Chevaleresse

IP injects Lambda with a shady drug. Nobody really understands how this works, but it restores [14] HP and increases her damage resistance by 15%. Isobel resists the urge to slap the shit out of Rory, and instead only slaps him a little, clearing his Gentle Repose. Lotus, meanwhile, guides Walmond through a shortcut in the rhododendrons, letting her and Lambda move immediately after them! Youmu, following Walmond's cues, unleashes a powerful slash on Shadow Beast B for [80] damage! The beast falls over dead in a single strike. Walmond and Lambda both take the opportunity to patch up. The Healing Field restores [19] HP to himself, Rory, IP, and Hikari, alongside [9] to Lambda, while Lambda's own routines restore her back to full health. Reimu's needles arrive at their targets! Empi takes [21] damage, while Lambda takes [14] damage in Walmond's stead. She follows up with another flurry of ofuda, targeting Isobel, Masako, and Rory. The magic batters them for 15 damage apiece. Rory regains 1 HP. The remaining talismans lock onto nearby targets, hitting Rory, UB-65, Masako, and Empi twice for 6 damage. The protective spell on Empi, however, prevents her from taking damage before fizzling. Reimu activates a Condition Card as well: if an enemy uses an area of effect move, activate Nightmare Sign: Dream-Sealing Circle! Empi manages to snap herself out of her own haze, and leaves an enchantment that will hopefully prevent the next one from sticking. Reimu channels that energy again, afflicting Rory once more as well as Walmond. Rory's response is to stab at Reimu with a flaming stake, dealing [11] damage and inflicting a 3 turn burn for [6] additional damage each tick. Masako gives Rory some martial advice while continuing to observe Reimu's patterns. She remembers that Coercion Needle is a high damage, delayed-action multitarget attack, her Hunting Amulets hit three enemies for undodgeable damage, and that the Saigyou Ayakashi Brand can target two people at once, afflicting them with the tree's spell. Her spell cards are changed enough that she can't get a good read on them yet, but they both seem to be area-of-effect damaging and debuffing attacks. She also unleashes her own signature burst of danmaku on the shadow beasts, stunning and battering them for 24 damage. UB-65 fuses her torpedo, and has Richter prepare the path for it. Hikari channels some energy into the rosebushes, giving UB-65 some extra oomph. More deathly calm emanates from Reimu as she glares back at Masako, with the energy settling around her and [1] Empi. "Very funny. I'm not going to get any peace and quiet until I exterminate the youkai I keep letting off the hook. I've had enough of having my shrine destroyed and the tengu rumor-mongering about me." The shadow beasts are stunned. IP gives her own flavor of advice to Masako, increasing her damage output by 20% for 3 turns! Initiative: Status

Sixth Form: Sweeping Current Surge on Bazelgeuse, dealing 14 damage and reducing its damage by the same amount for 2 turns. Yin: 6->1 Yang: 2->7 Breath: 3/14

