Powder Miner

Navin didn’t even blink at the casual tome-tossing, instead scratching his head, in thought for a moment. Okay, this was a bit strange even by his standards. He had never been in any sort of simulation, inside-of-a-computer scenario, though one or two of the Japanese heroes he’d worked with in the past had. Or so he’d heard, anyhow. Well, things being strange wasn’t enough to shake him. He would just have to act intelligently — and while Navin did not consider himself a very smart man, he could at least avoid being stupid around combat. This meant he’d have to ask smart questions, too. ”Well, going in through this Ultraviolet host is more than a little better than punching a giant hole in a stock exchange and murdering a bunch of teenagers, so let’s go with the simulation option, yes? That leads to a question, then: you say an Ultraviolet host will let us do what we could in reality, but also that we need some set of programs that you will supply us with? What will those programs do?”

Nader shrugged at Sandman’s irritation and moved on to the armory — locating where they worked on alien alloys, and examining the equipment they used to figure out what to do with it. Nader would be working in his own expertise as he worked on his armor, but of course with these alien alloys being something else it was worth figuring out the methods XCOM used. He wouldn’t grasp it all, likely, but he was familiar enough with his armor that he imagined he could fill in the cracks. After going over the machines, Nader pulled the chest plate off of his armor, un-hooking and un-strapping it from the rest of the armor and the fabric under it to put it on a workbench, at which point he began a process that involved both what he figured out of XCOM’s high-tech alien alloy working processes and some good ol’ hammering (as well as what other metallurgical processes he could jury-rig). As he did, Nader spoke to Sandman - in Russian, though a bizarrely accented form of Russian that seemed to include Arabic and Pacific influences — overall comprehensible, just bizarre. ”<So what’s got you irritated?>”

Perlita winced at the profound violence that suddenly occurred in a few moments — thunderous blasts of shells, a wide variety of attacks from the gynoid, Gabriel’s Freila blasting outwards from a point, said gynoid getting slammed once more and punted into a tree (that one got even more of a wince from Perlita). Well, that left her a fairly obvious course of action, and it would probably be a nicely successful one, seeing as the general guy that had helped her out before was doing so again. Encouragement really did go a long way when your powers came from a manifestation of your inner self! ”Okay, Crawford! We’ve got this!” Perlita uses Diarama on 6D, healing 6d4+SYN (19)+SYN (19) health!

“Ah, Johanna, I’ll assist... you...” Ceridwen ran in noisily to reach and help her commander, but that rush faltered for a moment upon seeing just what she was fighting — an incredibly young girl. “...ah. Oh. Why...?” Instead of finishing her question, Ceridwen winced and moved to help “finish off” their opponent. They had to do what they were doing, after all. Still, Ceridwen tried to be relatively gentle, avoiding quite hitting the girl with the very tip of the lance. Ceridwen moves to AA19 and Slim Lances Scholar 1.

Satomi gasped as she was entangled by the marionettes of twine — and in her proceeding struggles, she promptly missed the arrow that she had fired, before being pelted with attacks, bleeding heavily. This was not a good situation, and Satomi was not in good shape. But she at least now had room to act since she had been relinquished, and it was her best bet to do so as fast and as hard as she could. Her remaining flaming arrow went flying at the large being that seemed to be the source of all this, and then the bow froe world of the siege was quickly strapped to her back. She pulled out the crossbow of her own make, next (well, the better of the two), and pumped its trigger, putting as many bolts as she could into her target. Satomi uses Flaming Arrow with Terrarian Silver Bow on Flora, dealing 3d6+DEX (6)+INT (12) damage! She also uses Perfection Crossbow on Flora, dealing 6d6+DEX (6) damage! She has a 20% chance to miss. The first time she is struck in a turn, she raises the Slaughtaur Shield and takes half damage until turn end or her next action.

Lizaveta flipped through the pages of her time a few times, eyes scanning them not out of any real desire to inspect their contents but rather as a nervous movement. This was going to be a very big moment, and a very dangerous one, for a lot of people. But if they did this right, they could both help a lot of people out and spit on the Perusians. And bolster their forces, of course, the vanguard of the manifesto could always use more potential members and allies, but it was infuriating Perus and saving its victims that she was concerned with. “...it’s time. Let’s do our utmost to give help to people who desperately need it!” Lizaveta clapped her hands together to hype herself up, and moved forwards. O28

