Empiricist

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Julianne for her part follows a group of soldiers, content to play the role of the morbidly curious bystander. Though that being said, she didn't really have much in mind for what to do once she got there. Evading danger is a skill one simply must have to make it on the streets of Gaea, but that was a skill Julianne honed for herself. She didn't exactly have anyone else to look out for, and even if she did, they probably wouldn't be as heavy. That really was the main problem here, Henrietta wasn't really the fastest and she didn't really strike the peformer as being the kind of person who slips away easily. There are plenty enough ways to escape retribution here, the forests especially if only the elites are prepared to deal with what dwells within, and depending on the state of Kaleigan-Meracusian relations a trip across the pass could be all it takes to shake off any pursuers. Problem is getting her there would be easier said than done. So if they wanted to avoid a protracted fight, they would probably want to either do a disappearing act or finding a way to get her out and fast. With that in mind Julianne looks for something that could help quickly transport Henrietta away from any potential lynch mobs.

A chainsaw would appear to be the best bet here. A standard one would suffice. Would for the elites anyways. It was their livelihood, it was not Julianne's however, and whatever advantage she could get, she'd take. Reach would be the easiest, something long to increase her range, needs to be flexible too, can't let it get caught on trees and branches. Oh and it needs to do more than just saw and cleave. No, it needs to break and pierce, restrain and shatter. Soldiers fight treants and threaten their opposites. Julianne's group meanwhile had an assassin on its tail. It seemed silly to think there would not be more. If she herself was planning on ambushing in this place, she'd go for heavy armor, angled to deflect chainsaws, take a saw for the treants, and something with more reach for her targets. Rationale is simple enough - if your opponent's geared for treants, then come equipped to counter the norm for that. So she needed to counter that. The new weapon she commissioned was closer to a whip than a chainsaw, a flexible assembly of whirring sawing teeth good for cutting away at treants from afar and tangling up foes, all rigged together to retract and collapse into a staff-like form. No one was carrying something blunt around here, so a staff probably won't do much against a treant. But against manavi it should be more than enough to break limbs and injure through armor. In Julianne's hands at any rate. Commission the weapon.

Well that should be enough for a weapon, question is what kind of weapon? That, Julianne felt pretty confident in her ability to figure out. She looks through the marketplace ostensibly she's window shopping, in actuality she's examining the soldiers and hunters, observing what their typical loadouts are, the ones without bioaugs anyways. If they're stationed here, it'd stand to reason their weapons should be well-suited for the typical threats.

That's enough rest for now. Julianne flexes her new hand, carefully, experimentally wiggling her fingers and clenching a fist. Her quick-reel system should counter the tripping well enough. The treants themselves, that'd be more problematic, a rope spear won't do much good, nor a scimitar when it comes down to it. Well she was in th market for a new hat anyways. Head off to the marketplace, pawn off the valuables of the bandits, see if that's enough to cover the cost of a hat and weapon.

Julianne takes her place in the Nexus, positioning herself close enough to hear the conversations of the soldiers but far enough that she's not sitting right besides them. Replacing her arm would take some time, her hat some more time still, in the meantime then she may as well pick up whatever gossip she could.

Naturally, Julianne's first action was to check the cabins for valuables, mostly the pockets of the fallen but a few cursory glances into the hastily abandoned cabins wouldn't hurt either. There are three things, three simple things you need to survive in Gaea. Money's one of them, the lesser of them, but one of them nonetheless, and while you'll need an awful lot to be safe, it doesn't hurt picking it up where you can. With the bodies looted and lost belongings appraised (but not yet taken, a little too early to be making enemies after all) Julianne heads out for the Nexus.

That's enough rest for now, back to work. Julianne drops down, sprinting down the cabin towards the commotion. A tether fires out, snagging a fallen falchion and bringing it into her hand. The noises were coming from a cabin, Nemesis was aiming through the door. Entry points would the the window or the door. But that's too predictable. Go to cabin before. Expend steam. Put a fist through the wall and quick reel backwards. At the same time, fire a tether through the hole and drag the assailant backwards. Shift falchion into warding stance. A quick pull off balance in a situation like this, could very well be a death sentence.

"All three must fall, but Kimiko's sending another squad over to help out."

"Nope, pretty sure that was from inside the ship. The minions stationed there are well-equipped with a variety of debilitating weaponry and it quickly became the least favourite of the three fortifications. The castle seems to rely on more conventional tactics involving a mixture of mobility, armor, and firepower, and the cathedral is crawling with summoners!"

Matteo fidgets "About that... we, haven't reached the raid bosses yet - there's heavy fortifications at their entrances. But not to worry, I'm sure you won't have any problems blasting through! We'll try and follow after that, so no need to worry about anyone getting too jealous." Reaching into his jacket he produces a couple photos, handing them over for your perusal. There's really three locations you see in there - the lantern-lit gates of an enormous chinese palace sporting dancing tigers and eastern dragons, a sprawling night-bound cathedral city populated with figures that look somewhere between "cardinal" and "grieving widows", and uh, a japanese high school? Like it's really big and the front gates look pretty sturdy with absurdly forgettable students patrolling, but like, it's a fucking high school.

"Thanks! We looted them, it was awfully dreary in here before!" He spins around with a flourish to face Immanuel and shake his hand. His grasp is floppy and doodly, like a doodly stickperson arm. "Righty ho! Business! It's a slow day most days here, we've breached most of the ship, but there are pockets of resistance still at play. We've had some people try venturing in, but they're more trouble than they're worth. You'll want to assault them first to lower the barrier on the bridge."

