[IC] TotMV:G^2: Clash of Fate: The Courtyard (Social/Prep Phase)

[Zetaark]

Having finished with her tests for Ghost, Ritsu decided to wander through the courtyard a bit as she waits for the teams to move towards their respective servants. She wasn't entirely sure on what to think of the matter, but she figures that a standard day at the mansion would leave her in similar thoughts. Things there were always strange. Ritsu did think about how the others would be faring without her though, all things considering. Though she technically wasn't the one in charge of the security there, she always did have to manage it every now and again. She sighs as she silently hopes that the others won't burn the place down before she returns. While Ritsu continued thinking about home, she notices a girl running from what seemed to be the armory over to the courtyard. Concerned that something may have happened, Ritsu decides to look into things.

 

"Excuse me!" she says in an attempt to get her attention as she moves closer to the girl. "Is there trouble about?" she asks in an attempt to determine whether the matter required urgent attention.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki jumped again at the robot maid's call. After she took a moment to settle herself, she shook her head as she replied. "Um, no. I was talking, um, to Venus. . ." She trailed off, unsure of whether she could continue. He had confided in her after all, but what he had confided was worrisome, to say the least. "He said some stuff, um, that, um, was concerning. And he started laughing maniacally when he finished." Hiroki, looking about, briefly reconsidered taking her chances with the armory again, with the number of people gathered in the courtyard. "What's, um, going on?"

[Hal Henderics]

"We're getting drafted for war!"  Dackly shouts, cheerfully.

 

Gozer mechanically puts a hand to his face.

 

"Did I do that right, Dackly, or was I supposed to slap the back of your head for that comment?"

 

"No, no, you do the headslap when you are exasperated."

 

Gozer thinks for a moment. He is fairly certain that means he simply won't be doing that gesture.

[Zetaark]

"I see. I'll admit, that behavior concerns me slightly as well. I hope it doesn't become much of a problem," Ritsu remarks, all the while not quite knowing who Venus is. Nevertheless, she looks towards the courtyard as she prepares to answer the question the girl gave her. "It seems there was a bit of a meeting regarding which people would be dispatched to deal with particular threats. I'm apparently off to deal with the Berserker along with a few others," she states. She then notices the girl looking about the crowd. 

 

"Do you prefer more quiet spaces? If you would like, we can continue this conversation at a less crowded part of the courtyard."

[Stalkerkain]

On 7/17/2017 at 8:59 AM, DragonRage said:

Lexiel grimaces at LOTUS' suggestion.  "Lotus, was it?  I think you're operating off incomplete information.  I could lead the sortie against the army, but my personal skills and experience are really better suited for squad combat.  In our battle against the army earlier, I could feel my auras failing to reach my allies in any meaningful way.  The rank and file might have an interference field set up?"

 

23 hours ago, Powder Miner said:

Secondly, I've realized that Lexiel and the (non-Lexiel) summoner from the briefings should switch places -- Lexiel, you're not going to be able to get a clean squad combat any which way, but since you can't summon Nobunaga with that ward in play, it would be better that you go defend our castle, and that the other summoner help keep the enemies here occupied with the siegebreaker team.

 

Magna Sigyl

Upon confirmation of being placed with the castle defenders, Magna went out in search of the defense captain. She had made her way over to LOTUS, who was the one who assigned the teams in the first place, for confirmation. Upon getting closer, she could see what was undoubtedly an angel who was already talking with LOTUS. The angel in particular, was looking a little displeased already.

 

"My my, dissension among the ranks already? What a time to be alive!" Magna joked. "I'm looking for this 'summoner woman' you mentioned who is to lead the defense team. Could either of you lovelies point me towards her? I'd like to hear the defense plans from her."

[Powder Miner]

LOTUS shifted his eye-dots' position on his screen to look at Magna. "She's right here -- Isobel, turn a little bit, thanks." What was on his screen changed from a little stylistic face to an arrow, blinking on and off and pointing directly at Ghost.

 

Then it turned back into a face, looking at Ghost now. "That's excellent news, I'll want you to take the other three teams as far as you think viable without straining yourself, then the siegebreaker team should engage the outside armies for long enough to grab their attention and get our teams out. The way back we'll probably just have to fight back, with your team's help, but given that we'll have likely defeated Assassin and thinned out their forces, that ought not be too insurmountable a problem. Here, I'm actually going to want to be able to communicate with you. Isobel, can you give that spare Overwatch headset you got to her?"

 

Isobel, who had waved at Edmond as he had left, turned back to the people LOTUS was currently talking with with a nod. "Oh, um, yes! Here you go, LOTUS should be able to talk with you with that unless the distance gets particularly bad... I dunno, I guess that might actually happen. But it should be better than nothing." She presented the radio headset to Ghost.

