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4 yrs ago
Current "So curious, Draugr! To make me monologue about my evil plan, that is your strategy?"
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[UnderCity - Forges Region, Outskirts]

[A Fate001 / XianaEvermor Collaboration]



A small moment of hesitation: Yue felt the impact of Alex's punch from where she'd been standing. She hadn't seen any telltale blue flash of his barrier ability. Admittedly, she was paying much more attention to the Hydra and the fight. For the time being she dismissed the thought so she could focus on her job in this maneuver.

Claw Rends.

Yue focused upwards, and the tendrils of lightning seemed to gather loosely towards the tip of the sword. She stepped forward, letting the sword drop to gain momentum before she swept it forward and up into a crescent, landing back in the high guard. The sword bit into the earth and carved through it effortlessly, unleashing a narrow shockwave that ripped through the terrain. It crashed like thunder as it swept the arena; lightning viciously raked the creature's body, blasting armored plates off its torso and burning its fur to cinders.

She followed behind it, slipping through the narrow window of frictionless vacuum behind the shockwave. The creature thrashed, shattering its binding and whipping its tail around as it twisted itself back upright. It impacted Yue's torso, lighting up her HUD like a Christmas tree. Her whole side went numb despite the shock compensation and the Sword of Justice spiraled into the air still singing its crystal tone. She grabbed hold of the tail reflexively, and was driven into the ground.

Alex winced as the barrier holding him flickered t of existence and dropped him to the ground. He hadn't had the time to really recover from that [Scream] and the rapid breaking of his constructs was straining him. He desperately wanted to rub his temples to try and alleviate the headache he had been trying to ignore from the start of the fight.

Yue had taken a solid hit from the Hydra. And Alex had just about had it right there.

Fight now, patch up later.

Huffing angrily, Alex looked around for anything he could use while his telekinesis was essentially on cooldown. All there was were the busted up chunks of ground from the fight. . . Which happened to include a lot of sizable boulders of bead rock.

Monkey throw rock? Monkey Throw Rock.

He scrambled over to one of the stones that had to be nearly five times his size and a few tons of mass. Part Of the boulder protruded out into a rough point. Perfect.

Just as the Hydra was about to begin coiling itself around Yue, he slammed the boulder into its back, shattering on impact and damaging its scales and spines. The earthen shrapnel was quickly followed by Alex slamming his own body onto the beasts damaged hide, ripping And tearing at anything he could get his hands on.

Did... he just throw a rock? She was too buried beneath the mass of the creature to see exactly what happened, but she felt the impact and saw the shards of rubble fly past. Things weren't adding up... the secondary impact gave Yue enough space to get back to her feet, however. She shelved the nagging thought again. As she took a deep breath, the pins and needles sensation of muted pain signals prickled her lungs uncomfortably. [Crimson] welled up out of her skin as she felt her muscles coil.

Fang Pierces

The Hydra's armored plates cracked beneath her hands as her fingers crushed into the creature's tail. By the time it had whipped a head around to deal with her she lunged, pulling the tail taught. Just as it was about to whip her away, she planted her feet, splintering the earth and heaving the creature over her head. The force with which she slammed the creature back into the ground pulsed through the rock and echoed loudly throughout the arena as its three heads knocked together.

The tail whipped up suddenly and flung Yue into the air. Time stopped... what now? Yue thought furiously as her altitude was rapidly becoming unmanageable: she was moving at quite a clip. Right. Eliminate or suppress ranged attack, alter trajectory, vector to "safe" landing area. She dug four disks out of her utility pouch, loading them into her Strategem launcher in sequence. One was aimed at each head, and the fourth some distance to the side, hopefully out of the creature's reach. Yue exhaled, time resumed.

"Pommel Flash to Fists of Vengeance, then Meteor Slam!!" screamed Yue down at Alex. All at once, as the heads turned up to her mouths agape, one exploded into a deluge of sand, and the middle was buried in rapidly hardening foam. Something tiny shattered a few meters away from the creature's final head, ejecting a primed flash grenade into the air in front of its face.

Alex stopped his pummeling of the beasts back armor when he heard Yue's next callouts. He really wasn't gonna question how she was gonna blind the thing when she launched a bunch of stuff out of seemingly nowhere at each head, including a flash bang,. [Pommel Flash] . . . flash bang. That was one way to mimic a Paladin skill. Alex took no time to bound off the Apex's back as it tried to stitch itself together, flinging his arms out in a wide arc towards the disoriented hydra head. He might be durable but being blinded or deafened wasn't something he could just shrug off. Thankfully his helmet had built in protection.

