhouse to check the door with her hand.   After all, these things just happen. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "I guess, since she came all the way here to ask me about it." Rean says. He sighs when Mikoto looks at him in disappointment. She's not the first person to give him that look in the last hour. More like the third. Rean shakes his head.  "Positive. I always make sure it's locked." When they arrive to the Old Schoolhouse,there's a blonde haired boy in a white blazer standing in front of the building. "Patrick?! What are you doing back here!?" Rean asks. "You know what, never mind. Have you seen my sister?" Patrick nods very rapidly. "I-I was looking for her myself, actually!" Then Mikoto knocks on the door. It swings wide open, very obviously not locked. "...What?"  Rean says, staring at the door. Guess he was wrong after all. Suddenly, a piercing scream comes from inside. "Elise!?" Rean shouts, running straight into the building, not caring if anyone followed him. "H-Hey!" Patrick shouts, following behind the others. ----- "Oooooh, that must've been the crying girl in the fancy uniform!" The boy in green says. "Saw her heading towards the back of the campus, near the gate to the Old Schoolhouse. Need an escort?" He says, with a wink. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everyone gets on the elevator and goes back down to the 4th floor where the red door is. Or well, where the Red Door /was/. It's open now and there's a massive, headless suit of armor walking out of it, sword at the ready. Elise is lying on the ground in its path. It's lumbering closer and closer to her as the elevator finally reaches the ground. "Elise!!" Rean shouts, scrambling off the platform. Then, the giant raises its blade, and something in Rean /snaps./ That thing would NOT get the chance to hurt her. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Rean clutches his chest, his body being surrounded by miasma. His hair shifts to white and his eyes to red, and well, he looks /pissed./ He draws his sword, charging at the giant in an instant, then dashing through it in a flurry of slashes. The giant stops moving, and turns it attention to Rean, swinging it's blade down at him. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty slows a little as they approach the Old Schoolhouse. Seeing only the blonde boy here causes Krusty's concern to raise considerably. This definitely seemed like the right place to go. And then Mikoto tries the door and it swings open.     Krusty frowns. This is not a good sign. The sudden scream from within causes even greater concern, as Krusty quickly moves with well practiced accuracy. Within moments his armour and large two-handed axe appear on him with a brief flash of light. Krusty doesn't immediately charge in to follow Rean though, instead moving a hand to his ear, "Misa, we've found her. Regroup in the Old Schoolhouse and prepare for trouble." Krusty rushes in.     Over by the school gate, Misa stares incredulously at the boy that just winked at her. However, at that point she tilts her head and raises her hand to her own ear. Shortly after she replies, "Roger."     The boy in green will probably be rather surprised as after a few finger swipes at the air from Misa, a large menacing scythe appears floating there. Misa grabs the weapon, spinning it around to hold at her side as she replies, "That won't be necessary." Misa turns and starts to rush back towards the other side of the school grounds.     The elevator reaches the appointed level and Krusty's eyes narrow as he sees Elise and the giant of armour. However, before he has a chance to react, Rean goes through a rather sudden change, launching into a rather aggressive series of attacks. It's a change that Krusty's seen before. More often than not in himself.     Still, Krusty is not about to let Rean take on this foe alone. As he reaches up to grab the axe on his back, he says to Misa, "Look after the girl."     Misa nods in understanding, swiftly dashing across the floor to Elise's side. She scoops the girl up into her arms, before backing off and raising her scythe in case of any attacks that might be sent her way.     As for Krusty. He charges straight towards the giant. He leaps, easily clearing Rean's head as he brings the axe down in an overhead blow against the giant before landing again and preparing for it to counter. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' "Huh, almost like I suspected," Mikoto says, "Well, no need to gloat about being right, she is probably not going to be in danger but still...no reason to take chances," Mikoto says and runs in with the rest of them.  Still, she is not transforming, she doesn't think the girl will be able to get anywhere dangerous, after all, they made it safe.   On the way down, Mikoto looks back at Rean, "You should probably learn to say stuff in person instead of through letters, and also watch how you say things.  Anyway, you'll get a chance when.." And then the door opens.  Mikoto's eyes are wide.  The door is gone, there is a giant monster, and the girl is on the ground.  What was more surprising was Reans...transformation?  Taken aback by it, as well as the anger seemingly radiating from him, she struggles to deal with it for a moment.   However, forcing herself through the negative emotions, she transforms.  The Magical Girl outfit on her, as her soul gem is definitely more tarnished than before.  Not massively, but it's standing near an open bar of uranium.  Thrusting her sword into the ground, spikes of jade erupt from the ground behind Misa, aiming to keep her guarded as she goes for the girl.   Mikoto's blade comes back up, dragging it forward as she rushes right towards the creature.  She swings in a massive arch, trying to take out its legs and set up Rean and Krusty for more devastating attacks.  She looks more winded than she normally would be too.   

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's strike makes the giant stagger, just in time for Krusty to slam into it. It performs a wide swing, trying to get the party away from it. Rean jumps back, an sheath and unsheaths his swordm creating an arc shaped slash through the air. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's forced to roll under the large blade, utilizing her SONIC SPEED at the right moment. She runs behind the creature, trying to flank it with the other people before she spins on a dime, and thrusts towards the back of the creature. Because the first rule of Dark Souls is Stab it in the back.  Because it's easy.  And because it does a lot of damage. Regardless, she continues to stay light on her feet, trying to make the creature think twice against overcommitting on any one of them.  Though her speed quickly returns to normal speeds. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     The large sword swung by the giant crashes into Krusty's axe. It's hard enough to send him skidding back, his whole body aching from the pain of the force that just hit him. It takes a few moments for Krusty to recover from it before he initiates another attack.     Krusty soon rushes the giant again, the axe blade glowing as he activates his Onslaught skill. He starts to unleash a series of rapid strikes against the giant, his large axe moving with incredible speed for its size and hitting for equally impressive power.     In the background, Misa continues to hold Elise close, protected by Mikoto's jade spikes. Notes of music appear in the air around the bard, a tune beginning to play as a soft, green light engulfs the two. Misa isn't sure as to Elise's condition, but a little healing magic on her won't hurt. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's attack actually pierces the armor, and it screeches, despite not having a head. The same goes for Krusty's onslaught, leaving several cleave marks in the armor. The armor raises its blade towards the ceiling, calling down several lightning bolts around it. Rean gets hit by one, and he screams. He recovers pretty quickly though, and it only seems to make him more pissed off. It doesn't really change the amount of negativity he's leaking out, but he charges at the thing again, sword surrounded in black flames as he whirls through the air at the armor's chest. Elise is actually 100% fine. She's just unconscious. The music does, however wake her up. "...mm...Rean?" She murmurs, glancing over at the battle. She doesn't seem worried or frightened, though perhaps that's just because she's tired. She then turns to look up at Misa. "...Thank you, miss." 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The lightning comes down and catches Mikoto off guard.  She wasn't expecting that, and is blasted back from the giant and falls to a knee sizzling.  Panting heavily, she grips the blade and drags herself back to her feet.  Luckily, for her, the soothing music and spells from Misa help prevent her from using more magic. Her hands grip the blade as she thrusts it down into the ground once more, as Jade spites rip out of the ground right underneath the creature, trying to impale it at the midsection and try and keep it pinned in one place.   The blade comes back up again, as she leaps for its body, trying to once more send her blade back into the creature.  Fall damn it...fall! 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty has no way to defend against the lightning, so all he can do is endure it. His face scrunches up in pain as the energy ripples through him, briefly freezing him still. Finally though the attack passes. The occasional spark still jumps between Krusty's armour plates. But he manages to recover.     Watching the large creature lumber about with its large sword, Krusty gets an idea. The knight rushes forward, quickly reaching the giant once more. But he doesn't swing at it. Instead he turns his shoulder and attempts to slam his heavy frame into the large monster, hoping to unbalance it at the least, knock it over at the most.     Meanwhile, "Misa." The bard provides her name. She remains where she is, watching the fight play out as she says, "He's fighting for you." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The jade spikes do in fact impale the creature through the leg, and Krusty's charge impacts the armor. It doesn't fall because of the spike, but there's a pretty sizable dent in it now.  It then does another wide swing, trying to shake Mikoto off of it and hit Krusty and Rean. In fact, it does hit Rean, sending him skidding across the floor. Rean staggers to his feet, snarling at the armor. This thing needed to die already.  And then, he stops.  He looks between the other combatants and Elise, hunched over. ...He...was he forgetting something? And then a few memories bliped through the haze in his mind. The times he spent with his classmates, and the times he spent with the other Elites... "Thanks for worrying about me. And thanks for reminding me to look up, not down." ...a reminder that he was more than this. That he could be better than this.   "Thank you...both of you.  I don't know why you...even care, but I do appreciate it." And that they all deserved better than his very worst self. "Nrgh..." Rean grunts, returning to normal. He looks up at the He was done getting consumed by his own rage.  Straightening up, he loads up a spell, which then showers Mikoto in a rain of blue light, and then repeats that on Krusty. "Sorry about that." He says, charging up again to heal himself. The armor lets out a roar. It's still pretty beat up and impaled. Could probably take it out in a round or two. "Oh..." Elise murmurs. "It's very nice to meet you." She glances over at the fight again, and smiles when her brother regains his focus. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto has bounced off the armor again, she slides across the ground and lands in a slump on her knees.  Her sword is used to keep her upright, as she stares up at it.  The sounds of the battle are starting to be drowned out by a deep ringing sound.   Her hand grips the blade, though words from Rean cause her to look up.  Light surrounds her.  Well...then she doesn't have to hang on anymore.  "Why?  You're stupid aren't you...you already know why." She says, finally, but then.. The upper half of her seemed to be oddly shadowed, her eyes brilliant for a moment.  She rushes in, aiming to leap on the thing's shoulders and swings the sword down.  She does not stop, repeatedly swinging the sword down.  Again and again...repeatedly. Brutally.   She does not stop until she is either dead, or the monster is. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     The giant monster looks vulnerable. Krusty calls, "Misa!"     Misa responds, "Right!" Thankfully she doesn't have to move from her position protecting Elise to do this. Spinning her scythe, she plants the tip into the ground. The soft music that had been playing changes tempo, becoming much faster with a heavy beat. The musical notes also shift in appearance and colour, along with the aura around the two, into a deep red. The aura also spreads proceeds to flare up around Rean, Mikoto and Krusty. They find that the damage on their attacks has been incresed.     Krusty uses the opportunity while waiting for Misa to buff him to prepare his own attack. The blade of his axe glows once again and soon Krusty charges in. As he swings the weapon diagonally, he calls out, "Cross-"     At the end of his swing, Krusty deftly brings his axe around to the other side, turning the blade before swiging diagonally in the opposite direction, "Slash!"     The two slashes form an X against the giant. They glow with light before exploding. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's strikes hit hard, actually knocking off one of the giant's arms, especially with Misa's buff going. Krusty's strike impacts the armor as well. Rean's done healing himself, so he raises his sword in front of him, surrounding it in crimson flames. He then charges at the armor with a shout, and strikes it directly in the middle of where Krusty made his hit. The X and the burst of fire both explode together, and the armor finally falls, both literally and figuratively. It hits the ground with a loud and hollow clang. Rean hunches over with his hands on his knees, taking a few breaths. "We....We did it!"  He shouts, looking between the others. "....I seriously owe you guys." And in Mikoto's case, in more ways than one. Elise stirs, and Rean runs over to where she's sitting to check up on her. The elevator comes back down, having gone back up at some point during the battle. This time it's carrying the entirety of Class VII, a pink haired woman, and Patrick. "Whoa. When Patrick said you four were in trouble, I wasn't expecting this." the woman says. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto lands, breathless as the battle ends.  Blade held awkwardly at her side as she confirmes its death.  Standing up, she banishes the sword and her outfit, returning to her more civilian clothing.  Her hand holding her soul gem in her hand and frowning.   It's not bad...but it's not good either, she closes her hand and dismisses it back into the black ring on her finger.  Her head turns towards Rean caring for his sister, and a sigh.   She starts walking for the lift up, not giving any explanation, just moving with a brisk pace. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty plants his axe into the ground, leaning against it. He still looks pretty calm and collected. Though those who look closely might notice a little sweat. And he's breathing a little faster.     Misa relaxes a little herself, letting her music and the resulting buff aura fade away. Once Rean has rushed over to see to his sister, Misa calmly walks over to join Krusty. She looks at him, simply stating as a fact, "You enjoyed that."     Krusty gives her a bit of a smile, "You know me. The big ones are more fun."     At this point the elevator returns, revealing the others. Krusty looks over to them as one speaks and sees the pink haired woman. He then says more quietly to Misa, "Apparently the fun hasn't finished."     Krusty hefts his axe up to rest over his shoulder and moves to meet Class VII. He nods to the woman who spoke and says, "It was a tough foe. But I think things have settled for the moment."     Planting his axe in the ground once again, though with a more pronounced heavy thunk this time, Krusty proceeds to move his hand to his chest and bows, "Krusty, official representative of the Round Table Alliance of Akihabara." He straightens again and smiles, "I don't believe we've met, miss?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Sara Valestein, Instructor." The pink haired woman says. Class VII goes over to check on the armor, and they're generally surprised. Elise is fine, and they talk for a moment, before Rean turns to look at the elevator. That's a LOT of people worried about this. And then he notices a green magical girl heading out to leave. "Mikoto?" Rean says. 
}}

