970/The Grandfather of All Magic

The Grandfather of All Magic
Date of Scene:	13 November 2014
Location:	Great Painting of Ariamis <PoA>
Synopsis:	All fragments of the original Lordsouls are required to succeed Gwyn, but Priscilla makes it her personal mission to claim Seath's first.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, Staren, 56, Priscilla, 168, 183, 253, 283, 395, 570, Ayako Hasekawa, 610
Tinyplot:	Dark Souls TP

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Priscilla has posed:
    The summoning area appears to be once again within the bounds of Anor Londo, but only just barely. The circle is drawn atop a stone dias, one of many, dotted along a lengthy pathway that circles the inside of the mountain range that surrounds the city of the gods, like a medieval castle wall. The city itself as the same as it ever was, but the perpetual golden sunlight has faded, and left nothing but the moon in a starless sky behind, casting the gigantic buildings into white and silver and throwing creeping shadows from every arch and buttress. The destination is obvious, as there is only one building standing within a mile radius of the summoning ritual, being what appears to be a small palace built just about at the mountain peak, where it overlooks both Anor Londo, and the burg far, far away. It's only a short distance by foot, meaning that anyone inside should have been able to see Priscilla set up last night, which either bodes well, or very poorly for the prospect of entering it.

    Priscilla however, seems to be occupied. Each phantom fades into the sound of voices already in heated discussion. The crossbreed appears to be talking to a local knight, wearing plain and unassuming garb save for a gaudy sun sewn into the front of his tunic, and painted onto his shield. Anyone listening carefully might catch the words "I climbed of course! There are were no sentries to stop me." before the two of them cease bickering at the sight of the Unionites and Confederates materializing in turn. Priscilla takes a moment to get the huff out of her voice, clearing her throat and gesturing towards the tiny castle on the mountaintop.

    "Greetings to thee, brave souls who yet stay this path. Not all of thee were present to speak with the everlasting dragon, and so I shalt be forthright. Knight Oscar hath returned the Lordvessel to its place at Firelink Shrine, but Lord Gwyn hath made arrangements such that he remains inaccessible until the chosen gathers back the pieces of the First Flame to rekindle it. The Kiln will not accept a successor otherwise. These pieces of the Flame art the first and most powerful souls bequeathed to any being, so named the Lordsouls for their powers giving lordship over an aspect of the world. Lord Gwyn possesses one, but he didst bequeath in turn, shards of his own to his closest allies in order to build his kingdom. I believeth Knight Oscar makes attempt on one of these as we speak, but aside from having reason to aid him, the Lordsoul enshrined here is of . . . personal relation to me, and I wish to see it done mineself. The sole duke of Anor Londo makes his home within these archives, where he guards the summation of all Sorcery, from beginning to end. I doubt he will leave, as we hath seen his channelers twice elsewhere within Lordran's borders, and doing no good. I also doubt he shalt give his lordship over easily, and so thou hast full permission to slay him if thou must. That is all." She sounds unusually tense. Even for her.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan Hall is here. He may actually have already been here, but it's likely not. "As souls are power, and as his power has thus far been used against us, the Duke is someone with whom we must assume a hostile posture, to a certain degree. We may attempt negotiation at the discretion of those most at risk, but the probable course of action on this day is to slay him." He says, as an addendum to Priscilla's briefing.

    "His current state and nature is yet unknown; given his abilities and the potential purposes of his study of magic, we should tread lightly nd be prepared for anything. Speaking of the studies, it is likely that his home contains much, in terms of valuable information. Please do not harm the information."

    The Librarian's glasses are saturated with a glare for a moment. Seriously. Don't hurt the books.

    "Now, what is our optimal route to the Archive, Priscilla?" Nathan says, turning back to her and tilting his head curiously. He's ready to get hiking on to the destination. There's also a greeting nod to the knight. Isn't that the guy they've been seeing before? He helped them out. "Salutations. Are we crossing paths in opposite directions again, or do we have the luck of going the same way?"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Once again summoned, once again grossly incandescent. Amid the phantoms called to the borders Anor Londo, the brilliant golden figure of Amalthea heeds the call to the city of ancient Lords. Stepping off the summoning sigil and rolling her shoulders out, the old unicorn knight slings her lance over her shoulder. The sun-emblem-clad knight earns a raised eyebrow for now, but her focus is more on Priscilla. And the permission she gives.
    "Mn..."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    A single sphereical drop of water appears when Ayako is summoned. Said drop of water rapidly grows larger and larger as it falls to the ground-it is at least 10 meters in diameter before the sphere splashes apart on the ground. The water itself has a pitch-black, inky aura to it and swiftly assumes a very feminine shape with a pair of glowing golden eyes. Sixty-four tentacles of water also form out of the translucent figure, with eight of them being particularly large.

    A dulcet, yet omnious voice with an echoing quality that reverberates from any water nearby resounds. "WHO -DARES- TO SUMMON M-" And is then abruptly switched with Ayako's normal voice, although it still echoes and reverberates. "-Oh. Hello Priscilla." The watery tentacles withdraw back into the watery figure and color fades into existance from where there was none a few moments ago.

    Ayako floats in the air with a gentle smile, looking like a divine water spirit in her golden headdress, not-really-translucent robe, and almost solid, mostly watery body. The black phantom aura kind of clashes with her appearance, though. "Hmm... black... huh? I guess I'm not that surprised... Oh! Speaking of being surprised." She performs a gentle spin in the air as she whispers softly, yet firmly. "Water Bubble." And Ayako's minor preparatory water barrier forms around everyone.

    She then glances down at herself. "Hmm... black... huh?" Water materializes about her and swirls around her body, obscuring it for a moment- and then bursts outwards as mist. Ayako floats in the air in a monochrome Victorian-age dress with her eyes three-quarters open and a calm, almost expression-less look on her face. "Very well... black it is." While her voice is still dulcet, it's softer than normal as well as has an... almost eerie calm monotone feel to it. The black aura and attitude definitely matches with this outfit!

    She slowly turns towards the others that are summoned and curtseys low and gracefully while in mid-air. "Greetings towards everyone..." Ayako says with half-detachment and half-interest... although if one looks very carefully into her eyes, it can be seen she really is happy to see everyone. Also of note. She has no feet. In fact, by the way the skirt of her dress moves while she floats, she has no legs either. The only thing that exists under her skirt is a dark void.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Far away on a distant shore, in a small cabin on a desert island within the Confederate Citadel, Ariah sits in meditation. A magic circle etched into the stone floor of her home grants her balance, peace, and stability. Her staff lies across her lap, held in upturned palms, her eyes closed. The summoning crystal she was bequeathed sits at rest upon the stone in front of her, and she waits. Waits for a feeling and a call that she is yet unfamiliar with. But she knows it when she does feel them.

     When her eyes open, she's standing amidst the gathered phantoms, the uniformed witch's ethereal avatar a darker, grey tone, not to be mistaken for vibrant, guiding white. Her own pale skin, platinum hair, and monochrome clothing gives her an even grayer appearance than normal, though the moonlight gives her some degree of supernatural shine. She holds her staff in both hands, leaning on it, listening to the introduction and searching the faces of her temporary allies for any more familiar faces--be they friend or enemy.
     For the moment, she remains silent as she gets used to being here but not being here. The sunbro does earn a quirked brow and focused gaze, however.

Sakina (610) has posed:
    Again, Sakina finds herself rising up from the ground in a form of brilliant white. A sharp contrast to what seems to be the dark fabric of her normal uniform, and it still doesn't do much to temper the shadows obscuring everything of her face above her lips, but perhaps it's reassuring enough for those involved.

    Once she straightens up, shoulders rolling slightly, her head takes a slow turn toward Priscilla and her unusual companion. As vacant as Sakina seems to be at times, she's not an idiot; she can gather what the debate was likely about, though she isn't exactly sure /why/ it's set the strange crossbreed off as it apparently has.

    If Sakina were at all uninterested in Priscilla's speech, though, then the draconic woman's constant references to fire and flame and souls does more than enough to draw her attention. The strange pyromancer stares up at her almost vacantly, but the way she doesn't even shift her shaded face away (or, for that matter, how she doesn't seem to move at all) makes it clear enough that she's definitely paying attention. Firelink Shrine...First Flame...Lordsouls...yes, she definitely should be involved in all this.

    Finally, her head tilts slightly to the side. It feels like she may not be blinking much, if at all, under her hood. "...sorcery," she finally remarks, though it sounds like she's talking more to herself than anyone else. "Magic of the soul, converting souls to energy, unlike pyromancy. Pyromancy, flame of the soul, not the soul itself..."

    Sakina slowly turns her attention toward the archives themselves, then. Her pyromancy flame smolders in her left hand, flames licking at her fingers. She waits, then, saying little more as she waits for them to be prepared to enter the building. She looks pretty ready herself.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is, of course, here to support his friend however he can. And this means that a Blue Phantom wearing the half-angel's coat and wielding a longsword in one hand appears from Priscilla's summons. Psyber has, despite his spiritual form, a somewhat annoyed look on his face.

    "We SHOULD be taking the fight directly to Gwyndolin," Psyber complains, gripping the sword tightly, "Hell, if we can't spare the manpower, I'll go alone. I don't mind rumbling with him in a one-on-one. Damn, I'd prefer it." Psyber is smoking, as usual, but at this statement he takes out the cigarette and tosses it to the ground angrily, snuffing it under foot as he scowls.

    "Libraries and research areas aren't my specialty anyway. Nathan's the holistic librarian." Psyber seems pretty agitated today. And is ready to go suplex, stab, shoot, or otherwise bully someone to take out this aggression. This ALSO may be why he didn't bring Adjudicator, because the sword would attempt to stop his current desires for a rampage across Anor Londo.

    Of course, he does take a moment to pause and look at the angry Phantom that just got summoned. Which quickly returns to a familiar form and voice, "Hi... Ayako. Interesting, there." He comments before he goes back to fuming.

    "Come on, Pris. I'm not gonna go against your plans, but let me at him."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko the Gold is here, contrary to her usual silver, and also rather less seemingly corporeal than is normal for her, for all worlds but this one. Her exact form is as uncertain as any other phantom, but her stature and clothing are distinctive enough in most company.

    She was here for the business with the enormous and utterly alien dragon, but the visions were less than easily understandable, so the explanation still does her some good. On the other hand, terms of which she's no knowledge are still being thrown around. Perhaps further time will bring further clarity. 'Gather the lordsouls, also known as the shards of the first flame' is clear enough for a starting point.

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    By now, Chris is smart enough to not even fuss about. The magus has always been a tad awkward around people, but at the very least these jaunts to Priscilla's world have become routine, and in that sense at least he can cut out the time-wasting of awkward greetings. So Amalthea and Kimiko both have a lanky, tall shadow of a hacker sticking close to them, listening quietly to the half-dragon's initial explanation... which is that they're basically collecting pieces of a god's soul.