Feeling a sort of second wind hit, Alex spread a long pincer of hard light out from each arm, subsequently slamming them together to catch all three heads in a telekinetic vice. He slammed to the ground hard but quickly got enough footing to begin pulling at the cluster heads as if they were a stubborn dog on a leash. No splitting mental pain was a good sign, but he was instead gritting his teeth as he tried to pull against a creature whose entire body might as well be one dedicated muscular machine of death.

His usual overlay of hardlight flickered back into existence. As the floating plates reformed, long spiked hurried themselves into the ground to anchor him in place. The Hydra redoubled its efforts to buck and thrash in his "grip". "No you don't Fluffy, just Need you to stay riiiiiight there for a few more second you ugly bastard"

Yue flailed awkwardly as she hit her apex and began to tumble. Even with the stabilizers deployed, the Drachenmail had a much different aerodynamic profile than her previous suit design and it threw her balance off. The pillowy green mattress of sour apple gelatin that was blooming off to the side of the arena suddenly felt miles out of reach. A twinge of panic lanced through her chest: Even with the impact compensation, if she landed awkwardly she could easily get hurt.

Looking back up, It quickly became apparent that Yue didn't have the means to replicate any form of aerial movement skills like he could given her current trajectory. Couldn't have that now. he mentally pushed and started creating a myriad of walls and platforms in the air around the hydra up and out towards where Yue was currently falling from. For someone that moved the way she did, it might as well had been a clear runway.

"DON'T YOU DARE MISS!! Alex yelled half jokingly, only having a hint of edge in his voice despite the circumstance.

[UnderCity - Stoneworks Interior]

[A Chaotix14 / XianaEvermor collaboration]



Of course the place she'd mention was that place, and by process of elimination there really was only one person it could be. "Yeah, that would be the place where your person of interest and the shapeshifting menace that came to harass you earlier got into a fight, at least I hope there aren't multiple of those running amok." Raudd explained as he grabbed the rock and gave it a little toss with some spin. Could be turned into a nice trinket, but likely much more work than it's worth given the hairline cracks on it.

Zolya buried her face deeper into her drink as Raudd continued. "So as you might have guessed I have a pretty good grasp on who your person of interest is. Arranging a meeting on the other hand that's going to be complicated. There will have to be a significant benefit to the person in question for a meeting to be arrangeable, and money or fire crystals aren't going to work for that." For Raudd this was just business as usual, except in this particular case he didn't know exactly what his represented party would need. That would be his sisters part, he just needed to pull out what was on offer.

ID nodded, contemplating their answer. Moreover, she was processing their mannerisms as they spoke. Clearly this person was under their protection for some reason, or her presence in relation to them was alarming. She considered her response carefully.

"Maybe it would ease your conscience if I explained what I do," she began. "As I mentioned, I'm extremely sensitive to any disruption of the natural Manascape. I follow these disturbances to uncover the source, and if necessary sort out any natural cause and restore the balance. Sometimes I find artifacts or people and... I collect the shiny things," she explained with a bit of a sheepish sigh.

"People are interviewed to determine their knowledge of the Awakened World, if any. Afterwards, I either help them find a mentor so they can learn to properly control their magic, or try to convince them to stop using their powers," she concluded.

"I can sense your concern for this person. I assure you I have only their wellbeing in mind: anyone who can cause a disturbance that warrants my investigation without training is a danger to themselves and others. Don't trouble yourself, however: I understand that trust is earned. For the time being, why don't we focus on what I can do to compensate for the damage that I caused."

Neither of the siblings quite knew what to make of the statements and suggestions from ID. Zolya just gave his brother a quiet nod as he glanced over to her for advice. Secret organizations weren't uncommon among the mage society, but she came on quite strong in her desires to pull this particular mage to her side, especially given this particular mage has been under the protection of the Black moon society... As of 20 seconds ago. Regardless arranging a meeting likely wasn't going to cause any harm, providing the meeting happened on their turf.

"Hmm yes, the damages. As mentioned earlier I'd like to have you perform some enchanting work, but to make sure this arrangement works for both of us I have some questions. Assuming all mana needs are provided what's the amount of mundane fire affinity materials you could enchant to low level magic materials in... Hmm, let's say an hour, and would that be one large singular piece or can it be a fine powder?" She asked the lady as Raudd finished his coffee.