A wave of positive magic moves out from Hikari, strengthening several of her teammates! Isobel shakes off the all-too-peaceful feeling for now, giving herself a rough slap to the face to stop herself from focusing on the saplings. Meanwhile, LOTUS does some analysis of the local space, letting Empi know what the best routes to travel through the garden are. Empi uses this assistance to get over to the dazed-looking tengu and snap her out of her reverie, allowing her to focus on the upcoming battle. Reimu's first action is to unleash a spray of youkai-hunting needles, targeting Empi and Walmond! The attacks will arrive next turn. Coercion Needles deployed, Reimu then takes an odd pose, channeling divine energies through herself - or what would be divine, were it not for what she currently seemed linked to. Nothing outwardly happened, but Empi and Rory found themselves feeling very calm. Rory advances despite this, making some unspecified but quite rude targets at the miko. Her expression doesn't seem to shift much, but she stares him down regardless. Masako, despite the sudden fog in her mind, performs some of her signature analysis on the red-and-white miko. She remembers that Reimu is adept at using spell cards, as many are, and can continue to attack while channeling them if they were triggered conditionally. She also recalls that her danmaku is quite potent, covering a large number of targets. It also seems that some energy is going into her link with the saplings, and breaking this might temporarily empower her. Finally, she remembers Reimu's Fantasy Nature, which allows her to float out of reality at will. She continues to observe Reimu somewhat sleepily. UB-65 sends out Richter to analyze the area. All the hostiles seem to be visible, but he's able to determine that the names of her actions are Hunting Amulet, Coercion Needle, Saigyou Akashi Brand, Nightmare Sign "Dream-Sealing Circle," and Spirit Sign "Fantasy Prison." She also enters stealth, skulking among Youmu's carefully-tended rose bushes. Hikari casts a supportive spell on Masako, filling her with vigor. Reimu swings one arm, attacking with a flurry of hanafuda. They lock onto Rory, Hikari, and Lambda, striking each of them for 15, 8, and 22 damage, respectively. The attacks splash over, dealing 6 damage to Walmond, IP, Masako, Empi, UB-65, and Lambda. Walmond cues Youmu, who takes up a careful stance aimed at Shadow Beast B. Lambda, meanwhile, buffs up her defenses, ensuring she'll be ready for the next assault. The Shadow Beasts advance on the group. One lunges at Hikari, swiping at her for [7] damage. Another jumps at Masako; it would have dealt [14] damage had she not woven around the strike. The last attacks Lambda, clobbering at her for [9] damage. IP preps an emergency response, in case one of her living allies falls below 40% HP. Initiative: Status

"Saigyou Ayakashi. But it shouldn't be possible for it to reproduce." The shrine maiden across the courtyard from them took this moment to speak up. "I'm here to perform an extermination. Step away from the youkai." Reimu floated into the air slightly, brandishing her gohei. "Because I'm doing it right this time." There was a definite unnatural echo to her voice, doubtlessly an effect of the artifact. "Be very careful," Yuyuko said, glancing back at the party once more. "Not only is she one of the strongest beings in Gensokyo, she's linked to these saplings somehow. They need to be destroyed too, but whatever energy is tying her to them will snap back when we do." She turned her head slightly. "Youmu." "Yes?" "Don't worry about me. Follow their lead." "I can help too! Lady Yukari gave me some of her spells personally!" Chen seemed puffed up enough by this to get over the terror of the situation. "But, um, she didn't really say when to use them. . ." As if on cue, strange runed pillars fell from the sky around them, things that likely matched something the group had heard about from the more veteran members. Alongside them, three strange black beasts, almost humanoid in shape but with strange silvery plates where a face would be, dropped down surrounding the party. Objective: Defeat Reimu! Special Conditions: Saigyou Ayakashi saplings are on the battlefield! Damaging them may stop their influence, but beware of what happens if they're destroyed too soon. . . Yuyuko, Youmu, and Chen are helping! Yuyuko can use her ability to invoke death on a target, while Youmu is a powerful swordsman (though she needs time to focus.) Chen has been given barrier spells by Yukari. They may take their actions in place of a player. [4, 1] The influence of the Saigyou Ayakashi falls upon Masako and Isobel! They gain the Serene Repose debuff. "Whatever you do, do not let them fall asleep! They won't wake up," Yuyuko calls. "Slap them awake, if you have to." Initiative: Status

Yuyuko clapped her hands together with a smile on her face. "Excellent!" She landed lazily on the ground before beginning to walk towards the hill in the distance, which slowly began to resolve itself as they approached. A massive staircase seemed to await them, with an impressive and old-looking house set atop it, with an appropriately creepy-looking tree just visible from their position. "And perhaps you can tell me about this new presence in the Netherworld, that I've never seen or heard of before." There was something keen underlying her tone, as if she kept very close track of this sort of thing. "And Youmu can show you her delicious cooking." Youmu nodded with a rueful expression on her face. "Of course, Yuyuko. I haven't even had time to clean the kitchen yet. . ." The climb up the stairs was, unfortunately for the non-flying members of the group, exactly as high as it looked, with no dimensional shenanigans to aid their journey. Just before the top of the stairs, Isobel suddenly became aware of a weight in her pocket: a rather bleary-looking LOTUS returning as Masako had promised. "I'll have to show you around the garden, Youmu takes such excellent care of. . ." She trailed off, stopping abruptly. "Reimu?" A girl stood in the midst of the garden, staring right at Yuyuko. She wore a sort of miko's outfit, with a matching red-and-white ribbon in her hair. This might not have been alarming, save for the odd glow in her eyes - oh, and the artifact that she wore like a mask covering the lower portion of her face. "What brings you here?" Her voice was light and floaty as always, but it had a different undeniable edge of concern to it. Youmu simply gasped at her appearance. Her gaze wasn't focused on the strange miko, but rather the saplings in the courtyard. Before she could comment on them, however, Yuyuko asked the question. "Youmu, what are those saplings?" she asked quietly. Contrasting the apparent concern of both, gazing on them seemed to fill the viewer with a sort of serenity. It didn't make them tired, but it was as if one could simply sit next to one and take a nap right then and there. "They're. . . They're not supposed to. . ." The miko simply stared silently for the moment.