Julianne remains silent, firing tethers laterally in preparation for a dodge. A few are angled backwards, a few more angled forwards. Good burst speed, better than her own, but if she commits for a kick that will limit her mobility if only for a moment. The girl's gaze shifts to the side of the train to the waters below if only for a moment. Two figures rise from the ruined carriage. Friendlies too. Well that changes things doesn't it? She steps back as foe lunges reels pulling her backwards. A feint. If she calls it and stops short then that's just fine, she doesn't know about the armor just yet, meaning a parry stepping parry with a kick to the leg should work well. If she does then she'll quick step diagonally forwards or to the side depending on what works best, bringing the armored blade of her arm against whatever claws come her way, and a fist and heel slamming into what opening she sees. Focus is on minimizing damage to herself though, aim to disrupt not to harm. There's plenty of harm coming this way anyways, she could afford to spend some steam. Of course if an opportunity presents itself, Julianne won't mind using a little more steam to get a bit of payback. Priority are the legs, then the arms, the head, and finally the torso.

Chapter 2 - Winners Use Drugs Everyone The behemoth streaks through the skies, black acrid smoke billowing from weeping wounds, a hail of ice screeching out from swivelling hill forts and battle-scarred trench lines. A double bastard mongrel, half winter wonderland, half demilitarized zone, with a build reminiscent of a whale and a bite reminiscent of a stratofortress. Through the deluge you can see the hole in its side, a great ulcerous wound ringed with necrotic earth and weeping with smoke and vapor. Blasted and burnt, poisoned and salted, that is your entry point. You begin your approach. A shell detonates near you, tendrils of ice erupting from a crystal coffin, scything and piercing empty air in a fractal pattern, three-dimensional snowflake that begins its life as a bullet and ends it as a spray of shrapnel. It'd be more fearsome if it actually hit. Faster and faster you race further into the barrage. Ice races to meet you, but the behemoth's aim is not what it once was, besides, you've faced worse, no thanks to a certain crazed bitch. Closer and closer you approach, the torrent beginning to ebb and fade, you're too close for many of the cannons to hit you and those that are, well, many of them aren't functional anymore, about as blasted and broken as the lands around them if not more so. The breach is a far cry from the faux festive veneer of the snowfields, little more than a barren smouldering land haphazardly littered with cruciform gravemarkers thatpulse with a strange and sinister energy. Little survived the initial breach, and what did had been stripped bare, looted by enterprising adventurers. Through this breach, festering in the depths of the shellship like a particularly boisterous infection is you destination, the main adventurer camp. Barren earth gives way to... well it's really just more barren earth, but like, way more colorful thanks to all the looted decorations sprucing up the place like a particularly colorful and focused festival. Portable camps and the like sprawl out from shops and quest hub pylons questionably dressed figures wandering about chatting, sulking, and getting embroiled in newer trashier variants of your classical love triangle. Really, you should be thankful, these guys have saved you lot an awful lot of work. The defenses are compromised, the ship's damaged, and what's left to oppose you have sealed themselves in the four remaining bastions. That's where you come in by the way, what's behind those is best left to a Godslayer to handle. Or well, an Aramitama. Or some rando going through a mid-life crisis in full plate armor. Point is, the place is besieged from the inside and you lot are to crush what remains. The Aramitama at the heart of all this? The one whose head you're here to claim? They're the son of a bitch that made those exoskeletons. Hmph, saddled those dumbass assassins with death traps but spared no expense for his own shell. Typical. Ain't the kinda behaviour that makes you many friends, and boy oh boy did they make the wrong enemy. Kimiko's pretty light on the details but well, she's the reason he's here now, stranded in the Aethertide, the realm of the lost, besieged by adventurers, and soon to be staring down the barrel of a gun or whatever the hell you people use. She was looking for someone to deal the finishing blow, how convenient he turned out to be the man you're after. But first, meeting your contact. The jammer in charge of keeping the defenses locked down. You find him near the center of town leaning against one of his crosses busy fiddling away at his phone, one of 'em gacha games you think. Pretty hard to miss honestly, given that he's y'know, a giant snake with magical cybernetic doodle arms and a dapper suit. Takes him a while to notice you guys in turn though. "Huh, wha- oh. It's you guys. How'd you like our humble abode? It's a bit messy I know, hope you don't mind haha."

Julianne holds onto her hat and just backs the fuck away, aiming to get further down the carriages back onto the next carriage even and crash inside, using as an opportunity to loop around and hopefully change the relative positioning of herself and her foe. From where she could try luring her into the line of fire of an ally on the way back. That's Plan A. Plan B? That consists of a few wires, a hat, and pretty damn good idea of how to strike. Here's how that goes: As Juliane's heading backwards, she's leaving wires behind, wires that should be near-invisible to the assassin, they'll be scattered wide so that they don't get clipped by the claws. More distance she can get, the better, gives her more time to build up steam. If or when the assassin goes for a lunge, three things will happen almost at once: Julianne will disengage the magnets on her hat if only for a moment before hurling it forwards to bait an attack or obscure her assailant's vision, her quick reels will engage slingshotting herself forwards and throwing any incoming attacks off-timing with some sidesteps and whatnot as necessary to help parry and avoid the attack, and of course she'll add her own counter to the mix, a trip or shadowless kick to the lower leg as she passes by to throw her foe off-balance, keeping her arm close to protect herself with the plated sleeves and the threat of a hard elbow strike.