6701/Old Schoolhouse Exploration 2

2019-12-22T01:55:20Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/07/07
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
|Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the fourth floor of the Old Schoolhouse.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 1149, 7002
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' It's midsummer in Erebonia. Most of the students at Thors have switched to their summer uniforms, consisting of short sleeved dress shirts with accents and ties in their class's colors. Otherwise, the campus is pretty much the same as last month, and so is the Old Schoolhouse...externally, at least. Internally, there's another floor added, just like last time. On Rean's team is Laura, a tall girl with her blue hair tied in a ponytail, Machias, a bespectacled boy with green hair, and Emma, the pink haired and also bespectacled girl from the Nord field study.   The path doesn't split this time, and instead is just two large rooms one after the other, with stairs and different pathways. Some of the staircases are blocked off by what looks like a series of crumbling stone pillars, but they're no match for Laura's greatsword, or Machias' shotgun or any other weapons with enough blunt force to break them. And just like before, there's monsters down here. One of them is a deer-like creature with skin that looks like lava - and attacks with fire all the same. There were also a few plants that looked like walking venus-flytraps, one of which had 3 heads and, if you were familiar with it, kind of resemble the Pokemon Hydregion, just plant-y and not flying. At last, the group makes it to the end of the maze, and enters the large room behind a stone door. And waiting inside is...some sort of bizarre fusion of a stone gate and an angel statue, with the gate serving as its wings. There's two of these things here, and after letting out a loud screech, one of them fires a green laser at Krusty! 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty had arrived at the school once more wearing the uniform of the Round Table Alliance that he represented. Mainly as a means of not alerting any of the students to possible problems. It wasn't until they actually entered the old schoolhouse that he donned his heavy armour and large two-handed axe with a few swipes of his finger at the air.     After introductions with Rean's other classmates, Krusty was more than willing to stay at the front of the group as they dealt with the smaller monsters on their way through the level. It was an odd layout for a 'schoolhouse' and very much reminded him of the dungeons from his own world.     Upon reaching the room at the end of the maze, Krusty eyes the two statues facing off against them. Interesting designs, for sure. He doesn't lack confidence in facing them though as one of them unleashes a laser against him. It sweeps across his armour, leaving a scorch mark behind but not yet penetrating, "I'll try and keep them on me. Attack while they are distracted!"     Lifting his axe up in preparation, Krusty takes a deep breath. He then unleashes a deafening roar. The sound is obviously amplified, the Taunting Shout skill creating a visible wave in the air that washes over the two stone angels and attempts to bring their focus, and their wrath, down on him. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto took the various enemies as seriously as she did the first time, deciding to stay in her adventuring outfit with a kendo stick to use as a weapon.  She enjoys the workout, honestly, and a chance to use her skills on opponents that can fight back but won't easily overwhelm her.  However, with the final door open... "Huh, those look like they're serious," she comments to the rest of the group.  Tossing the weapon back and bringing her hand up with the ring on it.  The ring transforms into a jade gem, seemingly encapsulated by gold trim.  There is a flash as ~magical girl~ transformation sequences begin.   With a burst of jade, she steps out of the transformation sequence with a jade sword on her shoulder being held by a single hand. With a spin she drags the blade across the ground around her in a circle, now gripped in both hands as she thrusts the blade into the earth.   From this, phantasmal monkies appear, running out the various door-angel-guardian things to jump on them, pulling their faces, and generally make an annoyance of themselves, trying to make it very VERY difficult to deal with, while also doing minor damage.   "Alright, kids, let's do what we can before those things figure out how arms work." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Krusty's taunt attracts the attention of the angels, alright. The two angels start firing more lasers at him, and honestly they're a bit bright. Bright enough to be dizzying, or even confusion-inducing. It might be hard to tell friend from foe after tanking too many of those. Mikoto's monkeys cause them to stop that, though, and they start focusing on trying to get these dang creatures off of them! Laura takes advantage of the opening and slams her sword into one of the angels, cracking it a bit. Emma follows up, creating a series of phantasmal blades in front of her and sending them forward with a swing of her staff. They strike true, exploding into a burst of light on contact. Rean and Machias are fighting the other angel, with Machias firing a piercing round at it and Rean following up with a few quick slashes. And then one of the angels lets out a wail that rings off the walls of the room. Things seem...slower, somehow now, mainly your movements. Not too slow, just a tiny bit. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The stream of sonic disability waves washes over the party, causing slower movements and general annoyance.  It's slight, but enough to cause her some discomfort.  Her eyes gleam for a moment, Drawing her sword from the ground as there is a blue aura that courses through her.   Then she moves at /sonic/ speeds, if they would slow her down, then she would counter that with overwhelming force...basically like everything in her life.  Using the stolen speed of Sonic, she dashes between the two angel statues. Her blade swings in a massive arc, aiming to try and slice through both statues with a single blow at speeds that are all but blinding to those who could follow them.  The blade swings back, ready to defend.  "Strike while they're distracted!" she says, with a similarly fast pace in her speech. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty is forced back a step with each laser that washes over him. His eyes squint at the light, but he endures the damage, leaving the others free to engage untroubled. Finally there is a scream from one of the creatures, causing Krusty to raise one hand to his ear as he tries to block some of it out. But his movement seems slower somehow.     Still the battle proceeds and it's time that Krusty add his own axe to the assault. As Mikoto calls for them to strike while the angels are distracted, Krusty chuckles, "There must be an echo in here." Still, it's good advice!     Krusty lowers his stance and sweeps his axe out to the side. He's not very adept at targeting multiple foes at once, so turns his focus on the angel being attacked by Emma and Laura. The blade of his axe begins to glow as he starts, "Aura-"     Krusty pushes off from the ground, quickly covering the distance between him and the angel in a flash. However, it's not a direct charge as Krusty aims to rush past the creature, swinging the large axe as he passes. The weapon, turned immaterial by the skill designed to bypass enemy defenses, will pass through the angel and inflict its damage as it does so.     This leaves Krusty to skid to a halt on the other side of the statue, finishing with, "-Saber!" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's slash strikes through, leaving a pretty big gash in both. They start firing at her again, and just like with Krusty, the lasers are bright and disorienting. "No need to tell us twice!" Rean says, grinning. He sheaths his sword and dashes forward, doing a similar maneuver to Krusty and swiftly unsheathing it as he passes. Machias does some suppressive fire as well, making an opening for Rean to strike it again from behind. Emma holds up her staff in front of her and starts casting an Art, blue ring of light surrounding her. While her partner is casting, Laura does a jumping overhead slash to the angel, smacking it on the 'head' after Krusty's done with his attack. The large amount of focus on Laura and Emma's angel has it flagging a bit more than the other one. It starts shaking, like it's about to scream again. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turns around just in time for both of the monsters to bear down at her.  Even as they move to fire, her blade stabs into the earth again.  Jade spikes shoot up around her, protecting her body like a shell, burning through the outer layers of the jade.  The Jade shatters, revealing a slightly singed, but not disoriented Mikoto who has a grin on her face.   However, Mikoto notices one of the Angels is about to scream again.  She grabs one of the nearby pieces of Jade that have not evaporated yet and runs right towards the about to scream angel. Then she proceeds to shove the large slab of jade right into its mouth to interrupt the scream.   

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty spins around to once more face the angel he's attacking. Though he does pause for a moment to take in the situation as a whole. It's easy enough to keep track of their progress so far, with his keen tactical mind. One of the angels is looking worse for wear than the other. Obviously they should focus on bringing it down, leaving the other easier to handle.     Of course, first they have to deal with the angel's cry. Oh wait, Mikoto appears to do that rather nicely. Not to mention somewhat uncomfortably looking.     Still, recognizing the spell charging of a mage, namely Emma, Krusty rushes forward. His axe blade once more shines as he swings for the statue, "Armor Crash!"     There's a flash of light as the axe connects, the skill trying to crack the statue's defenses and present a weakness for the others to take advantage of. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Uh...Well, then." Machias says, watching Mikoto deal with the screaming in a rather blunt way. He fires at the angel he and Rean were focusing down again. "Mind doing that again to this one?" Krusty's axe connects, right in the crack Laura made earlier. It grows, and Emma's spell resolves, turning into a beam of silver light that slams into it.  The statue shatters, and then its remains explode into a cloud of darkness, leaving behind its partner. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turned her head towards the second statue, thinking for a brief moment.  Giving Machinas a shrug, and then a wide grin.  "I think I can do something," She says, before shoving her blade into the ground once more.  There was a shimmer of summoning as a large snake came out of the ground aiming to open it's mouth wide enough to cover the top part of the statue. "Can't scream if you're head is eaten.  I mean...you CAN...but it's all muffled and nobody can actually hear you," She comments, with a wide grin.   

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty holds up an arm in case of debris as the first of the angel statues shatters. Once confident his sface isn't going to be showered by bits of rock, Krusty gives a nod to the others that had been fighting it, before turning on the one that remains.     Krusty doesn't immediately charge the second angel, not wanting to interupt those who are already engaging it at close range. Instead he holds his ground and sweeps his axe out to the side. Once more it glows.     Krusty swings his axe in front of him, the gathered light jumping off as a crescent that streaks towards the angel. A quick follow up swing sends a second wave flying shortly after the first. They slice through the air and hopefully into the moving statue as well. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' There's now a snake on the angel's head and it's doing exactly what Mikoto said, screaming while muffled. "...Thanks." Machias says, firing another piercing round at the angel. Krusty's crescents strike it as well, and Rean's still behind it, delivering another sword slash to its back. The angel decides it's had enough and starts firing its laser again, trying to dispel the snake on its head. Laura jumps in and delivers a vertical slash to its chest, and Emma is charging up again. It's not /quite/ finished yet, but it's getting pretty close. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The snake is shredded, it had the unfortunate position of being ONTOP of the source of the laser.  Lasers cut through the snake, as it disperses into whiffs of magical energy.  Mikoto gives Machias a nod, before bringing her sword around.   With another burst of speed, she runs around the thing to try and draw it's attention, before coming up behind it, kicking off of Rean's shoulders, and aiming a slash for the back of its head before flipping over it and coming into a baseball slide.   "Thanks for the boost Bean." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     The angel statue appears to be on its last legs. So to speak. You know. Because it doesn't have legs. Which gives Krusty an idea.     While the angel is distracted by snek and the others assaulting it, Krusty circles around behind it. He waits until after Mikoto has struck it on the head before he moves in to quickly capitalize with a follow up attack.     Krusty unleashes a battle cry as he launches to heavy swings towards the statue's back. They are aimed for the points where its gate-like wings join to its body as Krusty hopes to break them off. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Ack!" Rean shouts as Mikoto vaults off of him. Her attack hits the angel's head, leaving her in position to strike again from underneath it if she wants as she slides under. The angel fires off more beams at Krusty as he advances, but he still manages to strike the angel's wing joints. It falls to the ground and screams again. You all feel slower, but it doesn't really matter anymore because Laura and Emma have a plan. "Emma, let's finish this!" Laura shouts, looking to her partner.  Emma finishes casting, and a circle of fire appears under the statue, burning it. Laura holds her sword up in front of her as it glows with light, and then charges in with a shout, delivering three strikes before whirling around and delivering one last strike. The statue shatters and explodes into darkness just like the other one did. "Phew. Everyone alright?" Rean says, sheathing his sword. Suddenly, there's a loud earth-shaking rumble back the way you came. "-What was that?!" Emma shouts, turning around. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto nods to Rean, "Yeah, I'm good.  A little singed and tired of hearing these things attempts to sing.  Seriously, worst singers ever," Mikoto says, "And here I was told Angels' songs were supposed to be beautiful." The loud rumbling is surprising, she looks towards Rean who looks like he has no idea.  She was about to cancel out of her Magical Girl transformation, but now she's not so sure.  "Well, Bean, we're not going to find out by asking questions to the air." Walking back the way she came she looks to see what happened and hopes it's not more bosses or the way is blocked in. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty falls back after taking several more hits. He recovers in time to see Emma and Laura finish off the last angel. He nods to both of them for a job well done, "Impressive."     At the question of being alright, Krusty nods to Rean, "I will be." Planting his axe into the ground, Krusty reaches beneath his tabbard to pull out a bottle. Uncorking it he drinks it down. Some of the scorch wounds he's suffered from the lasers appeal to regenerate quickly.     It's towards the end of drinking the potion that the earth-shaking rumble can be heard. Krusty throws the empty potion bottle away and grabs his axe. He nods to Mikoto, "Agreed. It seems that this dive is not quite yet over."     Krusty starts heading in the direction of the loud sound, once more charging straight into trouble. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everybody rushes to the entrance to the 4th floor, and, luckily, there's no bosses here. What /is/ here, though is a giant red door with a sort of flower or flame pattern on it. As you get closer to the door, you can hear the sound of gears turning and winding. "What the!?" Machias shouts. "That...definitely wasn't here when we came in." Rean says, puzzled. "Just when we were starting to figure this place out..." Emma says. Rean puts a hand to his chin. "Don't see any way to open it..." he says, drawing his sword. "Maybe brute force?" 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty rushes in, quickly coming to a stop at the sight of the strange door. He slowly approaches it, listening to the sounds it's making. He hmmms, "I wonder what is happening inside..."     As Rean reminds them that the door wasn't here early, Krusty frowns a little, "Rearranging dungeons can be the most surprising and annoying."     Still, the knight raises his large axe up as he faces the door, "However it appeared here, I suspect whatver is on the other side is unlikely to be friendly." Of course, the questions is how do they open it? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto frowns, but it's not ENTIRELY unwelcome.  It means they can at least advance...but still.  Mikoto thinks about how they can open the door, and then tries the only thing she has available. She attempts to pry open the door with her sword! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean shrugs in response to Krusty's comment.  "Well, that's basically how this place works so far. One trial of sorts after another, with the inside shifting around." After looking over the door a bit, to see if there was a hidden switch or something, everyone attacks the door with swords, guns and magic. And...nothing. The door keeps ticking away. "How odd..." Laura says looking at the door. "It's ticking like a clock, so maybe it's on a timer? Or perhaps it's a giant orbment?" Rean sighs. "Maybe." Kind of a downer, though if that's the way it worked. He shrugs. "But if we have to wait, we have to wait." He walks up to the door one last time to make sure they didn't miss anything, and- REVEAL- Rean flinches and touches his chest, his scar flaring up in pain as the disembodied voice rings in his head. Emma tilts her head. "...Rean, is everything ok?" "...Yeah." Rean says, backing away from the door. That was weird, alright. Not the first time that's happened, either.  As usual, this place continues to be weird. "Thanks for coming along, you two." Rean says, turning to Mikoto and Krusty. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turns towards Rean, raising an eyebrow at him as there is a sound of pain coming from the Bean and a strange thing where people ask him if he's okay.  Though he seems honest not sure what happened, though it's an occurrence that is not unique.   "Well, it's a timer huh?  Weird.  Well, I'll see if I can't find someone who has destructive beams or disintegration cannons and see if we can't just breach the seal early." With a flash of jade, Mikoto is back in her adventuring outfit and has her normal kendo stick back.  "Yeah, no problem.  It was fun, and now you owe me lunch." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty looks at Rean curiously. There's obviously something more going on here. But Krusty is too respectful to prod any more than has been already. It doesn't seem that there is any immediate need to investigate the door further. Beyond curiosity. And they've done enough for the journey so far.     Krusty returns his axe to his back, nodding in agreement with Mikoto, "It has been an interesting quest so far." He looks at the other members of Rean's team, "You clearly work well together. A pleasure fighting alongside you." 
}}

