HereComesTheSnow

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Rudolf Sagramore

@Psyker Landshark@Ithradine@vietmyke

"On it." breathed the soon-to-be blur of red and silver, his larger blade once again resting against his back as the infiltration team broke into the open air. I wish I could.

Once again, the young warrior let the moonlight gleam against the steel of his humbler swords, needing their certain bite again instead of empty pomp and circumstance. Fire blossomed, thunder cracked, steel groaned in agony overhead as he leapt into the throng, cutting, stabbing, kicking, shoving, killing. The Valheimr added crimson to the hues of flame that cloaked him, too awestruck and rattled by the explosion of Eve's magic to regain their footing in time to check him.

You've lost Esben. This could get ugly if they realize you're alone in the middle. his passenger advised, for once in neutral tone. Don't give me that. I'm in a bad spot if you die.

They wouldn't. He wouldn't. Don't put that out there, when the aforementioned Southron had nearly shot them. Look ahead.

With Galahad's swings and Arton's materia, at once the Valheimr were sown into the wind, forced back and staggering as the the twin ringing shields of steel and sorcery crashed into what remained of their lines, a bell against their helmets.

A grunt, a burst of force through the body. The feeling of something light in the limbs, but broad through the chest, eclipsing fear.

They were then reaped by the whirlwind, as the yellowed eyes of the younger swordsman flickered into each strike he made against the rear at a level beneath consciousness, for all the world seeming to forget the frantic expression his waking mind still wore on the face. Beneath the weight of his and Arton's pincer, the connection point would come in mere moments.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gerard Segremors

"If we're taking volunteers, I think I should be on duty for Krysia." came the even-toned rejoinder from the opposite way Renar had come, as Gerard ambled back into the main mass, having begun his own loop a few minutes behind and uncovered nothing he hadn't already heard Renar lay out. Luckily, the time he'd lagged had earned him the privilege of the pauper maid's help, if only to justify her inaction— They now had proper identities regarding the two figures judging them from on high. The mage's name was familiar from... somewhere. He couldn't place it, but it felt like home. This wasn't the occasion to turn that over for more than the walk back.

"I put a lot of my time here in beneath Sir Cyrus," he explained. "And had a track record of squaring up against bigger, stronger enemies already. Jeremiah, the Demonbreaker, so on. You've seen most of it yourself. When she comes into play, I ought to be able to leverage that and tie her up a while. I've learned much about keeping myself alive against overwhelming power."

He glanced to the side, at the lounging pearlescent blondes.

"Lady Gertrude doesn't seem to believe she can do anything, and she was the one that trained with those two the most. I'll take that as a sign I've long odds of knocking the big girl off the board totally, if any. So I can't promise that. But I do believe I'm a good bet to intercept and stall. I can adjust to the range and power coming back at me. Hang around if she connects once or twice. Provided we can ensure her movement..."

He bowed his head.

"I believe this is the value I bring to the table, ma'am. I'll go where you send me."

Left unsaid, as an order from many superiors throughout the centuries contained here, was the fact that she could afford to burn him on this.

@Eisenhorn@VitaVitaAR@Octo@Psyker Landshark@Crimson Paladin

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Rudolf Sagramore

@The Otter@Psyker Landshark@Izurich

The crackle of lightning overhead, the smell of charring flesh, the screams of men who were frying heart-first...

Rudolf suppressed an urge to gag, and focused on the ringing steel of the Valheimr's swords meeting his own as best he could, forced into the front again by the way things played out. Like it or otherwise, with Izayoi serving as Hien's direct escort, the task fell to him to be the hammer to Esben's scalpel— he was a bigger man, but not built and bred for war the same way—

You're barely keeping your lunch down. Don't get a big head about "built for war", boy. If you really were, would you have needed me? By the way, your left side's in trouble.

"!!"

A quick backstep brough him behind the tile of one of those upturned tub-stall-situations (looked like a spigot overhead, not important right now) and clear of the stab that was nearly slipped between his ribs. He clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow, mind racing as he parried the man to his front. He was losing initiative with this now, having to meet three, four swords at once head-on. Even accounting for their crude form, he needed to either break their numbers up, or figure out how to lock them all down at once. Something that'd give them the edge he was losing after that moment of surprise had passed...

