Psyker Landshark

Moonlight and Witch's Work: An anime and JRPG-inspired Witch RP

Aurelia Hargrave

For someone whose star had once rose on the heights of infamy and theatricality, chasing after fae traffickers was undignified, low-grade grunt work meant for lesser witches. Too bad that it was exactly what those holding Aurelia's leash thought she deserved. And frankly? She'd take it. At least it meant she was out of prison. Truly, the true talent afforded to the Hargrave name was covering up its shame. That was the only reason she even had any of her opportunities, after all.

Still, it would have been appreciated if Aurelia had been stuck with witches that understood the value of discretion, as opposed to the heavily-robed foreign mess and the one in full plate. Really, it would have been one thing if this was a raid and they knew where their targets were hiding. But this was an investigation requiring at least some small measure of discretion, despite the idiosyncracies of witches.

Aurelia's steps were silent: a relic of her time as a phantom thief. Of course, the lightness of her gait meant little when accompanied by the landsknecht with the nice hat. She took a moment to check her pistols, confirming that they were loaded with the proper bullets: ordinary ones for now. They could be enhanced by her magic, and if anything particularly arduous came up, she still had her spell bullets ready to go. Her arms readied, she looked out to the other as they trod through the streets.

"Let's at least attempt to be stealthy. There's no need to let every cutthroat and rogue in this part of town know we're coming. I can scout ahead, if we need it."

They needed it. The collective group needed it very much.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Salvator Rasch

CQC with unseen horrors? An absolute dogwater scenario Salvator had been hoping to avoid this early in the mission. He took in the situation at a glance, quickly marking out targets on his HUD as they were revealed. Damn. Big bastard about to jump on Echo.

Salvator raised his sawed-off, but King beat him to the punch, and he quickly shifted his vision to the side to avoid the worst of the flash, looking straight back right after. The voidhanger weighed his options as his kinswoman fired on the abomination. Intercepting with CQC was a last resort: he'd already be putting himself in the line of fire of the others. Ethereal countermeasures were likely a Very Bad Idea, considering how it would light their position up like a beacon to void horrors. Weight of fire it was.

"Echo, evasive manuevers! Focus on keeping that thing off of you! King, keep the chaff suppressed! All other units, designating primary target: focus fire on the big one!" He raised his shotgun and began pumping slug after slug, aiming for center mass to try to keep the creature off balance with the force of his shots. All the while, Salvator's data uplink to the rest of the squad finished, highlighting the lead abomination on their HUDs while marking outlines of what smaller ones remained.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

Izayoi's sole response to Galahad throwing her with nary a word of consult was a roll of the eyes and an irritated grumble while in midair. It wasn't as if she objected to the plan, only being thrown without warning. Nevertheless, the samurai whirled around midair, one hand falling to the hilt of her sword. Her landing in the midst of the knights was predicated with a spinning battojutsu strike, her sword whirling around to cut arms, chests, and throats. With a snarl, she set in upon the knights even as they were assaulted both to the front and to the rear.

Between the Eidolons, traps, and sniper at the fore, and the three elites ambushing them from behind, Isolde's iconoclast paladins began to break. As it turned out, without Isolde's magic enhancing them beyond mortal limits, they were very much vulnerable to a sudden two-pronged attack, no matter their skill.

A third of their number fell, and the rout began. The knights began to flee in earnest, those directly facing the Eidolons laying their arms down and throwing themselves at Zacharias's mercy. For his part, the last true Grovemaster glowered, whipping a hand out as he shouted across the clearing.

"Detain who you can! Do not kill any who surrender! The nation can ill afford to lose yet more warriors on this night!"

Izayoi scowled as she knocked a fleeing knight down, perched atop his back and ready to sever his spine. Nonetheless, she acquiesced, starting to bind his hands behind his back as Zacharias's personal guard began to do the same.

Meanwhile, Zacharias turned to Cid.

"Gather your warriors. We must speak of how to proceed from here. That idiot girl Isolde has just crippled our elite force in one night, and Alambert still languishes doing gods-know-what." Cid nodded gravely, looking around and taking a headcount.

"...Where are Miina and Rudolf?"

___

Miina and Loki clashed knives against each other, the double agent grinning maliciously.

"Ooh, deciding to meet me on my own ground, are we? Stupid of you. I'd thought a mage would know better." Her eyes glinted. "Still, you're doing better than the real Alambert. A little snick-snick, and there went his throat! He thought I was Isolde, can you believe it?"

