Sutoratosu

((so apparently that look Lord shot sully in the last update was an actual cue to spill a few beans and not just a subtle nod that they would talk about things later.... whoops? Better late than never though)) The mechanic's expression was unchanged as lord glanced at him, just as it remained as the other contestants asked their own questions. In the silence that followed, he spoke naught but a single phrase "play it" before an actual, external HUD interface manifested in front of him for the first time in... forever really, as opposed to the purely internal one typically overlain on his sense of vision. He did not bother touching anything, nor had he voiced where to begin playing and how loud; the file simply fired to life and skipped to a specific portion near the end, as if controlled by some outside force With that, the recording reached it's end, and the external interface faded away into nothing. Solomon simply stood there, seeming not surprised nor moved by... anything that had been said up till now, really. Nothing but a stone-cold mask on his face as he looked to lord. "That's the audio recording, cleaned up and polished," before he turned to gaze at each of the other competitors "from all this shit I'm hearing about mech shut downs and conceptual attacks though- maybe Arcturus has a point. If not even this Temperance kid you sent could stop her, and you guys yourselves are all hesitant because there's an actual chance she'll outmatch you and it'll fuck everyone over once she becomes legit- what type of chance is one of us really gonna stand in an open fight with Nil? The way he talked about it, you'd think there was another way to do this besides force. A way that to him is pretty fucking obvious, given his tone at the end. What did you guys try before this tourney, after she reappeared? Did anyone actually get a chance to talk to her beyond the point the three of ya argued? or was sending in an assassin the first solution?" Despite what he said, there was actually little to no accusation in his voice, more of a simple question that needed to be answered here, before any of them expended any more of their time, and potentially their lives, trying to solve this shit through sheer force of arms. Hell, if Arcturus really was right, and the gods really were wrong and trying kick the shit out of the tenth wasn't the real answer... well, there'd be no reason for this tourney to keep going. And if there was no reason for the tourney to continue... "And another thing- what the hell type of world did she come from then, if not Tempest? She mention anything about what happened or how it got destroyed... or how she survived?"

Lucille, functioning primarily off of sound, quite easily overheard the doctor and melancholy warrior talking, and sauntered over of her own initiative, grin on her face and still quite obvious brimming with pride over her feat in the world Kraxos had dominated up till that point. After a few moments of discourse, the three of them had a rough plan as to how they would proceed, and soon got to work. One of the sheets of metal harvested from the boats was brought up to where they sat, and lucille felt it for a few moments, muttering something softly beneath her breath, tuning her mind and sorting through both her memories and the knowledge directly sourced to her. It was roughly only a minute into this process before the two men began to see anything odd occuring with the sheet; the thing was beginning to bend and warp with little resistance... as if the laws of physics had suddenly found an exception. The girl poked the sheet in a few places, testing it out and nodding as it deformed painfully easily in the places she applied pressure. Lucille gains the following Trick through this practice: Once she seemed comfortable enough with the technique, she started the actual work; bending the sheet metal into a 3ft long, 2ft wide, and 1 1/2ft tall box, complete with a lid to cover it. Once it was done, she did what at this point, she was wont to do whenever crafting; whipped out the charcoal, got on the floor, and drew a fusion sigil. With one nod to Frigus, she put the box into the circle, waited for the keyblader to fire some his cyrogenic force into the other, and then she completed the ritual with a single utterance... And as the light cleared, she breifly looked over the box, through more metaphysical senses, than her actual sight. She turned and nodded to the other two, before handing the metal container to harry; it honestly looked no different on the outside, but that was simply because the true magic quite literally lay on the inside. She pulled out a few of the cloth wrapped acid sacs as well... "Here, just like we planned. And put these in there too, while you're putting the other stuff away" Lucille, Frigus, and Harry, successfully craft the following: Lucille hands over the above mentioned Magic Ice Box and the Chaos Serpent Acid Sacs to Harry!