Tight space he could dominate. The feeling of fending off multiple people at once. There was a way. Hammer and scalpel.

He swallowed the iron ball between his throat and his chest.

"I can push," he barked to the saboteur behind. "You execute!"

He caught a bind and used it to shove the swordsman back, opening a gap between them. He couldn't settle for half-measures anymore.

The paired blades returned to their scabbards on either hip, and his right hand drove high over the shoulder as he surged forward again, towards the hole the Valheimr had busted open.

Three glints of light shimmered into streaks of death ahead—

And each were met and sent back by a mighty arc of silver, a parrying hew that checked them all, forced the men to leap back. Something that big, surely, would have smashed straight through them if they didn't give it the berth it deserved.

Rudolf stepped forward again, breathing deep, posture tall, pressing into their space. Think of Otto. Think of Imre. Plaster their faces onto these goons, and let your body remember.

He could handle this. He could inch the party forward. He just needed to show threat— with Esben around to manage the flanks, utilize them even, these guys wouldn't be around to catch the lie.

Sparring either of his brothers was like fending off a dozen men at once. He wouldn't manage that with the unfamiliar range, stance, openings...

May thy blades chip...

Half that number wasn't so tall an ask. Focused on defense and distance like this, the mystery from lands unknown would be perfect. He didn't need to cut them all.

He lunged into their range with a swipe, wickedly fast for any weapon this size, forcing the Valheimr to react. The keener swordsmen of their number would doubtless notice the suddenly, improbably tight command over the steel, his slight frame seeming untroubled by the heft or length.

He just needed to keep them from cutting him, or thinking they could worry about cutting anyone else.

And shatter.

On the riposte, it danced into each opening the Valheimr would find in his guard.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gerard Segremors

"Seems sound enough on its face." Gerard replied with an assenting nod, voice a low puff of smoke. His eyes were too cast upon the apex of the hill, wary daggers pointed towards the vague pair perched on high as he played the last minute over again in his head. He'd been across the blast, nearly turned away, and the flash of azure had crept through the corners of his eyes in the same instant as Rolan's voice reached his ears, nearly dying in the man's throat. He'd whirled about-face to try and get the Captain, Gertrude, His wedgemates, anyone close by clear... but only had the phantom burn at the ends of his nerves to show for it, as the torrent of mana shore through armor, skin, muscle, and finally burned his mind out as it reached bone.

All of that, in the span the Gerard that entered the dream might have spent on a blink. That was as good as caught unawares. Properly humbling, given how they'd only just torn through Prince Erion's guard. As the light had cleared and he'd run his habitual "what the hell just hit our guys" headcount, the Roses were revealed to, as always in this place, be whole, hearty, and assembled anew. Collecting himself in even pace with everyone, he took the reminders as they came.

"If they're giving us time, for my money it's wise to use it. Assuming running a lap on the perimeter doesn't count towards their definition of 'climbing', it'd be good for a few of us to scout for those separate points of insertion, get a clear picture of our options. Might find more obscured routes, might find funnel zones that'd get us killed if we had to commit to them, might find a sheer cliff face behind. All would be good to know about early." He scanned the surroundings, before glancing down to the smallest of their lot, reincarnated fairly nearby. "Captain. You're more schooled on troop movement and tactics in the broader scope than me. How's it all look to you?"

@Eisenhorn@VitaVitaAR

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Rudolf Sagramore

@The Otter@Psyker Landshark@Izurich

A game smirk played across the slight young man's face, shifting the blade into position betwixt his fingers behind the back. He summoned up phantoms from the past in his bearing as his gold eyes measured the assured grip of the Valheimr ahead, the distance between them, the barrel breathing down his nose. What would that man say, to kick this off...

"Only a warning— You don't have the caliber to make that happen."

Blades flashed, and as one, Kirin was free to turn the tables.

Scary! This was way too scary! Esben, how the hell did you con me into agreeing to this?! He was gonna shoot the both of us! And get some kinda kick out of it, too!

His shortsword, light and fast, found its way up to guard first as he pivoted off to the left in a burst of speed, interposing the blade between his body and the barrel of the sergeant's pistol— and as luck would have it, the sudden force would likely knock the Valheimr's extended arm into the bloody arc of Izayoi's iai strike before the smirk could even leave his face.