6701/Old Schoolhouse Exploration 2

2019-12-22T01:55:10Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/07/07 |Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse |Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the third floor of the Old Schoolhouse. |..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/07/07
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
|Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the third floor of the Old Schoolhouse.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 1149, 7002
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' It's midsummer in Erebonia. Most of the students at Thors have switched to their summer uniforms, consisting of short sleeved dress shirts with accents and ties in their class's colors. Otherwise, the campus is pretty much the same as last month, and so is the Old Schoolhouse...externally, at least. Internally, there's another floor added, just like last time. On Rean's team is Laura, a tall girl with her blue hair tied in a ponytail, Machias, a bespectacled boy with green hair, and Emma, the pink haired and also bespectacled girl from the Nord field study.   The path doesn't split this time, and instead is just two large rooms one after the other, with stairs and different pathways. Some of the staircases are blocked off by what looks like a series of crumbling stone pillars, but they're no match for Laura's greatsword, or Machias' shotgun or any other weapons with enough blunt force to break them. And just like before, there's monsters down here. One of them is a deer-like creature with skin that looks like lava - and attacks with fire all the same. There were also a few plants that looked like walking venus-flytraps, one of which had 3 heads and, if you were familiar with it, kind of resemble the Pokemon Hydregion, just plant-y and not flying. At last, the group makes it to the end of the maze, and enters the large room behind a stone door. And waiting inside is...some sort of bizarre fusion of a stone gate and an angel statue, with the gate serving as its wings. There's two of these things here, and after letting out a loud screech, one of them fires a green laser at Krusty! 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty had arrived at the school once more wearing the uniform of the Round Table Alliance that he represented. Mainly as a means of not alerting any of the students to possible problems. It wasn't until they actually entered the old schoolhouse that he donned his heavy armour and large two-handed axe with a few swipes of his finger at the air.     After introductions with Rean's other classmates, Krusty was more than willing to stay at the front of the group as they dealt with the smaller monsters on their way through the level. It was an odd layout for a 'schoolhouse' and very much reminded him of the dungeons from his own world.     Upon reaching the room at the end of the maze, Krusty eyes the two statues facing off against them. Interesting designs, for sure. He doesn't lack confidence in facing them though as one of them unleashes a laser against him. It sweeps across his armour, leaving a scorch mark behind but not yet penetrating, "I'll try and keep them on me. Attack while they are distracted!"     Lifting his axe up in preparation, Krusty takes a deep breath. He then unleashes a deafening roar. The sound is obviously amplified, the Taunting Shout skill creating a visible wave in the air that washes over the two stone angels and attempts to bring their focus, and their wrath, down on him. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto took the various enemies as seriously as she did the first time, deciding to stay in her adventuring outfit with a kendo stick to use as a weapon.  She enjoys the workout, honestly, and a chance to use her skills on opponents that can fight back but won't easily overwhelm her.  However, with the final door open... "Huh, those look like they're serious," she comments to the rest of the group.  Tossing the weapon back and bringing her hand up with the ring on it.  The ring transforms into a jade gem, seemingly encapsulated by gold trim.  There is a flash as ~magical girl~ transformation sequences begin.   With a burst of jade, she steps out of the transformation sequence with a jade sword on her shoulder being held by a single hand. With a spin she drags the blade across the ground around her in a circle, now gripped in both hands as she thrusts the blade into the earth.   From this, phantasmal monkies appear, running out the various door-angel-guardian things to jump on them, pulling their faces, and generally make an annoyance of themselves, trying to make it very VERY difficult to deal with, while also doing minor damage.   "Alright, kids, let's do what we can before those things figure out how arms work." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Krusty's taunt attracts the attention of the angels, alright. The two angels start firing more lasers at him, and honestly they're a bit bright. Bright enough to be dizzying, or even confusion-inducing. It might be hard to tell friend from foe after tanking too many of those. Mikoto's monkeys cause them to stop that, though, and they start focusing on trying to get these dang creatures off of them! Laura takes advantage of the opening and slams her sword into one of the angels, cracking it a bit. Emma follows up, creating a series of phantasmal blades in front of her and sending them forward with a swing of her staff. They strike true, exploding into a burst of light on contact. Rean and Machias are fighting the other angel, with Machias firing a piercing round at it and Rean following up with a few quick slashes. And then one of the angels lets out a wail that rings off the walls of the room. Things seem...slower, somehow now, mainly your movements. Not too slow, just a tiny bit. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The stream of sonic disability waves washes over the party, causing slower movements and general annoyance.  It's slight, but enough to cause her some discomfort.  Her eyes gleam for a moment, Drawing her sword from the ground as there is a blue aura that courses through her.   Then she moves at /sonic/ speeds, if they would slow her down, then she would counter that with overwhelming force...basically like everything in her life.  Using the stolen speed of Sonic, she dashes between the two angel statues. Her blade swings in a massive arc, aiming to try and slice through both statues with a single blow at speeds that are all but blinding to those who could follow them.  The blade swings back, ready to defend.  "Strike while they're distracted!" she says, with a similarly fast pace in her speech. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty is forced back a step with each laser that washes over him. His eyes squint at the light, but he endures the damage, leaving the others free to engage untroubled. Finally there is a scream from one of the creatures, causing Krusty to raise one hand to his ear as he tries to block some of it out. But his movement seems slower somehow.     Still the battle proceeds and it's time that Krusty add his own axe to the assault. As Mikoto calls for them to strike while the angels are distracted, Krusty chuckles, "There must be an echo in here." Still, it's good advice!     Krusty lowers his stance and sweeps his axe out to the side. He's not very adept at targeting multiple foes at once, so turns his focus on the angel being attacked by Emma and Laura. The blade of his axe begins to glow as he starts, "Aura-"     Krusty pushes off from the ground, quickly covering the distance between him and the angel in a flash. However, it's not a direct charge as Krusty aims to rush past the creature, swinging the large axe as he passes. The weapon, turned immaterial by the skill designed to bypass enemy defenses, will pass through the angel and inflict its damage as it does so.     This leaves Krusty to skid to a halt on the other side of the statue, finishing with, "-Saber!" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's slash strikes through, leaving a pretty big gash in both. They start firing at her again, and just like with Krusty, the lasers are bright and disorienting. "No need to tell us twice!" Rean says, grinning. He sheaths his sword and dashes forward, doing a similar maneuver to Krusty and swiftly unsheathing it as he passes. Machias does some suppressive fire as well, making an opening for Rean to strike it again from behind. Emma holds up her staff in front of her and starts casting an Art, blue ring of light surrounding her. While her partner is casting, Laura does a jumping overhead slash to the angel, smacking it on the 'head' after Krusty's done with his attack. The large amount of focus on Laura and Emma's angel has it flagging a bit more than the other one. It starts shaking, like it's about to scream again. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turns around just in time for both of the monsters to bear down at her.  Even as they move to fire, her blade stabs into the earth again.  Jade spikes shoot up around her, protecting her body like a shell, burning through the outer layers of the jade.  The Jade shatters, revealing a slightly singed, but not disoriented Mikoto who has a grin on her face.   However, Mikoto notices one of the Angels is about to scream again.  She grabs one of the nearby pieces of Jade that have not evaporated yet and runs right towards the about to scream angel. Then she proceeds to shove the large slab of jade right into its mouth to interrupt the scream.   

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty spins around to once more face the angel he's attacking. Though he does pause for a moment to take in the situation as a whole. It's easy enough to keep track of their progress so far, with his keen tactical mind. One of the angels is looking worse for wear than the other. Obviously they should focus on bringing it down, leaving the other easier to handle.     Of course, first they have to deal with the angel's cry. Oh wait, Mikoto appears to do that rather nicely. Not to mention somewhat uncomfortably looking.     Still, recognizing the spell charging of a mage, namely Emma, Krusty rushes forward. His axe blade once more shines as he swings for the statue, "Armor Crash!"     There's a flash of light as the axe connects, the skill trying to crack the statue's defenses and present a weakness for the others to take advantage of. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Uh...Well, then." Machias says, watching Mikoto deal with the screaming in a rather blunt way. He fires at the angel he and Rean were focusing down again. "Mind doing that again to this one?" Krusty's axe connects, right in the crack Laura made earlier. It grows, and Emma's spell resolves, turning into a beam of silver light that slams into it.  The statue shatters, and then its remains explode into a cloud of darkness, leaving behind its partner. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turned her head towards the second statue, thinking for a brief moment.  Giving Machinas a shrug, and then a wide grin.  "I think I can do something," She says, before shoving her blade into the ground once more.  There was a shimmer of summoning as a large snake came out of the ground aiming to open it's mouth wide enough to cover the top part of the statue. "Can't scream if you're head is eaten.  I mean...you CAN...but it's all muffled and nobody can actually hear you," She comments, with a wide grin.   