As soon as the preparations were finished, Lucille went to work. She did not even bother with physically drawing the sigil at this point. Instead, she simply closed her eyes and began to chant each and every verbal equivalent of it's many components, slowly but surely building up in both speed and intensity, mind and lips both eventually flying at inhuman speeds- and as she spoke, the massive totem that was once a mere staff flared to life with countless runes, it's crystal flaring to life like a miniature sun. Vibrations rocked the air and soil alike, revereberating through the bodies of all those who were present, so powerful that gusts of luminous wind blew in from seemingly nowhere, growing in strength by the moment. Winds eminating from one of the circles within the sigil Lucille had conjured, burning with the same soft white light of the sanctuary she'd conjured in battle. She signalled for Soma to add the fire to the circle, and the moment it was in, she stopped chanting, sweat on her brow, breaths heavy... But it was the only break she allowed herself, before she sucked in a massive breath, ignoring the nausea the air of this realm brought, ignoring the growing pain in her skull, the wet warmth in her nose, the painful gallop of her heart. She was pushing too far, she knew it, even passively probing for the knowledge she needed was enough to trigger their safeguards. But she did not stop, could not stop, for something in her refused to give in, to be pacified, as it violently rebelled against the obstacle preventing it's absolute success here. She pushed, harder, farther, bringing back the memory of Avada solely to remind her of the last time she had been too afraid and too selfish to suffer to help another, and the minute she did, the gates of hell were thrown wide, as the sea of nigh infinite knowledge poured forth. She screamed and clutched her head, crumbling to her knees, ever so briefly, an ugly, desperate cry, the last keel of a dying animal... And then before the cry could even fully escape, it ceased. She lowered her hands, and rose back to her feet. Gone was the slip of a blind girl, haggard with obvious fatigue from the battle and her work here. Gone was the mere child who played at creation, created such trivial things as dragons out of modelling kits, or modified cats to have bones and muscles as strong as iron. Gone was the girl who'd fumbled with mysterious stones, constantly thrawrted in her attempts to so much as learn more about them. Gone was Lucille. In her place was something beyond the mere bounds of a mortal, in her place was an amalgamation of knowledge of all creation and destruction, of all that could be, was once, and would one day become again. Her posture straightened almost immediately, her eyes ablaze with shining force that seemed to peel away the shell of mortal flesh to peer at the essence underneath, pulsing with such divine providence they could likely reduce a common man to naught but cinders, should he dare gaze upon them for too long. And one would be forgiven for assuming that is precisely what happened, as this being wearing lucille's body as a meat suit opened her mouth, and with her tongue uttered a single word that tore at the eardrums of the unworthy, causing no end of pain as it shook the very earth itself with it's authority. And she followed it with another vibration, and another, and like that, the glow of her sigil became one which surpassed that of a thousand splendid suns, and the party, the trees, the men they'd aided, the very landscape itself, were lost in a massive burst of searingly bright light. Light that blinded, light that shunned the eyes of mortals, but did destroy... Light that purged, light that purified. Light that revived. This light of divine providence lasted but a few seconds, but to those forced to bear witness, mere seconds felt like eternity. But eventually, it's mangificent radiance died... and when it did, what greeted the eyes of those assembled was a tree, a world tree.... a tree of hope, glitering with pure white and blue, silver bark shining like the sun, trunk massive and impossing as it's canopy stretched up to the forsaken heavens of this world, as to mock the gods who had so cruelly abandoned Parias and his fellow man in their hour of need... For mockery was what this being wearing Lucille had fully intended. And it showed, as a shit eating grin split it's face, mouth emanating the same light as it's eyes, as it chuckled... and turned its head towards Parias and the other three "YOU SAID YOUR GODS ABANDONED YOU. YOU ARE IN LUCK THEN, TO HAVE STUMBLED UPON THE MAKINGS OF ANOTHER ONE...FRET NOT, FROM THIS TREE SHALL SPOUT THE HOPE OF A NEW WORLD. SO LONG AS IT STANDS ETERNAL, AND THERE ARE MEN LIKE YOU WILLING TO LIKEWISE STAND AGAINST KRAXOS, THE LIGHT OF HOPE SHALL NEVER AGAIN DIE FROM THIS WORLD" With that message delivered, the being that had taken the girls place, composed of the knowledge of all the ages, took it's leave. Lucille collapsed the ground nigh instantly, skin bearing the sickly parlor of death, nose bloodied, scleras crimson from the broken vessels. The world faded in and out, every shred of her body racked with pain the likes of which, not even the furious heat of a million brilliant stars could rival- it was as if...as if she were being unraveled down to at cellular level. But yet, even now, the pain was fading. The aura of calm and peace washed over her, as her panicking thoughts turned less towards her own likely impending death, her many regrets and the mounting sensation of being torn apart by the very safeguards the Mavens had left to prevent the knowledge she carried being stolen and abused by others... and towards the realization of just what she had done. She had outright defied them. She had taken the reigns of god into her own hands, and helped to right the course of an entire world's fate, or at the very least, created the potential for it. ...For just a brief few moments... she had tasted the power of GOD itself. And it had been simultaneously magnificent, terrifying, and mesmerizing... she had acheived what Thaumist back home could not only dream of... she had thrown wide the gates to oblivion, stared into the abyss, and held the gaze of it as it stared back. And she had lived to talk about it... She stirred, on the ground. And soon enough, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Gone was the blood trickling out her nose at a steady rate, the parlor of death, and the crimson tainted white of her eyes... all thanks to the tree. She rose to her feet, approached a low hanging branch, and plucked from it the fruit that hung there... "We... did it..." she whispered... before once more, she began to chuckle "I... we... we actually DID IT! IT WORKED! HAHAHAHAHA, TO HELL WITH THEIR LIMITS, IT WORKED! THAT FUCKER KRAXOS WILL HAVE HIS DAY OF RECKONING! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

In response, Lucille took out her staff, spoke the trigger to grow it to it's full length, and tossed it to Soma "See what you can do with that. It amplifies the range and power of what I do, but I doubt it's going to be enough to facitlitate what I have in mind, as it is. As for what I have in mind- that spell I cast during the battle, the sanctuary I told you all to fall back if you were too injured to keep going? I'm going to make a permanent enchantment of it over this landscape, anchored on one of these trees, since the stones seem to house vile things, and everything else is a ruin... but I'd prefer if the thing was alive so that it won't just topple over the minute some disgustingly hot gust blows on it. If it works, these 3 and any others they find will have a permanent place to fall back to"

Lucille simply rolled her eyes at the objections she overheard, as she sighed. She really, REALLY did not want to fucking here a bunch of criticism from the squeamish peanut gallery "Some of the materials we've carved out here could help save lives later down the line, with enough ingenuity and care. The horns of the serpents are immune to corrosive effects, as are literally every other part of their biology, the dragon parts can prove more than useful in the upgrading of equipment and has many potential uses even besides it, etcetera, etcetera... though even I must admit, I do not condone how... carelessly some of us chose to go about the autopsies and extractions, considering you don't go to town while carving a deer, unless you want to ruin everything" She leveled a cold glare in Jun's general direction with that comment... oh yes, her beasts had seen the armored figure losing every ounce of her shit on that death wyvern carcass, and she had almost mistaken her for having gone mad... "But look, that's besides the point here," she continued, "This world is nothing by a fuming wreck of it's former self, thanks to Kraxos and the things we just fought... but that doesn't mean we should just leave here without at least trying to help these men. I have an idea, it might not solve all their problems, but it might help buy them more time than what they already have- I need someone who can manipulate plant growth, and someone who can amplify effects beyond what's normally possible; I could accomplish both of those on my own, but remembering the required frequencies and runes will take more time than we have... considering those things will be back eventually."