"She won't be an issue for a while." She nodded at Harold, Jack, and their erstwhile client. "Come on, no need to do anything else stupid." She gestured at the two civilians that had just made a polite offer. "Let's get out of the rain without knocking down any walls, eh?" The ex-pirate turned back to the two men in question."How far is this warehouse?"

Scarlet prodded at the two, starting to push them back up onto their feet and cursing her lack of medical supplies once more. "Hey. I don't know what beef you two had with each other," she inferred there was one from the state she'd found them in, "but you need to get out of this rain in a hurry. Where do you usually go? We can help you get there." Act like you're in the know, make a value proposition. Save intimidation for plan B: pushing people around rarely made friends, and friends were the ones that got you what you needed without ratting you out at the first chance. Second and third were in the air, of course, but it gave a chance to set up a situation of mutual benefit. "Jack, try not to make too much noise," she called over her shoulder, hoping the man could hear her without her shouting at the top of her lungs.

Unfortunately for LOTUS, she was a bit akin to a double quarter pounder with cheese and extra bacon slathered in barbecue sauce for the hungry ghost. The upside of this was that it was almost comically easy to get Yuyuko to follow her into the box, at which point it snapped shut around her. LOTUS also didn't have much time to be terrified about her impending doom, as her world went dark immediately upon being trapped with Yuyuko - though chances are this would still be an unpleasant memory later. The sounds of Yuyuko pigging out for a few moments were audible from the box, and it almost seemed like she was content to stay in there after she was done. Almost. After a painfully long moment of silence, Yuyuko darted out of the box suddenly, directly at the party - and then flew past them, slowly drifting to a confused-looking stop in midair, with an expression that didn't exactly scream "I'm about to devour your life." Meanwhile, a dull clattering noise echoed from inside the box. "Youmu?" she asked, almost sleepily. "Did Yukari pull me out here while I was napping?" Youmu's response was an overjoyed yell and a leap that would probably have been more impressive somewhere where not everyone knew how to fly in some way, latching onto Yuyuko and squeezing her in a big hug. "Yuyuko, you're okay!" She then realized she had an audience, emitted a faint squeak, then dropped to the ground, followed shortly by Yuyuko. "I thought something really bad had happened to you." "Oh." Yuyuko frowned for a moment, but didn't let on whatever it was went on behind her eyes. "Well, it looks like everything is better now, right? I see you brought guests. They look very. . . alive." Youmu looked around awkwardly. "Err. . . yes. It was a special circumstance. Chen is with them." "Chen?" "Yep! Lady Yukari sent them with me to solve this incident!" "I see. . . " Yuyuko said thoughtfully. "Well, now that you're here, there's no harm in it. Here, why don't you all come along to Hakugyokurou? Normally I don't allow mortals in, but given the circumstances, I feel it might be appropriate."

Heidrun glanced nervously between Solomon and the hatch. "W-well, we need to keep investigating, and I don't think the police are going to help an awful lot. If they were, we wouldn't be here in the first place." She gingerly moved towards the hatch, prodding at it with one food. "And if they're doing anything like what I think they might be doing, it needs to be stopped right away, before someone gets seriously hurt or worse."