Rudolf's paired fangs met their mark, and the three assailing him fell. A clear measure of his progress since Atsu. Lanius watched onward, his expression tightening. It only drew further inward as a bird formed of aether flew through the warehouse window, perching onto an outstretched arm before dissipating. The component aether drew itself into Lanius, and he opened his eyes with a grimace.

"Isolde is dead. The rest of these insurgents from Balmung have slain her men. Tch." The spymaster grit his teeth, coming to a decision.

"Enough, Loki! We're falling back. Our primary objective couldn't be met, but Isolde's idiocy has caused enough havoc that we can begin the invasion on schedule. All units, fall in and retreat!" He, and the majority of his men, hurled smoke bombs at their feet, quickly falling back. Before long, it was only Miina, Rudolf, and Loki left in the burning warehouse. The latter gave a pouting frown.

"That's it? After all that, we do this the hard way anyway?" She sighed and easily disengaged from Miina, whirling and leaping backward to create distance. "Oh, well. Enjoy the sight of airships on the horizon, children! I daresay you have but hours before Valheim's full might descends upon you!" And with a last mocking wave, she teleported away.

In the distance, Ifrit and Ramuh's pillars of aether began to fade away, still noticeable for the moment.

After Era Mythos

ZEPHYR

Milk? Seriously? Sheena rolled her eyes beneath her visor, thankful that they weren't visible to the public or the cameras. Still, she let out a derisive chuckle in response, nonetheless. Because damn, was it easy to get under this bitch's skin. Two sentences in and Ladyice was already firing off the profanity.

"Not a chance." ZEPHYR replied easily to Ladyice's cursing, her arms folded as she just hovered there mockingly. "Easy and desperate isn't my type. See? I can do it, too. You're not special."

Surprisingly enough, still not a single comment from her handler yet. Ruiz had to be halfway to apoplexy at this point, really. Sheena could tell that woman hated the job. Hell, Sheena hated the job. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't going to do as good a job as possible at it. And if that meant starting a high school catfight in the middle of dozens of cameras and hundreds of people? Well, catfight it was.

"And this is a public event, princess. No one inside needs an invitation. Think you ought to be real familiar with the concept of letting anyone in."

Come on, come on: take a swing. Fire some icicles. If Ladyice lost it and started popping off, ZEPHYR's job here was done. She could beat a quick retreat under the guise of not letting civilians get caught in the crossfire, and probably steal a good few fans away too. After that, maybe dinner. Carne asada sounded good tonight.

After Era Mythos

Getting a post up tomorrow hopefully, sorry for the delay

Falling Skies

CMDR SAGAN "VULTURE" KODOS

Sagan grit his teeth as Commie's new best friend decided to turn and burn instead of sticking around. He fired, of course. A pair of missiles came streaking out of their launchers, but were stymied by the Coalie's flares as he fled. God fucking damn it. The one Coalie in this fight that was capable of doing extreme damage, and of course he was getting away.

<< Commie, make note of that one. He shows up again, I want him dead as quick as you can, duel or not. We let that one run amok, someone else might not make it back home next time. >>

The commander exhaled slowly as he focused his attention on the rest of the field. Most of the opfor was pulling out, and the ones furthest up were surrendering. Phase 1 was complete, then.

<< Right, 7th, that's enough. Stand down and prepare to meet up with our supply convoy. They'll be setting up our FOB before we move forward with the next phase of the op. >> He said over private comms before switching the band to the one shared with the Helldogs.

<< Helldogs, Vulture. Thanks for the assist. Transmit me Rhino's report card as interim team leader when you can, would you? He's got grades to make. If you're headed out, good hunting out there. >>

Iris Ascendis

Iraleth Kyrios

Protected as she was by her bulwark of plate, Iraleth wasn't as banged up as she could have been: no few bruises, but nothing that wouldn't heal. She stood, catching the last bit from the two bandits before they fled like cravens. Her lips pursed. Bastards. She slammed the tip of her sword into the dirt in frustration before turning back around to help Rio up.

"Are you well? Had we not been restricted by these rings, I would offer healing." The thought brought another frown to her face. "Of course, had we not been restricted by these rings, those brigands would have been rust upon our swords. Distressing."

Once Rio was confirmed well, she turned towards the others, affording Otis a brief nod.

"Good shot. You likely saved our lives with that stunt." She complimented, before considering his words. After a moment, Iraleth gave in with a sigh, nodding her assent. "I hate to turn tail and run, but he is correct. We ought to send for a church escort if we wish to make it to the city at this rate. The majority of our group is unable to fight effectively without Essence, and you are injured, Professor." A frown.