    "...what has my life become," he mutters under his breath. It's a valid question.

Tomoe has posed:
It's been a while since Tomoe set foot in this world. She needed to get out more, as her avatar. She'd be insane to come here in the flesh. Even with the means Pris has to protect people operating here. So here the Salamander Paladin is, ready to go as much as she's going to be. She takes a moment to listen to what's being said to them.

"Good to hear from you Priscilla."

She bows slightly as she listens to the rest of what she has to stay. They need to find in here.

"I see so we're going after kin of yours and they will have powerful casterS? Well you know what my job is going in first and face checking traps."

She watches Ayako for a moment and isn't sure if she's serious or amused at it.

Staren has posed:
    Staren is summoned wearing his armor, as usual. Those with an eye for details might notice his usual, blocky laser sniper rifle has been swapped out for a sleek black one with no apparent optical sight nor external magazine. Staren's attached a matching underbarrel missile launcher to this one, as it doesn't have a built-in grenade launcher.

    Staren appears with his helmet in his hands -- as he arrives, his ears twitch and he looks at Priscilla... listening with a concerned expression.

    "...Wait, we're going after the Lord of Magic? That sounds like a really powerful guy." He glances around at the assembled Phantoms. "I guess you're sure we can take him, but... is there anything you can tell us about how he fights? It would really suck to, say, get surprised at the start of the fight with some kinda magic missile that goes through forcefields and armor."

    He looks at Nathan and his ears splay at the news that the Lord of Sorcery's powers are unknown. "Great. Hmm... I wonder if we could lure him out of the library so we can /really/ hit him heavy..."

    ...Suddenly, he realizes he forgot to greet, and looks over to Priscilla again. "Good to see you again, by the way. Um... and all of you, too." He nods around.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Why don't we pre-empt any germane discussion with some pomp and smartassery? Yes, of course. As Mizuki materializes and becomes vaguely aware that some unknown entity - probably another undead human - is saying something about 'climbing', she would see that as all the means she could ever need to penetrate into the discussion. With a few, graceful steps and a hand in her pockets, she would stride over to the knight, using the free fingers to flip her bangs in a fluid motion that is exactly as pretentious as it is bizzarely charming. Then her arms would fold at her chest, and she would quip fondly, "Ah, what a terrible thing it must be to not possess wings. If ever you need to reach this place again, you need only ask! I could carry you, or at the least pause time so that waste of life may be less apparent to others." Random bitch mode switch is apparently set to ON this evening.

    Only to be dashed in its entirety by a sudden excitement that strikes her as Priscilla addresses the matter of their next goal. At the mention of a 'duke', her eyebrow would quirk, and a smile would form. "Archives, you say." Need she say more? Probably not, given her company. "Alas, Fenestra cannot be with me today. She took a day off. Which is particularly strange because the poor girl -never- takes days off. It's almost as if it were some sort of omen, but I suppose even she needs her space now and then." She would go on to express some interest in meeting the Duke in question, but she stays her tongue for the time being. Priscilla looks a bit pensive, and her friend's condition, outlandish as it may sound when she repeats those words in her own head, are far more important now than the satisfaction of hearing herself talk. So instead she would quiet down somewhat, paying the crossbreed a nod, and a warm look. "... ah, but I'll be careful. The situation is well in hand, I should think, and we are all here for you should we chance upon any unsettling business in this cloyster of knowledge. So try not to fret."

    Nathan would receive a look from her that lowers yet further from the one of attempted placidity she assumes with Priscilla. Hostile intentions. /Always/ with the hostile intentions. She would sigh. "Sir," She would look him in the eyes, "we reasoned with a spider before with whom we could not even properly converse. I should think that if this 'Duke' fellow is even remotely in his right mind that we should find some common ground. At least enough to glean some form of information, surely?" Pause. "... but alas, things are rarely so convenient in this world, are they? Nevertheless, I, personally, shall make ever effort to make them see reason. So long as it does not jeoporadize more pressing objectives, naturally."

    Oh, but is it just her or is there a multitude of writhing tentacles threatening to engulf this little stretch of cliff? Why yes, yes it would seem that there is. In spite of herself, she would jump back slightly and meander toward Priscilla for comfort, before... her Authorial Sense tingles. She /knows/ this being, doesn't she? And, oddly enough, has an inkling as to who she is. Upon reflection, she might begin to flush, brushing off the arms of her jacket and adjusting her cuffs before resting her hands in her pockets once more.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Though the way this 'someone' addresses the lot of them and chooses to present herself just bewilders her even more. Her head would tilt ever more to the left, gradually, her eyes narrowing in just the most quizzical manner that they (in)humanly find feasible. "... Ayako, is that you?" She would attempt a smile. "Gracious, I scarcely even recognized you at first! Thank Creation that you have a very distinctive aura. Elsewise I might've drawn Aelinos. I would've been loathe to do so to such a warm presence." Well, a typically warm presence anyway. She's... exhibiting some of those moody aspects that she so appreciates in other people right now, it seems. That stoicism. Suffice it to say, her own feelings on the matter are a bit mixed, but it seems more than a bit dissonant with her typical demeanor. So the natural question rolls forth: "Are you... quite well? Please pardon me the inquiry and don't feel obligated to respond if I'm being too intrusive, but all the same, you seem a bit off this evening."

    And before concluding her soliloquy for the time being, Mizuki would look to Psyber with the best smile she can muster in light of the previous surprises, and comment yet more. "Yes, yes. Between Nathan and I, I should think we have things under control. Perhaps we may even see this task to its completion quickly enough to punish Gwyndolin in the night's interval as well, hmm?" There's a hint of malice to that statement that it's likely only he would know to look for as of yet.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    With a soft flash, Kimiko summons her default equipment for hostile locales--a knight's longsword and a kite shield. For a world of phantoms and summoned allies, she muses, that sort of thing might actually be commonplace. Uncertain. Her equipment certainly feels real to *her*. As real as anything possibly could be, when considering what her magic conjures for her.

    Amalthea gets a nod in greeting, along with Chris. They might end up shoulder-to-shoulder again. From the sound of things, a fight's incoming. There are quite a few more familiar faces, which is well enough, even if not all are known.

    To Nathan, "If he's already... predisposed to hostility, which do you think is more likely: That he'll only talk to a group small enough not to feel threatened into a pre-emptive strike, or only to a group large enough to feel wary of starting the fight?"

Priscilla has posed:
"We meet again, Sir Hall!" Solaire says to Nathan, and then "Lady Amalthea" with a nod to the unicorn. "I just came out of those archives myself, with little luck finding anything about my personal journey, but I would be happy to show you back in. The duke has long outlives his purpose and since betrayed the good faith in which he was given his Lordsoul, so I won't begrudge whatever you do in there." That's pretty informed for a random knight. Judging by the tilt of his head, he's peeking through the little slit in his helmet at Ayako making the most ostentatious display possible. "My, you certainly have interesting friends. Your group grows stranger every time I see you! Ahahaha!"

    Ayako's abrupt transformation can count itself among one of the extremely rare things that takes Priscilla completely and wholly offguard. She's already so used to the friendly, bubbly water spirit, that having a thundering explosion of yelling and tentacles is so far out of the norm that she has nothing to say until Psyber finally raises his voice. "I beg patience of thee, Lord Psyber. It is imperative that the duke be dealt with first, else he will only aid Gwyndolin shouldst he be cornered. Asides, he shall not send his Darkmoon Blades again so soon after we defeated the last attempt on mine life, especially not as we are so many and so well armed." The use of logic doesn't make her sound any less reluctant to even entertain the thought. "And yes, Lady Tomoe, Sir Staren, the archives shalt be filled with powerful sorcerors, but I doubt they shalt do battle with us within the libraries themselves. Unfortunately, we will be required to move to a stage of the duke's choosing. As for what he shalt do to defend himself . . . I hath little idea. He is the being who invented sorcery. The channelers thou hast seen invoke only a fraction of his power. He was already a war hero a thousand years ago, and I cannot imagine how he hath grown since. Simply . . . try not to be struck." Don't get hit. Hit it until it does. Solaire laughs good naturedly at Mizuki, his voice as warm, reassuring, and helmet-muffled as ever. "When I come back to this place, it will be with my very own sun. Then, I won't mind the climb!" Priscilla gives one more 'not sure if crazy' look to Sakina, like she does practically every time the woman opens her mouth. "Thou shalt hath plenty of time to peruse the knowledge contained within, Lady Mizuki, whence the duke is ousted. Alive or not, he shalt forfeit his palace." Does she really need to remind her about the time a channeler tried to abduct her?

Priscilla has posed:
    The walk ahead is short and silent, going along a set of extremely large, finely chiselled stairs and walkways, right up to the front doors of the palace, which appears to have no actual doors; simply leading into a long, dark corridor flanked on either side of endlessly repeating statues, bearing soft lights that barely illuminate the surroundings. Solaire leads the way, stepping widely around a pair of corpses; that of enormous, boar-like creatures armoured head to toe in thick steel that seems grafted to their flesh, bearing no actual wounds, damage, or spilled blood, save for two spots where their armour has been scorched. The architecture grows gradually more faciful as he proceeds, opening up into larger rooms with stylized columns, balconies, and wooden accents; eventually leading to what is unmistakably a gear driven elevator platform large enough to lift the entire party at once, which activates at the pull of a lever.

    At the end of the journey, an small door opens into an utterly enormous room, five floors in height, lit only by lanterns hanging at every column that supports it. The room is encircled by open balconies at each storey that look into the vacant center portion, connected by swivelling staircases that turn back and forth to allow traffic between them. The entire place is stuffed with bookshelves, as one would expect, containing as many pages as the largest of universities on Earth. Tables and chairs fill the ground floor, along with desks, podiums, reading stands, globes, writing utensils, and general signs that people might have once studied here. Now, the only movement is that of familiar, blue-cloaked figures drifting back and forth across the higher floors, uttering a steady stream of gutteral mumbles that blend together into an unnerving chorus as they pick books from shelves. The staircases that lead upwards and downwards are blocked off by what look exactly like hollows, though rather than the usual, emaciated flesh of the undead, their skin gleams crystalline blue, and the fire in their eyes has gone cold.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Most of his friends are urging him to have patience, but that's not what this particular spirit is famous for and nor is it what PSYBER is famous for. It's justice. And the longer he is letting Gwyndolin get away with how he acted, the more it upsets Psyber. Especially since he wasn't around for the last skirmish with his forces. Personally, he feels like that was a colossal failure on his part.

