Psyker Landshark

Digimon: Recompilation

Akaishi Azumi

Location: Gateway
Skills/Items Used: None

The crashout lasted only as long as it took for the angel’s voice to book in exasperation. As it turned out, seeing such an exalted figure immediately descend into barbed snipes and high school-level gossip was enough of a shock to the senses for Azumi to get out of her own head and actually start paying attention.

And it was funny as hell. The little bat lady thing was a natural banterer, dropping heat as good as she got. With that kind of presence, she’d be an insane collab partner for stream…if she could stream. Damn. Damndamndamndamn-

Before Azumi could doom spiral again, she forcibly shook herself out of it and decided to distract herself as best as she could: by acting out.

”Aww c’mon, Auntie, you heard the big grumpy angel guy!” She snuck up on the hag-sounding bat sphere thing while it was distracted with banter and wrapped it up in her arms like a plushie. Against its struggles, Azumi began to drag DemiDevimon over in the direction Dominimon pointed, yappering away all the while.

”I mean, it doesn’t hurt to at least hear him out, y’know? Gives us time to think of how to extort him later! Can’t squeeze him for all he’s worth if we don’t know the stakes~”

”This is just like one of my light novels, really. Ooh, does that mean we get cheats? C’mon, c’mon, stop struggling, I wanna find out my cheat skill faster!”

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

To channel and control the effects of multiple separate materia all at the same time would have been a tall order for even a practiced, formally-trained mage. Gravity strained to slow the meteor down, even as Miina began to centralize and combine the effects of the various materia the Kirins were channeling. Multiple layers of wind and fire combined with time and lightning, concentrating into Izayoi's hurricane blade. With flame and levin added to the mix, the vortex began to combust into flame, Izayoi gritting her teeth as she struggled to control the stack of spells alongside Miina.

"All is ready!" Izayoi bellowed above the roar of her blade, blood spurting from her nose as she sustained damage from the strain of controlling so much aether. "Clear out of the way, now! I cannot promise there will not be backlash! With me, Miina!"

The cyclonic pyronado reached its zenith, and Izayoi screamed in pain as she struggled to swing the titanic strike, collapsing the moment the blow was loosed. With her greater control over the spellwork, Miina suffered even greater damage, the aftershock of channeling so much aether hitting her nerves with the force of the very hurricane she helped loose, causing her to seize up in agony and writhe on the ground.

Chisato's explosive blade strike surged up to meet the firey hurricane at the very apex of the strike, providing the last spark needed before it all rose up to collide head-on with the Behemoth's Comet.

Crack. Boom.

The meteor shattered. Not merely into smaller, still deadly rocks. But into a shower of pebbles that came raining down over what remained of the village they'd just saved, the militia and fleeing villagers looking skyward in awe at the miracle that had just saved their town, thought to be doomed only moments ago. As the last of the party collapsed from the wounds and aetheric strain they'd all collectively suffered in fighting off the horde and the Behemoth, Goug's panicked voice could be heard as he approached on chocobo-back.

"Och, don't just stand there, ye kupo muppets! Help them! Get them tae a bed, a kupoing healer, whatever local quack ye bumpkins have out in these sticks! Move, kupo, move!"

___

Two days later, when next they came to, the Kirins would find themselves on the mend, laid up in the village headman's home. None of them were fully healed as of yet, being treated solely with herbs, poultices, and the local healer's low-grade Cure materia. But at the very least, they were treated to a hero's welcome and any amount of hospitality the desperately grateful villagers could give. It would be some days yet before they were well enough to move on further into the Skaellan heartland.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

<Snipped quote by Bentus>

I dramatically over-estimated my free time this week, sorry for the hold-up everyone!

Been loving the posts in the meantime. Wernher, Psyker, Arnorian, how are y'all feeling with the mech combat around the Venture? It's been great reading you all writing the fighting scenes, but let me know if it would be helpful for me to write up responses for the pirate combatants.

Also, a question for the whole group, I tend to avoid adding new Discord servers when I can afford to. I'm thinking of setting up a dedicated channel for this RP in an existing server for a larger group of loosely-connected roleplays. If there's any objections to this (or a preference for a dedicated server) speak up now or I'll go ahead and click the big red button.

@Bentus

1. Don't mind doing it this way but specific responses to throw curveballs or direction in combat scenes wouldn't go amiss

2. no objections

Will have a post up within a few days

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

Rudolf's glob of flame choked the Behemoth, distracting it just in time for Galahad's halberd to find its mark and for Chisato to strike true. Her katana plunged deep into the Blighted beast's flesh before its store of aether detonated, releasing firey gouts straight into its body directly.