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty holds up an arm in case of debris as the first of the angel statues shatters. Once confident his sface isn't going to be showered by bits of rock, Krusty gives a nod to the others that had been fighting it, before turning on the one that remains.     Krusty doesn't immediately charge the second angel, not wanting to interupt those who are already engaging it at close range. Instead he holds his ground and sweeps his axe out to the side. Once more it glows.     Krusty swings his axe in front of him, the gathered light jumping off as a crescent that streaks towards the angel. A quick follow up swing sends a second wave flying shortly after the first. They slice through the air and hopefully into the moving statue as well. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' There's now a snake on the angel's head and it's doing exactly what Mikoto said, screaming while muffled. "...Thanks." Machias says, firing another piercing round at the angel. Krusty's crescents strike it as well, and Rean's still behind it, delivering another sword slash to its back. The angel decides it's had enough and starts firing its laser again, trying to dispel the snake on its head. Laura jumps in and delivers a vertical slash to its chest, and Emma is charging up again. It's not /quite/ finished yet, but it's getting pretty close. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The snake is shredded, it had the unfortunate position of being ONTOP of the source of the laser.  Lasers cut through the snake, as it disperses into whiffs of magical energy.  Mikoto gives Machias a nod, before bringing her sword around.   With another burst of speed, she runs around the thing to try and draw it's attention, before coming up behind it, kicking off of Rean's shoulders, and aiming a slash for the back of its head before flipping over it and coming into a baseball slide.   "Thanks for the boost Bean." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     The angel statue appears to be on its last legs. So to speak. You know. Because it doesn't have legs. Which gives Krusty an idea.     While the angel is distracted by snek and the others assaulting it, Krusty circles around behind it. He waits until after Mikoto has struck it on the head before he moves in to quickly capitalize with a follow up attack.     Krusty unleashes a battle cry as he launches to heavy swings towards the statue's back. They are aimed for the points where its gate-like wings join to its body as Krusty hopes to break them off. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Ack!" Rean shouts as Mikoto vaults off of him. Her attack hits the angel's head, leaving her in position to strike again from underneath it if she wants as she slides under. The angel fires off more beams at Krusty as he advances, but he still manages to strike the angel's wing joints. It falls to the ground and screams again. You all feel slower, but it doesn't really matter anymore because Laura and Emma have a plan. "Emma, let's finish this!" Laura shouts, looking to her partner.  Emma finishes casting, and a circle of fire appears under the statue, burning it. Laura holds her sword up in front of her as it glows with light, and then charges in with a shout, delivering three strikes before whirling around and delivering one last strike. The statue shatters and explodes into darkness just like the other one did. "Phew. Everyone alright?" Rean says, sheathing his sword. Suddenly, there's a loud earth-shaking rumble back the way you came. "-What was that?!" Emma shouts, turning around. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto nods to Rean, "Yeah, I'm good.  A little singed and tired of hearing these things attempts to sing.  Seriously, worst singers ever," Mikoto says, "And here I was told Angels' songs were supposed to be beautiful." The loud rumbling is surprising, she looks towards Rean who looks like he has no idea.  She was about to cancel out of her Magical Girl transformation, but now she's not so sure.  "Well, Bean, we're not going to find out by asking questions to the air." Walking back the way she came she looks to see what happened and hopes it's not more bosses or the way is blocked in. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty falls back after taking several more hits. He recovers in time to see Emma and Laura finish off the last angel. He nods to both of them for a job well done, "Impressive."     At the question of being alright, Krusty nods to Rean, "I will be." Planting his axe into the ground, Krusty reaches beneath his tabbard to pull out a bottle. Uncorking it he drinks it down. Some of the scorch wounds he's suffered from the lasers appeal to regenerate quickly.     It's towards the end of drinking the potion that the earth-shaking rumble can be heard. Krusty throws the empty potion bottle away and grabs his axe. He nods to Mikoto, "Agreed. It seems that this dive is not quite yet over."     Krusty starts heading in the direction of the loud sound, once more charging straight into trouble. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Everybody rushes to the entrance to the 4th floor, and, luckily, there's no bosses here. What /is/ here, though is a giant red door with a sort of flower or flame pattern on it. As you get closer to the door, you can hear the sound of gears turning and winding. "What the!?" Machias shouts. "That...definitely wasn't here when we came in." Rean says, puzzled. "Just when we were starting to figure this place out..." Emma says. Rean puts a hand to his chin. "Don't see any way to open it..." he says, drawing his sword. "Maybe brute force?" 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty rushes in, quickly coming to a stop at the sight of the strange door. He slowly approaches it, listening to the sounds it's making. He hmmms, "I wonder what is happening inside..."     As Rean reminds them that the door wasn't here early, Krusty frowns a little, "Rearranging dungeons can be the most surprising and annoying."     Still, the knight raises his large axe up as he faces the door, "However it appeared here, I suspect whatver is on the other side is unlikely to be friendly." Of course, the questions is how do they open it? 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto frowns, but it's not ENTIRELY unwelcome.  It means they can at least advance...but still.  Mikoto thinks about how they can open the door, and then tries the only thing she has available. She attempts to pry open the door with her sword! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean shrugs in response to Krusty's comment.  "Well, that's basically how this place works so far. One trial of sorts after another, with the inside shifting around." After looking over the door a bit, to see if there was a hidden switch or something, everyone attacks the door with swords, guns and magic. And...nothing. The door keeps ticking away. "How odd..." Laura says looking at the door. "It's ticking like a clock, so maybe it's on a timer? Or perhaps it's a giant orbment?" Rean sighs. "Maybe." Kind of a downer, though if that's the way it worked. He shrugs. "But if we have to wait, we have to wait." He walks up to the door one last time to make sure they didn't miss anything, and- REVEAL- Rean flinches and touches his chest, his scar flaring up in pain as the disembodied voice rings in his head. Emma tilts her head. "...Rean, is everything ok?" "...Yeah." Rean says, backing away from the door. That was weird, alright. Not the first time that's happened, either.  As usual, this place continues to be weird. "Thanks for coming along, you two." Rean says, turning to Mikoto and Krusty. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto turns towards Rean, raising an eyebrow at him as there is a sound of pain coming from the Bean and a strange thing where people ask him if he's okay.  Though he seems honest not sure what happened, though it's an occurrence that is not unique.   "Well, it's a timer huh?  Weird.  Well, I'll see if I can't find someone who has destructive beams or disintegration cannons and see if we can't just breach the seal early." With a flash of jade, Mikoto is back in her adventuring outfit and has her normal kendo stick back.  "Yeah, no problem.  It was fun, and now you owe me lunch." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty looks at Rean curiously. There's obviously something more going on here. But Krusty is too respectful to prod any more than has been already. It doesn't seem that there is any immediate need to investigate the door further. Beyond curiosity. And they've done enough for the journey so far.     Krusty returns his axe to his back, nodding in agreement with Mikoto, "It has been an interesting quest so far." He looks at the other members of Rean's team, "You clearly work well together. A pleasure fighting alongside you." 
}}

6574/Old Schoolhouse Briefing

2019-12-22T01:53:33Z

StarSketch:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/05/09
|Location=Thors Military Academy
|Synopsis=Principal Vandyke of Thors Military Academy explains what's going on with a dilapidated building at the back of the school - namely, it turning into a JRPG dungeon.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 1149, 7, 42
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails Of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The warpgate for this area opens up behind a shed, covered up with several crates, Past that, is an academic field and what smells like a nearby horse stable. Unfortunately, it's currently the rainy season, so the field itself is muddy and gross. Even further past that, is what looks like several old looking buildings. Basically, an average looking campus. There's fewer students outside today. Not only because of the rain, but because midterms are coming up soon. Despite this, the occasional teenager in a green or white blazer passes by, unbrella over their head, or huddled under a bulding's awning. And standing in front of the main building is a student in a red blazer - Rean. He's holding a black umbrerlla over his head, eyes casting about for whoever decided to answer his (and by extension, Principal Vandyke's) request. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty is one of those who has accepted the request and invitation. He steps out of the warpgate to... Find himself behind a shed. Krusty looks a little confused for a moment, before looking up as he realises it's raining. A few finger swipes at thin air and a closed umbrella appears as a flash of light in front of him. He takes it and opens it up. Much better.     Krusty moves out from behind the shed in search of someone, anyone, who might represent this school. He's wearing a uniform himself with an official feel to it. A shield patch on the shoulder showing a circle with a sword and magic staff crossed over it. He probably doesn't look too out of place here.     Seeing Rean apparently waiting and looking around, Krusty heads over in his direction. Stopping in front of him, Krusty gives him a friendly smile, "I suspect you are here to greet us?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has no trouble in arriving, the rain wasn't bothering her at all, she was used to it where she was from. She a bit wet rhoufh and she'll fall in behind Krusty. She likely pulls out an odd gun like device and then pulls the trigger. A umbella ppear in hand and the device is returned to her coat's pcoekt. She'll now take sight of Rean grinning abit at him. Her sleveless long coak, the bots, pants and shirt scream she's not from around here nd there's a bit something almost off about her apperace too she grins widely though and that seem normal enough. "Hey there, have you been sent to meet us?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren steps out of the gate and is... confused as he looks around. Stepping out of the gate's hiding place he sees... they /hid/ it? Ugh. He frowns in disgust. That's not going to last, they should just accept it already.     Oh, also, it's raining. His labcoat reshapes into a raincoat; he pulls the hood up. He's considered whether he should have something more formal and impressive for public appearances; on the other hand, the labcoat's probably pretty emblematic of him by now.     Staren spots Rean, and Krusty, who gets a nod, and Kotone, who gets a friendly nod and a smile. "See, I told you you'd get heroes. Why is the warpgate hidden, though? Trying to hide the Multiverse from your people won't end well." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Yeah." He holds out a hand to Krusty and Kotone. "I'm Rean. Thanks for coming." Staren soon approaches, and asks why the gate is hidden. Rean frowns. "I think it's just to keep people from wandering in there by accident. Hopefully they'll tell the rest of the school soon." He looks around. "Anyway, if that's everyone, we should head inside." And with that, he closes his umbrella and heads inside the building. Rean leads the group to Principal Vandyck's office. There's a number of trophies near the window, and a red and gold banner with a horned lion on it behind his desk - the school's emblem. Vandyck himself is an elderly man with long hair, but he's tall and muscular enough that he could probably handle himself on the battlefield still. "Good afternoon," he says, looking up from his paperwork. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa looks to Staren as he arrives and grins a bit. "Hey Staren so you are interested in this too?" She'll look to Krusty for a moment too. "I see you are interested as well?" then she'll shake Rean's hand firmly with a grin. "Taking it slow isn't bad sudden contact can cause a lot of upset. Such as my world finding out magic wasn't a fairy tale anymore." She'll trot along with the group and her umbrella will vanish after they get inside. "Hello, It's good to meet you. I'm Kotone Yamakawa!" 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty shakes the offered hand, "Krusty. Good to meet you."     Krusty agrees with Staren that trying to keep the warpgate hidden for very long won't last. Though he doesn't outright say it. There's usually reasons for the attempt. And keeping people, especially students, from wandering into it is a good one.     At the question from Kotone, Krusty nods, "From what little info I've heard, I am. Though I will admit that I'm still not entirely sure what the request is about." It seems they're going to find out soon though.     Krusty closes up his own umbrella as they proceed into the school proper. He glances around as they walk through the halls, taking in the sights, students and teachers. He's never seen a military school in person and the idea is somewhat fascinating.     Soon enough the group comes face to face with the principal. As they are greeted, Krusty returns it by placing his hand to his chest and bowing slightly in respect, "Greetings. I am Krusty. Official representative of the Round Table Alliance." He straightens again, "I understand you require some assistance?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Well, I was one of the first to meet him so I figured I should follow up." Staren replies to Kotone. "Oh, that reminds me." He adds, as Rean leads them, "Show me a local electrical outlet so I know what design of charger to make for your ecto."     Staren takes in the room, giving the principal a '...is that it?' look.     "Good... afternoon." Staren echoes, uncertainly. "Did you have anything to say...?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean looks puzzled for a moment. "Uh...I can show you an outlet, but we don't use electricity here. And I get the feeling orbal energy is not the same thing." Principal Vandyk gets up from his chair. "My apoligies- I was focused on my work. My name is Aedelbert Vandyck, Principal of Thors Military Academy." he says, returning Krusty's bow. He then turns to Staren. "Yes, of course. There is an old building at the back of the campus that dates back to the dark ages - 1200 years ago on our calendar - And while it has been there since before the school's founding, it's recently begun to change on its own. Over the past two months I've tasked Schwarzer and his classmates to investigate the building and report any new changes." Rean nods. "Right. Last month, for instance, an elevator appeared, as well as a second floor. We haven't gone in yet this month, but I'm expecting at least another floor." "As Schwarzer has explained to me, there are people from other places in the Multiverse that may be able to figure out why and how this building is changing. So, my request is for you to assist Class VII in their investigations going forward." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty side glances at Staren, but says nothing in relation to his rudeness.     Returning his attention to the principal, Krusty listens intently. The revelation of a old building changing of its own accord causes Krusty to hold his chin in thought. He has raided a few dungeons in the past that had the quirk of reconfiguring themselves. Which he mentions as much, "I have encountered similar circumstances before. Though those cases were assumed to be connected to the strange magics and technology of an ancient race. I suppose it's possible there might be something similar here. Though I am unfamiliar with your world's history." Perhaps some investigation into that is required.     "Regardless, I am happy to offer my services and those of my guild in attempting to solve this mystery. I'm sure we can come to an acceptable agreement." Krusty has judged from initial impressions that Principal Vandyck is a wisened man of the world and knows how things work. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "I thought of that, here's some spare batteries." Staren hands Raen small rectangles with contacts on them, like phone batteries.     And then, meeting the Principal: Staren rubs his chin. "Hmm. Are these changes in the nature of additions rather than complete restructurings? Or is there risk that rooms might go away with people inside them?"     "In any case: I'm interested, but as I told Rean, you want to get the word out on something like this, you should contact the Syndicate. You'll have adventurers kicking your door down in no time. Call Arthur Lowell and tell him what's up. Although... I will forward word to the Concord." Staren glances back in the direction of the gate. "Is there anything else you can tell me to put in my report? What's been in the building before, what supernatural abilities were demonstrated by things inside...?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "I see Sir." She takes a note listening as Vandyk give them more details. "I see, have lifeforms or constructs been found within the new floor? I see and it would be a good idea to keep checking it out. Better that than it turns out to be, be some Hellmouth which will let the dark lord into the world going undisturbed while it powers up. A good suggestiona nd I can bring word to the Paladins as well. Any history from the dark ages about it? Wild stories? Legends?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Vandyck nods. "Much of what archeologists find from that era and beyond tends to be rather strange, so you may have a point. As for legends, the task of preserving the building has been passed down from headmaster to headmaster since the school's founding 220 years ago. The founder, the great Emepror Dreichels said to leave it as is until 'The Promised Day,' whenever that may be. Perhaps the time has come, in fact. " Meanwhile, Rean takes the batteries from Staren. "Thanks. The other floors have had monsters on them, just like the 'original' floor did. We've also run into at least one huge monster at the end of the floors that we've visited already. Those ones were more like demons or fiends, though. The last one was uh...A set of floating angelic stone doors that shot lasers." His eybrows furrow at the last bit, like he barely believes what he's describing. "I have some notes on some of the monsters we encountered in there. I'll give you some copies later, and to anyone else who asks." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa thinks for a moment "I would continue with the observation and have some level of guards posted at the entrances if something were to come pouring out it would be bad." She pauses for a moment as she hears about the Emperor and then the promised day she is worried about that. "Sounds like there's hostile and combat kit would be wise to bring on any further trips down there I would like the information you have. Also, have your guards in pairs and call in if anything /strange/ happens they should not go sticking their noses in there." A bit forceful but she's also clearly speaking from experiance. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods at the description, not seeming disbelieving in the least. "I see. Certainly, unusual morphology and powers may be worth investigating, at least." Staren extends a hand to the headmaster. "Nice to meet you, thanks for inviting us here." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Vandyck puts a hand to his chin, eyes closed. "I'll look into that. There are many people on campus, both staff and students who would be able to perform that duty." He then turns to Staren and smiles. "You're very welcome. It was very nice to meet you as well." 
}}

