Chevaleresse

"So that's a Powerstone. Huh." Her words, while sounding rather nonplussed, are rather at odds with the wondering expression on her face. "Wait a second. . . Powerstone, derelicted vessel of some kind, a hull that grows back. . . This is the Weatherlight, isn't it? Now that, that is something that's actually amazing, and I've seen a lot of stuff that people called amazing." Her happy expression faded as she peered at the thing. "But if this is actually the Weatherlight, and what I've heard about Urza is true. . ." Her face turned a shade or three lighter than normal. "So this is where the rest of Serra's Realm went, too." She declined to comment further, countenance grim.

Isobel practices the height of medicine, stuffing a poppy down Samantha's throat and healing her for [19] health. Her Warsong activates, dealing [3] damage to Lancer, [10] damage to the remaining Lahmu and the Bel Lahmu above, [2] damage to the officers, and [4] damage to the soldiers. Bridgett creates a defensive ward around herself and Ritsu. Lancer recovers from her stun. Lancer charges toward Bridgett, her horse leaping through the air to allow it to connect for [6] damage. She continues forward, her lance bouncing off of Ritsu's defenses with Bridgett's help. Hikari casts a healing spell on Samantha, allowing her to recover [20] HP and causing the psychic's Warsong to activate once again. The wave of flame deals [3] damage to Lancer, [10] damage to the Lahmus, [2] damage to the officers, and [4] damage to the soldiers. The first officer fires another ice spike at Isobel, dealing [13] damage and reducing her INIT by 2. Dackly casts Libra on Lancer, obtaining some information, while Dackly wards her protectively. The soldiers form up and charge again, attacking Marisa, Friedhold, Morgan, Bridgett, and Ritsu for [10], [6], [Miss,] [0], and [0] damage. Morgan retaliates for [18] damage. Katsuo introduces a blunt object to the Lahmu's approximation of a face for [90!] damage and recovers [27] HP. The Lahmu just sort of explodes into purple gore studded with the occasional tooth or bone. Lancer circles around, making light strikes at Bridgett, Ritsu, Hikari, and Morgan, dealing [1], [0], [16], and [19] damage. The Bel Lahmu lets out an eerily human-sounding scream and fucks right off. Officer B shoots an ice spike at Bridgett. The projectile pings off of her shield, but the chill still gets to her, dropping her initiative by 2. Samantha, already feeling a bit better, surges with psychic energy, healing for [35] HP. Warsong activates, dealing [11] damage to Lancer, [10] damage to the officers, and [12] to the soldiers. One in the first group collapses from his wounds. The second group of soldiers forms into a tight group, shields raised. Ritsu tasers Lancer for [0] damage, interfering with her attacks. Marisa summons a Lesser Balor, and orders it to attack Lancer. It complies, striking at her with a flaming blade for [10] damage. Friedhold stuns Lancer and knocks the soldiers prone. Morgan finds his intended target quite dead. Initiative Status

Arturia tried to hide her doubtful expression and mostly succeeded. Layla? Sure. Though I guess I did just get sent to some featureless void by. . . whoever that was. "Some girl said 'fingersnap' and snapped her fingers, except instead of making a sound it sent me here. Apparently. Assuming this isn't some kind of overly elaborate prank." She wasn't sure who would want to mess with her; none of her friends were the practical joker type and she didn't have any particularly notable enemies that she knew of. Not that she would be likely to pick up on it if she did. "Really not the time, if it is."

Lucine, breathing a sigh of relief and looking much more lively now that she was topped off on mana, took a few more moments to wonder at the strange magical device alongside Vitor. "It definitely seems powerful enough. . ." She looked at the thing in much the same manner as she'd looked at the rather large guns on display. "How would you even make something like this? It's like. . . a massive leyline confluence, by itself. It should have drained all of the leylines around for miles." Marisa briefly considered a snarky response before taking the woman's answer at face value. "Interesting is good. I've seen this type before; if you like interesting and don't particularly mind 'safe' not being part of the equation, following them around will get you what you want." The woman was more distracted with her examination of her surroundings, though. Was that bulkhead. . . growing? Or, healing was the right term. She drifted in the general direction of the mana source she was picking up, waiting on a reaction (or lack thereof) from the blue individual before proceeding.

Hoshiko nodded solemnly. "We encountered something. . . dark. A village slaughtered save for a visiting merchant and a wayward band of Dragao soldiers, who we rescued; the dead were animated by some unholy magic." She shivered slightly as she recalled the sight and the stench, how one of the beasts had nearly brought her down. "The one responsible was seemingly made of all flame, with a lizard's vile head instead of a man's. He claimed to be Ignexus, returned; after we dispatched the apparition, we went into the town's chapel and found corpses piled and bound together to form the shape of a dragon. There was a crystal inside marked with symbols of the Goddess that was reanimating the bodies; I destroyed the perverse thing personally." She looked at the Ignis directly after she finished, watching her for a reaction. She doubted the claim that she was truly the Goddess, but would wait until she heard her voice; she had heard it in her dreams, after all.