"So it really was nothing but a manifestation of hate..." Lucille muttered under her breath. It certainly explained a lot of things, if he'd had a direct hand in the creation of the weapons, of course he would have bound himself so deeply into their psyche that even with his control split among... at least several hundreds at a time, he could still instantly focus in and burrow even deeper to evade the attempts of someone tugging at the reigns of a single unit, like a guerrilla fighter digging in and picking off a regime's forces as opportunities present themselves, and not a minute before. But for all it explained, it also fed upon the growing storm of utter disgust she'd felt welling in the back of her throat ever since she first probed the serpents and other beasts and felt their true natures. She still tasted bile in her throat, like she'd be sick at any moment- This Korax, this rapist of worlds, this corrosive, slave making fuck, whatever he was and wherever he'd come from, had deigned to use this world as his personal play thing. Twisted and warped it until it was nothing but a smoldering cesspool of death and suffering. Taken it's people, crushed them beneath his heel, made them into puppets in his vile design and merged them into nigh endless legions of flesh horror. How many worlds had fallen to this Korax? How many countless millions had been victims to his slaughter? Probably too many to count, if he already had a reputation by the time he got here. Part of her wanted to simply leave, to simply forsake this world, it was too far gone beyond salvation, and what problem was it of hers? But nigh every other strand of her being lashed back with such violent force she shook- how was it not her problem? Had her own people not known this very type of destruction, once upon a time, had her own people not been so thoroughly raped, beaten, and broken to the point where they would never rise again? How was the carnage she could smell, hear, and practically taste even now any different than that which had occurred not even a full millennia ago, back home? Had her own people not prevailed, only, and quite literally ONLY by the grace of the gods themselves, ONLY because a few outsiders had taken witness of their plight, and in their darkest hour decide to render aid? Her entire race and culture owed everything it was and had accomplished to an act of random kindness from beings far beyond their mortal understanding, without their intervention, they would have ceased to fucking exist at all, there would be no Argonarian men, there would be no humanity at all, the hairless apes who once threw shit and copiously copulated with each other like rabbits would've been just that, a shit stain in the books of natural history, its covers and pages burnt and torn by the fire and fangs of dragons and their ungodly, mythic ilk. And yet... What could she, or any of them, do here? They were outmatched even by the three fighters they'd been supposedly called to save, this fight had succeeded through sheer dumb luck and decent numbers alone; not on the merit of their skills, nor on that of their powers. Infact, were any of the enemies a bit more intelligent, or had Korax directly controlling them instead of the hands off, more passive method he seemed to prefer, given Lucille had been able to wrestle wills with him at all, they would all, she was quite certain, also be nothing but shit stains in the history books of this world right now. By all accounts, had their opponent taken even a modicum of more care in trying to destroy these 3 stragglers, they should've all died right then and there. This situation sounded, in many ways, precisely like what the Doctor woman on the recording had described; massive entities slowly eating their way across existence, assimilating into and slowly decaying worlds from the inside out, if not outright crushing them under their heel... Korax had most certainly burrowed his way into this world by assimilating those at the head of the power structure, and he had most definitely torn it apart from the inside out. The being she had wrestled wills with... had to have been a tresspasser, in at least some way, shape, or form. Too much about this fit into place for it to be otherwise... And that meant she had likely not even faced a 100th of his true power, when she'd stolen the serpent. If he had been in this world this long, and had wreaked this much havoc, there was no doubt she had been nothing but a minor annoyance to him, a fly to simply be ignored until it proved troublsome enough to actually warrant a swat. And if she was a mere annoyance, so too would all the rest of them. Yet she refused to simply walk away from this without doing... something "I see..." She said, eyes hardening as she gazed at the man blankly. Twas truly amazing how much expression the little orbs could hold, despite being utterly useless for the purpose nature actually intended "Well, thank you for the insight then. But there's something else I'm even more interested in- how many fighters like you are there? Is there an actual, organized resistance effort, or is it just isolated stragglers like you three, trying to do whatever you can? An abomination like Korax is something that for the sake of all worlds, cannot, and shall not be allowed to live..."

The autopsy was rather slow going at first, with Lucille mostly taking a closer look at the bio-weapons exterior traits, given she'd not had the chance before. It was... rather surprising, really, she'd not run into a lot of things back home that were bipedal- and of those few that did, all of them had been predators, and well... said predators tended to be the most fearsome of them all, for a variety of reasons. Once harry had come over to poke at the corpse himself though, she stopped merely thinking and started actually doing. Neither the scent nor the sensation as they worked to gut and examine the thing troubled her terribly much- she had done this numerous times before, afterall, and in all honesty, whatever pungent odors the lizard's innards might've given off just mixed in with the already noxious scents of the environment. And Noxious it most definitely was, for both Astra and Do were actively put off by it, like they instinctively knew they should consume no part of it. And it helped to confirmed all the things Lucille had thought about the demons up until this point. By the time they were down, several corpses lay splayed open nearby, and Lucille had gathered up the organs responsible for generating their acid, wrapping them up and storing them away for later... and she'd also taken interest in their horns, scrying over a few, before storing them as well. Lucille acquires the following: Nodding to harry and muttering something about things to "Look into" Lucille eventually got up from the medical carnage the two of them had inflicted, and walked back over to where the others were. She had Do and Astra look around, and soon enough she focused in on the the stranger they'd spoken to prior to battle "You mentioned something about a 'Korax' earlier, didn't you?" She asked the Priest "Something about how he was controlling them, or whatever? How many of the serpents and the other stuff do you think he has, and just how powerful is he? Because from what I felt, it seems like he was... hive-minding all of the lizards, with himself as the nexus, and even after I wrested one from his control, I still couldn't completely force him out." She followed up that round of questioning with another, this time holding up the Serpentine Staff they'd given the group "And about these weapons you gave us- I tried scrying them but couldn't get a very clear picture; the toll they take on certain traits when used- are they... permanent on the user? Or will those drawback effects eventually fade, if given time?"