[Sutoratosu]

The woman took the commlink, examining it for a few moments "Hmmm, I don't think whipping something up to give our friends beyond the wall something to think about will be very hard at all. A few squads running will be the least of their worries by the time I'm done..." with that said she turned to Magna- yet another undead, just like the lich.

     "As for the team and the plan- funny you'd ask. I'm actually going to need you to find the others who've been assigned and bring them back here. You've probably been running with this brigade longer than I have, so you'll have a better chance of actually knowing who they are. Once you've got them, we can talk; it'll be easier once I know what each of them can do. In the meantime, I'll help the other teams got moving out of here."

[Stalkerkain]

25 minutes ago, Sutoratosu said:

    "As for the team and the plan- funny you'd ask. I'm actually going to need you to find the others who've been assigned and bring them back here. You've probably been running with this brigade longer than I have, so you'll have a better chance of actually knowing who they are. Once you've got them, we can talk; it'll be easier once I know what each of them can do. In the meantime, I'll help the other teams got moving out of here."

Magna Sigyl

"You must be Lexiel then! Pleased to meet you! I, SKELETON MASK, will most certainly gather the rest of the castle defending team, or my name isn't SKELETON MASK!" she said, striking a pose. "-which it isn't! It's actually Magna. Now if you'll excuse me..."

 

Magna began to turn to gather the remaining members.

[ElfCollaborator]

Sachi Honda

"L-Like I said, I don't know, really. I-I kinda just went along with all o-of this.... I'm just trying to do my best to make do, is all. It's the best I-I can do."

Indeed, Sachi herself started considering just how screwed her situation was that she basically just went along with all of it. Why, precisely, did she go along with it?

 

Oh, right. The horrific monsters trying to eat reality.

 

That was it.

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by ElfCollaborator

[Sutoratosu]

"....no... Lexiel is the one other there, on the other side of the girl and lotus. I don't why you specifically asked for me if-" Ghost tried to correcct, before the being began to go into some bombastic declaration, posed, and ran off to fulfill the request. 

    Sighing and shaking her head, she turned back to the other two from the war room, Lexiel specifically "I don't know why she specifically asked for me as the "summoner woman"  instead of you, given she already apparently knew your name, but... regardless, I guess she'll be going off to round up your team for you. Either way, I'm somewhat glad there's been an apparent switch though, there's something just abit... off with that one." 

    She took the Radio headset she held and fixed the gear into place, turning her attention to LOTUS "Anyway... Let me know when the other teams are ready to move out. Until then, I suppose I'll be wrangling my group together myself."

[Stalkerkain]

26 minutes ago, ElfCollaborator said:

Sachi Honda

"L-Like I said, I don't know, really. I-I kinda just went along with all o-of this.... I'm just trying to do my best to make do, is all. It's the best I-I can do."

Indeed, Sachi herself started considering just how screwed her situation was that she basically just went along with all of it. Why, precisely, did she go along with it?

 

Soryn Éclaire

 

"Well that's admirable of you, Sachi, and just about all anyone can really ask for. I'm sorry for bringing that up then, I didn't mean to belittle your efforts. The only reason why I'm so persistent is, well, because I'm rather frustrated at having no control in this situation. I... just want to return home," he said softly. He didn't know why he was telling Sachi all of this. Perhaps she was just calming to talk to. "Let us diverge from the topic then. You fight on the vanguard, yes? Are you not afraid of being on the frontline?"

 

17 hours ago, King Murdoc said:

 "What's, um, going on?"

 

Magna Sigyl

 

Magna began to scan the courtyard for the people who she was supposed to gather, when she spotted Hiroki from a distance. She hadn't had a proper conversation with her in the longest time, and immediately started breaking into a full sprint into a hug-tackle towards Hiroki. Magna felt like she was forgetting something, but if she had forgotten, it must've not been that important. At the top of her non-existent lungs, she began to yell: "H.K!!!!!!!!!!!! I've missssssed yooooooooooou!"

 

[Zetaark]

Before the girl before her could respond, their conversation was rudely interrupted by some...skeleton person running towards the girl. They seemed to be acquainted, or at the very least the newcomer was familiar with the girl. Either way, it was still a strange situation.

 

"Er...who might you be exactly? And are the two of you acquainted?" Ritsu asks, leaning on her chainsaw in an attempt to relax.

[ElfCollaborator]

Sachi Honda

Sachi thought about that for a few seconds. It's clear she's trying to think of exactly what to say here, as if there's something she's not saying.

"W-well....i-if I don't step up, then n-nobody else will, right? I-It's not like I want to fight, b-but.....s-someone always told me that.....you're likely to succeed if you try, and, w-well, if I don't try, I won't succeed, and nobody else will try either, so...."