    "Nnn. Fine. But the longer he gets away with insulting you like that, the more upset I'm gonna get. No one hurts my friends like that," Psyber says to Priscilla, seeming to stop fuming for the moment and settle into a quiet sort of smoldering over the topic. He will mostly follow along quietly and sulk at this point, not even stopping his brooding when Mizuki says they may have time to go beat him up today.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako turns her calm, golden gaze towards Psyber and bows her head once when he calls her 'interesting'. She then inclines her head to the side gently. "Hmm? Equally interesting is that you're in the mood for a bit of a tussle." She adds darkly as her eyes close slowly till they're half-open, "Righteous ire is always qutie a sight to watch... and so... I grant you this ahead of time..." She gestures with her hands towards Psyber. "Woeful Water of Acheron." A sphereical barrier of water with a hint of a black tinge that refuses to be still materializes around Psyber.

    This particular soft barrier doesn't do much for defense. Instead, it boosts the speed and power of swift strikes going out. The one defensive property of this particular barrier is that it slows attacks coming in proprotional to how fast it goes in. A barrier fit for expressing rage.

    Oh but Ayako then turns her golden gaze to meet Mizuki's red one. "Hmm... it is me." She raises her hand to cover her mouth in amusement. "I'm fine... You aren't being intrusive... I'm merely acting in accordance to this outfit." Her three-fourths open eyes dart about for a moment... and then Ayako winks playfully to Mizuki and smiles happily to her in her usual fashion. Her expression quickly returns to the calm one, though.

    Ayako floats back over to Priscilla where she bows in apology, "Please forgive my... sudden appearance. Countless times have those with magical aptitude summoned me and attempted to bind or do... unpleasent things to me." She smiles a soft smile, "I hope I may be of assistance again."

    As the group walks ahead, Ayako falls back towards the middle of the group, and pale blue floating flames wink into existance around them to give additional light.

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods, frowning a bit at advice that amounts to 'try not to die'. Oh well, at least if he /does/ die as a phantom, it's not permanent, right? As they start setting out, he puts on his helmet. When they reach the boars, he gives them a curious look, and unsticks the new rifle from his back, starting to look around more warily from then on.

    He stops to briefly stare around the library. Wow, this is big! Who knows what information is here? Yes, they must try not to destroy it.

    He looks up at the mysterious cloaked figures, warily, and asks a question over the radio:

    <<Are those guys our enemies too, or ar they going to stay out of our way?>>

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Perhaps for reasons not obvious to most, Ariah keeps her eyes on Solaire. Wary eyes. She'd rather not be immolated by some crazy sun-worshipper, phantom projection or not. The rest of the party doesn't concern her terribly, as she feels at ease with them all united by purpose here. It gives her an opportunity to cast her gaze over the architecture, the building itself as they travel, and upon passing by the corpses, examine them as well, though only briefly. She keeps pace easily enough, however, even if distracted, and sticks to the middle of the group.

     At last, as the elevator moves, she speaks. "This ancient place fills me with wonder," the vampiress nearly whispers, that icy tone of her voice rasping a little harsher as she tries to speak over the lift's mechanisms. As far as introductions? None have been requested, so none are shared. Upon arrival in the library proper, however, she most certainly pauses, eyes cast over shelves, stairs, and... movement.

     She watches the blue-cloaked figures move, but more immediate are the crystal hollows on the stairways. "Are these to be our adversaries?" she asks softly, "They appear as little more than animated corpses, though I assume there is far more to them than that?" Her inquiry is quiet, to anyone in particular who may answer though primarily to Priscilla or Nathan. She's still a fresh face here, after all.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "Ser Solaire." Amalthea greets the Astora knight with a dip of her horn. There's Kimiko though, and she elbows the Puella Magi in greeting. Psyber chomping at the bit, however, earns the gentler touch of a golden gauntlet setting on the Blue Phantom's shoulder.
    Nevertheless, she's as ready as she's going to be. "Alright, might as well get on with this." Muttered as she slings her shield tighter to her arm as she trudges with the group.
    "... Why are they blue?" Muttered at the sight of the hollows, hand gripping her lance tighter and readying herself for that first sign of aggression.

Sakina (610) has posed:
    A few brief glances are given toward the rest of her companions as they speak up, but Sakina seems to stare the most at those who have appeared as blue phantoms. A subtle tension fills her form, and while she doesn't seem to make any hostile motions, she does reach over to draw her shotel from her hip even before anyone actually moves into the archives. Never can be too careful, even if everyone's on the same team.

    As they move ahead, Sakina remains closer to the front of the group, walking straight onward and not even sparing more than a glance at the boars. They're dead; if they, for whatever reason, chose to get up and attack again, then she'd deal with that as it comes. A reckless mindset, perhaps, but Sakina is still standing despite it.

    When the group reaches the large room, Sakina finally pauses, casting her shadowed look around the room. The strange, muttering figures and crystallized hollows are noted, though Sakina admittedly isn't certain what to make of the latter. Her fingers curl more tightly around her pyromancy flame as the small fire steadily flares to something more powerful, more vibrant.

    The woman's hooded head turns toward Ariah when she questions about the hollows. "...never as frail as they look." Her lips pull back in a toothy, thin smirk. "Ravenous. Determined. A flame that is weak, but...not weak, not when determined." Her gaze shifts back toward the hollows again, and her grip on her shotel tightens. Better to be prepared.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    What, you mean that time when those sorcerers rendered her entirely helpless and tried to drag her off to Creation knows where?

    Likely Creation knows here, even?

    ... naaah. Of course she wouldn't think of -that-. Far too preoccupied admiring the architecture, the countless tomes, and perhaps even the... erm... armored boars? Actually, likely not that last part either -- that's just vulgar! And horribly unappealing. She's glad that they're dead, though she might inquire into what exactly those scorch marks hint at. She would give a fleeting look in Solaire's direction. If he really routed these things and still had the vigor to trek up a mountain and greet the group with a boisterously jovial manner, she might be well advised to not underestimate this person, jolly though he may be.

    Glad to be engaging in cooperation with this fellow rather than any alternatives, to be sure.

    As the elevator rises, Mizuki's eyes would wander hither and thither in wanton bemusement. As per her usual. "Goodness, to have seen this place in its adjoining center of living in their prime..." She would take in a reverent breath, exhaling gently as the contraption would come to a stop. Then her eyes would dart open, and her mood would visibly darken again. "... in their prime and void of these foul things, yes?" Aelinos would appear in her hand, though she would make no theatric and-or sweeping gestures with it for the moment. No, she simply continues to gaze 'round, giving herself the best impression she can of the room's structure, and of just how many of these shambling piles they'll be up against. The 'crystals' jutting out from their forms don't garner much of a response from her, unfortunately, aside from perhaps a bit more annoyance. Such inelegant posture is profanity when combined with such fine gems as those, to be sure. Hmph.

    Though Ayako does know how to lighten her mood. Mizuki would glance to the girl again, smile renewed in full, a flattened hand finding its place underneath her chin. "Oh~ho. Dress up, then?" She would smirk. "Well, I certainly can't fault a lady her endearing hobbies. Indeed, I'm quite fond of doing the same when I get the chance... though those opportunities have been woefully few, of late." That's all Mizuki for 'you're rockin' that dark Goddess getup, Ayako'.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is just keeping awya from Ayako till things settle down and once they do she does seem to relax. Seriously Ayako was looking like some kind of raid boss when all things were said and done. That was /scary/ to the tank. Thankfully she's calmed down and Priscilla contiunes where she left off before the arrical. R
"I see he made magic as your world knows it?"

She tolts her head a bit that's pretty heavya nd she wonders how her magic would, okay her magic really isn't magic when you get down to it, but it's a heck of an emulation.

She heads out with the party andf seems to be very much trying to keep alert as they encoutner things and she cringes at some do the things she sees here she should really expect the worse when it comes to this world. IT seemt to actively hate everyone and want them to die.

"... I can get how you'd feel about being summoned like that. After what happened to me once."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    It doesn't actually occur to Kimiko that Priscilla might be controlling the summoning loosely enough to allow in people who shouldn't be here, so she has no particular suspicion to any of those assembled. Solaire, on the other hand, is some guy who--Amalthea has, apparently, also met before. Maybe he's okay, then. He would be the first person in here, apart from Priscilla herself, who wasn't immediately hostile, nor utterly unknowable.

    There sure is a lot of blue in this place. "What does that color signify?" She asks that question in Psyber's direction. What's the point of commonality, here, if any?

    The guardians(?) earn her constant wariness. She'll be ready to interpose herself as necessary, hopefully--most likely again for Nathan's sake.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "Your help would be greatly appreciated." Nathan says, nodding back to Solaire. "Any assistance you might feel inclined to offer on the subject of the optimal route of reaching the archive. We seem to constantly meet going in opposite directions, but your assistance is always effective and welcome. We live in interesting times, though; one must keep interesting friends in them. I invite you to join with us whenever you like."

    As he walks, Nathan answers Kimiko's previous question. "The Duke is said to seek immortality. I expect he fears death. I assume that a large group is our strongest approach." Nathan says, giving a firm nod to her. "Remain visible, but non-threatening. Simple." He ascends the elevator once the lever is pulled, stumbling just slightly as it moves and otherwise seeming not to react to anything besides those corpses, to which he gives a wide berth.

    As he comes to the massive five-floor room, Nathan's eyes go wide and his stoicism cracks just for a moment with a subtle sort of mouth-agape look, before he locks back down. What a library! He's gotta make sure this place doesn't burn down. Then he focuses on the figures. "If they are there, we should likely go there as well." He says. "That blue crystal skin. They remind me of the results of Priscilla using her breath attack. I expect they have something to do with the Duke." There are glances in both directions. "A moment." Nathan attempts to use LIBRARIAN INTUITION and EXPERIENCE to discern the arrangement of the library, based on the layout of its shelves and such, to figure the direction of central areas or generalized importance, and figure out of that's up or down. Probably up. The Duke helped design Sen's Fortress and he put all the important stuff at the top, so he'd probably do the same here.

    And, with that in mind, he attempts to prompt the group to ASCEND (or possibly DESCEND?), wary of the hollows, and more of the channelers(?). "Be cautious and prepared for any attacks, both during our stay here and afterwards. I expect we will see a massive escalation once we are clear of this area in particular."

Priscilla has posed:
    To be honest, it really isn't easy for Priscilla to listen to Psyber fuming like that. It's reassuring that he'd go to such lengths for her, and she supports what he wants to do, but she really isn't, and might never be, ready to incur any more of Gwyndolin's wrath against her, and the fact that her reluctance is making him angry only distresses her more. She knows that he would stand a good chance of winning, especially with help, but that doesn't mean much in the face of a deeply ingrained, childhood fear of the god in question. Instead, she chooses to respond to Staren, and indirectly, Ariah. "They most certainly art our enemies, but they will be wary against firing upon us whilst in the midst of their treasury. The duke will not suffer them to damage his archives. They will wait until we move. The hollows will likely possess no qualms about attacking us shouldst we proceed, as they art unlikely to cause widespread destruction with mere swords and arrows."