"Alright, fine, I admit," Cade responded as the corpse crumbled to the floor, crimson quickly pooling around it, "that... was rather impressive, especially given you somehow calculated precisely how and where to loose that second arrow on the fly... even if it would've a lot been simpler if you'd just used the opportunity to fletch him in the eye without wasting all the extra energy on theatrics-" She sighed though, closing her eyes and gripping the bridge of her nose at the.... horrible jokes that accompanied his suggestion "Fine, whatever, it's not like I can do anything here anyway... just please, for the love of the goddess, no more of these atrocious puns. They're killing me faster than my own uselessness right now." Hold and sigh at the bad puns

Lucille saw the battle end through the Lizard's eyes... the ungodly, abominable lizard that existed for no reason other than to sew misery and suffering wherever it was deployed. She walked up to the living weapon, now standing idle with nothing to kill... well, nothing Lucille would allow it to anyway. She took one last look into it's mind, felt around as she had before, and found precisely what she had the last time. She didn't know whether she could root out the other master's prescence, and more than anything, she honestly wasn't sure she should bother trying anyway. This thing, for that was what it was- a thing, not even an animal or a beast, but a weapon that so happened to breath hot chaos and shit hot misery -had far more issues than merely someone else dwelling in its psyche, issues hardcoded into it. Just as before, part of her wanted to try and keep it, try to fix it. But after what they'd just witnessed, that part of her had grown even smaller. "An abomination like you has no place in the natural order of things..." Her gaze narrowed, as even now she still saw through the beasts eyes, seeing the disgust on her own force grow as her mouth began to move... And then, like that, Lucille saw nothing... For a blade of pure sound cleaved through the lizard's neck, sending it's head flying from those hideous shoulders and landing somewhere nearby. And no sooner than it had, did that blade's twin slash into the body of the demon with viscous force, sending it flying a good few meters away from Lucille, it's carcass bisected at the waist. And in the same instant the beast died, the pieces of Lucille's own mind she'd used to command it returned to her. She simply turned, and walked towards the others. "and I don't intend to give you one in it either..." Lucille Executes the Brown Chaos Serpent, Removing it from her beast roster and regaining the bonds she used on it! She had... very little to say to any of them. She spoke a few words, and the sanctuary she established faded away into countless motes of light, and Do and Astra came sauntering over to her side, each one receiving their own pat on the head from the girl as they walked. As she approached them, she saw the growing pile of scavenged materials, with their sources being fairly obvious. Scrying over a few of them, she knelt down, and picked up a few of the ones she felt would be the most... useful, in the future. Lucille picks up the following loot: And with those materials collected and stowed into her Satchel, and the serpentine staff leaning against her shoulder, she took out the Healing kazoo and started playing a small melody for herself on it, as she walked away from the group again. Some of the more observant ones might've noticed several of the acid burns on her exposed arms and hands beginning to heal, along with a few unseeable injuries such as not quite debilitating, but still annoyingly painful cracked rib in her side...damn centaur things. She stopped at one of the dead Chaos Lizards, and stooped next to it's corpse. Do and Astra examined the creature, serving as lucille's eyes as she went to work trying to find the organ from which the creatures generated their acid, and harvest it.

Stellio turned his sights on the soldier that emerged from one of the alleys and fired some large fusil in the golem's back. No sooner than he did, was darkness channeling in from the air around him, circulating all throughout his body and into his blade, deep violet energy mixing with the aura of black beginning to surround him. Without a single word, he leveled the Headsman and made a mighty stroke, causing the light itself to die as a massive shock wave of darkness erupted from it's face and hurtled towards the trooper, cutting the very air as it flew... Moves I. Stellio attacks the Talon Shock Trooper with the Headsman! He spends 5 MP to convert his attack from melee to ranged! (Attack converted from Melee to Ranged. Deals {2d6+Str[9]} ranged Dark/Slashing Damage, has 30% chance to inflict "Dark Adverse" Status for 3 turns {Sufferer takes 1.25x more damage from dark based sources}. Stellio will gain +1 Str/Ess from either dealing or receiving damage) II. Stellio attacks the Talon Shock Trooper with the Headsman Again, again spending 5 MP to convert his attack from melee to ranged!

"You can slow down a bit, I'm not the one you need to convince- Meredith is," the priestess chuckled "She's been a bit... annoyed with how many people we've ended up with, considering even before you showed up, we had taken on 2 others since we left. Which is understable, given It does drive up expenses and all, especially considering we set out with only so much coin. But... like I said, if things go well and we gain Caelum's support, I doubt future funds will be any issue. And if you're as skilled with that axe as you seem passionate to join this fight, who knows, you may manage to convince her yet. You should probably wait though, before you go trying. I doubt she would want to be disturbed right now."

A great leathery beat of wings pierced the heavens, causing Lucille to peer upwards with eyes that saw nothing. She did not need to see it however, for the mere noise it created was more than enough, and she could sense the beast's presence overhead, like a mounting pressure in the back of her mind. A special type of hate and malice practically radiated from the abomination, stronger than anything the serpent broadcasted, stronger than anything she felt as she idly reached out and probed the minds of all the lesser beasts surrounding them. So strong infact, that even after she stopped actively feeling for it, she could still pick it up, like a ship caught in a tidal wave... She did not even consider trying to bind this... this thing. This entity of death and destruction, this biological weapon of terror and chaos. No... Instead, Lucille raised her staff on high, open her mouth and issued an incomprehensible incantation, a reverberation in the very fabric of reality itself, and caused the crystal she carried to blaze with unnatural light, seeming to amplify the reverberation until it reached a fever pitch, gathering, growing, like a horde of rabid beasts all pursuing the same prey... and each other. And finally, they pounced. Sound itself became a deadly weapon, the countless noises permeated the killing field merging into one, shifting, sliding, slicing the air itself as twin blades bundled together and hurtled towards the flying predator... Moves I. Lucille casts Edge of Silence, with both hits targeting the Death Wyvern! She uses her Staff as a focus! Her Chaos Serpent will spew Acid on the Ettins! (Edge of silence is boosted by staff; Launches 2 hits dealing {1d3+Int[13]+13}*1.3 damage each, ignoring damage reductions, but not immunities. Acid Spit deals {2d8+Syn[8]} Damage) II. Lucille plays the Healing Kazoo on herself! Her Chaos Serpent spews Acid on The Death Wyvern! (Restores {6d5}% Mhp on the Target. Acid Spit deals {2d8+Syn[8]} Damage) III. Lucille casts Edge of Silence once more, with both hits targeting the Death Wyvern! Her Chaos Serpent will spew Acid on the Death Wyvern again! (If the Wyvern is dead, She will Instead smash one of the gravemarkers, and her Serpent will also break one of the gravemarkers.) (EoS launches 2 hits dealing {1d3+Int[13]}*1.3 Damage each, Ignoring Damage Reductions, but not Immunities. Acid Spit deals {2d8+Syn[8]} Damage) Loadout/Status