She'd handle him. He surged forward, both blades drawn now, weaving between the storm of flame Eve loosed as he bore down upon the soldiers intended to receive them, targetting first any of the men that seemed to have communications equipment on-hand— the further they could prolong the period before alarm was raised, the better. Less chance of the Valheimr moving Lord Hien ahead of schedule.

He crashed into their ranks, a one-man wedge to dominate their immediate attention.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gerard Segremors

"Oh, this again."

He'd been doing well to harry off any errant attempts to crumple their left side within the flow of the battle as it stood thus far, the physical gulf more than wide enough between him and any two or three Talderians able to fit within that angle effectively. Where they had the numbers, he had the force and speed to manage their sequenced blows in turn— some staggering of their tempo necessary in the tight conditions to keep their blades from accidentally crossing, and killing them both by having to disentangle so close to his own biting longsword. In afterthought, he imagined this to have been something like what Jeremiah, or the old man Cazt, had felt along the other end of the Roses' own coordinated tactics—

But the comparison swiftly faded. The Roses had never, even with his intrepid ass among their number, given themselves to a plainly suicidal gambit like this. Another man might have found something admirable in the singular dedication to the cause, but Gerard's long mercenary experience left a different, gilded shade.

He clicked his tongue, frustration spiking, as the Talderian spearman in front of him responded to his silvery point ramming through the abdomen by clutching the crossguard as though the last embers of his fading life depended upon it, far too close in now to use the polearm he'd dropped in the act. Unlucky bastard. Didn't know how many Boars Gerard had crossed blades with in his day. He accepted that much as part of him, immutably. No longer as an obstacle to his goal— simply instead a pool of method, seasoning, and motivation to help him achieve the ideal.

Bogging him down from the front would leave his flanks open to either of that man's peers. He needed to move quickly. Wrenching power out of his hips, trunk, and torso, Gerard let go of his hilt with the rear hand as he pivoted on the heel, bringing the dying man crashing into the path of his compatriot's thrust on the right, biting steel suddenly contending with a wall of ancient armor and inert muscle beneath.

That freed left hand swiftly drew the sword at the dead man's hip free and forward, lashing out and finding the second attacker's throat, before he could completely return to his guard after the sudden interception. He'd leave it there, if they were going to pull this bit out. Enough time and space with that to finally pry his blade free, about-face, and let a swing crash onto his guard—

The heavy thrum of a faraway crossbow killed that exchange, as the deadeyed hedge knight embedded in the main found his mark in that second and a half bind, catching the visor. "Thanks!" Gerard called, prying the second Talderian sword of the day free from the suddenly limp grasp before bounding to rejoin the wedge. Best to always keep a disposable on hand until further notice— and all through his career thus far, he'd proven no stranger to turning the enemy's equipment back onto them. "We'll pry them open! Capitalize!"

@Psyker Landshark@Eisenhorn@The Otter@Crimson Paladin

Secundi Lux

---

As the bulwark of Kheper, Selma had long treated the staff and logistics teams around their base of operations to the emerald light show of ascending to radiance already— they’d dug their heels in and waited a good while now, after all. Never hurt to have one element immediately ready to go, and hurt even less to have it be the one with stamina for days and a built-in warning system. Never one to slack on her work, she’d spent the weeks since her examination looking to refine and iterate on that seismic sense that had proven a keystone in her passing marks. Pointedly, the building they had been stationed at was built more than anything else to carry sound.

While she had yet to touch upon any breakthrough as major as those the summit had forced out of her, she was, at this point, quite confident she had as clear a read on their immediate surroundings as anyone could, tying milling points of vibration to each face in the crew that feverishly transmitted information around and through Saint Nicholas’s venerable cathedral. As her focus meandered between point to point, she inevitably took in snippets of the chatter flowing into the radio comms. She couldn’t stick to any one conversation too long, needed to keep casting a wide net to catch any would-be saboteurs trying to knock them out ahead of schedule— but as a composite, she gleaned the most important thing of all— this was the big one.

She heard more than that, too—

Caught in the depths of the wood and stone, bouncing between the smallest cracks that time had weathered in the humble spires, gilded domes, and carved archways of the old tower, the breath of music still lived within, singing hymns of joy and hope in the ghostly chorus of generations past. Those that knew this place not as Palmyra, but as Vladivostok. Those that knew nothing of the scourge that assailed their ancient home.