6603/Old Schoolhouse Exploration 1

2019-12-22T01:52:26Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/05/19 |Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse |Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the third floor of the Old Schoolhouse. |..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/05/19
|Location=Thors Military Academy - Old Schoolhouse
|Synopsis=The exploration team investigates the third floor of the Old Schoolhouse.
|Cast of Characters=7002, 528, 42, 6994
|Tinyplot=Old Schoolhouse Exploration
|Tinyplot2=Trails of Cold Steel 1
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto looked around for something to do, something exciting and dangerous...but obviously not completely suicidal.  She was, after all, just a normal girl.  This mission seemed like something she could do to pass the time and get a bit of that excitement she was craving.  She was dressed in a green blouse with a pair of black pants.   She also had a wooden kendo stick with her, resting on her back.  Rean introduces the three classmates and she gives a little bow, "Nice to meet you!" she says cheerfully enough, and walks in with the group like she belongs.   While people investigate the button, she climbs on the platform.  Seems like the obvious place to investigate first! 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      As the others are gathering, a large dark shadow passes overhead. The source of the shadow slowly spirals downward to land in front of the building, revealing itself to be a metallic dragon of imposing height and build. He crosses his arms as he looks the gathering of humans over, then bows his head politely. "I am Bahamut. It is nice to meet all of you." he says politely before following them inside.      It takes him a bit of work to get through the normal human-sized doorways, and so he is slow to join them on the platform. "Hmm. Some kind of elevator?" he asks the group of young people who seem familiar with the situation. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren is wearing the same armor he was in Germany -- it may or may not be something out of science fiction in this world. The catman nods in greeting to Rean's classmates. "Of course." He pulls what appear to be smartwatch-bracelets and glasses from his bag, offering sets to anyone who wants them. "These will allow us to share tactical data -- see eachothers' locations through walls, as well as those of enemies that any of us is looking at."     Staren looks at the panel. "What do the numbers mean? Or do you have no idea yet? ...Is this just an elevator? So, which of the floors have you already cleared?"     Once they've chosen a floor, he starts deploying small quadrotor drones to map the area. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Varying degrees of 'whoa what' crosses Class VII's faces when Bahamut lands. Elliot in particular stares at Bahamut for a few moments before heading inside with the others. "N-Nice to meet you too..." Elliot stammers, a bit intimidated. All three take the bracelets and the glasses, with Alisa fiddling around with hers, not unlike how Rean did when he got his. Rean and his classmates are already on the platform as well, seeing as there's room for all of them. "That's exactly what it is." Gaius says. "We've only gone through 3 floors so far." Rean shrugs. "Ok, If we're all ready, let's get started." Rean says, pushing the button labeled '3.'  The platform shudders, and begins to lower passing by 2 other floors before stopping Once on the third floor, you find that it's dimly lit, and there's two large doors. "Uh...Hmm." Rean says. "Looks like we'll have to split up. Alisa, Gaius, Elliot and I will go one way and you guys can go the other. Be careful! "  He says, and leads his group through the door on the right. Once you go through the doors, you hear the sound of water. There's a whole bunch of bridges The passageway is large and tere's a whole bunch of paths, including a few yellow bridges across the water.   Staren: Your drones successfully start to map the area- There's a lot of different paths through, as well as a few hourglass looking devices with yellow lights, and a blue unlit crystal beneath it.  Some of the paths don't have ways across the water, but there IS blue lights on the edges of the gaps. There's this large and vaguely Rat-rabbit looking monster prowling around. It spots you, and charges into battle! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The ratbit charges at you, and it has some very sharp whiskers. It charges at Mikoto and Staren, and then turns to slash at Bahamut with its whiskers. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut can't help but smirk lightly at the stares and the stammering from the teens. "Nice to meet you." he says back to Elliot before they ride the elevator down. "Is this magic or technology?" he asks, even though he is fairly certain he would be able to tell after a bit of observation.      When they reach the third floor down and Rean declares they should split up, Bahamut rumbles uncertainly. "If you are sure. I would feel responsible if one of you was injured because I was not there to assist you when we were asked here for that exact purpose." he says.      But, it seems the decision is made, and so Bahamut follows Staren and Mikoto. "If I had to guess, I would say these hourglass devices are connected to the bridges somehow." he says before...raising an eyeridge as that creature shows up. "Is this a dungeon of some kind?" he muses to himself as the ratbit charges. Bahamut crouches down somewhat and brings his arms up, and the sharp whiskers glance off his thick hide, striking metal sparks in the process and leaving a small gash in one of his plates.      He lowers his arms after the attack, revealing his confident smirk is still in place. "It seems this world has fiends of its own." he says before slashing at the creature with both sets of his razor sharp hand talons. "And I am sure it will fall just as easily!" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' The Rabbit is a BIT faster than expected, coming in with those dangerous whiskers before diving past her.  Mikoto barely avoids being hit head-on, instead of being cut on the side as she just seems to just barely get out of harm's way.  Ow! "Ouch...hey that hurt!" she says, surprised, and then grabs her Kendo stick, and proceeds to try and hit the Rabbit pretty hard.  Managing to swing the weapon in a downward angle to try and smack the crap right out of it. There is an unamused look on her face now as if the realization that this place might be dangerous. Or she's just really focused on hitting. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Magic shaped to a purpose /is/ technology." Staren observes. "But if you mean does it run on electricity or not, well..." Staren's scanners should quickly be able to check that!     "Hourglasses and bridges? You think it's a timed switch thing, we have to make it over the bridge before the hourglass runs out? But, we can fly..."     And then: Monster! Staren takes aim and blasts it with the twin particle beam cannons on his arm, then activates his forcefield just as the creature smashes into it, cracks spiderwebbing all across its surface and sending Staren skidding back a few feet! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Staren's scanners detect not electricity but magic, actually! The ratbit falls, taking too much damage from everyone's attacks. Alisa's voice comes over the comlink. "It's not timed, but the yellow bridge retracted itself when we hit the switch." Gaius chipped in in next. "If you can fly, it might just be better to bypass the switches." The nearest bridge is yellow, but there's also what looks like a floating upside down obelisk and a vine covered quadripedal rock on the otherside. There's also one of those hourglass switches and a retracted blue bridge. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      "Quite true." Bahamut says to Staren, then smirks. "But, using electricity as the distinguishing feature could also be folly. Magic could easily generate electricity. Perhaps...magic or mundane would be most appropriate? I would say magic or scientific, or magic or mechanical, but magic is too versatile and often considered a science."      The ratbit is taken care of easily it seems, and it is suggested that they fly rather than use the switches. Bahamut looks over at the vine covered rock...and finds it odd that a rock has four limbs. A table or platform of some kind? Or...      He spreads his wings, then looks to Mikoto. "If you cannot fly, I am quite happy to carry you." he says. Whether she accepts or not, he makes his way over the divide to the rock, leaving the obelisk to Staren and his scanners. Once there, Bahamut looks the rock over for signs of activity before giving it a light poke with a claw. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto gets a good weak shot on the Rabit, and it goes poof and dies.  Wiping her forehead, and getting another selfie of herself and the dead monster, she looks towards Bahamut who offers her a ride.  Well, that's embarrassing, but there doesn't appear to be any other way across right? "Uh sure....how do we handle this?" she asks, and with aid will likely get carried across without much effort.  She is pretty light, as she is literally just a school girl of athletic build. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     The ratbit goes down. "The problem is that, in both our languages it seems, the terms are overloaded. Magic and technology, in more common parlance, are more about the trappings. Magic deals with spells, and leylines, and spiritual energies, technology deals with particles and circuits and engines and whatnot. A useful shorthand, but sometimes it falls apart. In a more technical -- or perhaps 'arcane' -- sense" he smirks at his little joke, "technology is any work of applied knowledge, and magic is anything people don't understand. If we had four words for these four concepts, instead of two, things would be much less confusing."     Staren flies over to scan the obelisk. His magical scanners are a bit less sophisticated than his electromagnetic and space-time ones, but they should at least show if any energy is flowing into or out of the thing, and from or to where. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The rock doesn't like being poked and tries to kick Bahamut in the face with a backflip! Also, the obelisk is alive, and isn't ok with people messing with its buddy! It hovers up and down aggressively, glowing with a golden light. Staren's sensors pick up space-tinted magical energy flowing into into it from the environment. Also, his drones are done scanning. There's a short staircase and a door not too far away if you just straight up fly over the gaps in the path! 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Her ride is hit, Mikoto hangs on before putting out her Kendo stick again.  Trying to struggle on the back of Bahamut, she swings her stick towards the face of the backflipping monster.  Repeatedly hitting it because it's dangerously close to hurting her too! "Ok, this is starting to be really dangerous!" she says, with a grin, "I'm enjoying this!" 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      The how when it comes to carrying Mikoto it seems she settles for climbing on his back. Mikoto's modest weight doesn't even seem to register for Bahamut, almost like he is lifting a feather. Bahamut rumbles lightly at Staren as their conversation continues. "I am not sure more words are needed. Magical and non-magical seems to cover everything." he says, chuckling lightly at the joke.      Just as Bahamut suspected, the rock was no mere rock. The backflip hits him and causes him to take a step back, but other than a dent in one of his metallic scutes he hardly seens to notice it. "Quite an interesting selection of creatures so far. Even Spira has no moving rock monsters as far as I know." he says before rearing back and delivering a strong punch with his metal fist. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Alright, rock." Staren faces the obelisk. "Are you gonna play nice or am I gonna have to blow you to bits?" He steps back a bit, pulling a rocket launcher out of his bag, but... if it's not attacking he sees no reason to blow it up. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The rock monster is falling apart, but it's not quite dead yet. It just backflips at Bahamut and Mikoto again, though. As for the obelisk, it's still mad. It stops glowing, but all that energy it built up is released, forming a small black hole! 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto holds on for dear life as she struggles to avoid another back flipping Stalagtite.  Oh no wait, it's a monster, StalagMITE!  Haha...she's so good at this.  Laughing, she narrowly avoids the brunt of the attack thanks to Bahamut's size and just gets a bump to the head.   The kendo stick comes out again, this time aiming to try and find an eye and jab it right into it.  "Wooo, this is nuts!" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren actually screams out in pain as tidal forces tear at his flesh! (His armor is more resistant.) He fires the rocket launcher and just tries to GET AWAY, activating wings and jumpjets and just trying to pull away! 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut can't help but laugh along with Mikoto as she keeps swinging while hanging on to his back. He doesn't seem to mind being used as a shield of sorts, either. "I suspect you are a bit nuts yourself." he says with a teasing grin as he makes a quick gesture with his hand. The area around the rock monster gains an icy blue tint to it and a few crystals of ice form in the air before several spears of thick magical ice suddenly explode outward just below the creature.      Once the creature is down, Bahamut continues down the passages, carrying Mikoto with him. "If you think this is nuts, you should visit Spira sometime." he says with a chuckle and a slight shake of his head. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The rock finally falls, and the Obelisk decides it's had enough and flees. 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' You all continue through the caverns, fighting any monster along the way and eventually make it through to the door. There's also a circular platform with an orb shaped thing on a pillar on it. Once you walk through the door, there's two large horned and winged demons floating there. The one on the left spots you and fires a laser at you! Oh, and There's also a second door to your right. 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:''' Mikoto jumps off the back of Bahamut, as they finally get to the other side sans one dead monster.  Landing, she takes another selfie with the dead monster behind her.  Oh man, this was totally going to make so many likes on Multiverse Linkedin! Following with the rest she whistles as they continue down until they reach two demons!  Oh no, and they're blocking the way?  Most normal people would be afraid, and while Mikoto /is/ afraid, she is also very very reckless!  Taking a stance she runs forward ahead of the group, aiming to jump up into the air and swing the Kendo stick in a wide arch, aiming to try and cleave her way through them. Aiming to land on the other side with the Kendo stick at an end of swing pose.   