She hissed under her breath as something foul smelling splashed against the bone plates and hide padding, biting into her flesh like countless needles, setting nerve endings alight. But it was not enough to make her stop. She focused in on the Serpent she'd managed to bind- still perplexed at the anomaly... she'd taken it over, she'd prevailed in the grapple for control over it, or at least, she fought she did... yet whatever malicious force had originally been driving it seemed to have just retreated deeper inside the things mind, like a wretched cancer burrowing deeper and deeper, just waiting until the right moment to strike. Even more, there were.... things about this beast that made her body go cold. Qualities she could glimpse inside of it's psyche, raw unbridled emotions that even now flowed like water, and not one of them positive in the least bit; Lucille was convinced that whatever this thing was, it wasn't even capable of feeling things like joy or pleasure or content. It was as if, for all intents and purposes, the thing had been created purely as a killing machine... And it reminded her far too much of some of the terrors she'd encountered back home. "These things... they aren't even real beasts..." she muttered with no deficit of disdain in her voice "It's a glorified, living weapon..." But it was also a living weapon she had every intent of using to their advantage, while she had it under her control. There was no telling when or where the other controller's presence would flare up again, and in all honesty, it would be better for all of them if this thing ended up dying fighting it's own kind. There was far too much risk keeping it around as a permanent companion. And yet some part of her wanted to do just that... keep it. If for no other reason than that she could have something to toss in Lilly and Ador's self righteous faces, show them precisely what she'd meant with how there were some things that were far too dangerous to try and "talk" to, as they apparently seemed so fixed on. This thing was barely fucking Sentient, with how deeply the aggression, and little else, was hard-coded into it. And Mavens knew it was leagues away from Sapience. But no... just as she had with the plant abomination, she'd probably refuse to see logic and still act pissy and passive aggressive. Lucille was almost certain she'd be wasting her fucking time even trying. "KILL." It was a very simple, and rough command impulse she sent over the link, as the words escaped his lips. The words themselves had nothing to do with the actual command being received, they were purely to help her own focus, and to vent some of the mounting disgust she felt, the longer she stayed connected to this thing's mind. The drive to kill... it was something she knew full well the beast was very familiar with; it lived to kill afterall, killing was all it knew, all it was built for. Killing without need for sustenance or any other reason, simply because it could, and it must. All she had to do was take all that aggression, that frenzied madness, and turn its sights on one of the two headed beasts in the distance. "Do what you were created for, beast. Become death, destroyer of worlds, and leave nothing behind, not even your own corpse once you fall. An abomination like you has no place in the natural order of things...and I don't intend to give you one in it either." Moves I. Lucille swaps out the trump "Sanctuary" in her loadout and replaces it with her bound Brown Chaos Serpent! The Chaos Serpent spews Acid on one of the Ettins! (Swapping out Sanctuary does not end its effect, as a note. Acid Spit deals {2d8+Syn[8]} Damage) II. Lucille plays the Healing Kazoo on Herself! The Brown Chaos Serpent spews Acid on another Ettin! (Healing Kazoo restores {6d5}% Mhp on the target. Acid Spit deals {2d8+Syn[8] Damage) III. Lucille Casts Edge of Silence, targeting both hits on the Ettins! She uses her staff as a focus! The Brown Chaos Serpent will spew Acid on yet another Ettin! (Edge of Silence is boosted by the Quartz Staff; will deal 2 hits dealing {1d3+Int[13]+13}*1.3 Damage each, Ignoring Damage Reductions (such as from Armor/Res) but not immunities. Acid Spit deals {2d8+Syn[8]} Damage) Loadout/Status

Arya A flash of worry, but not exactly surprise, showed on Arya's face as she actually saw the girls eyes and how she wiped them. But she just nodded, setting down her own bag onto the deck- a medium sized army rucksack, the former owner's name scratched out on the label and replaced with her own. "Yeh... sure thing, Natalie." she said "And yeah... but they kinda deserved it in the moment, at least I think so; I'm not even that surprised anymore though, a few of them are bound to have me on their personal shit list by now...my actual grade and participation in their class be damned." she chuckled and returned the girl's smile, thinking about it. It really was funny, her ending up in this cabin even without Natalie could've been a very real possibility, given how much she irked some of her instructors "Hell, some teachers I have are actually pretty chill about it, but others... weeeell not so much. Those ones in particular are probably who put my name out there for this. They could really learn a thing or two about just rolling with the occasional quip or bit of satire, instead of getting all red in the face and flustered."

Loadout/Status I- Lucille casts Sanctuary, keeping herself outside of it's Boundaries! Allies are allowed to come and go as they please, Enemies are not allowed to enter! (Creates a safe space lasting {int[13]/2}*1.3-> 9 Turns. Those inside this space can't be affected by hostile actions, but also can't use hostile actions. Only authorized units may enter/leave the space, spending an action to do so.) II- Lucille attempts to Bind 1 of the Brown Chaos Serpents! (If the target is a non-sapient beast/monster, expends a number of bonds equal to 1/2 it's Int to turn it into a companion under Lucille's Control. 10/14 Bonds left) III- Lucille casts Edge of Silence; both hits will target the Ettins! She uses her staff as a focusing medium! (Launches 2 attacks dealing {1d3+Int[13]}*1.3 damage each; Ignores damage reductions, but not immunities. Staff Bonus will add +Int[13] to the damage of each hit) Do and Astra fell back behind some nearby tombstones at Lucille's command, taking shelter until such time as she called to them. Meanwhile the girl closed her eyes, concentrated, and went to work almost immediately. She launched in an incantation that to any onlooker would've been utterly incomprehensible- not because the words she spoke sounded foreign or alien, but rather because with each syllable the escaped her lips, there wasn't audible sound, but rather a boundless surge of vibrations that seemed to hammer away at the fabric of reality, so strong they could be felt in the bodies of any standing close to her. Whatever she was doing however, soon a sigil began to expand within the party's vicinity, quickly growing until it had reached it's full size of a couple meters in diameter, and Lucille stopped her chanting. The moment she did, the Cat and Dragon both darted inside the Sanctuary's boundaries. "If any of you get too injured to keep fighting, fall back to the circle!" she called to the others. She did not wait for a response however, before she turned her attention on the large serpent beasts from earlier...