    Solaire meanwhile, has nothing to say on the subject. The trend in these parts, with everyone wearing a helmet, is that it's impossible to tell what anyone is thinking or feeling until they vocalize it, making for very vague socialization. He stops as he arrives at the first table, pointing up the enormous tangle of stairs towards where a second elevator can be seen high above, and then down towards a set of doorways flanking it that lead to stairs below. "Up there is the observatory tower, though the view of Anor Londo isn't what it once was. Down below are the duke's laboratories, which I don't care to investigate. I prefer not knowing what it is he spends his time doing shut up in here, especially if he's abducting undead to do it." He gestures towards the strange looking hollows, perfectly docile in their place on the stairs, as if trained, and goes silent as Mizuki speaks of Anor Londo in its prime. The channelers are clearly paying attention now, staring down at the group from every balcony with their six-eyed masks; their mumbling and chanting growing louder in volume.

    Nathan immediately gets the impression that this central area is meant to be a public commons, for sorcerors of all stripes to study, learn, and lecture. What immediately strikes him though, is everything is human sized. He might be the only person present who knows the duke is actually a dragon, and so it seems like a glaring oversight that all the books would be fit for human hands and all the doors would be impossible to get through. It's also doubtful why the observatory would need an elevator if he could just fly. The only real explanation is what he gathered before at the parish; that the channelers are psychically connected to their duke, reinforced even more by the demonstration of the everlasting dragon's power earlier. It might be that they maintain everything here, even to the point of reading his books for him so he can see them through their eyes.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    If nothing attacks, Kimiko won't be the one to provoke anything into attacking. She's ready to draw her sword, but stops short of actually doing so, not wanting to give the impression that she's about to actually start hacking at anyone. Even if the sorcerers would avoid using their magic here--well, who knows what they /would/ do?

    "Between an observatory and a laboratory," she says, "a workplace seems like... a safer bet to find him, if he will not simply meet us."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I'm not sure what Blue means for hollows," Psyber says pretty flatly to Kimiko, "I know for Spirits it means justice. I know that for Red-Headed Mages it means they're a moocher. But for Hollows, I really have no idea."

    Psyber is cautious, sticking near Nathan as they press forward. While his sword is held in one hand, his other goes to draw a firearm from his hip. Nothing special, just a Beretta 9mm. He raises the handgun towards one of the blue and crystalline Hollows that are running around, wanting to see if they're any more or less durable than their fleshy counterparts.

    But Nathan calls for them to wait for a better venue, and so Psyber lowers the handgun again.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako smiles softly to Mizuki as she floats back to her. "I should pay a visit to you later. A little bit of amusment can go a long way." She shakes her head slowly, "Especially in a place like this... and so!" She places the thumbs and pointer fingers of her hands in the shape of a rectangle. "Closed Box of the Undersea Dragon Princess Otohime."

    A cube barrier of water surrounds Mizuki. A soft barrier that quite severely slows and weakens incoming attacks. It's main function however, is to enhance time magic!

    Ayako then curtsies towards Mizuki and then floats over to Tomoe. "Un. It is a horrible experience that I hope no one else has to go through." She nods her head gently once. As the group goes further in and the... occupants begin to not so benignly stir, Ayako moves back defensively to the middle of the group. Her pale blue floating flames spread out a bit more to illuminate the area so said occupants are more easily seen.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki would happily reciprocate Ayako's curtsy, returning her smile with a decidedly radiant one of her own. She's trying to be somber and broody - really, earnestly she is! - but between Ayako being adorable and being surrounded by all this literature, she's having an inordinately rough time of it. This place is heaven and three more halves of that same heaven all in one!

    Which is all the more reason for them to either deal with these incongruities as neatly as possible, or to slip past them so she need not look upon their vulgar personages any longer. Sneering back at one of the casters, Mizuki's form would begin to dissipate, as would the cube Ayako laid upon her. Then she would await any semblance of a coordinated effort, waiting, watching for an opportunity to move.

    Idly, she would comment to any still near, "If any would find the manipulation of time useful in their endeavors to leave this particular vicinity, do say so."

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods. So, they'll be fighting soon, then. But probably still in confined indoor spaces. He fiddles with the rifle, removing the magazine from the underbarrel launcher and swapping it with another from his belt.

    Staren isn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that they're not investigating this 'laboratory'. "If he's not coming out to face us or inviting us in... maybe he's hoping to ambush us? The observatory and the laboratory... and this whole facility, for that matter, could be riddled with traps and wards..."

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Ariah seems uneasy to be staring down so many hostiles while in hostile territory. The offer of ranged support is given but the actual action withheld with caution to the integrity of the archives. "Lead and I shall follow," she states quietly, leaving herself in the hands of the expedition's more experienced members. She does, however, spend a moment during this brief respite to fully take in the variety of individuals and weapons being held at the ready.

     After a moment's consideration, she gathers energy into her staff, channeling from her body and into the runes, igniting them one by one. She uses it as a focus, and then uses the mana to weave barriers of energy around those dedicated to taking up the front. Or at the least, giving temporary energy barriers to the party's 'tanks'. She's still a little distracted, though not due to the eyes on the party. There's just something about being in the home of the 'Creator of this world's sorcery' and the archive of all magical knowledge that makes her eyes shine with wonder.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "I got trapped in a mad man's fantasy land with the threat of death for two years so I guess It's kinda of like that."

IT makes her wonder about some summoners she knows of, the nicer ones seem to /cut/ deals with the beings they summon first.

She takle note of Nathan for a moment and she humms at tjhe remains a moment longer.

"Likely we should keep frosty being in a place like this."

She thinks about the natuer of what she knows about the Duke.

"We might need to clean up whatever mess he's made down there least it come back to bite us on the rear."

Sakina (610) has posed:
    There's a great temptation for Sakina to make use of her flame right here, right now. It would be so easy, she thinks, to simply consume all of these obstacles in swathes of fire and be done with it, stepping over their charred forms to get to where they wish to go.

    ...but, of course, it's not that easy with other people involved. The books must be preserved, it seems, and so, with a begrudging sigh, the pyromancy flame in her hand flickers down into a weaker, smoldering fire.

    Just a little longer. Without any direct support actions at her command, the pyromancer simply hangs near the front of the group, prepared for whenever they decide that /now/ is the time for combat.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan gives a quick nod to Kimiko. "The Duke is dedicated to his work." He says. "If he cared to see Anor Londo, I expect he would have cared to intervene in the matters therein." Glancing back and forth, Nathan peers at the Hollows. "The Darksign." He says. "He is studying the Darksign. Let us hope he has not integrated its more... Troubling elements." He makes a soft worried noise and focuses on moving on.

    Move on down to the labs! That's the objective. Taking wary steps. Giving the Channelers and the Hollows a wide berth if he can, and hoping they maintain their distance. He also produces his orange soapstone, and writes in a language exclusive to Lordran scholars, on the floor, briefly. "We will not perform any acts of hostility within the bounds of your archive unless provoked. We will ignore your previous actions toward our group in the interest of a more intelligent exchange. We wish to meet you, Duke. We will move now to your laboratories. Direct us otherwise if you prefer to meet us at other sites."

    Straightforward, honest, and not committing to anything yet. Just trying to get to the dragon himself, and leave the research and subjects intact. Even if the Duke is absolutely at odds with this group and wants to fight, maybe that's acceptable for him?

Priscilla has posed:
    Solaire looks curiously at Psyber's handgun, clearly having on the most basic idea of what it is, but then turns towards the lower staircases as Kimiko speaks up, either agreeing with her reasoning, or doing it simply because nobody else but Nathan voiced an opinion. Priscilla actually follows after him rather than taking point as usual, which probably speaks volumes about how confident she feels here, despite her previous rhetoric. The channelers all around watch the party proceed with intense, faceless stares, but the hollows don't even notice them as long as they don't try to go to the bookshelves up above. The lower rooms are much darker, and much more expansive, using wide arches rather than narrow doors, though one can occasionally see the back of a bookshelf that is obviously meant to slide open after some secret switch is pulled. The way down mainly consists of huge shafts carved into the masonry with affixed ladders after the initial sets of stairs, like having the ability to climb up and down was an afterthought.

    A set of huge, rusty iron doors open into a room even larger than the one before, cylindrical in nature, and big enough to fit a large hotel building inside of; as well as almost pitch black due to a sudden lack of lanterns. A spiral staircase winds down its side, but almost every single wall is a bookshelf, numbering ten times as many as had been visibile in the visitor's library, and each book is the size of a man's torso. Anyone with magical senses can immediately tell that these books are heavily warded, and likely impossible to even remove from their shelves without the correct spells. The very bottom of the room is dominated by a giant set of complex gears, meant to drive an unseen mechanism somewhere else, or perhaps to raise the floor up and down. More unnervingly, the staircase seems mostly in place only to service a series of what are obviously prison cells set into gaps in the shelves.

    The moment the doors shut behind the last member of the group, movement can be seen in the distance. It takes a lot of squinting to see them in the low light, but a handful of figures on a raised balcony near the bottom floor look a lot like the serpent men from Sen's Fortress, and they're congregating around a device that looks conspiciously like a giant gramophone. One of them pulls a lever, and then the old machine starts spitting out an utterly skin-crawling noise; a low, dragged out, screeching warbling that sounds like every instrumental build and sting from every horror movie ever invented, played out in slow motion. The cells in the walls begin to pop open one by one, and /things/ slither out from the open holes. Fat, slug-like creatures with slick, blue skin, with heads that are little more than a mop of squid-like tentacles that writhe voraciously as they begin to eagerly slither up the stairs, congregating into a pressing mob that leaves no room to maneuver on the only solid ground in the room. Flashes of golden light pop into existence one after the other on isolated platforms higher up, marking the teleportation of channeler after channeler funneling into the now-sealed room. It seems Seath had no intention of coming out to meet Nathan. All he did was prepare his laboratory as a killzone ahead of time.

Staren has posed:
    As they make their way out of the library, Staren lifts his rifle slightly in one hand, then makes an 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture at the channelers before following along with the party.

    Darkness, big whoop. Staren switches to light-amp and infrared. So he can see the slug-things... and that they're actually /bunching up on the stairs/. Bunching up! The servants of a /mage/ don't know better than to cluster! It's laughable!