The Behemoth bellowed and writhed in agony, a hastily-formed fist punching Chisato to send her flying with enough force to break bone without external mitigation. In that moment, Ramuh struck, bringing the judgment of eld crashing down upon the creature. When the smoke and ash cleared, the Behemoth could be seen gasping for breath, clearly on its last legs.

It charged forward in a last, desperate ploy, great bounds sending it barreling towards the dragoon that had thrown its weapon away. Just before it could bear down upon Galahad, Izayoi intercepted it from the flank, a spinning, whirling battojutsu draw lopping off the fist it was about to bring down in a hammer blow. Even as the samurai landed in a crash, disgracefully tumbling against the ground in pain from her injured chest, the Behemoth collapsed as well, sliding past Galahad as Blighted blood spurted from its now hand-less limb.

With one last defiant roar, the Behemoth released a pulse of aether from its mouth, surging into the air while its creator breathed its last. From the sky came a flaming boulder, descending at a rapid pace while aimimg to crash into the densest concentration of life available: the militia, having managed to hold the Blightbeasts long enough for them to begin to disperse and rout with the death of their mightiest.

Looking up into the sky, the only reason Izayoi didn't scream in frustration was out of fear of aggravating her broken ribcage. Instead, she pushed herswlf to her feet with a determined scowl and raised her blade skyward with both hands. Wind began to rotate and surge around it in a repeat of her strike that split the sea weeks ago. Her intent was obvious: shatter the Comet before it could descend and cause untold casualties. But her wounds were clearly hampering her: the winds were building slowly, too slowly to accumulate in full before the Comet fell.

There was only one solution apparent: throw everything they had at the Comet before it could make impact. With its size, it was already too late to flee; the shockwave from its landing would cause untold devastation for miles around.

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

Lieutenant Aria Dvalin

"...Yes, Your Highness. Heard and understood. Baron Wilhelm, good hunting." Aria could only give a professional response before she cut her end of the comlink, raising a fist to smash into the side of her cockpit. That goddamned idiot! For a moment before they launched, she allowed herself to indulge in the mental image of wringing Cassian's neck and shutting his smarmy mouth for just two seconds. The moments passed. She shook herself back into reality, leaning into her mech controls as Lucia gave final marching orders and the Lance began to deploy.

Five confirmed enemy AC readings closing in on their own boarders. Friendly ACs were outnumbered by one, then. She sucked in a breath, centering herself and steadying her nerves. More than doable. Considering their Lance's makeup, the Baron and Marcellus just had to live long enough for Aria and Tanne to hit the flanks and lock them in. Classic hammer and anvil. And judging by Baron Wilhelm's orders, he was already thinking along much the same lines. Old age hadn't dulled his wit, then. Only fueled his fire to dangerous levels.

"Ironside, Armatus. Orders confirmed. We'll be sure to keep up, over."

Now fully deployed in vacuum, thrusters hot, Aria maneuvered her Core as bid, taking up a flanking position as Ironside and Hippo made their charge. She raised the Armatus's rifle, bracing it against the shield the mech held in its other hand. Confirmation blares rang in the cockpit as she got an initial lock, the AC's targeting suite already automatically microadjusting the mech's aim as Aria pulled the trigger, firing in bursts at the AC furthest out in the side of the enemy's formation.

"Lance, Armatus: getting tone on multi-lock! Firing once I have a solution on all of them, glory to Sol!"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

There was no time for fear. For doubt. For anything past ingrained experience and raw, feral instinct. Izayoi surged forward with a wordless roar, her blade poised to cut at what would be a tendon in the Behemoth's forearm, even as Rudolf attempted to sever its spine and Galahad came crashing down as a bolt from the blue. For its part, the Behemoth bristled, its neck narrowly twisting to save its spinal cord, roaring in pain from blackflame cutting into it. One meaty limb reached up to grapple Rudolf, the other backhanding Izayoi away with brutal force after her blade sank into said limb.

As Galahad and his halberd crashed down into its back, the Behemoth buckled and roared in agony, squeezing Rudolf once before hurling him aside. It howled again, this time flopping over and rolling along the ground once, twice, thrice, aiming to crush Galahad between its back and the dirt. It came up on all four legs, bleeding profusely from several new wounds but dealing proportionately savage damage to its three new foes.