Satomi shuddered a bit at the undeniable creepiness of the whole situation — but then she set herself and bared her teeth. She couldn’t as effectively drive her fear into anger as she normally could, with what had... with what had happened, but nonetheless she felt a sense of duty and of course a sense of instinctual anger at the terrifying beung that they were facing. She might be shaken, but Satomi wouldn’t let that stop her from doing what must be done! She almost drew her sword, as that was what samurai simply did, the daisho being the very sign of their samurai status and their adulthood. But her hand hesitated as she realized that that might not be the most useful option, and instead her hands went to grab her bow, taking one of the gel-tipped arrows that she still had, lighting it, and then sending it with a twang in the main creature’s direction! Satomi uses Flaming Arrow with Terrarian Silver Bow on Flora, dealing 3d6+DEX (6)+INT (12) damage! She has a 20% chance to miss. The first time she is struck in a turn, she raises the Slaughtaur Shield and takes half damage until turn end or her next action.

Perlita couldn’t help but wince again as CFW Judge’s hammer came down onto their android companion — that thing looked like it hurt, though whether the android girl (aw, what was the word... gynoid?) actually felt pain Perlita didn’t know. Still, she couldn’t leave her to get hit again! She might not be able to take it! ”Ah, don’t worry, I’ve got you! Crawford!” Once again, Perlita summoned her glitzy, twentieth-century-actor Persona, and this time aimed her healing magic at the one currently receiving the brunt of the beatdown from their hammer-swinging enemy. Perlita uses Diarama on 6D, healing her for 6d4+SYN (12)+SYN (12) health!

Frankly, LOTUS had absolutely no idea what Masako was going on about, at all. Crime scene? Witness? Beating them up? Whatever Masako was trying to communicate was buried under the filter of “detective mystery” she had evidently decided to put it through, and was turned into mostly nonsense. Well, except for the possibility that they’d be fighting someone else, which LOTUS factored into her estimates of the situation. The fight wasn’t technically over yet with these fairies, but they weren’t a substantial threat. Nonetheless, freezing new arrivals in place would probably be useful, so LOTUS began spooling up calculations to aid Masako’s danmaku patterns once again. ”Rrrright. Well, if she comes, I recommend weaving your danmaku patterns this way...” Isobel glanced around; seemed like everything was going just fine at this point — except for the fact that Masako looked rather ill, almost certainly from those mushrooms. Adjusting her leather gloves on her hands, the brunette botanist moved towards the tengu, and began to speak once LOTUS finished, easily keeping pace with the birdgirl as she examined her. ”Here, I’m a botanist, so I’ve got some experience with dealing with fungal poisons. Just listen for a moment, and I can help you deal with it...” LOTUS uses Efficiency Analysis on Masako, yet again reducing the cooldown of Shocking Insight by 1 turn! Isobel uses Help Intent on Masako, removing her poison status! Active Cooldowns: Efficiency Analysis (1 turn) Tactical Uplink (Partial) incoming in 1 turns  15% dodge chance, 20% poison damage reduction and poisoning effect durations shortened by one round.

Two rooms away, Linton heard somebody shouting so loudly that it was still loud where he was. “What the f... oh, God.” Linton knew that kind of shouting, and he knew those words. That was a Kahlan shouting, and a very specific kind of Kahlan — not the darker-skinned wyvern riders he’d seen sometimes, or any of the other tribes he’d more regularly dealt with, but one particular tribe that he’d only seen a couple of times. On one hand, this meant for sure that there were reinforcements helping wipe the Paxi. On the other hand... “Well, this is about to go insane, gentlemen.”

With the door no longer pressing down on them, Satomi let out a breath, letting her arms drop to her sides again -- she took some relief in the fact that the motion of her kimono in the process dig not dig soot into her anymore, but that wasn't to say that her overall state was anything less than completely terrible, still. Upon actually getting into the place, Satomi cast nervous glances around at the plants made of bones and organs... kami, this really did remind her of the Shadowlands. It was uncanny, and as she was at the moment, it was terrifying. Her hands went to the handle of her katana, shaking as she tightened her grip on it to try to help stave away her fear somewhat. She took a deep gulp of air, and then nodded shakily. "Right, I'm... I'm ready. I have to do this. I have to purge threats of Taint and darkness like this, s, so... yes, I'm ready."

"Umm... yeah, okay. Sure, I'll take some bread. Thank you very much, Shin." Lizaveta proceeded to start to slowly nibble at the bread -- she wasn't precisely tearing into it, though, and seemed mostly to be soothing leftover nervous tension by occupying herself.