    Staren actually does laugh, as his shoulder missile launchers raise into firing position and one launches over the group before diving down into the middle of the stair-cluster of slug-things and exploding in a large fireball.

    If that did /some/ damage but not enough to finish them, or if new slugthings rush right on in to replace them, Staren fires again, and again, using up all six if it comes to it.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan immediately puts himself in that particular mode where he is ready to stumble or go down according to Psyber's manhandling. He figured Psyber can handle the matter of Escort Mission work, and hopefully Ayako's Water Bubble magic can handle more. Nathan himself has other matters to attend to: He retrieves, from a pocket, his SONIC SPANNER. He's going to need to deal with this fast, or he might start experiencing the pain of death. He's also frustrated. Goddamn Duke and his goddamn trap. Well, looks like he won't be trying diplomacy first.

    The little sound-based device is great for scanning audio and also for for audio-related technical work. He attempts to record a full loop of the noise from the strange device, and then, maxing out the volume on the little metal pen-like device, he attempts to broadcast a SYNCHRONIZED, INVERTED SOUND. While the speed of sound and the accoustics of the room may limit its effectiveness, an inverse-sound broadcast that's synched well enough ought to reduce the audible volume of that awful, horrible noise, at least within some range, by exploiting the sonic principles of DESTRUCTIVE RESONANCE. Maybe he can reduce the activity levels of these creatures, or otherwise interfere with the effect of the sound in this terrible trap?

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki, also as per her norm, wouldn't do too much to contribute here. Though she would likely conjure a speeding field before Staren's rockets to speed them along their path of destruction, she would otherwise bunch in as closely as she can with the others, all while keeping her eye on that sorcerer that's bouncing around elsewhere. "Whether or not that caster is here purely to confirm our demise or to speed it along, its presence is far more concerning to me than a few writhing demonic presences closer to the ground. I might suggest keeping an eye on them whilst we attend to this chamber's much needed Spring Cleaning." And so she would, following them as best as she can with her eyes as they dart around the room, only wavering in that regard to strike at any of the monsters that might be giving her compatriots some trouble.

    On the off chance that the coast is clear in the next several moments, Mizuki would allow herself to become invisible again for a spell as she glances in to one of the prison cells. She would try the door and glance inside to see if there's anything of interest, soon returning to the group and rematerializing provided she isn't yoinked by a sorcerer in the process.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako glances back slowly when the doors shut behind the group. "Oh, how nice. A trap." She glances up and then winces once she hears the horrible noise coming from the gramophone. "As a former idol singer, I find that... noise to be horribly offensive." A pointer finger taps her cheek. "Yet at the same time, the gramophone does have it's own charm."

    She then sighs softly and shakes her head at the fat, slug-like creatures. "Not much creativity there, though." Ayako looks up at the teleporting channelers. "Yes yes... celebretory high-fives all around for trapping us in here." And then focuses on the group, quietly brainstorming to herself on what barrier to use next and on whom.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Nathan let Psyber off the leash at a full ten. This pleases Psyber.

    At the full ten, the weapons in his hands are actually less part of the attack and more the accessory to style. Which means the half-angel sheaths the sword twirls the gun, bringing his gloved hands up and cracking his knuckles loudly before rolling his neck sideways and popping it as well.

    "Alright, Nathan." Psyber says pretty even-toned, switching over into his cold and efficient business mode. The half-angel actually doesn't man-handle Nathan as much as he picks the man up by the back of his clothes and carries him along on the wild adventure Psyber is going to be going on in a moment.

    Thanks to Ayako's buff from earlier and his own expertise with the firearm, Psyber rushes forward with Nathan in hand, trying to jump and catch one of the metal cell doors with his foot and rip it off with a powerful kick. Steering that door with his foot, he tries to land it on the swarming mob of creatures clogging up the stairways BEFORE Staren unleashes his missles.

    Using momentum, their gross bodies, an iron door, and weight shifting, Psyber tries to surf on the door down the staircase in a practiced fashion of someone who does this for a living as his pistol whips around quickly, using Ayako's field to hyper-accelerate the bullets from his firearm as he sends them streaking towards numerous channelers while crowd-surfing down the waves of minions on the metal cell door.

Sakina (610) has posed:
    Sakina enters the room to immediately find herself faced with a problem. They need to get to that strange gramophone, but now there's a significant horde of enemies between it and them, and her allies don't seem to be the kind to fly easily. Somehow, though, she's not very concerned about the situation. She has a way around it.

    "...I will stop the sound," she remarks, just loud enough to inform her allies of her task. Her pyromancy flame is lifted again, the fire roiling to life as she prepares a spell. A moment later, the flame is slammed against her own chest...and Sakina's entire body suddenly bursts into blazing flames.

    According to her visible wince and the slight flinch she gives, she isn't immune to these flames. She just so happens to be their centerpoint now, and after a moment to steel herself, she starts running. Straight down the stairs she flies, sprinting at a breakneck pace, weaving between the hideous creatures and hoping that the fact she's turned herself into a giant torch will keep them off her as she sprints up toward the gramophone.

    Some things really are worth setting yourself on fire for.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Ariah respects the desire to keep the books from being damaged, though she gazes longingly at the archives as the group starts their way down instead. As the trap is sprung, she lowers her shoulders, resigning herself to this grim fate. The darkness doesn't hamper her vampiric senses and the feeling of magic all around actually brings a faint smile to her lips. "I will focus on defense," she pledges.

     The witch stays close to the greater group, lifting her staff and forcing more energy into it through the runes. Above the party, a half-shell shield of force expands, flickering and crackling in blue-white energy. "If those of you with ranged capabilities would be so kind as to remove the sorcerors from above, if that is what they are, I can attempt to protect us from whatever they may sling at us." Hopefully. Thankfully it seems like Psyber is already door-surfing a path to clear the way ahead -and- knocking on some of the guys up top.

     ...and the coolest thing she ever did was launch herself out of a trebuchet.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe gets the idea they got to go down in all likey hood abnd down she goes with anyone else whos going down. She's tyring to keeop on he toes and well the doors have shut she looks back for a scond grimacing at it as she moves Shge keepos alert and she looks to see as something is going on now she sees that hte place has beocme a kill zone, it's time to tank her gear comes out as she gets ready to move forward with eveyrone else.

"I'll move up and take front I'm here to take damage so you don't have to."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko softly glows, herself, even more than the mere presence of a ghostly phantom would indicate. She is not, otherwise, terribly capable of dealing with the mundane difficulty of simple darkness, so it's good that there's at least some light here to see by.

    With Nathan out of the immediate vicinity and no one else in quite the same need of a shield, Kimiko advances with the group, following after Sakina with her guard raised. She's not above taking taking attacks of opportunity. Rather, her sword actively seeks out such, making quick use of whatever openings are provided by any beast that turns either toward the pyromancer or to any of her other companions. Anything that fails to pay attention to her will bleed for it, and anything that does will find her armor solid.

Priscilla has posed:
    The slug things (which are called Pisacas, and will be referred to as such now for simplicity's sake) don't seem to be mindful of anything at all, even less usefully trained than the borderline insensate hollows up above, which may explain why they were contained in cages. Staren finds that the creatures are indeed supernaturally stubborn, as the slime covering them seems to ablate against high heat, and their soft bodies suffer very little damage from concussive shockwaves. It takes the entire volley to down the first group, but it works, blowing straight through the staircase underneat them and dropping the few survivors down a long fall as the rest paint their sticky black blood all up and down the shelves, splattering against an invisible pane of force an inch away from the books. Unfortunately, this only results in the snakemen opening the next set of cells. Several additional blobs of blue-flesh begin to stream out of staggered points on the stairs, still staying close together, but with each individual bunch spread out far enough to make hitting more than one of them with a single area attack impossible. Additionally, one the channellers up above begins to wave his trident, and the fragments of stone staircase disappear from the ground, fading back into existence into their proper place as the spell reverts the damage.

    Mizuki finds the empty cell Psyber had ripped the door off in a rather unnerving condition. Human blood is stained into the wooden floor, and the tattered remnants of a dress lie piled in the corner, suggesting that someone had perhaps been fed to the captive beast. Probably lots of people. Meanwhile, the half-angel and his carry-along librarian have pretty much the easiest going imaginable down the stairs. Each group of monsters requires nothing more than an easy kick flip to get on top of, and the solid, slippery mass they present allows him to accelerate every time he starts losing momentum from clattering down the stairs inbetween them. A couple of channelers preempetively teleport out of the way as he aims at them, having gathered field intel on how guns work, but another two can't react in time to the accelerated bullets, taking a fierce riddling from dozens of bullets before falling off their platforms. These ones don't seem as tough as the fully crystallized channeler fought at the burg, perhaps being meant mostly as housekeepers while the elite are sent out on assignments.

Priscilla has posed:
    The slimy mobs Sakina has to squeeze through are tightly packed and difficult to maneuver past, but they recoil as the flames licking her body press into them, allowing her just enough room to squeeze through. She's halfway to the bottom when more channelers begin making their move, working in tandem to cast spells on each monstrosity. Shimmering blue auras momentarily shine around each one in sequence, after which they cease to react to her flames. One of the creatures wraps its crushing tendrils around her from behind, hoisting her into the air, and revealing not a beaked maw like one would expect from a cephelapod, but some sort of horrific spike that jabs out like a piledriver, set to go right through her torso. Once all of the slug-things are shielded, another channeler begins performing the most ludicrous little dance anyone has ever seen, prancing around on the spot and waving his trident back and forth like some mockery of a tribal dance ceremony. The tip of his staff lets off a sudden pulse of blue energy that washes over the room, and where it touches the tentacled horrors, they begin to go absolutely nuts, growing twice as aggressive as before. The next group surges over the repaired staircase and straight into melee combat with Tomoe and Kimiko, where they will find their attack strength has been enhanced as well. They're soft bodied and bleed easily, but there doesn't seem to be a good, vital place to strike to easily dispatch them, and every swing of their blades risk being caught in the mire of tendrils ahead of them. The creatures that can't get to the front begin /spitting/, hurling globs of pearly blue goop that burns through the solid stone in seconds.

    Ayako's barriers were well advised, because as soon as the channelers are done buffing, they begin slinging spells; hurling screeching bolts of blue light in streaming volleys towards the Elites, in clusters, spirals, homing curves, and all sorts of strange patterns, which the water spirit's magic thankfully slows down enough to dodge. Ariah's forcefield comes up just in time to block the worst of it as it really starts pouring on, though the sheer volume of firepower means that it won't last for long. Solaire meanwhile, refuses to sit on the defensive. Rushing to the forefront to join Tomoe and Kimiko, he begins laying about with his sword with a heroic battle cry, and strangely enough, his unimpressive piece of simple steel begins carving through them like butter. Pieces of slug go flying this way and that as he hews through them with superhuman strength, adding his shield to theirs as he joins the push, helping them in whatever way he can. Priscilla has turned invisible, as is usual, and slips through the gap the two tanking Elites momentarily open up to arrive at the next group. Seconds from joining the mob already in combat, they petrify on the spot; slimey bodies turning to iridescent crystal as a hidden breath attack sweeps over them; creating a row of statues that present a hard road block for the ones behind.