Izayoi picked herself up from a distance away, propping herself up with her sword as a crutch and spitting blood due to her broken ribs. It was only thanks to a quick barrier from Selene that neither herself, Rudolf, nor Galahad were completely out of the fight as of yet, even as injured as they were.

Even as Esben's bullet plinked off of its hind leg, the Behemoth roared once more, a pulse of aether in its mouth surging up into the sky and breaking apart, creating a swarm of heavensent stone that came crashing down into the militia. Not the Comet spell recorded in Sagramori archives, but a lesser prelude to it. Cursing even as she forced her body to leap out of the way of a few stray meteorites, Izayoi dropped to one knee, a hand still clutching her midsection as the great, Blighted beast drew itself up on its hind legs and howled its rage to the heavens.

The Envenomed: Military Science Fiction Deniable Operations

Salvator Rasch

Salvator processed the information given to him over comlink with a grim lack of enthusiasm, his lips pursing beneath his mask. Great. Wonderful. Entire platoons of heavily-armed boarders on the station. That explained the gunship support. At least there was the ethereal equivalent of a crisp breeze on the exterior of the Sargasso. So perhaps he and Alice would die refreshed, at least.

Of course, he didn't let his doubts show in even his body language, staying alert and ready as they trudged through. That would be an idiotic waste of squad morale if he couldn't contain his opinions to his own inner monologue. At least Kleo wasn't taking the opportunity to start a fight again. A few more of those, and it would have likely put Salvator into conniptions. The only saving grace on that front was that their support squad had someone equally as volatile, evidently.

"Harvest, Rasch. We copy, appreciate the support in dodging those pirate elements. Continuing advance, over." He keyed into comms before looking around, nodding to Ilshar.

"I hear you. Agreed." Salvator murmured as they proceeded forward, his carbine sweeping over anything that gave a hint of movement. "Squad, Rasch. Anything to report so far? Sounds like we got lucky evading entire platoons of upjumped pirates."

Is it just me, or are profiles 10 years or older kinda terrifying?

Alright then: what were things like before Guildfall?

@Birdboy

I wasn't here before Guildfall but I would love a story

@BangoSkank

Current RPG still has less in-reply functionality with BBCode than pre-Guildfall RPG did on phpBB.

the end, please clap

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Ranbu no Izayoi

Slowly, the tide began to turn. Izayoi and Rudolf held the eastern gate, godspeed blade and black flame alike starting to divert the tide of Blightbeasts further south through sheer weight of the bodies piling up before them. Meanwhile, Esben and Eliane's efforts in rallying the local militia began to take effect, the levied fighters starting to do as bid now that a source of authority had made itself known.

"Thank tha gods yer here." A grizzled man bearing a pistol and munition armor grunted, nodding to Eliane as he approached during a brief lull in the battle. "Call me Lell. Militia captain, on account of bein' tha only fightin' man ta make it home in recent years. Lost tha lord's manse when they approached, think them Blightbeasts got 'em while he was out hunting. No gunpowder out here in these boonies, though. Only steel. Fallin' in under yer orders, Dame."

Bolstered by new leadership, the militia rallied, Galahad and Miina's efforts shoring up enough of their deficiencies so that they formed a solid spear wall under Eliane's orders. Sent fleeing and pursued from the east, further Blightbeasts flowed south, beginning to pile up just as Esben had planned. Chisato slipped through the ranks, sowing chaos where she could, and as she disappeared, Lell nodded to himself, positioned a pace away from Eliane while firing his pistol repeatedly into the Blightbeast horde.

"Going rather well, ain't it? Like some sort of divine miracle, just up an' having a bunch of folk show up to save tha day. Well. We can't be having that now, can we?" His voice shifted tone midsentence, pitching up higher as his aim shifted towards Eliane's back, pulling the trigger with the last of his ammunition. The shot was critical, and likely fatal in time, but not as lethal as the gunner had intended, whether it be due to simple providence on Eliane's part, or a last second reaction.

When the dust and smoke cleared, Loki looked upon her work with a dissatisfied frown, melting into the shadows just in time to avoid a furious, newly-arrived Izayoi's attempted leaping cleave.

"Damnation and hellfire! Miina, we need you, immediately! Eliane is downed!"

As if on cue, a furious roar carried across the field. The Blightbeast horde, which had previously been on the verge of outright dissolution, seemed to take heart and vigor from the cry, suddenly redoubling their charge in earnest. In contrast, the militia saw their newly arrived commander fall, and began to waver, the ranks loosening. Their fear tripled as the source of the roar made itself known, lumbering towards the front of the field from the rear of the pack, Blightbeasts turned or outright tackled aside by its rush.

