Sutoratosu

"hmmm... can't help but keep thinking about that gift they mentioned... might be useful and all, who knows? Eh, besides, we've cleaned up here pretty well, and even though those wandroughts closing in are a bunch a pathetic Axe-fanboys, they ain't the type of scum I'm an expert at exterminating... soooooooooooo" "You guys can handle em just fiiiiiiiine while I go poke those trees, right? Riiiiiiiiiight, of course ya can, ya weren't made Queen's Knights for nothin'!" he didn't really wait for any answer or protest of any sort, giving a shrill whistle that carried on the wind. A moment later, Erce descended once again and swooped down low, and the Rider grabbed hold and pulled himself up without her even stopping, heading east... Mount up, Canto to R17

Aurora had taken up a place on the flying book vehicle before it took off, if for no other reason than the fact that flying was easier than walking. that and it would've saved the trouble of having to plow through skeleton after skeleton with an attempted charge. Of course, there was always the threat of the god damn archers, but the mindless drones weren't the only things with ranged options. Taking position near the front of the vehicle, she held out her palm and with it projected a burning light that soon erupted into a rapid series of identical flares, each sending another bolt of cosmic radiation to tear through the enemy below. She made a special point to focus her aim on the Dragontooth Archers busy lining up shots against the group; she saw as others tried to simply deflect the arrows, but in all honesty the idea seemed far less constructive in her mind than simply aiming to counter and destroy the ones firing them in the first place... ****************** Ghost had taken a place atop the insane librarians construct as well. While see could've well just ordered Tama to carry her and press forward on foot, she didn't see much point in the effort when this... flying contraption of... tomes (at this point, the shock of their situation had thoroughly worn off and she'd just shook her head and shrugged it off) was about and offering to carry them. Of course, even up here and relatively safe from most of the infantry forces, there was still bowmen and certain siege weapons to worry about. With her instrument in hand, she'd taken to trying to deflect the worse of the arrow volleys with one burst of concentrated sound after another.

"Well no one screamed in agony when I asked," Tesla responded once mar arrived, having been waiting for a good few moments before hand with no answer "...or answered me at all, really, but I don't see any dead or unconscious bodies lying around, so I guess they're fine." She took stock of the Orcs sweating face and haggard breath, and the many tools and materials clinking about on his person- it wasn't hard to put two and two together. "How bad is the damage? Any sign of what happened out there?"

"Ugggggh, Everyone alright?" Tesla asked once the chaos had ended, her voice electronically transmitted from her Mech's comms without even realizing it. In all honesty she'd summoned the thing around herself on pure instinct once the shaking began- Electromagnetic suspension was oh so useful for you know... not being ragdolled around the fucking place and thrown into gods knew what kind of miscellaneous equipment and objects that had been put into the engine bay since the last she was there. Only now noticing she was even wearing the thing, she quickly dismissed it, dropping back down to the floor. She rubbed the back of her head, feeling a sore spot there; Looks like her instincts still hadn't been quite fast enough afterall. Not that some head trauma was anything worse than any other variety her body had endured before David found her... "Gods, what the hell even hit us?"

Shanks stayed by the Drill-O-Matic as the exposition was spouted, guiding the machine to better shape the lance to his liking. He'd reduced the thing's size to a much more manageable 2 1/2 feet or so, sharpened up and honed the head to a dagger-like profile, great for equal parts shanking and slashing poor adventurers. For the final touches, he shaved a bit of the metal on its sides to form two small loops, good for clipping on a carrying banister, if he ever felt the need. With the modifications down, he took the new spear out of the machine, sticking it through his belt where it could rest against his back: and waddling over to the others. "Shanks ain't afraid of any bugs; hell those robots were push-overs anyway. Show me a swarm and give us a nice, long and dark hallway. The longer I gotta chase em, the more fun it is in the end."

"HA! oh buddy, buuuuuuuuddy. That the best you can do? Come on now, let me show you~" "How a REAL brawler dishes out the hurt!" He punctuated the shout with a blindingly fast spin of his lance, closing the short ground between himself and the swordsmen in no time before lashing out with the butt of his weapon Auto-knockout Merc 4 with Slim Lance