    Lastly, Nathan seems to have a little stroke of genius, because as Psyber nears the bottom of the staircase on his makeshift surfboard, the sonic spanner works its magic, and the grating sound of the gramophone goes almost dead. The monsters already close to the Elites on the stairs remain incredibly aggressive, but the ones further down seem to lose cohesion, breaking apart and milling about at random, as if suddenly no longer interested.

Staren has posed:
    Staren blows up the stairs! "...Oops." He ponders how to fix that, but then the mages fix it for him. "Okay then..."

    New monsters show up, but they're no longer clustering. There are plenty of other combatants to handle them. As buff after buff is tossed on the monsters, and blue lights are tossed at him and his allies (he manifests his wings and flies above or to the side of the stairs to dodge, thanks to the barrier slowing them down so his own forcefield doesn't have to tank them,) Staren gets fed up with those mages.

    The empty launchers fold back down into storage position, while Staren raises his rifle and dials the power way down, to be comparable with the weakest shots from his laser pistol while he tests defenses. He doesn't need to sight down it thanks to the smartlink, so he just points, adjusts aim a bit, and fires.

    If that's enough, great and onto the next mage, but he's totally expecting them to have some kind of magic forcefields -- and if his shots hit those, he just keeps dialing up the power and firing again, unless it becomes clear that raiser weaponry just won't work here.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Ariah truly had no idea what to expect from the channelers. She isn't even sure what to call them, aside from sorcerors, or warlocks, or 'those fuckers in the sniping positions' but she's far too eloquent for the latter. At least, until the mages shift from supporting their minions to all-out attacking. Then she -does- curse. It's in French, and it's quiet, but the translation effect makes it clear she's questioning the parentage of the casters above and comparing them to various canine species.

     Both hands grip her staff as she keeps the barrier's curved facing towards the barrage of magical energy. Projectile upon projectile splashes against the shell, in some cases almost literally. Threads of mana practically rain from the underside of the shell, the power being absorbed from each impact, but only so much. Cracks start to form in the shield, fractures and fragments struggling to fill but it's entirely too much. With a grunt and a hiss, small shards of mana start to pelt her, nicking her face and her uniform until she gasps and recalls the whole thing before it can explode and injure the party.

     Her form pulses, the glow of her phantom body brightening momentarily even as she staggers from bolts impacting her. Then she 'explodes'. Rather than suffer overload from wounds and absorbed magic, she expels the excess in the form of a swarm of blue-white missiles, comet trails streaking towards the offending magic-slingers.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "You know, Nathan," Psyber comments as he flicks the door with his feet and skids down a slimy line of monsters, "I remember when you first joined my office. You were introverted, you barely ate, you had almost no friends. You were totally indifferent to most things." Psyer idly notes this as a flurry of bullets takes out a channeler.

    He presses a button on the side of his pistol as it runs out of ammo and the magazine falls out, a new one coming out of his sleeve on a draw and he drops the pistol onto it before the slide cracks forward, "Now we get to go out places. See things. You're even in a healthy relationship. And look at you, assaulting a library for the benefit of everyone's knowledge," Psyber adds, jumping the door over another line of monsters, "I'm just so damn proud of how you've grown up."

    The door reaches the bottom of the staircase, skidding along the ground with a shower of sparks as Psyber hops off of it and skids his boots along the ground, "Really, I think you've changed a lot in the past couple years," He notes, setting Nathan down behind him as they come to a stop.

    He drops down to one knee and draws a second pistol now that he's released Nathan from his grasp, bracing his hands against eachother and opening fire on the creatures at the bottom of the stairs with both pistols, "I think you've grown up so much you're gonna let me invite Elliana over for Thanksgiving again this year."

    Ah. So Psyber's doing that thing where he waits for a very distracting time to get Nathan to agree to something.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Whether or not she reaches the jail cells is of little consequence as she'll likely have initiated her invisibility again anyway. Now, it's fairly unlikely that a powerful magus with a 6-eye motif isn't going to be able to tell she's zooming straight at them no matter how hard to see she may be, so she doesn't go in for a straight on assault. Instead, she swerves a bit off to the side, attempting to get the best impression that she can of their patterns of teleportation. She would follow, follow, follow with her eyes, studying, thinking... until she's reasonably certain that she will be able to predict where one will land next. In full confidence she would charge to that arbitrary point and become visible again toward the end, stopping just short of them to unleash a flurry of slashes and jabs, followed by a rapid volley of bullets from her revolver as she retreats. Thanks to Ayako's barrier, her wings are probably safe for the time being, but in spite of how she may seem, she always likes to stay on the safe side when she's actually paying attention.

    If her target is still standing after this, should would fade out of existence and attempt the same maneuver a second time. If they aren't, then she would change tactics and arc downward, heading to the spot on the stairs where the majority of the group is struggling with the still-violent mini medusas. She would contribute no small number of bullets to that conflict from afar, careful to avoid friendly fire, and just as careful to watch for any would-be surprise attacks from any magisters she might've missed.

    Here and there she would lay down stasis fields to slow foes en masse. She would try to contribute one such field to the group of snakes near the gramophone and another to the aforementioned section of the stairs regardless of whether her attack on the channeller is successful.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan continues his work, even while he's picked up. "Oh." he says, simply, and just sort of hangs loosely off the back of the metal cell door, kinda just flailing out while he fiddles with that damn Sonic Spanner. He's hopefully gonna get pulled out of the way of those great globs of awful substance that might burn through him, or those spells that are going to be pretty much un-dodgable for him normally.

    Thankfully, the ones at the bottom won't be attacking. "There we go." He says, perfectly calm, as if he weren't being grabbed by Psyber at all. "That seems to have the appropriate effect. These appear to be not unlike attack animals of some sort." Psyber's comments draw a wry, raised eyebrow. "I am not assaulting anyone, merely assisting. As for the target, I like to think it is the outrageous patrons that are more the relevant target. But yes, a great deal of change. That sounds quite fine." He says, agreeing absentmindedly.

    "Wait, /what/." He suddenly declares, blinking and making a slightly distressed noise., but maintaining his Sonic Spanner effect, trying to focus the sound dispersal to disrupt the buffing effects that the channelers might apply to the monsters that aren't already in a frenzy, keeping them docile.

    Hopefully someone else can handle that gramophone, 'cause he can't. He's sticking closer, but can't really shout out his objection over the sound of Psyber's gunfire.

Sakina (610) has posed:
    Sakina didn't really prepare for the possibility that the Pisaca would suddenly stop caring about fire. As agile as she is, she can't simply avoid something that she isn't expecting, and the squeezing tentacles suddenly halt her forward rush right in her tracks, drawing out a choked yelp of surpise and pain. This situation isn't a good one; she's on fire, but it's not warding off her captor at all, and with her arms bound to her sides, it's not looking like she can make use of the shotel in her hand.

    So she takes the hit.

    Her whole form lurches as the spike pierces right through her stomach, spurting blood tinted white from the wound. A sharp cry of pain is drawn from her, and once she's released, she simply crumples to the floor in a heap, lingering there for several more moments. Is she dead?

    ...no, not quite. Her hand twitches, then tightens further around her viciously curved sword. Silently, she pushes herself up, rising to her feet and pulling out a large flask of glowing orange fluid from the satchel at her side just as the flames around her flicker away. Once she finds her unsteady footing, the flask is lifted to her lips, where she takes a brief, quick swig from it before shoving it back into her pack.

    Sakina doesn't give herself much more time to recover. Without even looking back at the Pisaca, she rushes onward to hoist herself up to the gramophone, silently weaving and rolling through the Channelers' spells to finish off what Nathan started and make /sure/ the blasted thing doesn't start blaring again.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is looking at all the horrible slug things and so many other horrors re down here. She notices the creatures are coming n and she's moving and they are just teatuing into her after the dance the mounring wall is taking some of the blows she can intercept but she's not like the tendrils oh god does she hate the tendrils. She's moving to take them out as best she can however something else happens as someone joins them and it's good ot have some backup as well the slugs get blenderd and she kpressing until the machines end up being turned to crystal hopefully that's basically enough to stem the die.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko finds the lack of solid targets a bit troublesome, to say the least, with the Pisacas being as resilient as they are, even without the channellers' extra magic. They also seem too stupid to be tricked, which limits how much her swordplay can do. You can't fence with something that won't, and doesn't need to, block.

    She has advantages, however. When her sword is grasped by hostile tendrils, rather than wrenching it free, she lets it go. Within half a moment, another blade is in her hand, identical to the first, carving through the occupied masses. Stone-eating goop is a more major concern, but her reflexes are quick enough to discard and replace her shield just as quickly, trying to avoid getting any of the stuff actually on her armor. That's not so easily discarded, and if the acid's bite is strong enough, would go straight through to her flesh. Even if she can't really die here, she's not about to leave her companions in the lurch, if she can help it.

    The effect of the incoming magic on her shield is something she doesn't want to even find out. Chances are good that she can't effectively block any of that without letting some solid hits through, as soon as Ariah's barrier has had it. At least she isn't caught flat-footed--she has time to watch the first attacks head her way, only to be blocked, and from that point on is able to react more quickly. She's ready when the shield breaks, dodging out of the way of the next spell that would have struck her, Solaire's addition to the front lines perhaps being all that ensures they don't falter in their advance with the added worry of being struck dead by mystical powers.

    As is, she steps in to strike again as quickly as she'd fallen back. As her focus rises, she strikes more and more quickly, dodging just as well, her mind settling into a trance of reflex and efficient carnage. Between the three of them, including Tomoe, the back line should at least be well-warded from the monsters.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako glances calmly at the sudden screeching bolts of blue light. "Hmm... nice patterns of fire..." She dodges any shot her way gracefully and then shakes her head when more just keeps firing. "But still... too much of it is making it hard to appreciate it and turning it into something annoying..." She notes Ariah's forcefield holding most of the blue light bolts back-at least until it suddenly breaks! "Now it's definitely annoying." Her hands thrust forwards, "Multi-faceted Ice Barrier." A barrier of ice swiftly goes up to replace Ariah's that just broke to protect her and the rest of the group!

    Unlike Ayako's usual soft barriers, this one is actually a hard one that can fully block the blue light bolts! If a laser or a beam of light happens to go through it going out, the multiple facets of ice will split it into many beams of colored light.