"I don't despise the peasantry and workers of Perus. At the core, all of the peasantry and worker classes are the same -- people trying to live their lives, work their work, and get by while they have to deal with the predations of those in power above them." There was a slight pause. "The others, though, are rotten to the core. I... I suppose it would be fair to say that I do detest them."

Lizaveta's expression became quite serious, suddenly. "I know for a fact that Perus enacts gruesome punishments on people simply because they got in their way. I've... done research on it. I've read a great deal about the things that Perus does during the course of my time in my university, and very near to every action of that regime in pursuit of what they would like to have people believe is "justice" is appalling." Lizaveta's face hardened further. "First and foremost, Perus has designed its system of jails and executions to keep its merchant lords very rich, and very powerful. They'll put you in jail -- or kill you on the spot -- for challenging their monopolistic enterprises in any way, for resisting the exploitation they thrive off of, or even trying to reach above what they deem to be the position of the peasantry and the urban workers. They are all about keeping their power to as small a number as possible, and keeping as much of it as possible. It's sickening. Solemnly, Lizaveta nodded to herself. "I have no doubt that that jail has many people in it who are simply victims of Perus, and who the Perusians are going to kill when they feel like it. People who would leave orphans, or people who would die young for no other reason than to satisfy the power-hungry desires of that country's elite. I... had some worries... about our battling just now, but... I'm looking forward to this next part. These people need our help."

As the soldiers had begun to press in, Linton Rye's fingers began to tap out a rock-steady beat against his hip, as he began counting out the careful rhythm, the precise measurement of time that ruled the white-haired, dapper-dressed swordsman's movement and attacks on the battlefield. At the same time as he kept the rhythm passively, he looked over the situation. Things were difficult, for sure, as a press of likely-Paxi soldiers outnumbered them and was gunning for the room. It wasn't unsalvageable though... if they used the room to their advantage, Linton figured that they would likely survive until Opus forces arrived. Well... at least if the other mercenaries remained cool and competent. And looking at Shin... "Calm down. They may outnumber us, but if we can maintain superior organization, since we have control of a chokepoint, we should be able to make it through this. I have seen forces with superior numbers be defeated this way before." Linton intentionally neglected to mention that said force had been the incompetents he had been working for during his entry into the mercenary career. "These are likely Paxi forces, so that won't necessarily be easy -- so we need to remain calm so our decision-making capacity remains at its best." He took a step towards the door. "I do have a suggestion for how we can do this, if you'll take it, Shin. What we'll want to do is make sure that we can outnumber them in here at any given moment. The way I figure it, John should stay where he is right now. Shin, you should go to the east of John, so he's between you and the door, and so you can fire into the pocket we make this way. Sven, you should move right up north of him, so to trap two or so of them in here without you getting shot from beyond the walls. I'll move up to the wall to complete the pocket. Now, while I can stay on the defensive, I'll be in the most vulnerable position, so Henry should station himself to John's south to keep the both of us up. This'll be bloody, but I think it will allow us to pull this off." Linton moves to R24, and uses Leaf on the Wind.

"Would you... perhaps like to talk about it one on one, then? Um, if it's not too personal, I guess. I have some... very specific thoughts about this particular part of the mission, so..." "Maybe I could soothe some of your worries! And I guess that we all really only have each other out here, so it's probably a good idea to help each other." Really, if only people were willing to help each other out in general instead of scramble to step on each other, the world would be a better place.

Eventually, Lizaveta sighed and got up. Well, she'd already got herself into it, she supposed. And she was about to go fight the forces of Perus, anyhow, and that at least she knew she wouldn't hesitate in. Perus... the greatest oppressor of them all, really. Those who plotted and schemed and robbed and killed, all to make sure they lived in utter opulence while the rest of the world lacked it, those lords of the merchantry who had essentially eclipsed the aristocracy and had taken the opportunity to only further put their feet on the necks of the peasantry or those who would challenge their dominance of the merchantry... ...they deserved to be fought, and Lizaveta wouldn't feel bad about that, at least. Perus was pure evil that thrived on exploitation, and she would be happy to free their prisoners. However, whereas she now finally took on some nonhesitance, it seemed that another one of the members of Virtuous was not quite so clear on the subject, looking like... well, probably like she did around five minutes ago. She could tell him why it was justified! Lizaveta approached him. "...Knight? Just a guess, but... are you unsure about the upcoming mission?"

Lizaveta found herself somewhat consumed by unsureness -- she'd just killed two people, after all, and the mixed-up feelings she had were visible in the way her face twisted just a little bit. At least they'd been mostly carrying drugs, opiates and the like for the masses -- those never did any good for anyone. It helped to reassure her that they'd deserved it, but... "Hmmm. . ."