Ever the traditionalist, our heroine sat perched upon a knee with her head down, hands clasped near the heart as she let the sole of her boot press into the walls, letting the phantoms of choir, organ, and heavy bell high above wash over her. She was no Orthodox— theology was always a little high-minded for her in general— but all the same the big girl drank in the music, drank in the belief behind it, and resolved to pay her dues to the history she, and only she, was privileged to connect with.

Hmmm hmmm hmmm...

Kheper were always a quiet bunch by nature, but this attunement with the voices of the earth left even Selma, the brashest of them, reduced to absently weighing in on the idle chatter that floated between her girls, “hurry up and wait” enough to draw it out of anyone. As Rivka sidled up close by and began to entomb herself in soft, heavy blankets, it was with some chagrin that Selma was incapable of sharing the symphony. That firecracker, so much more than she, was the one who would appreciate how song and will survived the ages.

Time passed. The winds raged. Rain hammered. The building creaked upon the hill. Her subsonic vigil continued.

…

There was a swell in activity. Sharp voices from young cadets cut through the tense chatter, relaying a problem that had cropped up some five blocks removed from them. Hearts began to hammer. Far enough to not be an imminent threat, barely passed over by the big girl’s furthest listening, but close enough that Kheper were on call to investigate— but Selma caught the edge in the Captain’s tone as she said “Protect at all costs”. Same as Wei’s, seemingly a lifetime ago.

With this vortex of Nox overhead, battering the city all through the long night, everyone here knew as well as she— all likelihood said that they were headed in for a fight.

Mighty bellows deep in her chest blew a wind to match the storm as she rose to attention, cracking her knuckles beneath the metallic gauntlets of her Parma. Each popping joint cast the outpost outside her cone of vision into a moment of sharp relief in the mind’s eye, something she used to her full, petty advantage— Swiping a cup offered a while back from Liam, who she recognized from the ball, while Rivka’s transformation blazed front and center.

She’d waved him away initially, on grounds of not wanting the caffeine to push her pulse too high while listening in, but now…

“Can’t let this go to waste. Cheers~” she chuckled, tapping her cup against his own with a cheeky grin before downing it all in one massive pull. Lukewarmed by the nighttime chill, but no less effective for it, she felt her mind sharpen and a lightness flood out from the torso, as though embossing the flow of Nox within. Good. Strong stuff, justifying the bitter smoke of it. Pulling her scarf up to ward away the cold, she stepped out into the night promptly, letting the hammer inside sing as Kleinbruder appeared in her grip.

“Ready,” she reported, scanning the wet, empty streets. That easy grin still plastered itself on her visage, never to leave, but her gaze was alert in a manner foreign to their prior trials— her instructor had done well to impress upon her proper respect for situations like these. “Everybody stick close, alright? As long as we don’t stray more than a couple blocks…”

A pair of fingers to the carotid, confirming a hammerlike beat on heightened time, mirroring an uptick in the heart.

“I’ll be able to keep an eye out. Same goes for the approach on the station. If I feel anything weird, we’ll all know ahead of time. Be keeping you guys back here as in the loop as we can, Captain. Anything left before we bound, ladies?”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Rudolf Sagramore

@The Otter@Psyker Landshark

The boy clicked his tongue, and felt a flash of heat creep up the back of his neck towards the ears, thoroughly chastised within and without. He would spend the rest of Izayoi's formalization of their briefing refusing to meet Esben's half-lidded stare. Idiot. He'd overextended and blundered his position— the embarrassment of playing the fool was one thing already, but once it compounded with the specific nature of his mistake, and what it revealed of him, of his schooling...

He shut up very quick, busying his gaze with the map that was laid before them, mouth a tight line. Though he'd swiftly proven his head for operations was still far behind those he surrounded himself with, even he could quickly visualize how Izayoi's natural affinity for it had lead to the reputation she'd garnered on the field. A trio of options laid out, clear and concise, with advantages and disadvantages... all off the dome in under a minute. Whether or not that was extraordinary in and of itself per se didn't make a difference————————

That's right. It's all outta your depth when you need me for something so simple as watching your back.