Arturia was about to offer a confused and quite concerned reply - decorating with colorful crimson? She'd read enough to recognize the turn of phrase as a psychopath's glee for a bloodbath - when the abrupt transition to complete darkness caused it to turn into a rather blunt (and loud) "What the fuck!?" Lilith's question prompted a harried reply of "I don't know, who are you?" The girl was halfway through the sentence when she realized her error. "Er, I mean, Arturia Eberhardt," she said, tone fading somewhat to embarrassment, "I know who I am, but not what's happening right now. . ." That was Lilith, right? She knew of the girl, but couldn't recall meeting her in more than passing.

Rest until night, but try and learn how to use our Anima to press sand together into glass.

Arturia nearly jumped out of her skin at the girl's sudden appearance. "Uh, hi. . ." Did she know this girl? Arturia had this weird feeling that she'd met her before. . . but she was fairly certain she'd remember this rather odd style of dress. Thinking back, she couldn't recall a single meeting. "Again? I don't think we've met before, sorry." It wouldn't be the first time that someone apparently knew who she was without the reverse being true, so she wasn't particularly suspicious.

marisa's sheet btw, needs a bit of adjusting in all likelihood

Fortunately, the slight blanching that occurred on Arturia's face was covered by the outburst nearby. People could be. . . weird about certain things, that included. Not that she expected Katherine to be so, but she wasn't eager to talk about it regardless. Instead, she watched this happen, and sighed slightly as she realized who was involved. She couldn't honestly say she felt bad for Naya, however . . . "Should I be trying to deal with that?" she asked the teacher.

"Um, the ending of the Ring of Eternity is kind of like that." She held out a hand, and started counting up on her fingers - until she reached five, and then she just sort of absently shook her hand with each entry. "Let me think. . . Everyone thinks the main character died, and she loses her powers. Or, well, most of them. The guy leading this group of magic users, who''s one of her childhood friends, dies in the process of fixing cracks in reality. Her new husband also dies in a duel to one of the villains, along with a ton of other characters. A huge part of the continent the books take place in is razed, and a a lot of the countries involved are left leaderless, mostly because of those other characters dying, and the rest is still under control by this empire from overseas that basically enslaves magic users. It's pretty much the apocalypse." There were plenty of more grim details, but she was fairly certain she'd made her point. "But. . . the world-ending threat is sealed away, balance achieved and all that happy stuff. The world's not actually going to cease to exist. People are still alive, there's still plenty of ability to rebuild. It'll be hard, but there's still more hope in the end than in the beginning. I guess I like that kind of thing."

When Lord yanked her arm back, Hiroki figured that the god could likely overpower her own mech; while the Knight was strong and quite heavy, she didn't want to make a plan involving Lord not being able to apply enough force to do something. Instead, she actually powered forward, kicking off the ground as her non-occupied thrusters went along with the god's pull. She essentially tried to just whip around past the woman using the momentum she was kind enough to give Hiroki, while hopefully the motion made it difficult for her to actually land the punch. If the god didn't land a solid hit, she'd try to essentially squash her underneath the weight of the Knight and roast her using the still-active Mantle.

Arturia frowned, brow furrowing for reasons other than just thought. That was a bit of a sinister turn to the conversation. "Only one that I can think of. Most of the stuff I read has a happy ending, eventually. Even if everything turns against the hero, she makes it out one way or another. Or, I guess you'd call them bittersweet endings. The world's not over, but it's not exactly fixed either." She looked like she was about to continue, but caught herself before any words came out of her open mouth. "I'll avoid spoiling you, though."

"I think he got it from channeling his magic into silicon. Or was it into something and then silicon? I don't remember the details. Different synthesis methods than the ones I've seen before, though. Not that I'm exactly an expert, I can't even conjure water without it tasting like soot." She slowed down as they approached the wreck, taking in the thing, and then sped up a bit. "This is. . . something. Something worth the trip, probably." She sped up again, quickly popping into the derelict. She stopped again, briefly, upon encountering the former Talon sniper. "You with them?"

The pink-haired archer looked absolutely irate at the Lua's reply. "Are you not listening to your own words? How long are you willing to let this war last? Another year? Ten? Twenty? How many soldiers will Caelum lose in twenty years of war? If your armies are so far superior to Dragao's as you claim, then it would be simple to march in and end this war now, instead of relying on a bloodthirsty tyrant tiring of war." She shifted her gaze, looking at the Sol. Her expression softened slightly, if that was the proper term; her face was still firm, but less angry looking. "And Caelum's armies are not the only ones that will continue to suffer. When any person lives under an unjust, cruel regime, it hurts everyone under the Goddess. Dragao's people are suffering, and you have the chance to begin a new era of peace and prosperity for all nations in the world. How can anybody sit comfortably when these things continue to happen next door?"

Wind the mage back

All we did was steal the identity of some duke/other person of importance. It didn't help that we're a changeling whose natural form is too horrifying and eldritch to describe properly.