Aurora 37/42; Goddess Mode The fog did... fuck all, as it passed over Aurora. the Spydric Queen simply laughed- these sudden sluice of emotions were no different than what had always been in the back of her addled mind. What? did anyone there really think that after all the shit in her own world, she would've EVER trusted a bunch of self-destructive, god damn humans and adventurers as far as she could throw them? (which, by the way, was very far for most of them, but not the point) Hell no. If anything, those of them who weren't monstrous either in form or in presence were merely a means to an end for her, a way to make hunting the interdimensional terrors they were after easier. And that job was not done yet, so there was no point trying to kill them now; she wasn't about to go and attempt such a feat as taking every eldritch abomination on her own, that right there was the very fucking definition of insanity. And much to that same point, she once again fired off some starlight across the field, healing a few more of these fleshbags... if they died now, it would be more of a hinderance than a benefit to her in the long run. Aurora uses Starsign Virgo ((Restore 1d4+12 HP on up to two targets, Cure 1 ailment on each)) on Samantha and Hiroki. She also Regens 10% of her mHP((4)) after she acts due to the perk "Arachni Blood" Tama Vajra Tama snorted at the attempt at corruption as the mist rolled over. Please, this was nothing compared to what he had felt in past ages. He had started a fucking war over who among his race was truly the strongest and most worthy of ruling their world, forming and breaking alliances, going at the throats of old brothers in arms. Observing, calculating who could be trusted most and for how long until they too turned for their own goals. This attempt to goad him into attacking something currently on his own side was... laughable at best, after all those centuries he had spent on that conflict, and his perception of reality was far stronger than any mortal's ever would be. Rolling his eyes as the puppeteer of these damn skellingtons laughed and vanished, he again fired up another bolt at the archers, after the armored man had again weakened them. He had to admit though, at least the two of them had a decent rhythm going here...even if the things still refused to die. Tama Vajra uses, you guessed it folks: Storm Fury ((Full-powered basic attack [11d4 lightning-based], ignoring Res)) on the Dragontooth Archers again!

Tama Vajra The damn Bowmen still aren't dead yet? Tama uses Storm Fury on the Dragonbone Archers Again [full powered basic attack (11d4 Lightning Based) ignoring Res]. Aurora The spider was about to fire off another blast of astral light, before she sensed the massive surge of positive energy someone else had already launched across the entire field, pretty much accomplishing her job for her and then some. Shrugging, she held up her hand again, letting another bolt of concentrated starlight fly across the killing field Aurora uses Peircing Ray [Basic Attack: (4d4+Syn(10)) Light-Damage, deals 25% more against enemies suffering status ailments] on the Warrior Horde

"Fair point, but it can't really be helped at this point. We'll just have to blast our way forward faster than they can keep up. Or a few of you who are skilled at a range could form a rear guard if ya want, pick off any stragglers who get too close for comfort. At least one of you has a longbow, right?" she was about to say something else, when a bit of movement came from what she had previously presumed to just be a seam in the decaying walls. With the shifting light behind it though, the shape and purpose of the indentation became all too real... "I don't know what the hell they were smoking when they designed this with Arrowslits, but...at least they tried to be discreet about them. Doesn't surprise, considering the guy who owns the damn place..." "...oh, and you see those slots in the wall? They're kinda hard to see, I guess. Hidden fairly well, I probably wouldn't have noticed it myself if someone wasn't moving behind there... yeah, try not to stand too close to the interior walls, if you can help it. No doubt that asshole setup some men on the other side to pick us off as we try to run."

"Well, Belros has already gotten one door open at least, so the path is kinda clear." she turned and glanced at the still locked door across the room meanwhile "There's probably gonna be a crap ton of wandroughts waiting regardless which way we take, so it's best we all stick together; Splitting ourselves up and going separate ways in this mess is just asking for one group to get held up and murdered before they ever reach the exit. And I don't know about you guys, but I'd prefer it if we were all in one peice when we finally find that douchebag and tear him a new one... "Sending his pathetic little man servant to play me for a fool, will he?" she muttered, grinding her teeth "I swear to the goddess, I'll run both those fuckers through. Once we're done beating all the intel we can get out of em, that is..."

Tesla seeing as none of them seem interested in actually asking anything, given the long, drawn out silence she was experiencing now, Tesla figured they might as well just move on. She began to raise her hand almost out of habit, before she recalled where she was and retracted it "It's not really a question, but..." she began, hesitantly "Vicky took Wally with them and all.... soooo she'd probably ask that creeper to take them somewhere where it's easier for him to breath, or at least someplace where it would be easy for him to stop and rest often, or get help if he needs it. So... somewhere with good air quality, I guess, or at least decently developed or with a few people living nearby" She paused and thought about it for a moment. What may have counted to her as 'nearby', likely held no relevance at all to any of them. None of them had gone through the experiments. None of them had spent much time out in the wilds either, obviously, so while she may well be able to find a structure, recall it's exact location and be able to walk back to it with her eyes closed, the rest of em had no such frame of reference... "um... nevermind the 'living nearby' part, I guess. I know she'd want to make sure he was alright though."