Lucine glanced around her new surroundings. They seemed slightly more promising than her previous ones, at least, and she was getting bored, so hopefully something interesting would happen. The first matter was, of course, finding out what everything was, and since there were only two things whose function was non-obvious, she started with those. Lucine heads for the mysterious box, opening it and examining its contents.

Mitsurugi inhaled. If she was to be a destroyer, it would be a destroyer of demons, bringing ruination to the enemies of mankind. She assessed her foes in the span of that breath; many imps, but one foe of note. An ubume, a tragedy in her mere existence. Mitsurugi exhaled. Shukuchi on the Ubume, activating Phase and benefiting from Daisho and the Cursed effect. 2 hits of 1.2*(5d6+28) pure damage.

Sure enough, a rather spooky-looking woman came almost desultorily floating through the air in Lotus's direction, coming from the direction of the hill nearby. She wore a blue dress, and had a head of pink hair that matched Masako's description - though her expression was rather different than usual, having an almost crazed sort of hunger that seemed to contradict her lazy path through the air. An artifact clearly of the same nature as the previous ones adorned her head like a twisted sort of tiara. "There she is. . ." Youmu whispered. "What are you going to do?"

It wasn't long until the party passed into the Netherworld. The change wasn't obvious, at first, but there was a certain feeling to the place. The normal sounds of animals and leaves rustling in the occasional breeze faded to nothing. That's not to say the animals were gone; there was still the occasional bird flitting through the sky, and a pair of golden eyes belonging to a wolf tracked the party as Youmu lead them towards a hill. The fairies that had seemed nearly omnipresent were nowhere to be seen, replaced by and large by floating spirits. Youmu slowed down as they gained progress toward the mansion. Chen glanced at her nervously as she came to a stop, peering in the distance. "It looks like she didn't leave Hakugyokurou. I don't want to go any further if you have some sort of plan for dealing with her, though." Youmu looked at Masako and Rory expectantly. "She might be on her way right now, so you should do whatever it was quickly."

Heidrun retched as she connected the sight to the smell, though fortunately for everyone involved it'd been some time since she ate and thus that particular process went no further. She backpedaled towards Navin (as the other two weren't exactly the types that invited going to them in a time of crisis.) While she caught her breath, she decided that the body didn't need any further comment than what she'd given, and instead tried to prioritize the information she'd just obtained. "Umm, by the. . ." A vague gesture at the hanging corpse. "There's a hatch, although it doesn't quite look like it's been used recently, and I can't imagine someone that does something like that would be terribly inclined to keep it clean, unless I. . ." She caught herself rambling, and inhaled - an action that sparked immediate regret, as set off a small coughing fit as she inhaled more of the stench of death. "Er, but there's something very worrying here. Other than, you know." Another flap of the hands at the body. "There's something. . . missing, here, something I can feel. Almost like the reactors back home, before they were all destroyed."

The goddess remained motionless for a moment longer on being beckoned; the only indicator that she'd noticed someone had addressed her was her eyes flicking downward to look at Lexiel instead of staring off into empty space. "I do not know." She stepped off the gate and plummeted to the ground, landing uncharacteristically heavily (though still on her feet.) She waited for Lexiel to come down as well, before almost reluctantly speaking up again. "I am afraid of how this world may change me." Youkai recognizing her as a destroyer. . . was it a trick by Orochi? It had to be. The alternative was. . . unacceptable. "And that change cannot come to pass."

dakka the plague marine

Third Form: Sky-Splitting Flash on Travis, Halhi, and Nuparu, spending 1 Yin to increase intercepted attacks to 3. Yin: 7->6 Yang: 0->2 Breath: 8/14

Youmu looked at IP as if the gynoid had grown a second head. "You know, the big bullet duels that everyone does to settle arguments?" She didn't seem particularly invested in explaining, especially as Masako walked off without any explanation. "Well, that was unhelpful. . . Let's go, before something else really bad happens." She began to walk towards the direction the party had originally come from, though she chose a road that seemed less well-maintained. "You guys are sure that once we get that thing away from her, she'll be okay? And that you'll be okay? Yuyuko is really powerful, especially if you're just a regular human." The road wound about, and seemed to draw hazardously close to a few trees that almost seemed upset at the presence of this many people. "Even for the ghost in your group, it won't be safe. She is Princess of the Netherworld, though I guess she doesn't actually do much ruling. . ." She trailed off for a moment as they backtracked through the woods, the air taking on the sinister feeling it'd had when they first arrived.