"Uh, it's something from a series of books I've been reading." If it had been anyone but one of the teachers asking about it, she likely would have reacted much more defensively; as it were, she didn't seem to mind the question. "It's the Rock from the Ring of Eternity series, I dunno if you've ever heard of it. The descriptions make it sound pretty impressive, so I was trying to take a stab at actually making a picture." She idly moved the wood chisel in the world's laziest approximation of a stab as she spoke, trying not to be embarrassed about the quality of the carving. She could copy a picture of something without tracing fairly well, but something in the process always seemed to go wrong if there was a transition straight from her mind to the medium.

Kusuke, after narrowly avoiding the assault, popped over to Somatotrope. "This should have you up and moving, one sec." He mentally pushed her as he put one hand on her shoulder, and sent her body back to a few moments ago, before it had been battered by their monsters. After a quick check to make sure he hadn't horribly screwed her up, he darted toward Harry. "You know the drill by this point, right?" He did something similar and yet not, shifting around in the timeline and bringing multiple Harrys into the present for a few brief moments. Recall Somatotrope, Doubleshift Harry twice

Hoshiko looked back defiantly, unfazed by the woman's glare. "I am from the Ishikawa clan, in the borderlands near Dragao. Daughter of Idou Ishikawa, one of Yukihana's finest swordsmen." She carried her longbow in one hand, the well-used and better cared-for weapon strung; if one was to make a show of force, it didn't do to leave one's bow unstrung. "While my clan is honorable and strong, my true allegiance lies first to the Goddess and her justice, as her chosen hero." The archer put one foot forward as she continued to speak. A small part of her sent a silent prayer up to the Goddess in thanks; there weren't many people here, so there was nothing here that could unnerve her. Other than the reek of that perfume. . . "I would think that, here in Caelum, you would understand better than most that a person is more than their lineage, though. Saffron's cause is the end of this war, and of that villain on the throne now; whatever Roswell claims Brandon did is irrelevant."

I'll be playing if for some reason you don't get enough signups :v

"I see." Ice took the button and set it lightly next to herself, where it was at little risk of falling into the tub she was stuck in. She didn't anticipate having many issues; the worst-case scenario was that the girl lost her temper. She had no magical ability, so Tensi would likely pose more threat to herself than to Ice, despite the latter's condition. Only nine years old. . . There it was again, that faint ember of anger. She didn't know what these people did with the ones they deemed failures, but the logical line of thought dictated that they were likely disposed of. Though some evidence pointed to the contrary, if they were still trying to correct the girl's behavioral issues. "I am ready for her whenever she is."

"Yeah, that sounds exactly what this guy was talking about. Said he wasn't that good with it, though; his main talent was breaking things into perfect shapes. Like, masterful sculptures in one hit in the right spot. I've never seen anything quite like it, and I've been meaning to visit the world for a while. I know it's not likely, but I don't suppose you know an old orc named Mar or the Stonerist clan, do you?" An expression of focus came across her face for a moment, before it was replaced with that of a sudden realization. "Oh! He said he wanted to find someone who could help him purify his. . . I think he called it Psychocite? Something with recording information and keeping it from being corrupted."

Lucine The girl wandered up toward the core, marveling at the thing. Her sense for mana weren't exactly well-developed, but it lit up like a beacon regardless. "Um, Vitor," she began, somewhat awkwardly. "Could you help me tap this? I don't actually know how, I never had to worry about this back home. . ." Marisa "Yeah, something tells me we don't want to hang around here much longer. Plus I want to see these friends of yours." She frowned in thought for a moment. "Hey, you with the golem. What was your name again? I swear I've heard about this whole business with testing the mana types of things before. Some old fossil of an orc talked about it, I think it was somewhat common in his world."

"I wouldn't handle the core directly. It transmutes things it comes into direct contact with, and re-isolating it after it's been exposed to air or other substances is difficult. At least, that's what the woman who gave it to me said. If you've got some sort of magic field to put around it, it might work. My name is Marisa, by the way. Not Marissa. Muh-REE-sa. Anyway, I have no idea what this seed thing is. I got it after blowing up this weird thing that pulled me into a pocket dimension and tried to. . . eat me, I think? It wasn't friendly, let's leave it there. You can test it if you want, as long as it's not destructive, but I take zero responsibility for the result." She looked curiously at the lizardman. The mushrooms were interesting, to say the least, though more interesting was that the lizardman apparently cultivated them inside himself. Wasn't that dangerous? "The pearl will teleport you to it if you throw it at something. They usually break on impact, though, and the process isn't very gentle. The blocky guy I bought it from said it was connected to another world, and that if you gave it the right sorts of treatments - something about fiery powder? - it could guide you to dimensional portals and such. No idea if that's true, though, and I don't really need that kind of thing much." She shrugged. "Interesting," she said, glancing between both Stellio and Freya's offerings. "I don't want to sell you guys anything until I get to meet up with the rest of your group, though. Consider it part of the payment."