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut growls as the laser strike leaves him with a smoldering wound in his side, then looks over at the others. "Keep clear." he says as the golden gyro on his back starts to spin. White lightning arcs over his form and into the gyro as it spins, and Bahamut lowers onto all fours. He firmly plants each hand and foot, his sharp metal claws digging into the floor to anchor him, then those arcs of energy start flowing into a growing orb in front of his open maw.      The blinding orb of energy grows quickly until it is nearly as big around as Bahamut himself, then explodes outward in a swirling beam of white, blue, and purple more broad than the dragon unleashing it! He seeks to engulf both demons in the beam, which lasts several seconds. But, even if he doesn't manage it, the area the beam passed through explodes upward in more of that pure energy.      When the beam tapers off, the monsters might possibly be vaporized, and the room and hallways might be blackened. But, Bahamut was careful to avoid hitting anything that looked important. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren fires missiles until the obelisk is out of sight! Then he stops to rest for a moment while his medichines release pain-relief drugs. He's a bit more cautious as he follows the others, so he has time to get his forcefield up in time to take the laser (it gets whiter and less translucent where the energy hits it, like the field is deforming from stress) and raims his weapons to counterfire. But, uh... Mikoto and Bahamut seem to be pretty much already on that. With Bahamut's big fuckoff energy beam he can't even see the targets to aim at them, anyway!     "Well." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Mikoto's sword stroke strikes true and Bahamut's Megaflare tears across the room, leaving scorch marks in its wake and piercing through both demons. The two demons explode spectacularly in a burst of darkness-just as the door to the right opens and out comes Rean and co. "Uh...Well then." Rean says, looking around, and rubbing the back of his head. "Guess you guys beat us." He then pauses, thinking about something for a moment. "Anyway, if that's done, we should probably head back." Alisa says, pointing out the way they came. The room they were in was a dead end, actually, with the only other doors being the ones they just came through. "Was there a platform near your door when you came in here?" 

:'''{{#var:7002|Mikoto Shimizu (7002)}} has posed:'''     Mikoto looks proud...     Looking behind her she see's the flare starting to build up. Looking towards the two monsters who are probably dazed from her attack, "I should skeddadle..." She says, and dives for cover as the Megaflare tears through the space she had been, and the two monsters die. In that moment, she flips out her phone to take the shot. Yessssss...     Flipping to her feet she immediately gets behind Rean and his friends, taking a group photo with them. "Alright! Lets go back and get something to eat!" 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut slowly stands after his attack, then lets out a booming roar before folding his arms over his broad chest. "There is the one with the pillar and orb." he answers Rean, then nods as the suggestion to head back is made. "Sorry if I stole all the fun. Eliminating monsters is basically my full-time job." he says as he starts for the door. "Something to eat sounds good." He looks toward Staren. "Will you be joining us, Staren?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Really? It'll be good to have you on hand, then." Rean says. "Anyway, the platform thing should teleport us back to the entrance. " Mikoto's attempt at taking a selfie with the group got met with some mild bewilderment until they realized her phone had a camera in it and then they posed with her properly. 
}}