Arya Several long ticks on the clock dragged by, as the silence continued. Arya already knew it's reign would be even longer if she didn't break it now. "Hey, Natalie... " She finally said. It was a better ice breaker than simply standing there staring at each other, plus the greeting distracted her from the incessant motion of the clock hands. She took just a few nanoseconds to weigh her options of how to continue, sticking her hand into the pocket of her hoodie, and the crumbled note concealed in her fist with it. Acting like she'd been sent here for pissing off one of the instructors or something(which actually wasn't all that bullshit for her, there were at least a few teachers who didn't appreciate her snark and made it quite clear, even if she did manage to keep some of the highest grades in their damn classes...) wasn't particularly something she wanted to do. At the same time, however she also doubted Natalie would be willing to open up if she knew right off the bat her own Mother had set this up as an mini-intervention of sorts... "didn't really expect to find you as my roommate here, not that I got anything to complain about...except maybe the fact we're both apparently 'delinquents' now for some reason" She'd may not have liked it, but it was better to try and keep it natural for now. Arya would be act as she'd always did, when they talked in private like this. Hell, chances are even if Mother Opium hadn't given notice and explicitly asked for her help here, She still would've ended up trying to figure out what was wrong on her own "I uh...know it's been awhile since we last got a chance to talk. How have things been holding up for you?"

Lucille and her beasts walked in after most of the others, staying relatively quiet as she adjusted to the new surroundings. The place was completely foreign to her, both in the sounds that grated on her ears in the distance and the sights Do took in as he panned his head about. The stench of death and hot decay was nigh sickening, the heat was definitely unnatural, and even the pressure felt almost oppressively amplified. What caught most of her attention however, were the two headed beasts and great serpents locked in combat further down the path, and the yet more closing in. keeping an ear on the conversation the others were having, she took out her own staff and expanded it to full length, estimating the distance between them and some of the more... hostile sounds approaching.

((Lexi, you did fine, don't worry about it)) "...oh." was all she really had to say to the note. Well on the bright side, she hadn't somehow fucked up badly enough to be sent here as a delinquent, so that was good... on the other hand though, Natalie apparently had. Which.... brought the situation back into the negative in terms of factors. She always had tried to convince the younger girl that her... act in public really wasn't necessary... encourage her to stop being so hard on herself, try and get her to see she really was fine the way she was and the overactive critical voice in the back of her mind was just that- overactive. Really, Natalie's biggest flaw by far was her habit of resorting to Alpha Bitch mode as a preemptive defense mechanism of sorts, not any of the insecurities or other perceived flaws she carried about herself. If she could just stop and realize that she was creating a self-fulfilling prophecy by making other girls' lives shit and tormenting them, well, things would be much easier, not just for Natalie herself, but everyone else too. There really wasn't that much to defend against or compensate for as the younger girl kept reinforcing to herself.... but the more and more she antagonized them, the more girls in the school really would begin to hate her and repay her antagonisms in retaliation... and it would keep feeding back into itself as a vicious cycle. A cycle that Arya preferred not to just stand by and watch as a friend, who was far more capable than she gave herself credit for, and also a far better person underneath than the bitchy persona she wore suggested, stayed trapped in. "I guess she... took it up a notch or something," She sighed, thinking back over the past year and half... it had definitely been a while since they'd last talked. "anyway, I'll try, I guess. Not like I've had much luck getting it to stick in the past, but... that's probably because we don't get the chance to actually talk but every so often. With the extra time here though.... who knows, maybe it'll be different?" Or maybe it was the final nail in the coffin and there really wasn't anything she could do anymore. But she didn't say that part, she really wasn't in the mood to be snarky, given the situation. Plus, contradictory as it may be to how she usually regarded people's natures, she really did want to believe that Natalie could change for the better, if given enough encouragement, and if natalie herself really wanted to.

As Lucille walked away, she paused for several seconds... thinking. The sickening feeling the memory brought with had mostly subsided, though much of the unending internal criticism of what she'd done wrong, what she'd failed to do, why she'd been so foolish as to even listen to Avada's idea and let her talk her into it in the first place, it was all still there. For it never truly left, only went silent for a while, stayed dormant in the background, until the times where she could be reminded of what she'd done to that other girl all over again. Was it really her fault in the end? Had she really murdered her- was Avada's blood truly on her hands, or had it merely been a freak accident? something neither of them could've really known about...? Why did she still even dwell on it, after who knows how much time- they had barely known each other a day or two, at best. They have tried to act as friends but they were both perfect strangers from two very different worlds, and they both knew it. Just as easily as they'd met in that ruin and neither of them decide to strike the other down first, they could've just as easily done the opposite... and the scavenger would've ended up just another body. Infact, it probably would've been better that way. At least it would've been quick. But it hadn't been quick. Not at all. Avada hadn't struck first, and ended dead in retaliation. No, instead she'd chosen to actually try and talk, and of course Lucille, the damn fool of a girl she was, had listened. And instead of pick each apart, try to find even the slightest differences to justify conflict, they chose to ignore the petty details, because maybe, just maybe, it didn't matter who they were, or where they'd come from, because both of them had been slowly going crazy from being out there alone for so long. Two defective girls, driven out of their homes by one means or another, destined to cross paths in the overgrown ruins of the old world... "I did what I could..." Lucille muttered to herself "I tried to help her, I tried to undo it..." Not even she believed it anymore, no many how many times she recited it. She could've done more, could have broken the restrictions they placed on her, suffered in order to save her, and perhaps by some twisted, god awful irony, that was what lucille should've done from the beginning. Should've defied their will, should have disregarded their safeguards. Perhaps that was the true lesson. If she'd not let the fear for herself and only herself paralyze her, if she'd merely let herself suffer even a fraction of the hell the other girl paid, perhaps things could've gone differently... It was not a freak accident that had killed the girl, but her own wilful inaction. Inaction that took what could've been a Magnum Opus, a great work that could've benefited all, and turned it into a nightmare and a travesty I didn't try to help you... she finally admitted, squeezing her eyes shut against the surging, moist heat she felt on her cheeks I was a coward... I was more afraid of what would happen to me if I even tried it, didn't even think how little it would've mattered, compared to what was happening to you... you died because I was too selfish to even try. She dried the streaks which had already made their way down her face "I'm sorry Avada...you wanted to actually be friends, but all the way to the end, the only one I was really looking out for was myself...if I could go back, do it all differently, I would, but..." but... "But..." But what? "...." But nothing. That is what. Too little, too l- "If what he's saying now is what actually meant...if it works.... maybe I can still make it right for you... maybe I can fix it this time, just in a different way than we planned..." ...But what good are cures for the dead and betrayed? "Shut up..." .... ....pulling herself together as best she could, she turned and started walking back towards the doctor, eyes kept glued to the floor despite the fact there was nothing inside those worthless bits of flesh that could even perceive the floor. "Harry," she began, "What I said a minute ago, I'm sorry abou-" whatever she had to say next was cut off as the entire bus rocked with impact, and sent a tilt. For the second time in as many days, Lucille was tossed off her feet and into the air haphazardly, her apology to the doctor turned into a stream of vile, horrific incantations in rapid succession, each one meant to bestow a curse upon whoever the everloving fuck had been responsible for this sudden crash... not that anyone there would be able to comprehend anything that came out of her during that time, it all would've merely been a stream of rather unpleasant vibrations flooding through their bodies, before she finally stopped cursing long enough to get up from the floor... But no sooner than she did, did the hell portal open. Out crawled the man in plate armor, screaming for help... something grabbed him by the leg, and pulled him back in... And then, the murders began. Lucille joins the hunt