She trails off, remembering who had taught her that.

 

Of course it had been Mio. It was always Mio. The Hero Club's Five Tenets were things Mio had taught her from a young age; after all, they were useful lessons to anyone, not just Heroes.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki jumped once again; it was almost becoming habit at this point, as much as she mentally berated herself for being so visibly bothered. Her consternation was not helped as she was promptly glomped and knocked fully over, being a rather small teenager who did most of her fighting with a machine. She squeaked a bit on the impact with the ground, and took a moment to collect herself before replying to the robo-maid's (at this point she wasn't even questioning it) inquiry. "This is, um, Magna. We, um, met earlier, on the first world we, um, all got sent to."

[Yours Truly]

@DragonRage

Solomon persisted in his efforts to ask Lexiel about her goblins, and he cleared his throat again before saying "Why would your goblin-like spirits be so distracting anyway? I mean they are obviously magic, but what does the magic actually do other than keeping them from being pulled back to where they come from? It's probably a useless question, but I just want to know why that woman's skeleton army could be much dumber than your average skeleton army..."

 

Atton had thanked Boomtown at some point for his relatively useless home office waste, but mostly because he feels that he had enough materials there to do....something, he is not really quite sure what that thing is, but he is looking forward to finding out.

[Strider]

Edmond:

"Yes, we'll be meeting back here. Once you find people, if you want to delegate the task of getting more people to them, you may do so." As the girl walked away, Edmond gestured for Wyvis to follow him towards the AI. "Edmond Cooper. Nice to meet you, Wyvis. So. . . what are you good at, in particular? I know fighting, since this is an offensive team, but what are your specific skills, both in and out of battle?" Edmond continued to approach LOTUS as he said this, with the intent of asking whether they had any plan to escape the castle surrounded by an army, or if it would simply be a tedious and dangerous fight. He was however, distracted by the mention of headsets. After hearing out Wyvis' response, he posed his questions to the AI. "LOTUS, I'm not certain, due to the fact that both my suit and those headsets contain unknown and likely different tech, but it may be possible to sync the suit up to them, to remain in contact. Is the headset radio based? And, if so, do you know the frequency?"

 

Liliya:

"Huh. Nevermind then." It seemed that this commander had in fact been switched to a different team. Now she needed to find someone named Lexiel? There was nothing really in that name that gave her information to find this person. Though. . . it sounded female, and it would be one of the commanders, and not Ghost? That might be enough. Liliya made her way over to obvious angel, who had exited the briefing. She was somewhat in awe of this. . . presence, but she politely asked, "Are you Lexiel? Leading the Castle Defense team?"

Edited July 19, 2017 by Strider

[StormLord]

Morgan looked out over the courtyard from the wall trying to make out who this "Ghost" person was. He'd gathered that the computer and young woman holding it were LOTUS and Isobel respectively.  He'd already..."met" Lexiel before in the Castle, same with Edmond.  So he assumed that the last person being surrounded by people was who he needed to find.  She was the cloaked and pale skinned mage he'd ridden in the book-hovercraft with.

 

So he made his way down from the wall while trying to think of ways to deal with such a large force.  They could try summoning a Pariah if this fortress had the right ingredients....and hope it was in a good mood, otherwise it might decide to eat the defending army as much as the attacking one.  If he'd taken more courses in the Arcane he might have been able to make use of the mana node in this fortress to fuel some more powerful magic.  Push come to shove there were enough magic users here for him to create another Soul Storm, though he wasn't such he had it in him to survive another.

 

He looked up from thought just as he was about to walk into a group of people, which he narrowly dodged.  He took a few steps over the Ghost and spoke "Ah, you must be Ghost.  I heard you were leading the Siege-breaker team.  I'm Morgan." He hesitated somewhat awkwardly for a split second before politely extending his hand to shake Ghosts.

Edited July 19, 2017 by StormLord

[Zetaark]

"Is that right?" Ritsu asks as she stares at the individual known as Magna. "Well, so long as she isn't trouble, I suppose it's fine. On that note, I don't believe I've introduced myself either. My name is Ritsu," she states, finally introducing herself after this rather odd chain of events. The newcomer Magna seemed to be decent enough, though she still didn't know quite what to make of her. 

 

"So Magna, was this girl the only reason you came over here, or did you have news to share with us as well?"