6504/Surprise! You're Going Out to Eat Tonight

2019-12-22T01:28:05Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/05/02 |Location=Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Multiverse |Synopsis=Three people find themselves at the Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Mul..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/05/02
|Location=Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Multiverse
|Synopsis=Three people find themselves at the Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Multiverse.
|Cast of Characters=525, 6994, 42
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:525|Inga Freyjasdottir (525)}} has posed:''' Ah, this restaurant. She'd been many times, though absolutely never on purpose. She walks through the entrance looking vaguely surprised, then slightly annoyed, fading quickly to comfortable ambivalence. The petite, white haired woman leans on her walking stick as she ambles toward a nearby table and takes a seat, a cup of tea soon arriving to keep her company. She's dressed in a long dress of blue wool over an underdress of white linen, the sleeves rolled up and an apron tied around her middle that is slightly smeared with an herbal smelling paste. Her long hair is tightly braided over one shoulder. "I suppose I was hungry..." she grumbles to herself, looking at the menu and wondering why she even bothers. There should be pictures or something! 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' A black-haired teenager walks through the resturant's doors, looking rather bewildered. This definitely wasn't where he was trying to go. "...Oh." he mutters, glancing around. Still, he was pretty hungry anyway, and a random resturant worked. He walks further inside, draping his red blazer over the back of a nearby chair. The menu has a lot more food on it than he was expecting, and he actually can't pick anything. There's an elderly woman sitting at the table to his left, and so he leans over and asks, "Have you eaten here before? This menu is huge, and I can't decide..." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:''' MOMENTS AGO:     Staren wakes up. The gel is draining out of the pod, leaving him dry before he climbs out, steps onto a rug on the faux stone floor of his ship and gets dressed from a nearby locker.     Then the hunger hits.     Nanomachines brought nutrients to his blood, but his body's stomach was left empty while he wasn't in it. Staren looks at the door to the aft of the ship, concentrates on that hunger, and steps through. NOW:     Staren steps into the Bar and Grill, glancing around with a smile and striding into the eating area just a touch eagerly. And he sees a familiar face! "Inga!" He steps up to the table next to her. "Haven't seen you in awhile!" He looks from her expression to the menu. It takes him a moment to get it. "You know, you could get some kind of reading device like Toph had... or perhaps ask for a menu with pictures? They should have one..."     And hey, there's a new guy! Staren looks him over briefly, then flags down a waiter. Waitress? Server. It can be hard to tell with some of the species working here. "I'll have a sweet iced tea and double quarter pounder with cheese and the special sauce. And an order of fish and chips for the new guy." If Inga doesn't say anything specific, he adds "And a menu with pictures."     Then Staren takes a seat across from them, then leans forward with his hands folded on the table. "So, how've you been? And new guy, are you new to the Multiverse too or just never been to the Bar & Grill before?" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga Freyjasdottir (525)}} has posed:''' It is a very good thing she cannot read minds because she's been mistaken for an old woman /far/ too often lately. What does she need to do, wear pigtails? Honestly. Inga looks over toward the young man that just arrived and smiles to him over her tea. "I've never had anything here that isn't to my liking--the seafood is generally quite good if you can overlook wondering exactly where it comes from," she answers. "By the look on your face," she continues, "you didn't mean to end up here. That happens. I don't think I've ever actually come here on purpose. Suppose they have to get clientelle somehow," she offers with a shrug. Indeed, the woman does not appear to be old once you see her face clearly. Nearly flawless pale skin, not a wrinkle in sight unless she's furrowing her brow, which is quite often to be fair. Keen, hazel eyes, dark lashes and pink lips--she's not old, and actually rather pretty. Blinking, she turns and looks toward Staren, smiling. "Staren, nice to see you. We did say we needed to catch up, hmm?" she greets. She waves a hand dismissively at the menu. "It's alright, I'll just be getting the fish. And one to go," she adds to the server. She already has tea. The server looks slightly confused to see the teapot and cup, because he doesn't remember bringing it. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     The catman agrees, "The seafood here is great, I just feel like a burger today. Hmm, catchup..." He looks to Inga and tries to remember the last time they talked.     N'Raha helping her move things from Harry's apartment. Oh, right. His smile fades, his ears splay and he looks down at the table for a moment, then back at her, putting the smile back on. "Sssooooo, what have you been up to... lately? With me just the... usual I guess, helping people in different worlds. There's that new place with superheroes that's gonna turn into an inter-universal incident any day now, and Lilian's world with the weird monsters, and the new Mitakihara..." 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga Freyjasdottir (525)}} has posed:''' Inga watches Staren's expression change and she doesn't need to be a mind reader or a Seer to know what he's just reminded himself of. She looks away and sips her tea. Either someone told him, or he'd put the pieces together himself. No one has ever mentioned it. Raha is the only person she's really talked about it with. She purses her lips slightly, wondering if she should say something...then just shakes her head slightly, allowing the conversation to move on. "All that seems..exciting. New place with superheroes?" she asks, to begin. She's not clued into any of those things, she doesn't think. "I've just been...doing the usual, I suppose. I help Raha when things pop up in Eorzea, and there's the business in the North with the ghosts. Complicated situation, that." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Ah, well..." Staren starts to reach into his pocket to pull out a tablet with reports on Brockton Bay, but immediately catches himself. He just sort of lamely drops the hand to his side, the other still on the table. "Brockton Bay. It's a place where people just started developing... supernatural abilities one day, and the government and society have tried to cope by enforcing a sort of code. Heroes don't kill, and as long as a villain doesn't kill they /might/ not get sent to the super-power-proof-jail that noone ever comes back from. Unless they're someone just born with a power they can't control, then they get tossed right in and noone cares."     Staren drums his fingers on the table. "As you can imagine, the Concord takes a dim view of such practice, and with how elites from the rest of the Multiverse aren't all used to holding back -- and indeed might deem it too dangerous for others to allow an opponent in a fight to continue living -- and the villains who are no doubt itching to go out into places not used to them, the whole thing is an inter-dimensional incident waiting to happen."     Staren frowns as he speaks, then his ears perk up again and he looks mildly curious, tilting his head to one side slightly. "Ghosts, you say?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Yeah...I was trying to get back to school, but the portal dropped me here instead." He shrugs. "I was thinking about having dinner once I got back anyway, so I guess it all worked out." The old lady isn't actually old at all, and just has light hair like one of his classmates. Oops. Her complexion is really nice. She takes good care of herself, it seems. Somebody else walks in, a man with brown hair and...cat ears? And a tail, too! The man greets the white haired lady, and joins the two of them at the table. "Uh...Thanks." Rean says, pouring a cup of tea for himself and trying not to stare at the guy's ears. Rean furrowed his brows. The Multiverse? Did he mean the other worlds? "Both." He says, taking a sip of tea. "The portal at my school popped up about a week ago, and I thought I'd poke my head in to see where it takes me." He probably should've told the others where he was going before jumping in, but it was a bit too late now. "Anyway, my name's Rean. And you two are?" The conversation drifted to all sorts of places, and people the both of them knew. One of the worlds was having some problem with people with supernatural abilities, and their rather agressive manner of handling them. Rean glanced down at his tea. It sounded like a world he'd be better off staying away from if possible. however, a name came up that caught his attention. "The Concord?" Rean asks. 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga Freyjasdottir (525)}} has posed:''' Inga listens, blinking. "Yes, that sounds...annoyingly complicated," she replies. Inga comes from...simpler, more brutal times, morally. It's still an adjustment. She doesn't understand the whole 'heroes don't kill people' thing. Totally foreign concept. "Mmm, some people put out the call for help with their world. Some very...complicated problems they needed more people willing to assist with. We crossed into a place wher the underworld and the realm of the living overlap. There's someone causing trouble we're meant to track down and deal with," she explains vaguely. Inga looks back to Rean and extends her hand. "Welcome to the Multiverse, Rean. I am Inga Freyjasdottir, wisewoman," she introduces, then gestures to Staren. "This is Staren. We are old friends. He's with the Concord, yes. Which I'll leave him to explain," she adds. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods knowingly at the mention of deadlands/shadowlands or the like. He's had to deal with quite a lot of that sort of thing...     Staren smiles as he's introduced, and leans over the table with hand extended to shake. "Staren Wiremu, Hand of the Concord! Always nice to meet new people."     The waiter comes by and sets down food. Staren looks at his burger hungrily but no, exposition is even more important than food! He does gesture vaguely at the fish and chips ordered for Raen, "Try it."     "The Concord..." Staren sits back in his chair. "Well... This sector of the Multiverse, which we call Sector Zero, has three factions that hold most of the power, due to aligned governments working together and sharing resources and people like us with useful skills and abilities who've pledged alignment to their ideals. Everyone has their own view of things, but the Concord is... well basically, we believe that people with the means to accomplish great things shouldn't be held back. Among our number are both those interested primarily in self-improvement, as well as those who seek power that they may better help others. But we agree that, if you can save or improve lives and it's your desire to do so, that you shouldn't have to answer to people worried more about about 'tradition' or 'but the artifact of useful power belongs in a museum' or 'but giving everyone free stuff is illegal there' or 'but what will happen to their society and culture if they don't have to toil away in mud farms just to survive anymore'. Not that any real negative consequences don't matter, but we trust that our elites and those working with them can handle such problems." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Nice to meet you both! " Rean says, shaking Staren and Inga's hands. He took a few bites of the fish as Staren explained the Concord. IT sounded nice, at least. Self improvement and learning how to better helpo people was something he was all for. "What about the other two?" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga Freyjasdottir (525)}} has posed:''' Inga is with the Watch, but she doesn't volunteer as much. She has no real strong feelings about any of the groups at the moment. "There's the paladins," she comments quietly. "I couldn't tell you too much about them. All about...law, keeping order," she offers, looking a little distance suddenly. Harry had been recruited to the paladins. It isn't exactly something she's keen to think about right now. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren takes a big bite of the burger and starts chewing, but Ren's question is pretty quick so he's left awkwardly chewing for a few seconds before he can answer. He wipes his mouth with his sleeve and takes a sup of his drink.     "Well... The other two are the Paladins and the Watch. The Paladins are supplied and funded by the Commonwealth, a multi-world alliance of nations that all agree that those with unusual powers shouldn't be in charge of the government. The Paladins themselves believe in the rule of law, although not necessarily the law of whatever world they're intervening in. Still, uh, you can see where they might be at odds with the Concord. 'I'll take over this country and run it well because I know what I'm doing' is okay by us, but while we'd expect someone in such a position and our other elites to handle problems that come up, the Paladins would probably prefer a system of government more set on laws that will keep the country running even if something /does/ happen to the former benevolent dictator."     Staren scratches his chin. "Not that we all agree that benevolent dictators are the best form of government, I mean... the Concord has economists and sociologists and political scientists trying to figure /out/ the perfect form of government, same as anything else. It's not that I don't think rule of law is a good thing, but the Multiverse is constantly changing and it's hard for pretty much any legal system to keep up." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren takes a sip from his iced tea. "The Watch... We may have had disagreements at times, but I think we can all agree their hearts are in the right place. Only one thing matters." Staren taps his finger on the table. "Help people now. Do not suffer tyrants."     "The Concord has to worry about the bottom line, and looking for opportunities to gain resources or useful allies from helping people. This may require work behind the scenes so we can make a smooth transition from tyrant opressing dirt farmers to a new regime overlooking ex-peasants training for magic jobs or whatever. Because we want to make sure we can still help people tomorrow, and next year, and next millenium. And we all have our own goals that require more power, and we all agreed that's a goal we can work together on. The Paladins may get backing from the Commonwealth but they can't risk going off half-cocked, they have to make sure they can justify their actions if The People ever call it into question. And we both need to worry about bad PR and whether the people we save will STAY saved."     Staren takes a breath. "Not the Watch. They work in the shadows, and don't answer to power or any people but those they're helping. They free people from suffering and tyranny -- or at least what they /percieve/ as suffering or tyranny -- and they don't have to look good doing it or figure out how to profit from it because that's not the kinda shop they're running. I think that's the nicest way I can put it."     Staren glances to Inga, then back to Raen. "I've had my disagreements with August, but the worst over matters of degree. There were problems to be solved, on that we agreed, and in other circumstances I'd have agreed with his actions, but he didn't wait long enough for other solutions. However, over the past year or so we haven't had many problems. I think... I think perhaps he's growing into the role, maturing and learning from his past actions." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean sits there for a moment, taking all of this in. All three had different ways of handling it, but their goals all seemed to be the same- help the people of the Multiverse. Whether it was trying to find the person with the right amount of strength for the job, keeping order, or saving people regardless of the cost, they all wanted the same thing. "I see." Rean says, finishing the last of his food. "Maybe I'll look into joining one of them at some point." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren takes another bite of his burger and chews. He pulls something from his pocket -- it looks like a smartphone, but he demonstrates how it can be stretched out to tablet size, or bent like a bracelet, and then slides it across the table, followed by a pair of glasses from his bag.     "Here. You can talk on the radio and use the multiversal internet from this as long as you're in range of a gate."     Staren sips his tea. "So, um... do you want to talk about your own world, or who you are?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Are you sure? This looks..." Advanced? Expensive? Still, it's a gift and he takes both the phone and the glasses anyway. He fiddles with the device, stretching it out and twisting it around before settling on a bracelet shape for it. "What are the glasses for, though? Are they some sort of Orbment too?" As for his world...He's honestly not sure where to /start/ on that topic. Zemuria is huge, and he's not really sure he can accurately describe Erebonia's culture or anything like that. Eventually, he settles on the following: "I attend Thors Military Academy in Trista, Erebonia. It's on the western half of the Zemurian continent." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren smiles slightly when asked if he's sure. "It's fine. I've gathered the best technology from multiple worlds, and there's one where making those is nigh trivial. No matter what faction you join, or if you don't... just having another elite hero active in the Multiverse and able to contact the Syndicate is worth what little cost it is. Put them on." Once the glasses are on, Rean can see an augmented reality interface that's much less cumbersome than trying to use the device by tapping the bracelet's surface. Whether by reading eye movements or projecting a keyboard on the table or projecting UI elements in the air, there's basically every potential way to use them he can think of, and a voice in the glasses provides instruction.     Staren rests his elbows on the table, hands lifted and clasped together. "Ah, I'm afraid there you have me at a loss. That's just names to me. Um... What do you learn to do, how do you learn to fight at this academy? Swords? Magic? Firearms? Something else? Is there a war on you expect to fight in, and what is it over?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean puts the glasses on, and it's like having a computer screen attached to his face. Except, he can still see through it, and it's responsive to his hands and anything else he does. "Whoa..." he whipsers, pulling up a keyboard and just gennerally messing around. Staren's comment brings him back to reality. Right, he's from another world, and just like how he didn't get anything they were talking about earlier, Staren didn't get it either. "Uh...right. Sorry. Despite its name, our school isn't actually /that/ militarily focused. I think only around 30% of students end up in the army or something like that. There's a few classes like Military Science, and we do learn to fight, but most of our classes are the usual ones. I personally use a sword, and a few of my classmates use firearms or other weapons. My class in particular also goes on field studies across the Empire once a month, though we've only done two so far." He pauses for a moment, thinking about something that happened on their most recent one. "There's no war happening right now, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit worried that might change soon." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren briefly comments on the computer, "The batteries should be good for a few days... If your world uses electricity, send me the specs and I'll make you a charger, otherwise, you can get batteries here and here." He sends warpgate directions for AMATERASU moonbase and AMALGAM colony to the glasses.     "Swords /and/ firearms? Interesting. Usually firearms obsolete swords once they're quick to fire again, unless it's more about what supernatural skills the wielder brings to a fight. Why are you worried the peace might not last? And are there any problems on your world you think could benefit from multiversal help?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "The Empire and our largest neighbor, the Calvard Republic don't exactly get along... Add that to the fact things between the Nobles and the Reformist Faction get tenser by the day. During our Last Field Study, we found out that the Provincial Army of Kreuzen Province was stocking up on tanks, likely because the Imperial Army is allied with the Reformist Faction." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren tilts his head slightly, muttering 'of course the empire and the republic don't get along...'     "Well. I guess I could ask for details on what all those things are, but it kind of seems like a waste to explain it all to me and then have to explain it all again later... again, if people from the Multiverse came to help your world, what would you see them do?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean shakes his head. "I don't think you can really help with this problem in particular. I'm not really sure what else otherwise. Though...There's this one really weird building on our campus, and we're trying to figure out why all of a sudden it's changing its internal structure once a month. Maybe someone out in the Mulitverse would be able to figure out what's up with it. And I wouldn't be surprised if we wound up on a Field Study outside of our world. That's actually be pretty cool, honestly." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren chews another bite of burger, and swallows. His tail lashes a bit when Rean says that. "I'm sure folks would love to study and explore the building, but a problem we can't help with? What is it?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean shrugs."The politics stuff. But things aren't so bad yet that it's immedate...I think. I'm just a student, so maybe there's something I'm overlooking." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "As for the Old Schoolhouse, if you know anybody who doesn't mind beating up monsters in the basement of a decrepit building, point them my way. " 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods a bit at the comment about politics stuff, since that /is/ somewhat beyond his expertise, then gives a short, sharp laugh. "Ha! Just tell the Syndicate you need some monsters beat up, and you'll have folks beating a path to your door! If you need any help organizing it, ask for 'Arthur Lowell' on the radio and he'll sort it all out." He smiles as he speaks, then takes a long sip of his iced tea. "Mmmmh."     He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them again. "Well. Anything else I can explain? Ah, I suppose I should explain the Syndicate, but it's pretty simple... It's a large organization like the factions, but it's not in opposition to them. It exists to match people -- especially adventurers and mercenaries -- with job opportunities, regardless of their affiliation." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' "Got it." That sounded useful, and actually pretty familiar to him as well, like the task letters from the Student Council. Rean then got up, picking up the the glasses and phone. "I should probably get going." He said, putting the devices away and putting his blazer back on. "It was nice meeting you both, and I know a bit more about what's going on now. So thanks for dinner." He then looked over at the waiter, realizing something. "Um...Does this place take Mira, or is there some sort of Multiversal currency or something?" Rean said putting his hand behind his head. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "There are Multiversal standard credits backed by all of the major banks. But this place takes pretty much everything. I'm sure someone will be contacting your world's banks to set up trade and conversion rates with Mira soon." Staren waves a hand dismissively. "I've covered your meal today."     Staren stands up and walks around the table to extend a hand to shake, smiling. "It was nice meeting you. Seeya around." 
}}