For several moments, all the girl did was stare at Henry with those blank eyes, expression gradually twisting in a grimace, lip curled in disgust and something halfway between regret and doubt. And before she knew it, she was there again, on that day- by her side, crying her eyes out as the scavenger's tortured screams filled the caved, apologizing profusely as she tried to get together the incantation... and finally, the silence after it all ended. Do and Astra alike became far more hostile as she glared at the man, the memory taking hold in them as well. The cat hunched his back and hissed as gleaming, silvery claws deployed from his paws. A dark energy gathered in Astra's mouth as she screeched, spreading her wings in a fashion that would've been simultaneously magnificent and terrifying... if not for the fact that she was a whelp no bigger than Do himself. The entire thing had lasted barely a few seconds, her standing there, staring down harry as if he were yet another enemy from back then, before she sighed, shaking her head as she tried to get a handle on it. And at long last, she shoved that god forsaken recollection into its proper place in the back of her mind, and the foul ripples of emotion ceased over the bonds. Both cat and dragon stopped and went back to normal, as if nothing had ever occurred. Lucille kept staring at the doctor, palm clenched shut so hard, her hands had turned a rich porcelain, voice very slow, and deliberate, as she seemed to pick her words... very carefully. "I... already... have." she said through clenched teeth. She again reached into her pocket, and this time pulled out a small metal kazoo. She took one of her thumbs to her canines, and bit down... hard. Blood was already flowing freely from the self-inflicted injury, but the girl played just one note on the tiny instrument, and like that, the deep puncture wound closed up, and the blood flow halted. She took out a few cloth wraps and wiped the digit off... Harry would easily notice there wasn't even a scar from what she'd done to herself. she put both the rags and the kazoo away, before continuing "But before you say anything else about this, just listen. I... understand your intentions behind that idea, Harry... but it's nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. It's one thing to go splicing gene's with normal Mutagens, but with the method I use... it works by actively picking and choosing the patterns behind concepts present, and replicating them in the appropriate ways... well let's just say it's a lot easier and safer on animals and objects than it is people. People have baggage, a bunch of thoughts, they're like torrents of conceptual noise, and they constantly generate more by the minute. Much more than any beast or inanimate thing can... Doing what I did with Do on something Sapient, something that's capable of complex rational thought? It would be like trying to build a dam after a flood has already started, harry- yeh, by some miracle, you might manage to get it done, but chances are much more likely you're gonna fail miserably, or you'll succeed, but you'll make a fatal error that's just as bad as failing completely. I've tried something like what you're suggesting exactly..." She held up a single index finger "ONCE. ONCE, Harry. And once was far too many times. Using that ritual on Sapient organisms is a gamble I'm never taking again; I don't care how potentially helpful it might be if it works, it's not worth the price if it fails. Trust me on that." With that said, she shoved her hand back into her pocket, turned, and walked away from the three of them. It was painfully obvious this conversation was done.

"It would," Lucille said, rather hesitantly "...but it also wouldn't. The Galdur Tree is a Chimeric Species- Chimeras were what we called any living organism altered by Thaumic means, back home - basically its functions are technically the result of thaumaturgy, but the actual factors responsible for the thaumic ripples themselves are caused by biological changes to certain parts of the gene sequence, changes caused by specifically engineering, and then administering mutagens..." She paused for a moment, realizing just how much information she was giving to an stranger- albeit an stranger who seemed at least somewhat trustworthy -and also the fact that to explain much further, she'd have to reveal yet more.... "Um... look, basically you know how I went off on Armsmaster in his lab? And how I fused that cat with some iron I stole from him? Well, the basic principles behind making Mutagens and what I did are the same... I just cheated and totally skipped over the need to make a mutagen altogether; I didn't actually put physical iron inside of Do, I just took the structures and patterns responsible for giving Iron its physical and metaphysical properties, and I edited a few of his genes to match those patterns... and now, they cause a constant.... signal, which is responsible for making him how he is. The trees are the same way. It's just like..." She again paused, thought about it, before finally giving up with a sigh and waving her hands, as if literally brushing off the entire next part of what she said "It's like installing a beacon or something, and if you cloned the tree, all it's clones would have the same thing going on. Look harry, I don't know how to explain it deeper without teaching you stuff I reeeeeeally shouldn't... besides I don't need anyone else to replicate it, I've managed to recreate a seed for another Galdur Tree already."