"So, this thing is a Magicsink then. Figures..." she sighed, tucking the blade back into her belt, "Ah well, could be worse I guess. Could've just reflected it right back at me, so.... eh screw it, trying to stab it next probably won't do much better. We'll probably end up seeing that asshole again one way or another, let him run for now while he still can. If we can just manage to get out of here in one peice..."

"Drill-o-matic, eh" Shanks picked the spear back up, waddling over to the machine, which from the fact that it was about the only thing in the room he could see which had any drill to speak of, he presumed pretty easily was it. He laid the Spear down into the device, waiting for it to do the magic.... "hmmmm.... yeh, shanking someone with a spear is still a thing. probably won't come out as good as a Chef Knife, but with a bit of pacing, infuse it with a bit of Omen Magic... yeah, this could be decent." Shanks places the Autolance Lance into the Drill-o-Matic

focusing her attention on stemming the very worst of the bleeding injuries inflicted by the beast, Aurora fired off another round of starlight to those suffering much like she was. Sure, a few of the other fleshbags might have been banged up considerably worse, but said fleshbags also weren't steadily fucking losing life from profusely leaking wounds, regardless of how well their defenses were. Besides, there were more healers about than just her, she could sense the positive energy of various spells going off in the background- she'd pull her own weight, not theirs too. Aurora uses Starsign: Virgo on herself and Samantha, healing [1d4+12] HP and removing another bleed stack from both of them Tama Meanwhile, seeing the armored figure repeat his previous weakening of the archers kept up his own pressure. With a mighty roar unleashed in sink with the sound of crashing thunder, he sent another explosive bolt of lightning raining down, cloak unfurling with countless terrawatts upon terrawatts Tama Vajra uses Storm Fury on the Dragontooth Archers again, dealing yet another full-powered basic attack [11d4, Lightning Based] ignoring Res

"keeping that promise is gonna be much easier said than done. But eh...screw it. We're here now. Can't believe I'm saying this, but go wild, thief boy, loot whatever ya find. Might as well get Something out of this, and If anyone pokes around later we can just say all the loot was seized as... evidence. Yeh, evidence. Perfect." With that said, she turned and headed towards the very doors that noble arse had fled through only moments ago, inspecting them closely as the Anima began to whisper their own analysis. From a brief once over, they definitely seemed quite similar to the door at the poison shop... which meant trying to pick them would obviously be useless. They were reinforced just as well; she expected nothing less at this point. There was only one way to know the full extent of their security measures however. Back at the shop, they hadn't tried to break the thing down... would've gotten a bit messy if they'd actually succeeded by chance, harder to explain away without authorization to breach and all that. Taking a breath, Cade felt the breeze circulating around her blade intensifying in preparation. "Only one way to find out for sure... hopefully the enchantments don't blast me to bits in retaliation... I wouldn't be surprised though...plus it would make it a lot easier to get out and intercept him..." Sword in hand, she stood a good few feet back, before raising the glowing rapier to a ready stance. Much to her surprise, the magic circulating around it felt quite... natural in her grasp, fluid.... responsive, easy to control. Not much unlike when she had been using the spirits directly... interesting. It made sense though, she supposed- someone with an enchanted weapon was fairly unlikely to have too much depth in magical knowledge, compared to an actual stock and trade mage... so it could only be expected that the makers would design it to be easier and more intuitive to pick up and control than a Tome...still though, in the back of her mind there were doubts. "Actually hell, here's to hoping I don't accidentally blow myself up, with or without the doors help..." trying to largely laugh them off, there came one thrusting motion, a bit of focus on a specific point, and a blast of wind fired off from the weapon, spiralling with green aura as it headed for the tonkdoor. C12, Attack the Tonkadoor with the Galesword (And pray to the goddess no quality memage occurs)

"..." silence. For once, she was absolutely speechless at the turn of events. Turning to look at belros, she let out a grumbled sigh, drawing her weapons "So many parts of me want to blame you for this... but I know that I'm probably more at fault for making us pursue this as far as I did. Goddess damn it, I knew that shit-eating wandrought was sketchy the minute I laid eyes on him..."