"Right. Right, okay. I'll follow right behind you then." Satomi glanced back at the monsters seeming to catch up to them, realizing that they were in fact probably hostile, and then she once more tugged her kimono tighter around her body and followed Kusuke through the barrier.

Well, Ceridwen had never seen a laguz before, and had the situation been any less grim it would probably have taken her aback. As is, at least, it got her to hesitate enough to listen to... well, to listen to Naomi, surprisingly enough. But maybe if the most incredibly bloodthirsty member of their team DIDN'T want to kill somebody, it meant something. She glanced down at Kerr, and exhaled. "I hope she's right... we can't afford to lose this!" Ceridwen moves to AB17 and stabs Myrmidon 3 with the Slim Lance (trying not to murder him on the spot, but a little KOing is okay)

Swallowing, Lizaveta left the cavalier, who seemed to be under control, and instead booked it over to the other end of the battle. She huffed a couple of times as she breathed heavily, but ultimately raised her tome and with another gulp fired magic off at one of the archers! N7, attack Archer C!

Satomi looked down for a moment at Kusuke's words and then looked directly at him -- her fear and her raggedness were still quite visible in her eyes, but a sort of resigned certainty was in them as well. "I am Crab. Crab cannot afford to sit around and wait while threats from other realms arise, as this quite literally seems to be. It is why we exist. It is the reason for my life. I... I... I may be in a moment of weakness, but if I were to back down from this, my dishonor, my shame, it would be... it would be... far worse than it already is." She didn't seem like she was going to elaborate further, but then instead simply gaped at Leo and Az disappearing as they did. "...oh."

With the events of the past couple of hours, it was no surprise that Satomi's will wasn't up to par, and with her current state she didn't even bother to try to hide the way that things were frightening her. It was like, perhaps, the deepest and strangest places of the Shadowlands, but Satomi was aware that that wasn't really an accurate comparison. This seemed even stranger than what she'd been told about the deeper Shadowlands, and certainly much stranger than the edge of the Shadowlands she'd actually seen at the Wall. And while everything wasn't CURRENTLY trying to tear her throat out, it probably would eventually. She really couldn't trust places like this. Or Arminius. Satomi drew her kimono tighter around herself as she walked with the others, hearing what Kusuke was talking about but not really paying much attention to it. She was, to be blunt, more focused on her own current suffering than his past.

LOTUS scanned the battlefield from under Masako's hat, a little hand going over her eyes to shield from the sun (something that really wasn't actually necessary, but which LOTUS had seen some of her previous masters do, so she was kind of just going for it). Things were going well -- these fairies were attacking and sometimes hitting, but they were being devastated as quickly as they were coming, especially with Masako's abilities. As she watched the Great Fairy get... well, the Great Fairy appeared to be rather covered already. "I suspect that my assistance is not required with her in particular, hmm? Instead let's angle for some extra hits on that swarm over there..." LOTUS, this time broadcasting more loudly, suggested some particularly good directions of fire on one particular swarm. Isobel looked back to see how LOTUS was doing -- and she (heh, that was kind of a weird way to think about LOTUS) looked fine. ...now, the birdwoman that LOTUS was currently under the hat of was looking rather less stellar. "Hey, Masako, take this poppy, it'll heal you! I'll help you with the other stuff shortly, so just hang in there for a moment, alright?" Isobel pulled one of her poppies from her apron and tossed it to Masako. LOTUS uses Weakness Pinpoint on Fairy Swarm D, granting 10% chance for double damage made on attacks against it for a turn! Isobel uses Healing Poppy on Masako, healing her for 4d4+INT (12) HP. Active Cooldowns: Efficiency Analysis (0 Turn) Tactical Uplink (Partial) incoming in 2 turns  15% dodge chance, 20% poison damage reduction and poisoning effect durations shortened by one round.

Nader hadn't quite expected the man to be so blunt, but he wasn't so fragile that he particularly minded. Some people just didn't like to mince word. Allah knew that Nader had moods like that himself, sometimes. "I'm looking to get something done in the Armory. It looks like XCOM has some sort of alien metal material which is superior to anything from where I'm from, and I'd like to work it into my armor, which I expect I'll be able to pull off due to my metallurgical experience. But I'm not going to be rendering myself vulnerable in there alone, if I'm going to be taking off pieces of my armor I want somebody backing me up. You strike me as one of the few people trustworthy enough to seek out for this, judging by your attitude towards the things that have happened here. Will you watch my back in the Armory?"