Lucille's way of answering primarily consisted of reaching into one of her vest pockets, speaking a single word- which, in all honesty, felt almost like it caused a noticeable vibration to pass through the bodies of all those present, as reality briefly warped -and handing a small ceramic jar with a stopper to Harry. "If you're gonna cut her open, use this," she said "It's Galdur Salve, comes from a special tree where I'm from. Just about every part of it from the leaves to the roots is safe to consume, and it's the best medicinal plant ever discovered or made by Arganorians. If you put in on the stitches as you clean her up, it should heal the tissue good as new, and it'll help prevent infection too since it's also anti-septic." Lucille Removes 1 Galdur Salve from her inventory and gives the following to Harry! Leaving the jar in his possession, she shoved her hands into her pockets "anyway, normally I'd say trying to operate right off the bat for a headache is a bit much, since I have something else that could probably take care of it... but if you think you know the root cause and can prevent it in the future this way, and she's alright with you doing... whatever, I guess I don't really have any reason to stop you."

Mercadier paused every so briefly, as the oh so familiar sense of restorative magics washed over his body. He turned and glanced at the maid, and how she seemed to be trying to play it off, for whatever reason. Mercadier merely shrugged, he knew the feeling of healing, had received it too many times from Keiser over the years to mistake it for anything else at this point. Why she seemed to downplaying it, when to him, there was no real reason to, he didn't know. But he also didn't bother to pry or say anything regarding the oddity. He only nodded, rolling with it. "I will keep that in mind then... yes, I suppose blood and dust is quite hard to get out. You have my thanks" There were still far too many obstacles in the path to escaping. Obstacles he had every intent of seeing reduced to piles of broken, human rubble. Without another word, he strode forward, eyeing the closest enemies as he carried his lance beneath his arm. F14, stare menacingly at our foes

Arya Arya's thoughts had gone from worry to perplexion, as she had begun to look around the cabin and found the note from Mother Opium. Part of her hesitated to pick it up, questioning just what she could've possibly done to earn the woman's ire- something which she went very much out of her way to try and avoid whenever possible. Of course, that was more out of simple respect than fear though; afterall, were it not for her kindness, she'd not be getting an education at all right now, in all likelihood. But an even bigger part of her wanted to get it over with, figure out what precisely was going on... as much possibility as there was she'd been singled out for disciplinary reasons, there was just as much, if not more, that there could've been another purpose here. But either way, being a coward and leaving the note where it was served no one, especially not herself. And so she picked up the paper, unfolded it, and took a look at it's contents...

Before the vision, Lucille had already been far into another ritual, putting the last touches on the fusion before the images were suddenly broadcast right into her mind. Even as it happened though, she managed to re establish a firm mental hold on the slipping spell, right before things could go critical, and put all the peices that had begun to deviate from the design back into proper order.... well, most of them. She only laughed as the first scene played out- most of the terminology thrown about besides the term "Tinker" was absolutely foreign to her, and therefore she ignored most of it aside from the parts which directly mentioned her- and.... oh by the mavens, how they underestimated just what she could do. Already, she'd made immortal life, made life that would someday in the far future be sapient, fixed time-warping metal constructs, recreated restricted plant species from mere concepts alone... and a host of other things... and she had not even demonstrated once how destructive just one of her conjured blades of pure sound could be. Though her outburst in the lab may have been a bit... foolish, there had still been some truth to it. None of them on that world understood the true, and terrifying, potential of the Thaum, even if the man named "Jesus" had possibly brought it from Arganor to their world long ago, or somehow replicated it on his own, even if the one known as Armsmaster made use of the same basic principles as college trained Alchemist from both the days of old and new. That much was painfully clear as she watched her designation. For she knew back home, there would be those already who would call for her death warrant to be signed, for the old laws she had broken in letting the little dragon live... and in giving Astra the potential to someday have a rational, independent mind of her own. Most of what followed that first part, she didn't really care or didn't even have the context to fully understand. And that world- aside from what she had learned of the ancient thaumist called "Jesus" and of how much indviduals like Armsmaster and his organization underestimated the type of unfathomable knowledge lying right under their noses -had been only of passing interest to her at best. Anything in it not directly related to either of those two subjects, she saw no point wasting the energy to scry things about. By the time it was over, the Ritual she'd performed had long since been done, evidenced by the warm little lifeform that now snuggled up against her chest, the sensation of sinfully smooth, almost polished scales meeting her hand as she reached up to pet the newly altered dragon. Astra gave a content pur, nuzzling the girl's hand. Meanwhile the young dragon- the newborn, on her shoulder squeaked in a rather rhythmic sequence, as if he were mimicking his mother's laughter just now. Lucille reached up and stroked his chin, to which he squeaked with approval. She took a moment to scry Astra and ensure everything was alright, and while she did, the young serpentine dragon seemed to snap his claws, and lucille felt an odd surge of intent that faded just as quickly as it had come. Whatever he'd done, she wasn't entirely sure of, given only her periphery senses had caught it in the first place... she made a mental however to try and look into later. For now, it seemed that.... Astra had turned out better than she thought, given how the vision had come in and interrupted her work... Though...oh well, at this point, she'd already made it clear she would not uphold the old laws regarding the creation of Sapient Life. Besides, it was obviously going to take several human lifetimes before Astra even fully realized that potential for rational thought. Long after lucille herself was already dead, chances were. She was a whelp for the time being, and she would probably stay that way for a long while, given the glimpses Lucille received into her life cycle. At the moment though, her mind was still very much beastlike... and the bond between remained as it had before. "Well, you'll definitely grow up someday..." the girl muttered "chances are I'm gonna be long before that, but..." In response, Astra merely flapped her wings, shimmering with golden light from her scales, as she hopped out of lucille's lap and onto one of the seats. Lucille's mind slowly returned to the matter of just what the dragonling had done when it snapped it's fingers, before a familiar voice called from the back of the voice... "huh?" She turned her head in harry's direction, before getting up. Once more, another mental was made, as she strode over "I don't exactly have any resonances at the ready," she called to harry "but I've got a few things I made that might help... what are you trying to do though?"