Aurora 42/42; +8 Res; Bleed Status Goddess Mode After the initial volley of pitiful attacks, Aurora simply laughed at the skellington warriors. That was before however, the damn beast fell upon them, clawing and mauling like the many vermin the resembled in basic structure. Though their claws did absolutely nothing when they met with the hard chitin covering most of her figure, a few of them seemed to catch on and instead struck at her actual flesh. She hissed more in contempt than out of actual pain, as they managed to cut a thin swath across her belly, tearing her robes, but failing to draw any blood... immediately, at least. Aurora heals herself and Hiroki with Star Sign: Virgo, healing [1d4+(Syn((10))*1.25-->1d4+12] on both of them and Curing them of their Bleed Status ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tama Vajra 51/51; +10 Res, +1 Syn Seeing the weakened group of bowmen, the Tiger pounced like the predator he so heavily resembled. With a high leap, he somersaulted backwards from the force of his own blast, as a torrent of explosive lightning rained down upon the unit, tearing up and scorching the earth where it landed. He landed with an authoritative roar that echoed across the battlefield, as if challenging any and all bold enough to face him. Thunder and Darkness cloaked his otherworldly form, like a silent storm brewing high in the heavens. Tama uses Storm Fury on Dragon Tooth Archer B, dealing a full-powered basic attack [11d4, lightning-based] ignoring the target's Res

"Worthless Tin Cans, waste of time." The tonberry declared after Azurian's proposal "Weak ass rogue is a waste of time too. Robots died too easy, one hit, all it took. Their lances though, like giant toothpicks- Don't hurt much, but just look at it-" he dropped one end of the weapon he carried down on the floor to prove it's point, the thing's tip easily towering over his head whilst standing at all 3''5 of his height, "Doc human, you got anything to help shanks slim this down?"

Shanks had both hands filled, what with how he was carrying a stolen lance bigger than he was tall...needless to say, the Tonberry stood no real chance of resisting the sudden vacuum force that acted on him and the others, especially with how quick things had taken a turn. Once inside the vacuum tube however, things quickly changed as he got a grasp on the situation. Turning himself about, he prepared himself to land cleanly and without incident, just as he had during all his numerous acrobatic displays since his time waking up in the ship's vent system... wherever the hell this thing might even drop them off. Get sucked up, but prepare to make a smooth landing wherever this thing leads

Ghost will Fight. Aurora will Fight. Ghost 45/45 "What the hell is this!?" Ghost almost felt her own words lost in the rushing wind as they fell. Tears streamed past her face, the wind tearing and howling in her ears as she peered in vain at her surroundings, seeing naught but the pinpricks of distant fire light. So this was what it was like to be hurtling towards one's death from a high place.... hmph, she'd never felt it before, what with the ability to- "Shut up and use your matti, you fool! Unless you want to just give up and spatter yourself!" His warning snapped her back to reality. Before she could on it however, she hit face first into the barren earth- and much to her surprise... she was still alive. Pushing herself up from the ground she did a quick check- nothing broken, nothing missing... perhaps... she'd panicked a little. The fall obviously was no where near as far or deadly as she'd been anticipating. Tama spoke to her once more, as the visage as what they could only describe... as well, similar to that lich, began to approach. "Call to me!" the was a strange urgency to the demand. Already he was hovering in front of the godspeaker, the formless, shifting sphere of storm that he was. "there's little you can do in your current shape. Hurry, before they swarm us..." she was too disoriented to argue. Nodding her head, she took a deep breath, her voice emanating outward as she began to sing, surrounding Tama with a curtain of gold. Soon what was just a mere apparition took solid form, and the Storm King howled at the oncoming fiends, teeth bared and eyes burning with amber light from within their black voids Ghost Activates Blood of our Bond! (Free Action), Cutting her max HP by 11 points and adding it onto Tama's when he is summoned Ghost Activates Lend me your Voice! (Free Action), Draining all 11 of her synergy. She will add 10 to Tama's Res and 1 to his Syn when he is summoned Ghost then Enters a Hymn state, Summoning Tama to take her place on the battlefield ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aurora 42/42 Goddess Mode The spider landed with far more grace than most of the others probably did. Not too far from the lying duo she'd saved earlier, interestingly. Not that she had time for any indignation over botched deals of the past; almost immediately, she picked up the vibrations of countless bodies moving across the earth. Turning to the ones that most immediately caught her eye, her outstretched a hand, several golden strands of light gathered within her grasp as the crystal flared to life... and then bloomed outward with a high explosive ferocity, sending a bolt of pure starlight streaking across the distance. It's divine glow sharply contrasted against the pitch black backdrop of the night sky... Aurora uses Piercing Ray against Dragon Tooth Beast A