6574/Old Schoolhouse Briefing

2019-12-22T01:25:38Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2019/05/09 |Location=Thors Military Academy |Synopsis=Principal Vandyke of Thors Military Academy explains what's going on with a dilapidated build..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2019/05/09
|Location=Thors Military Academy
|Synopsis=Principal Vandyke of Thors Military Academy explains what's going on with a dilapidated building at the back of the school - namely, it turning into a JRPG dungeon.
|Cast of Characters=6994, 1149, 7, 42
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' The warpgate for this area opens up behind a shed, covered up with several crates, Past that, is an academic field and what smells like a nearby horse stable. Unfortunately, it's currently the rainy season, so the field itself is muddy and gross. Even further past that, is what looks like several old looking buildings. Basically, an average looking campus. There's fewer students outside today. Not only because of the rain, but because midterms are coming up soon. Despite this, the occasional teenager in a green or white blazer passes by, unbrella over their head, or huddled under a bulding's awning. And standing in front of the main building is a student in a red blazer - Rean. He's holding a black umbrerlla over his head, eyes casting about for whoever decided to answer his (and by extension, Principal Vandyke's) request. 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty is one of those who has accepted the request and invitation. He steps out of the warpgate to... Find himself behind a shed. Krusty looks a little confused for a moment, before looking up as he realises it's raining. A few finger swipes at thin air and a closed umbrella appears as a flash of light in front of him. He takes it and opens it up. Much better.     Krusty moves out from behind the shed in search of someone, anyone, who might represent this school. He's wearing a uniform himself with an official feel to it. A shield patch on the shoulder showing a circle with a sword and magic staff crossed over it. He probably doesn't look too out of place here.     Seeing Rean apparently waiting and looking around, Krusty heads over in his direction. Stopping in front of him, Krusty gives him a friendly smile, "I suspect you are here to greet us?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has no trouble in arriving, the rain wasn't bothering her at all, she was used to it where she was from. She a bit wet rhoufh and she'll fall in behind Krusty. She likely pulls out an odd gun like device and then pulls the trigger. A umbella ppear in hand and the device is returned to her coat's pcoekt. She'll now take sight of Rean grinning abit at him. Her sleveless long coak, the bots, pants and shirt scream she's not from around here nd there's a bit something almost off about her apperace too she grins widely though and that seem normal enough. "Hey there, have you been sent to meet us?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren steps out of the gate and is... confused as he looks around. Stepping out of the gate's hiding place he sees... they /hid/ it? Ugh. He frowns in disgust. That's not going to last, they should just accept it already.     Oh, also, it's raining. His labcoat reshapes into a raincoat; he pulls the hood up. He's considered whether he should have something more formal and impressive for public appearances; on the other hand, the labcoat's probably pretty emblematic of him by now.     Staren spots Rean, and Krusty, who gets a nod, and Kotone, who gets a friendly nod and a smile. "See, I told you you'd get heroes. Why is the warpgate hidden, though? Trying to hide the Multiverse from your people won't end well." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean nods. "Yeah." He holds out a hand to Krusty and Kotone. "I'm Rean. Thanks for coming." Staren soon approaches, and asks why the gate is hidden. Rean frowns. "I think it's just to keep people from wandering in there by accident. Hopefully they'll tell the rest of the school soon." He looks around. "Anyway, if that's everyone, we should head inside." And with that, he closes his umbrella and heads inside the building. Rean leads the group to Principal Vandyck's office. There's a number of trophies near the window, and a red and gold banner with a horned lion on it behind his desk - the school's emblem. Vandyck himself is an elderly man with long hair, but he's tall and muscular enough that he could probably handle himself on the battlefield still. "Good afternoon," he says, looking up from his paperwork. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa looks to Staren as he arrives and grins a bit. "Hey Staren so you are interested in this too?" She'll look to Krusty for a moment too. "I see you are interested as well?" then she'll shake Rean's hand firmly with a grin. "Taking it slow isn't bad sudden contact can cause a lot of upset. Such as my world finding out magic wasn't a fairy tale anymore." She'll trot along with the group and her umbrella will vanish after they get inside. "Hello, It's good to meet you. I'm Kotone Yamakawa!" 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty shakes the offered hand, "Krusty. Good to meet you."     Krusty agrees with Staren that trying to keep the warpgate hidden for very long won't last. Though he doesn't outright say it. There's usually reasons for the attempt. And keeping people, especially students, from wandering into it is a good one.     At the question from Kotone, Krusty nods, "From what little info I've heard, I am. Though I will admit that I'm still not entirely sure what the request is about." It seems they're going to find out soon though.     Krusty closes up his own umbrella as they proceed into the school proper. He glances around as they walk through the halls, taking in the sights, students and teachers. He's never seen a military school in person and the idea is somewhat fascinating.     Soon enough the group comes face to face with the principal. As they are greeted, Krusty returns it by placing his hand to his chest and bowing slightly in respect, "Greetings. I am Krusty. Official representative of the Round Table Alliance." He straightens again, "I understand you require some assistance?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Well, I was one of the first to meet him so I figured I should follow up." Staren replies to Kotone. "Oh, that reminds me." He adds, as Rean leads them, "Show me a local electrical outlet so I know what design of charger to make for your ecto."     Staren takes in the room, giving the principal a '...is that it?' look.     "Good... afternoon." Staren echoes, uncertainly. "Did you have anything to say...?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Rean looks puzzled for a moment. "Uh...I can show you an outlet, but we don't use electricity here. And I get the feeling orbal energy is not the same thing." Principal Vandyk gets up from his chair. "My apoligies- I was focused on my work. My name is Aedelbert Vandyck, Principal of Thors Military Academy." he says, returning Krusty's bow. He then turns to Staren. "Yes, of course. There is an old building at the back of the campus that dates back to the dark ages - 1200 years ago on our calendar - And while it has been there since before the school's founding, it's recently begun to change on its own. Over the past two months I've tasked Schwarzer and his classmates to investigate the building and report any new changes." Rean nods. "Right. Last month, for instance, an elevator appeared, as well as a second floor. We haven't gone in yet this month, but I'm expecting at least another floor." "As Schwarzer has explained to me, there are people from other places in the Multiverse that may be able to figure out why and how this building is changing. So, my request is for you to assist Class VII in their investigations going forward." 

:'''{{#var:1149|Krusty (1149)}} has posed:'''     Krusty side glances at Staren, but says nothing in relation to his rudeness.     Returning his attention to the principal, Krusty listens intently. The revelation of a old building changing of its own accord causes Krusty to hold his chin in thought. He has raided a few dungeons in the past that had the quirk of reconfiguring themselves. Which he mentions as much, "I have encountered similar circumstances before. Though those cases were assumed to be connected to the strange magics and technology of an ancient race. I suppose it's possible there might be something similar here. Though I am unfamiliar with your world's history." Perhaps some investigation into that is required.     "Regardless, I am happy to offer my services and those of my guild in attempting to solve this mystery. I'm sure we can come to an acceptable agreement." Krusty has judged from initial impressions that Principal Vandyck is a wisened man of the world and knows how things work. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "I thought of that, here's some spare batteries." Staren hands Raen small rectangles with contacts on them, like phone batteries.     And then, meeting the Principal: Staren rubs his chin. "Hmm. Are these changes in the nature of additions rather than complete restructurings? Or is there risk that rooms might go away with people inside them?"     "In any case: I'm interested, but as I told Rean, you want to get the word out on something like this, you should contact the Syndicate. You'll have adventurers kicking your door down in no time. Call Arthur Lowell and tell him what's up. Although... I will forward word to the Concord." Staren glances back in the direction of the gate. "Is there anything else you can tell me to put in my report? What's been in the building before, what supernatural abilities were demonstrated by things inside...?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "I see Sir." She takes a note listening as Vandyk give them more details. "I see, have lifeforms or constructs been found within the new floor? I see and it would be a good idea to keep checking it out. Better that than it turns out to be, be some Hellmouth which will let the dark lord into the world going undisturbed while it powers up. A good suggestiona nd I can bring word to the Paladins as well. Any history from the dark ages about it? Wild stories? Legends?" 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Vandyck nods. "Much of what archeologists find from that era and beyond tends to be rather strange, so you may have a point. As for legends, the task of preserving the building has been passed down from headmaster to headmaster since the school's founding 220 years ago. The founder, the great Emepror Dreichels said to leave it as is until 'The Promised Day,' whenever that may be. Perhaps the time has come, in fact. " Meanwhile, Rean takes the batteries from Staren. "Thanks. The other floors have had monsters on them, just like the 'original' floor did. We've also run into at least one huge monster at the end of the floors that we've visited already. Those ones were more like demons or fiends, though. The last one was uh...A set of floating angelic stone doors that shot lasers." His eybrows furrow at the last bit, like he barely believes what he's describing. "I have some notes on some of the monsters we encountered in there. I'll give you some copies later, and to anyone else who asks." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa thinks for a moment "I would continue with the observation and have some level of guards posted at the entrances if something were to come pouring out it would be bad." She pauses for a moment as she hears about the Emperor and then the promised day she is worried about that. "Sounds like there's hostile and combat kit would be wise to bring on any further trips down there I would like the information you have. Also, have your guards in pairs and call in if anything /strange/ happens they should not go sticking their noses in there." A bit forceful but she's also clearly speaking from experiance. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods at the description, not seeming disbelieving in the least. "I see. Certainly, unusual morphology and powers may be worth investigating, at least." Staren extends a hand to the headmaster. "Nice to meet you, thanks for inviting us here." 

:'''{{#var:6994|Rean Schwarzer (6994)}} has posed:''' Vandyck puts a hand to his chin, eyes closed. "I'll look into that. There are many people on campus, both staff and students who would be able to perform that duty." He then turns to Staren and smiles. "You're very welcome. It was very nice to meet you as well." 
}}

Rean Schwarzer

2019-12-22T01:12:49Z

StarSketch: Created page with "{{CharacterRedux |NameOnMUSH=Rean Schwarzer |Color=#0099FF |Char_id=6994 |Img=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/0/04/Rean_-_Menu_Art_(Sen).png |FullName=Rean S..."

{{CharacterRedux
|NameOnMUSH=Rean Schwarzer
|Color=#0099FF
|Char_id=6994
|Img=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/0/04/Rean_-_Menu_Art_(Sen).png
|FullName=Rean Schwarzer
|Gender=Male
|Species=Human
|Theme=The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel-1
|Chartype=FC
|Active=Active
|Function=Student of Class VII
|Faction=Paladins
|Rank=1 - Chevaliers
|Ranktype=Member
|Quote="If we have the power to save someone and we don't use it to do that, what kind of people would that make us?"
|PAge=17
|AAge=17
|Aging=Yes
|Height=5'8
|Hair=Black
|Eyes=Violet
|Voice=Sean Chiplock / Kouki Uchiyama
|Profile=The adopted common-born son of Baron Teo Schwarzer, Rean stands directly in the middle of Erebonia's class divide. Kindhearted and hardworking,Rean's sincerity and passion is what lead the other students of Thors Military Academy's Class VII to look up to him as a leader and confidant. He is accepting of most people, and generally polite. However, beneath his friendly exterior lies a lot of turmoil. Bearing a power he can barely control or understand and being the subject of scorn by his parents' peers left him with a negative self image. The one person he fails to be kind to is himself, and he truly desires to no longer be a burden on those he cares about and find his place in the world. He is a practitioner of the Eight Leaves, One Blade sword school and as a member of the Class VII project, a user of the prototype ARCUS spellcasting device.
|Defining=Eight Leaves, One Blade:
A sword style that specializes in the use of Eastern swords such as katana or tachi, and a general focus on swift strikes and agility.
Weapon Mastery - Swords: Rean's weapon of choice.
Attack List - Melee: Rean can launch sudden, rapid combo attacks, create small shockwaves, and use a variety of fire-based elemental strikes. He also knows how to fight unarmed with punches and palm strikes.
Extraordinary Senses: Rean is capable of sensing the aura of living things in the environment around him, picking up on their location and distance from him. However, he can't tell specifics of what something is, just that it's there.
|Significant=ARCUS Combat Orbment:
A Combat Orbment is a device that allows its user to cast magic spells known as Arts. The Quartz crystals slotted into it defines what Arts the user can cast.
Attack List - Ranged, Healing - Self: Rean's setup allows him to use offensive darkness and fire magic and water and wind magic for healing.
Share Powers: Healing and buffing magic can also be used on allies as a general function of Combat Orbments.

Mysterious Power:
Ever since he was 9, Rean's been aware of a strange power dwelling within him.
Superhumanity, Mobility: When active, Rean's physical abilities become stronger, allowing him to deal more damage, withstand more damage, and perform maneuvers he normally wouldn't be able to.
Flash Movement: It also grants him enough speed to move between points in line of sight almost instantly.
|Minor=Raised by Nobles:
Wealth: Rean's family rules over the mountain village of Ymir in Northern Erebonia, and have the money to do so behind their name.
NPCs: The residents of Ymir are devoted to their lords, and despite not being blood related, Rean is no exception. If he needs a place to stay or whatever degree of help a bunch of average villagers can give him, they'll help.
|Disadvantages=Your Own Worst Critic <Trouble>: Rean's sense of responsibility is almost wholly based on a desire to not be a burden on those around him. He is especially aware of his hand in other people's suffering, even if it's minor or imagined. As a result, he is motivated by a desire to do the right thing in general and to make up for the suffering he causes. His own suffering in the process matters much less, if at all. So basically, he's very self-sacrificial. This ranges from becoming the Student Council's errand boy because they're swamped with outside requests to taking a hit by a monster for two arguing classmates. He also tends to be exceedingly modest because he genuinely believes he's worth very little in comparison to those around him. As an extension of this, If he believes someone truly wants to make up for their mistakes, he'll give them that second chance. After all, where would he be if no one gave him a chance? This applies to even heinous crimes like murder, as long as the person displays a desire to lessen the impact on others said murder caused. He also disagrees with death as a punishment for a crime - you can't clean up the mess you made if you're dead.

Rage Mode <Significant>: Rean's control over his power is limited. If he feels an intense desire for vengeance (or just an extreme desire to beat something's face in), his powers activate on their own, and he becomes hyper-fixated on destroying his target until either he runs out of energy, or someone manages to bring him back to his senses. He is extremely protective over those he cares about, and bringing them serious harm will most definitely set him off. It is because of this lack of control over himself that he only actively uses this ability as a last ditch trump card. Keeping the ability on for a long period of time also exhausts him.

Captain Cornball <Minor>: Rean is incredibly sincere about how he feels about people. In fact, he's overly so. The kinds of positive things he says about people borders on flattery, and while he truly thinks of them that highly, it's not hard to see why it's difficult to take him seriously when he does that. He's also a bit too forthcoming with encouragement and advice, and this coming from a teenager with only so much life experience.
}}