A titanic canine bearing wicked horns and a great mane sallied forth, Blight oozing from open gashes on its sides. A Behemoth, fallen to the Blight.

"Hold, damn you!" Izayoi bellowed in response, a flick of her blade sending shockwaves of wind crashing into the horde. "The first man to abandon his duty and leave his peers and family to the Blight will be the first to die by my blade!" Her gaze searched the town's tallest buildings until she found Galahad, crying up to him.

"We need to charge! The Behemoth must die before it and the horde overwhelm the militia! Esben!" Izayoi shifted her attention towards the other Skaeller. "Can you still maintain order here?"

Lancer [Mechs, Magic, and Intrigue]

Lieutenant Aria Dvalin

"There's nothing we can do? You're sure?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Unless we scrounge up a Leonard-compatible engine somewhere in this sector, the Armatus can't be modified much further without losing critical combat capability in one area or another. As it is, we're treading water unless we can find one. And we both know how Rayleonard ACs are with proprietary tech.

"...Damn it." Aria slammed a fist down on her mechanic's desk in frustration, who looked on placidly, long since used to these outbursts.

"Ma'am, all due respect, scuttlebutt has it that you have connections with the Prince. He can't get us an engine or some such shipped out here?"

Aria fixed her tech with a withering glare at that, the latter wincing.

"I've used up enough quite a bit of capital with him as it is, even getting placed into this Lance. That, and I suspect he'd grow bored and tune out any explanation I give him. He hardly even listens to that aide of his, and unlike that harlot, I'm not sleeping with him." She wasn't entirely sure of the veracity of that statement, but based on rumor and extrapolating what Cassian used to be like compared to the manchild he was now, this particular pet theory of Aria's had a better than average chance to be true.

“All Lance elements: begin immediate preparations for armored core deployment. All pilots, be ready for departure within the hour. More information to follow.”

She'd already been in the hangar when the General Quarters alert came out, meaning that Aria was in the cockpit within moments of the klaxons sounding, going through preflight checks with her attached maintenance crew.

"Reactor and engine status?"

"Online, ma'am!" Came her team's head mechanic's reply over comlink, instantly harried into swiftness despite the fact that the two had just been discussing the AC's engine conundrum not half a minute ago.

"Armament?"

"Standard package, El-Tee: Rifle, beam saber, shield. SPAMRAAMs fully loaded. Skyeye suite operational."

"Good. Main systems, online. Moving to deployment zone!"

"Roger, ma'am. Kick some ass out there!"

With the Armatus fully booted up, Aria maneuvered the mech towards the ship's designated rally point, checking over the battlespace map Lucia had sent over in the meantime. With what little intel they had on this entire situation, she couldn't complain about the proposed plan by any means. Merely the lack of available information going into this battle. Aria despised playing escort, but it was a necessary part of the proposed tactical plan. She'd bite her lip and get the job done.

"Lieutenant Aria Dvalin, AC Armatus. All systems green, prepped for launch. Onyx-9 Actual, reading you five by five. See you on the other side."

Aria worked through the comms in order, monitoring who was gathering first. As expected, the Baron had beat her there. His request had her wincing, wondering how exactly best to word this. Ordinarily, Aria would have been far more aggressive in jockeying for the vanguard. But towards Wilhelm von Zollern? No self-respecting member of any Imperial armed force would have dared show such temerity, even in the face of what was likely a poor tactical decision. Thus, it fell to old, barely-remembered noble mannerisms to carry the day.

"Baron Wilhelm, with all due respect, the Black Knight's command-and-control suite is too integral to our overall coordination to risk in the van. Please, allow me to take your place, should the Prince will it."

It wasn't as if Aria didn't understand. Of course she did. Any pilot with a working pair and the will to fight would have done the same. And she didn't doubt the canny old veteran's skills, either. But it was exactly as she said: much as the ship's head mechanic did, Aria looked over the available readouts of the entire Lance's ACs. The Black Knight had the only functioning C2 suite available to the field team. Even if it was an old, mass-produced piece of tech, that alone rendered it invaluable to the Lance's overall coordination. Hopefully, both the Baron and the Prince would see her request for the tactical consideration it was, and not her jockeying for glory and recognition, no matter how true the latter was as well.

...Oh, who was she kidding? She wouldn't be surprised if Cassian decided to deny the Baron on some whim.