    "Staren! Got a laser or something like it? Can you shoot it through this before this breaks?"

Priscilla has posed:
    A significant number of channelers move their aim towards Staren as he breaks free of the group forcefield, casting soul arrows at him from all directions, which sweep, twist and turn to closely follow his ascent until they finally hit him. His attempts at testing them find that the weaker bullets wind up dissipating on magic shields the mages have already cast on themselves, but as soon as the juice is high enough to break through the kinetic defense, the bolts penetrate right into them and blow them apart in messy showers of bloody steam and bodyparts, further confirming that these guys aren't augmented with crystal. Ariah's return volley manages to thin them out considerably, only having to pelt them out of their sniping positions rather than overwhelm their considerable magic resistance.

    Between the two of them and Psyber, there are hardly any left. When Ayako's barrier suddenly completely prevents the remainder of the soul arrows from finally claiming their marks, and Mizuki's assault plasters another one all over the walls, that is the point when they either decide or, or are ordered to retreat, fizzling out of the room one flash at a time. This leaves her free to move on to the bottom of the stairs, where the combined volume of bullets from her and Psyber start scything down the horrible blue critters left and right, easily damaged by the hydrostatic shock of bullet wounds. The temporal stasis field slowing the serpent men makes them easy targets for Sakina to blow through, and the pisacas can't catch up with her, meaning she gets a straight bee-line to the gramophone, where a mighty yank of the lever turns it off for good.

    Whenever Kimiko leaves a sword in the grasp of one of her adversary, the creature wastes time trying to eat it, leaving her with ample opportunities to skewer and cleave them in return. Without the strange sounds spurring them on, she makes quick work of the final group that reaches her alongside Tomoe. There is one last group still in the very middle of the staircase, between where the bottom and top have been wiped out, and yet before anyone can get to it, the familiar figure of a knight in onion-shaped armour comes barrelling out of the next cell door and starts hollering at the top of his longs, hewing away at the confused beats with huge swipes from his zweihander. Just behind him follows a young lady, no older than 16 at the most, and wearing clothes that suggest some manner of clergy origins. She looks absolutely terrified, but Adalbert is doing his damndest to defend her, though his shouting sounds more like he might have cracked in the head rather than especially valiant.

    Solaire responds instantly to the sight, leaping onto the railing of the staircase and starting to slide down in a direct copy of Psyber's inspiring action from earlier. Cocking one hand behind his head, a crackling flash of lightning bursts into existence in his clenched fists, writhing in a solid stream like a spear, which he then hurls at the Pisacas still menacing Adalbert. The direct impact explodes into several arcs, killing almost all of them instantly, leaving only a couple more for the Catarinan knight to finish off. As the room falls into dead silence, everyone can hear Oscar's friend making unintelligible noises between gasps for air, only ceasing when the girl he had apparently rescued tries to hug him from behind.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is all set to advance on that last group when Solaire manages to wipe them out with a sudden show of magic. He could do that? He can do that, apparently. So focused was she on the task at hand that it takes her a bit to realize that all the enemies are gone. She comes down slowly, but doesn't relax so far as to not continue checking above, behind and below for cheaty, teleporting mages. She'll cover the others as they congregate at the bottom, where Psyber led the way.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    That went over surprisingly well, now didn't it? Mizuki would undo her stasis fields as the various conflicts conclude, panting just slightly on account of the strain of her own energy expenditures. Aelinos and her pistol would follow suit, disappearing once more as her arms meander to her back, and she embraces the new silence with a welcoming, peaceable inhalation. This. This is how this room was always meant to be.

    Ah, but amid that silence -- intrigue! More 'locals' showed up near the room's base at some point when she wasn't looking, apparently. Ever wont to play the role of mysterious spectator, Mizuki would lower herself to a point reasonably near to theirs, eyes carefully appraising them. A stranger band than she'd ever expected to see here, that's for sure.

    Finally left to her peace, Mizuki would wander from the group in due time to inspect the gramophone, then the cell from which all of those bizarre, writhing, tentacled beasts had first emerged. This was some sort of laboratory, wasn't it? Maybe she can start her analysis of this area here, and now, while the others tend to compulsory socializations.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako reigns in her ice barrier once the assault stops and quickly throws a few balls of water at it to repair it, keeping it by herself just in case it can be used again. She then quickly floats over to Sakina and cups her hands in front of herself. "Healing Water." And flings healing water at the wound on Sakina's stomach, attempting to heal the wound.

    Ayako quietly follows after the group, ready to orient the icey shield towards anything threatening... and checking on everyone to see if they could use some healing now that the situation has cooled down.

Staren has posed:
    Staren has no choice but to tank the spells, apparently -- his forcefield flashes into visibility, hollow translucent amber spheres, the arrows burning chunks off as their energy is absorbed -- the outermost layer disintigrates completely under the onslaught, and one of the discs on Staren's chestplate smokes and sparks -- The second layer is pitted with holes, but Staren finally tunes the raiser rifle to 'chunky salsa' before they can get another full volley in.

    Ayako proposes a combo attack. Staren wishes he'd known she could do that or he'd have brought the bigger laser -- still, he /did/ want to test this. He lowers the rifle, holding the underbarrel launcher's grip in his left hand while freeing the right one to pull his trusty laser pistol from his belt. As he looks around for enemies...

    ...He realizes there aren't any left, and slowly holsters the pistol before looking at Ayako, shrugging, and flying over to Adalbert and the woman he rescued, landing in front of them. "Who is she?" he asks, curiously.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I am just really glad to hear that, Nathan. Makes my evening a whole lot better and even helps soothe some of my upsetedness over this entire situation," Yes, Psyber deliberately used a word that doesn't exist there in that prior sentence. Still, he's playing the conversation forward and just moving along like Nathan agreeing wasn't an accident.

    "I was thinking of having Hastur do a turkey, but I dunno, I also like the idea of a pot roast. But I ALSO like the idea of her trying something fancy. How would you feel about Steak and like... Maine Lobster? Got a menu preference otherwise?" He asks Nathan as he cuts down numerous strange beings at the bottom of the stairs, taking a deep breath as he vents out frustrations.

    At the end of it all, he drops the magazines from his guns again and loads fresh ones before holstering both pistols, "Eh, we can talk about it later. I think you have to go work some social mojo." He notes to his friend.

Ariah (56) has posed:
     Thanks to Ayako's timely shield replacement, Ariah takes -far- fewer hits than she would have otherwise. Her glowing body still seems to smoke, however. Ethereal wisps rise up from her shoulders and arms. It seems the expulsion of energy was still a bit much for her. The witch stands, however, and straightens. A bow of her head to the water sprite? Entity? She gestures respectfully to Ayako, either way. "Thank you for your swift timing. They made it very obvious that we are unwelcome here."

     The witch takes a slow breath and looks around, moving towards the warded books. She might not have the correct spells to free them from their bindings, but still she attempts to 'tap' at the energy, see what she can draw from the wards to either refill her own reserves, or gently attempt to check for traps that might bite her back.

Sakina (610) has posed:
    Sakina's progress is something of a blur for her. As weakened as the serpent men are, she still doesn't waste the chance to bury her shotel in them in passing, hooking the sharp point into their necks, yanking, twisting, and leaving behind her a show of gruesome yet efficient brutality before she reaches the gramophone and gives the lever a solid yank.

    With that taken care of, the pyromancer has a moment to catch her breath and look out toward the others. The 'new' arrivals are given a pensive stare from where she is now, though she doesn't actually make a move just yet. Everyone else seems comfortable with them; she, then, must be the late arrival here.

    After a few more moments, Sakina moves off to leap down from where the gramophone is, landing in a crouch on the floor before she starts making her way toward the group. Her shotel is tucked on her hip again, and soon enough, she stops near the assembled, weary group, rubbing and rolling her right shoulder.

    Slowly, her head turns toward Adalbert, her shadowed gaze lingering on the man for an uncomfortably long time. "...test subjects," she remarks, more an observation than anything. "Undead? Fresh subjects carrying the sign of the cursed ones, not yet so shriveled in body? Perhaps in mind, but...no, not hollowed, not yet."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe sees there is one last group to worry about at this She presses ona head to go and attempt to help these new arrivals however it seems that things are about done after Pysber and the others stunt. She alts for a moment looking stare at everything that's just happened she grimaces for a moment. She shakes her head a little bit not certain what to do. They had test subjects down here and it's pretty gruesome...reallyw hen you think about it.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "Ah. Salutations." Nathan speaks with pure, indefatigable monotone. "Hello again. I had heard that your group was operating in this area. Salutations again, Sir Adalbert. I see you have been independently accomplishing a parallel goal, much like that incident before." The one with the fat executioner and the dragon-hunter? Probably. "Thank you. And you, ma'am..." He peers. Does he recognize this one? There's a lot of clergy ladies around here...

    "No, it..." Nathan starts, trying to address Psyber, then sighing heavily. "I always have a preference for seafood, though it is not a relevant fact, given the traditional associations of Thanksgiving. Why would she need to /try/ something fancy, she lives in a giant magical nobility mansion, by nature she is practically the queen of fanciness now." He makes a soft frustrated noise.

    Okay, back to social mojo. "Right, in any case, good work with the... Rescue?" Nathan tilts his head at Adalbert. "Perhaps you might explain more about how you got here? I am curious of the circumstances here, and of how, if at all, we may be able to assist."

Priscilla has posed:
    Adalbert lets his sword clatter to the floor, leaning precariously to the side before standing up straight. As Staren lands in front of him, he suddenly claps his hands to the catboy's shoulders and leans right into his face, giving him a peek of tiny embers burning in the slit of his helmet; the kind that glow brightly in the empty sockets of a hollow, indicating the once cheery man isn't very far behind. "She's the only one left! The others! They're all gone! The Duke! He put a bonfire in here! An honest to gods bonfire! If an undead dies here, they come back in one of these cells and they can't get out. All the other girls, the channellers brought them here one at a time. All in this room, nobody can get into it. Every day they'd send the snakemen down here and they'd drag away a couple of them, and then they'd bring back these /things/ instead! They had to be women of virtue, or else they wouldn't change. The women that were picked up by mistake, the ones of little faith, they fed them to the others once they'd changed! I kept Sarah safe. Every time they opened the cell, I'd kill them and kill them and /kill them/ until they gave up and moved to the next cell. I held out for /days/! But I couldn't help the other ones! I could hear the screams every single time! And now they're all dead! Gods bless their souls, there was nothing I could do for them! I had to do it!"