Tsubasa blinked. That was unexpected, not that it would slow her down. It was time, and she had a perfect target. "Lightning Breathing: First Form: Bolt from Blue Skies!" Suddenly, seemingly near instantaneously, Tsubasa was midair just past the new threat, having slashed it at blistering speed with a now-unsheathed sword. She twisted about in midair, taking another deep breath through clenched teeth. "Fifth Form: Chain Lightning!" She darted back downward, slashing between the Bazelgeuse and the Nui-Rama haphazardly, but effectively nonetheless. First Form on Bazelgeuse, dealing (4d6+CON+DEX)*2. Expend Reaction to target Bazelgeuse with Chain Lightning, hitting it, then the Nui-Rama, then it again for 4d6+CON damage. Yin: 0->7 Yang: 5->0

Tsubasa breathes, assessing the area around her and clearing her mind further, then leaps outward again to guard her newfound allies(?), using the large armored vehicle as cover while she baffles the attacks of the incoming beasts. Eye of the Storm (Currently 0 reduction), then Sky-Splitting Flash targeting Cicivexa and Cell Yin: 0 Yang: 2 - > 4

The ghostly swordswoman glared at the tengu for several moments, sighed, and then rummaged around in her pockets. After a moment, she produced a small handful of coinage in approximately the appropriate amount.

Heidrun made a small disconcerted-sounding noise at the combination of the sticky floor and meat hooks up above. Certainly, it could very well be perfectly benign - meat had to be processed somehow, after all - but it took on a rather more sinister look in a darkened criminal hideout. "M-Maybe we should just go right." She started to move in the direction indicated, sparing a moment to glance at Navin as if waiting for the man to say or do something reassuring. Further glances were shot in the direction of Solomon and especially Venus, though those had a decidedly less expectant (unless fear counted as expectance) cast to them.

Destructive One? Great Harbinger of Ruin? That. . . This cannot be, no no no. Dark, angry storm clouds started to gather overhead as the goddess froze in place. That is not, cannot be who I am. I will not allow this to happen. Orihime-no-muchi-no-Kami, what has caused this to befall me once again? The lightning rumbled overhead, as Mitsurugi felt that cloying dark within stir once more. I have refused thus far, I have protected them despite this. There are none who know of me here, and yet the evil spirits recognize me as one of their own. I thought this place was going to be my salvation, and yet it comes to this. And there she stood, frozen atop the gate, as the rain began to pour down.

"I lured out the bloodsucking beasts." Tsubasa actually re-sheathed her sword as the monsters made their appearance, reassessing the situation once more. Judging by the lack of crazed bloodlust on the part of the group she'd just met, they likely weren't demons, which meant she could fall into the usual routine. She took up a ready stance, not unlike that of a sprinter. "Lightning Breathing: Third Form." For a moment, it almost seemed as if bluish arcs of lightning formed around her, before she suddenly leapt through the air, placing herself firmly between the monsters and the smaller people running for cover with a sound like cracking thunder. "Sky-Splitting Flash!" Sky Splitting Flash, targeting Halhi and Nuparu.

The continued explanation would likely have done some good at calming the errant Demon Slayer down, if she hadn't very clearly noticed Hikari's method of sheathing her weapon. The weapon bursting into blood particles immediately prompted a leap backward and a hand hovering near her sword once again. One definitely melee, the other ranged. Weapons are unusual but that just means they'll have better reach. "You had me going there for a bit, but the blood sword's a dead giveaway, you know?" All this nonsense about another universe and whatever the hell had been done to her was going to have to be resolved later. Of course, if the worst case scenario was true. . . well, her sword worked on herself as well as it did anything else. Which gave her an idea. Her blade was suddenly darting out of her sheath. . . and across the palm of her left hand, scoring a shallow cut and flicking a small spatter of blood onto the ground in front of the group.