[Chevaleresse]

A second messenger runs out of the castle proper, slowing briefly upon seeing the first is still standing there, and makes a beeline for Isobel. "Lord Silef's diviners have ascertained the location of the ones you called Berserker and Assassin, as well as the fortification that recently appeared." He rattles off a set of directions to each one, then continues. "She would also like to extend an offer; she will personally fight alongside you on one of your missions, should you so desire, and will do so until this campaign is concluded." He bows. "Normally I would ask if you would like to send a reply back, but my fellow here seems to already be prepared to do so." The man in question shoots the one speaking a brief, but withering look, before smoothing his face over once again; the one receiving is already headed back to the castle. 

 

Some distance across the courtyard, a blue shimmer about three feet to the right of Lexiel announces the reappearance of Nobunaga. "Excellent! It seems that things are finally moving. I should mention, though, even with your support, my mana reserves are rather low at the moment. I'll likely only be able to join you or your soldiers for one battle, and perhaps not even the entire thing. Fighting is taxing, you know, even if you're a spiritual being. You should know this better than I do!" 

 

 

[Stalkerkain]

Magna Sigyl

 

"Being trouble is subjective my dear! It's merely what perspective you take. But nonetheless, I am Magna Sigyl, a pleasure," Magna said extending her hand towards Hiroki to help her up. The absence of a soul from Ritsu indicated that she wasn't a living creature. The only conclusion she came to was that Ritsu was robotic in nature. What a marvel technology was, that AI had become sophisticated enough to simulate consciousness. Magna paused to think about Ritsu's question.

 

"Hmm, nope. Pretty much here just for Hiroki," she said without hesitation. Ghost (whom she had mistaken for Lexiel) had sent her to find the remainder of the castle defenders. Neither of which, were Ritsu or Hiroki. "I'm part of the castle defending team! I wouldn't mind going out into the field either, but the others seem eager and roaring to go! What about you two?"

 

Soryn Éclaire

 

"A rather circular argument, but a meaningful one nevertheless. I'm sure you know this, since you've been with this group longer than I have, but from what I've learned from the little time I spent with this group though, is that no one will force you to fight," he began explaining. Here he was, expressing his concern for a stranger whom he had just met. From talking with the timid Sachi, he had assumed that she was quite young, though he could be entirely wrong should she be an ageless entity like himself. "And I'm sure, with all the people here willing to fight, they wouldn't think any less of you if you decided to step down."

 

"I apologize if that was boring or unnecessary. The old tend to ramble incessantly."

[Hal Henderics]

"Very Excellent! OK, Everyone with the Siege Fighting Squad, I am about to go Shout mean things at that army outside with a magically enhanced voice, if you have any psychological warfare of your own you would like to enact before we beat the heck out of them, speak now, or forever hold your peace."  Dackly says, counting out some emeralds and preparing her one-liner.

[Zetaark]

"I'm apparently supposed to go with the group dealing with the Berserker. In the meantime, I've simply been waiting around and helping someone with a little task," Ritsu answers back as she sees that there is some new commotion. "It seems that we will soon be deployed out to our fields. In which case, I say good luck to you all. And Magna, try not to get too distracted. Your attitude reminds me a bit too much of another one of the maids and well...just don't lose focus at bad times alright?"

[Sutoratosu]

"What in the Oblivion's name is she doing?" Ghost sighed as the plant-... cyclops-snake thing slithered by announcing her little plan after the couriers had come and gone. Even worse, apparently she was on her team... of course, looks like she got someone who was a little bit off anyway. Her and Lexiel seemed to be in similar boats. She glanced back at the angel and Lotus "I'll leave you two to figure out what- or rather if -you want the noble to fight alongside whichever group..." and started off after the gorgon, only then Remembering the other member who'd come to introduce himself though.

     "Well at least that makes two of you who are accounted for..." she looked morgan up and down for a brief second, taking note of his attire "just what is that you do, by the way?"

[Hal Henderics]

Dackly slithers up onto the ramparts and crushes an Earthen Emerald, enhancing the volume of her voice so it can be heard, by using it's inner energy.

 

"Hey Idiots! I had a great day today, and you morons have been wasting it siegeing this castle, and now I'm going to kick your ass, your lives must suck! Morons! Did those servant guys pay you, or are you just that whipped that you can't even think for yourself!?" she laughs, her voice hopefully booming over the land.

 

Gozer looks nervous as she slaps her rear, before slithering back down.

[StormLord]

Morgan listened to Ghost speak, then glanced down and retracted his hand before replying.

"I'm a Void Mage.  We manipulate the fabric of reality to achieve ends such as teleportation or forcing entities through the veil.  I also know some potent healing magic and I can use this sword effectively against single targets.

He shifted his weight back to make himself seem less looming with his height and all.

"I also believe I've come up with a way to teleport people other than myself without the standard side effects of madness, death, or various fates worse than death.  I don't want to use it before testing some more, but if it's needed I can try to transport a few people at a time."