"Do we know where he's held with any specificity already, or would locating him inside the brig be part of the infil team's workload, assuming option one? I doubt a prisoner of that political magnitude's easy to get to for new faces in any context."

He couldn't imagine posing as "new recruits" going terribly well, despite how often you read it in fiction. Would those agents on the inside Lady Ciradyl had be pulling a magic trick and throwing the wool over the rest of the guards' eyes?

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Gerard Segremors

"Right!"

Even in the face of the sudden, almost unexpected bursts of strength their two-pair wedge had brought to bear upon the massed shields, the Talderian Legions' legendary cohesion was on full display— to the point where their numbers had shored the gulf in physicality well, two or three men lending aid and pulling those that had borne the brunt behind their ranks all but immediately. Gerard had to click his tongue, but in turn could hardly help the smirk play across his face as he harried off a pair of fangs from either side, one apiece intended to crush into the lefthand flank of their wedge. He'd swapped with Fionn as almost afterthought, but it was proof of their foes' poor luck today—

"Well aren't we spoiled, Fionn— we've got professionals to deal with for a change."

They weren't dealing with a patchwork cell of four singular gorillas. Perhaps their shifts weren't as uniformly honed as the princeling's cohort, but he was thick as thieves with each of these three, and needed little more than impetus to work among them. When Renar called for them to break off and clear the line for Gertrude and Gretchen's Shooting Stars, it was a mere call of "Bounding left!" and an extra push off Fionn's passing shoulder to swap position with his fellow ex-merc, letting the man with the big magic blade cover the wide arc their moving diamond had to concern itself with behind.

Renar's working theory was easy enough to intuit with his clearer head— funnily, it echoed the favored tactics of the Old Lord of his home province. Rather than getting bogged in, encircled, and (however slowly) cut to ribbons by posting four blades against fourty, they took advantage of their greater mobility and smaller unit by fading away and crashing into other edges of the Talderian lines, wolves exhausting elk. Each clash would see the point hit them with all the momentum, and force two or three men behind the wall at best— like yanking at the seams to see what would pull loose.

"So this is what having real magic on call is like," he breathed, longsword biting deep into those that had busied themselves with guarding against the shower, a blender of thrusts and hews that ensured a line of steel was always there to keep their outer wing solid. No getting zealous, no getting carried away, just tight, effective work to punish indecision or overcommitment. Vom tag falls into Zornhau, fades back in Wechsel, covers space with a Mittelhau when they try to follow the retreat... flow, breathe, and just cut what they give you. Whatever they don't, the twins are probably gonna pound flat. "Could get used to it. Big fan of fireworks."

@Psyker Landshark@Octo@The Otter@Crimson Paladin

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Rudolf Sagramore

@The Otter@VitaVitaAR@Ithradine

”It’s not like she said she was gonna rush in blade drawn over her head.” Rudolf muttered from the opposite side, body tense as he fought to keep his own heart rate down. Now a little removed from the moment, he too was sitting with what he’d signed on for in snap judgement. Awash in a cowardice of his own, it could be said— the ripples in his tea said enough.

“For some decisiveness is a hard-learned road. Assuming the role of one that can be what we want of ourselves is a way along it.”

He couldn’t speak for the others, but once the ghost had been given up that Esben wasn’t kidding about being one of the Garden’s alums Rudolf had regarded the taller man’s act with a newfound presence of mind. Every hunter knew when they were being watched, and when to watch in turn.

As for Ciradyl’s words… He’d have to file the knowledge away for the moment, but it sounded like they were going to maintain operations as one unit for the time being. Couldn’t assume the greater mission had reinforcements waiting in the wings… And they never could for the current moment. Put it out of the head then.

More immediately, his instincts regarding Chisa’s behavior around her had proven well-founded— however luxurious and flattering the silk, beneath it was tempered steel once she got to business. He’d ignore whatever feeling more comfortable when a pretty lady began talking shop instead of showering an old friend with affection meant about his personality, opting instead to nod along and listen up.

“Hopeful part of me wants to know how feasible it’d be to spread their attention out and run it thin beforehand. With that many guys on alert, I think it’d serve us to put stress on their reactions, but like Galahad says, manpower in Kirin’s short to spend on feints.”