Tesla glowered down at what was left of the cloud beast for a few moments. She eventually dismissed her mech, causing a storm of crackling thunder and static to erupt around her in the process, before kneeling down to examine some of its parts. Her hands almost instinctively reached out to touch the Spikes, an all too familiar buzzing filling the forefront of her mind and her body almost seeming to welcome the electric current still pumping out of the monster even now. Taking the hand away and activating the Void Sphere, she quickly went to work breaking it down into it's coded archives for later usage- gods knew she couldn't have carried the massive thing back with her own hands. her attention drifted to the tears on the pedestals as well. Just like with the spike, she sensed an electric charge there, even stronger. One of them was also encoded, vanishing from sight with a brief flash of violet before Tesla stood again. "Well, at least the little terror's remains can be useful. Sure I can find for em later, as much current as they generate..." before long, she too was warped back to the castle, and in all honesty, she was rather glad to leave tempest behind for a while... after all this. Tesla collects 1 of the Golden Spikes and 1 of Kracko's Tears. She's also been silently collecting all the essences dropped, and swiped up a peice of scrap from the fallen Wheelie that died earlier

Shanks watched as the others began to depart. News of this... professor individual however, soon caught his ears. Hmmm... perhaps he could get the means to modify this massive lance from such a human... or maybe he'd end up shanking the rogue before either of them got there... hmmmmmm... no, no... the rogue shanking could wait for a later time he supposed. Honestly he was more curious as to just what the meaning of all this was, and he probably wouldn't get that info if he stabbed everyone who might help him find it... so as much as he didn't like the assassin's general attitude, looked like he'd have to endure it for now. Without a word, he hopped off the cargo vessel, following off behind Azurian

Ghost Ghost opened her eyes slowly, head still cushioned by the pillow and sheets under her. Her mind was fog, There was little she could recall about the surgery, and even less about how the Orc had known where to drop her off in the end... eh, well it's not like Tama wasn't there for the whole thing. The ex-god had probably taken care of most things while she was busy suffering from the hellfire that had become her hands. Speaking of which... odd. They didn't feel quite so excruciating as before. infact... she barely noticed them at all anymore.... the woman. The ivory skin, the fangs, the eyes like emeralds... Her... the spider. So, it had not been a dream then. Ghost tried to shift herself upright- only to find... something covering her. Looking down, she realized... it was a silk quilt. No dream indeed. Her mind still boggled at it all. She felt the cocktail of drugs take hold again, and soon, down she went, on the pillow once more- the pillow from where? the sheets, from where? there had been none of this earlier... the revived bed had little more than a frame and a clean mattress, last she had slept on it. unless.... but why? "Yet another favor you owe me..." the words struck in her mind like a peel of thunder. That was why. No bother. No point thinking more. Sleep... sleep called once again. And she embraced it almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"How surprising, no one's bleeding out yet..." Maya muttered to herself "well... perhaps it's a good omen. Let see how long it lasts." With that said, she held out her palm, a shimmering mist of emerald forming around it. She wasn't... too enthusiastic about trying to use the ailment orb yet again, after the laughable failure last time and how easily that holier-than-thou harlot had put ecquis to sleep right afterward. But... well it wasn't like anyone needed her attention at the moment. Might as well contribute another way. She set her sights on the fighter at first. But shook her head, looking for another victim- casting it against a man who was already on his last legs was pointless here. Those knights though... yes... yes... Gripping the mist tight in her hand for a moment, she finally flung it out in an arc. And as it flew, the sphere of mind-numbing fog let out an ominous hiss, audible even above the wind and the shifting sands...like a snake sizing up a rat. Cast Sleep on Knight 4

Shanks breaks off his staring war with Azurian to gaze up quizzically at the pseudo-Shinra man. Hmmm... so he'd seen his kind before eh? Just where was this one from then? He didn't smell like a resident of Gaea. Didn't sound like one either- the accent was just... off. "Got a problem, humaaaan?" His voice, while pitched a bit high, held an odd, pervasive presence to it. Almost like the perfect example of a wise guy's quip, with a subtle hint of gravel beneath it. For some though, perhaps even more surprising than the fact that he sounded more like a stereotypical mobster on the corner, and not exactly like a chew toy, was that he was capable of speech at all. Heh, not many got to hear his people speak in a tongue they could actually comprehend... instead of their native series of clicks and hisses and psuedo syllables. Or rather, some did. It was just that very few lived to tell about it.