    'Sarah' seems too terrified to speak. She clearly cares for the man who had kept her safe for suffering the fate of every other kidnapped girl, but the ordeal of slowly watching him hollow must have shaken her up badly, because she refuses to let go of him even as he rants at Staren. He lets go as Sakina starts talking, dropping into a sitting position on the stairs with his helmet in his hands, calming down somewhat. "I pray that they aren't undead anymore. That they can have their final rest rather than being reborn again as one of /those/." Priscilla might have known from the beginning, because she seems to be going from the top of the staircase down, physically picking up each wavering soul hovering about the dead bodies of the pisacas rather than simply having absorbed them during the fight, gathering the little white flames in one arm. Adalbert punches the railing as Psyber starts going on about celebratory dinner, clearly not in the mood to hear it. "Assist? Don't even bother. This is impossible. Each of us went out in search of the four Lordsouls, so that we could come back and gather the others once we knew their locations. This was supposed to be the easy, obvious one! But you can't get it! There's just no way! Seath is invincible! Completely beyond reason and utterly impossible to best! I don't know how, but he's recovered the power of the dragons of old! He heals instantly from every injury, and his vitality is never ending! There isn't a thing any man or god could do to him! Why else do you think he's been content to ignore everything for the last hundred years? All he has to do is wait until the last god leaves Anor Londo and he can take it for himself!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks as Adalbert suddenly gets all up in his face and describes the horrors committed here. At the end of it all, he can only say: "...I'm sorry..." Then he takes a deep breath. "Noone is truly invincible. We may not be able to attack Seath directly, but I cannot believe that there is nothing that can affect him in the entire Multiverse. We'll find it. ...First of all, you say 'the dragons of old'... Obviously, /they/ weren't invincible or you'd just say 'the dragons'; what happened to them?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber wasn't talking about a celebratory dinner, he was discussing Thanksgiving with Nathan. But that's a minor semantic that's unimportant at the moment. Instead he looks at Adalbert in a flat manner, "Invincible? Well, then."

    Psyber slowly reaches to his belt and takes out a revolver. A very OLD revolver. Specifically, a Smith and Wesson Model 1917. Adopted by the Army in 1917 to allow revolver-reliant officers to use standardized .45 ACP rounds, it had a very short service life and is considered something of a collectible.

    Psyber spins this revolver in his hand and opens the cylinder, carefully removing three rounds from a tiny cloth pouch, each one made of a translucent, blue-white patterned crystal with swirls of a pale grey. He places them into the cylinder delicately, each one having a rune on the back. They're magical and far above anything HE could have crated. Someone else here made them.

    "Give me three shots at him. I'll show him mortality."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki would wander back over from wherever she had been, likely appearing behind Psyber in time to hear the chamber of his gun click after it spins. "Ah, why not four? For symbolism's sake. Though admittedly, three isn't a bad choice for that either." Looking to Adalbert now, she would speak softly, cleanly. "Indeed, though, 'invincibility' is often a rather subjective thing to behold. If some weakness can be found, we will find it. If it cannot, we will find another way to go about this issue alltogether." Smirk~. "For such is the resilience of these people I find myself in the company of, I assure you. Even if you are in no state that would be receptive to optimism."

    Of course, she would have no idea /why/ he specified three. She's just all too eager to get her word in edgewise.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly as Adalbert suddenly unloads bombshell after bombshell. Her head inclines to the side gently as she thinks quietly to herself. "Hmm... invincible... well... we won't know unless we try..." She nods her head slowly. "After all... it's the ones that think themselves invincible that are the most vulnerable..."

Sakina (610) has posed:
    Sakina doesn't really seem to care about Adalbert's distress. She stares evenly at him, her shadowed expression not once shifting from its earlier look. Finally, she steps closer to him, leaning around, peering into his visor to try and get a look at the man under the helmet. Soon enough, she seems satisfied, straightening up again and slowly shaking her head. "...or, perhaps, a mistake," she mutters. "No, certainly not fresh; perhaps at first, but no, not now. All burnt up, and soon not much more than a little piece of charcoal. Well..." Her head lowers to Adalbert's sword. "...maybe more like a conflagration..."

    Her attention turns to Sarah next. A brief glance is given to the remains of the Pisaca before Sakina's unwavering gaze fixates on Sarah. She steps toward the holy girl, staring at her as if she were a particularly baffling puzzle. Her hand lifts for a moment, delicately settling on Sarah's shoulder. "...I wonder...a method to become immortal? Surely not cursed; unless virtue doesn't care about the curse..."

    Whatever her wandering, half-voiced thoughts are leading to, Sakina finally lets her arm fall to her side again. Her shadowed gaze shifts aside to the others, but she says nothing more, instead just starting to pace in very slow, pensive circles.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko listens, and watches, and waits, and to Adalbert, "Well done." Hands resting without show of weariness, sword point-down at the ground before her, she says, "It was difficult, but you succeeded. We'll carry on from here. Should you find yourself ready as we find the solution to the problem of the duke, join us then."

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan gives a firm and intense sort of nod. "We understand." He says. "And I greatly appreciate the spirit you have put into the defense of what you were able. With luck, we hope to end the horrors here permanently. I understand that such an endeavor will be difficult at best, yes." He clearly takes this seriously. "There was trouble, before, with Oscar, dissent concerning our 'spectacular abilities'. This is why we are here. I will not try to convince you that we can kill the Duke, but we will do what we can to assist in this matter. Return to your meeting place. We will plan means of bypassing the matter of the apparent immortality of the Duke. We cannot simply give up now, though. With luck, we may yet be able to work with you, Oscar, and the others, to resolve this."

    A serious look is given to Sarah. "You are an extremely lucky woman. There are few safe places in Lordran, but we can offer you what little there may yet be. Firelink Shrine should remain unbothered. Please, return with us, to it. Adalbert, please: You have protected Sarah this long, will you protect her further?" His impression, so far, is that the Hollowing process is one that is causing the emotions to flare, so Nathan is trying to offer validation, without presumptuousness, or trying to force the damaged man out of the role he's self-designated for himself. Maybe just long enough to get him a jolt of some Humanity...

Priscilla has posed:
    "I don't know." Adalbert shakes his head helplessly at Staren. "The only firsthand knowledge of the Age of Ancients is entirely in the divine court of Anor Londo. All I know is that Seath, before he was duke, betrayed the everlasting dragons and stole something from them, which brough them into the cycle of life and death and let the three Lords and their armies kill them. Something about the undead curse, about the darksign, must have let him learn how to use it, otherwise he wouldn't be so interested in us. He doesn't even come to the archives anymore. He sits in that lair of his he's built under the mountain, where everything for miles has been turned into cursed crystal, and he passes the time by creating all manner of abominations." He looks up at Psyber as he flicks the revolver closed, staring at him in helpless silence as the half-angel insists he can somehow win a confrontation with the duke. Sarah detaches herself from him as Mizuki begins to speak, and replies to her in turn. "I cannot thank you enough, all of you, for what you've done for Adalbert and I . . . and the others. If that is truly what you believe, then I won't convince you otherwise. Though I believe it not myself, I hope deep in my heart that you are right, so that no more will have to suffer that malformed madman's abominable cruelty."

    Ariah tapping the bookshelf wards finds that they aren't so much an active system powered by mana of any kind, so much as an enchantment woven into the books themselves by infusing them with souls. These might be the ones that Seath personally reads judging by their sheer size, and the fact that it would take an incredible level of arcana ability to so much as open them. Adalbert finally responds to Kimiko, getting to his feet and grasping Sarah's hand with his gauntlet, tugging her away from Sakina as she starts to do her creepy, if alarmingly accurate thing. Priscilla, having finisher her rounds of the stairs, speaks up next. "Yes, be proud in having carried out thine duty, Knight Adalbert of Catarina. Now is the time thou shouldst rest. Return to Firelink Shrine, and bring thine charge to the parish. Thou hast all the right to feel for the life thou didst save, even if thou wilst not let go of the ones thou couldst not." He seems reticent at first, and reluctant to even listen to her, but hearing similar from Nathan seems to push him towards acceptance. "Yes . . . yes you are right. I don't know what good it'll do. As long as Seath lives, nobody will get into the Kiln of the First Flame. We'll all be waiting until the end of the world. At the very least though, I'll see to it that he will get nothing from it. Not one more person."

    As he begins to trudge up the stairs, Priscilla presses something into Sarah's hand, upon which she stops for a moment, before murmuring something to her, and continuing on. She waits until the knight and his charge are out through the door, where they have a clear shot back to the entrance. "Please, see him safely ahead. I must remain here for a while longer. I can read the tongues in which the duke inscribes his books, and I cannot be found by the sight of his channelers. I will research for perhaps a day, to see if I am able to ascertain the source of his so called invulnerability."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe listens and her face becomes twisted with outrange they are a mad man her she litens to the tale of hte onw who did what they could agains this madness she looks ot SArah for a moment and grimaces she looks from one ot the others.

"We will end this madness someway somehow and you did well. She grips her blade and she knows this will be bad.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber stands next to Priscilla as she says she's going to stay here and research the source of his immortality. The half-angel closes his hand around the grip of the revolver and runs his thumb along the polished wood, "You think it's best to wait, Pris? I'm confident I could go in there and handle it right now." He murmurs quietly, and with a soft seriousness to his voice.

    The half-angel's face twitches a bit and he sighs slightly, "I'm not gonna go against your call, but I'll voice my disagreement."

Ariah (56) has posed:
     The witch finds herself listening less to the conversation and more focusing on the wards. Or rather, the tomes in the books. She gleans what little she can, but her lack of knowledge on soul magic and actual arcane power level compared to the Duke gives her little chance to do much more than examine. Soon Ariah closes in on the group proper, to depart at Nathan's side. It's clear she feels comfortable around the librarian, for some reason or another. "I am pleased to have been welcomed on this venture. I will continue to offer as much aid in this endeavor as I can, and not only for the opportunity to examine this place on time that is unborrowed."

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "I see. Something under the mountain? I understand." Nathan gives a firm nod. "As for what good it does? A world of it, to Sarah, I expect. Please keep that in mind." Approve of the mental rut the hollow puts themselves in, do not appear in opposition to it. Psychologically associate yourself with the internal embracing of the rut to gain superior social leverage. Then you get enough slack to work with.

    "I wish you best of luck, Sir Adlabert. I expect your allies are eager to hear from you." Turning to Sarah, "I hope so as well. I can provide no convincing, but I will give you my assurance that our group will try as much as we are capable."

    Then he gives a nod to Priscilla. "I wish you best of luck in your research. Please inform us, should you locate any information that may be of use in dealing with Seath." Casually talking about killing the Duke! His posture, for those who know him well, obviously shows that he seems to have a respectful sort of opinion that Priscilla has likely worked this sort of thing out, emotions-wise, and it doesn't need to be danced around. "We look forward to endeavors to bring progress to the quest of Sir Oscar."