"I hadn't thought there to be such a coordinated and well-planned group of brigands in these parts. The local patrols have been remiss in their duties.

Iris Ascendis

Trying to get a post up tomorrow, sorry for the delay

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

For a moment, he'd thought that had been it. Surely, whatever was behind the armor had to be vulnerable. And then Renar was quickly proven wrong as he narrowly evaded the retaliatory strike of flame with a tilt of his head.

And then he returned to a desperate defensive, frantically parrying and evading the barbs sent after him. This was getting ridiculous. He couldn't read an enemy that didn't have tells! His teeth grit. This was just random. No thought, strategy, or practice behind the lashing barbs. To lose to such a cheap wretch with no appreciable skill would just be insulting.

What to do, then? Precision had already failed. He still had no few tricks left, but half of them were discarded in his mind: they'd be of no use against a foe like this. Gerard or Fionn would likely have powered through by now, but Renar was more of a cerebral fighter than an instinctual one. He'd need a complete shift in mentality to change his approach in the middle of a battle. Better to weigh his other options first.

Not simply charging in didn't mean he couldn't rely on main force. He'd just need a more suitable weapon first. As Renar dove to the side to evade a barb, coming up in a roll, he finally spied it: his poleaxe, lying discarded but meters away. The moment he confirmed where it was, an idea formed in his head. Another flash bomb was hurled at the trapper's feet, the small explosion hopefully blinding it while dissipating some of the smoke around its form. When its vision cleared, it would see Renar's sword hurled straight at its head, with its wielder in question following up almost immediately after, the hammer head of his poleaxe coming down to crash into the trapper's helm while it was distracted with the blade.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

"Agreed." Izayoi nodded tersely in response to Galahad, her gaze not leaving the knights' backs. "Much as I would like to show them the disparity between us when they aren't benefiting from outside enhancement, two or three against fifty is poor odds." Even in her prime, she wouldn't have went in alone and without a plan versus four dozen of a nation's elites.

As Galahad signaled Chisato, Izayoi waited for the party's newest member to appear before nodding to her.

"Judging by the knights' outrage, I would assume Isolde lies dead, then? Good. Let us pursue her followers, and strike when they are distracted. Evidently, they believe you to be Zacharias's agent, Chisato."

___

@Raineh Daze @HereComesTheSnow

Nobody was expecting a flour explosion. That much was evident. Loki and the Valheimr coughed and recoiled, those closest to ground zero blown away by the blast.

"Damn it!" The man named Lanius choked, desperately waving away the dust and smoke in the air. "Find the girl! Our half of the operation is finished if word gets out!" He commanded his men. As the dust cleared, some of the disguised Valheimr caught wind of Miina fleeing while Rudolf appeared, and drew guns.

"And your men using guns in the middle of the night won't?" Loki laughed in her partner's direction, mocking. "We've already attracted yet more attention!" She pointed in Rudolf's direction, drawing her knives. "Deal with the boy, I'll play with the girl." She moved to vault over Rudolf, clearly intent on chasing after Miina, a brace of blades thrown in at the fleeing mystrel's back. Meanwhile, a trio of Valheimr in mercenary armor charged Rudolf, gunblades raised for melee after hearing Loki's admonishment.

___

@The Otter @Click This

Minutes later, the stirrings of conflict could be heard at the edges of Zacharias's grove. His guards werely quickly overwhelmed and slaughtered by the infuriated paladins, and they rushed the clearing, only to be met by magical turrets and mines. Shields were raised, both physical and magical, and the knights began advancing, with a mere one or two having been lost to the initial salvo.

Within the cottage, Cid nodded at Esben, gesturing for Zacharias to join him.

"Come, then. I daresay we could make a good accounting of ourselves. Just like old times, no?"

Zacharias could only respond with a sigh, setting Isolde's staff aside before gripping his own and following after. "Do you intend to take the field in your full strength?"

"For such as this? It won't be needed, so long as the remainder of his companions arrive to support us."

"Them? Of all people?" Zacharias huffed in disgust still, to which Cid could only shake his head childingly.

"You think too little of them, my old, young friend. After all, at this rate, it won't be the Grovemasters saving this land anytime soon."

Outside, twin pillars of flame and levin arose, visible across the city at large. Ifrit and Ramuh revealed themselves in their full glory, prepared for war.

@VitaVitaAR @vietmyke

It was at this point that Izayoi, Galahad, and Chisato caught up to the knights' rear guard, undetected. Isolde's men had bigger problems to their front to deal with, after all. Who would dare to strike from the rear at this moment?