"It depends on the quality of the source material," she answered after a while, after considering their request carefully. "Without going into specifics... what you're asking can be done. The amount is inconsequential as long as the source material is free of contaminants. Powders are less than ideal: they tend to carry trace contaminants from the tools that were used to create them," she explained, casually spreading some sparkling red dust onto the table. She traced a magatama into it and a handful of rough kanji before reaching over and placing the sheared rock in the eye.

"The more contaminants in the source material, the weaker the enchantment... Affinities also matter: Fire and Water are opposed elements, so fire aspecting something that will be diluted in liquid (like ink or paint) will result in an weaker overall affinity," concluded ID, pressing her fingertips to the edge of the illustration.

"However, contrary to traditional enchanting conventions... I've found the two most important factors of material enchanting are the quality of the base material, and the preparation of the area. Everything else has a negligible effect on the final product." ID tilted her head a bit, making direct eye contact with Zolya. The mana surrounding her shuddered and swirled. An invisible breeze stirred the room, and ID illuminated brilliantly in the [Immaterial], not unlike a star. Wisps of amber rose out of her skin, caught up in the breeze to disperse around the table and after a few moments she was sitting in the center of a small, but strong Domain of [Fire/Light].

A vent in her mask clicked open, and she gently breathed into her free palm. A snap of her fingers created a spark and ignited the gas, which she let cascade onto the stone. A surge of mana pressed the flames and a substantial amount of her Domain into the stone, flashing the dust and the design onto the stone's surface. ID let the rest of her Domain fade into the background noise and get reclaimed by [Nature] as she rolled the now strongly aspected stone towards Zolya.

"Will that suit your needs? A sample with fewer contaminants would result in a stronger enchantment, but much more than that will require a specially prepared area."

[UnderCity - Outskirts, Stoneworks Region]



"Why??" Snuffled Rat, as he drooped forlornly under Maire's arm, staring back in the direction of the Stoneworks. "Rat was almost safe. Why did you make us leave? Safe space! We must make for safe space!" he whimpered. "Stoneworks, Shieldtown, anywhere! Didn't the Cutting-Lady see? Angry-Munch? The one that glows? Never alone! More will follow! Giddy-go, Cutting-Lady! Can't stay here!!" whimpered Rat, wriggling desperately in the Templar's arms.

"The ones that chase, and bite will be here soon!" wailed Rat. "Rat can't wait here! Rat can't wait here," he screamed, as he began frantically trying to wrestle himself free.

A mass of enormous teeth and muscle exploded from the earth just a few dozen meters away, like a whale breaching the surface of the ocean. The creature slapped back into the gravel, streaking directly towards J-3, its massive mole-like fore-limbs propelling it through the rock as though it were water.

[Ares Palisades - Sector 7, Titan's Fall, Texas - USA]



Rice. Salmon, filleted perfectly (of course). Cucumber, sliced thinly.

Onion, diced. Red Cabbage, shredded. Some Hijiki seaweed.

Sweet chili citrus sauce... some edamame and avocado. Dash of soy.

Sairyn garnished his bowl with a mango slice and sprinkled sesame seeds over the top before returning to his chair across from a blandly dressed SINS agent. He glared as the agent looked up at him with some surprise. Sairyn could see the agent's eyes flick down to his lunch from behind his generic knock off sunglasses.

"Oh, shit! When you said you were making food I didn't think Purgatory's Kitchen was happening behind me," he chuckled. Sairyn only raised an eyebrow at him in the awkward silence that followed. "Soooo...."

"You bought a hot dog," Sairyn answered, cutting him off with his mouth full. There was a note of annoyance in his voice, but truthfully he was grateful to have a few serene moments to sort out his manic thoughts and plan his next move. Maire was a capable agent, and a quick review of the fight footage revealed that she fell though the plate gap on purpose, though to what ends he wasn't sure. It was inconvenient that she was out of touch, but he wasn't worried that she was hurt.

"Right...," the agent replied, with a small sigh of defeat.

Yue was the more troublesome of the pair. It's not that she wasn't capable, but since the incident Yue's mental health was tenuous at best. It didn't help that the staff psychiatrist seemed to have it out for her. Sairyn didn't have any authority in that department so there wasn't a lot he could do about that... not yet at least. She'd buried herself in work, and more or less cut herself off from other work relationships. The only person in the office that could get her to regularly open up was Archer... maybe Felix. She barely spoke to Ion anymore (a fact which Ion reminded him of frequently), and Echo was still in HR limbo following his injury-forced retirement.

Sairyn stabbed his chopsticks into the bowl with a flick of irritation as he stared out the window towards the Ares HQ building. He'd known Yue the longest, but personal relationships were a thing... that happened to other people. That didn't mean he wasn't desperately wanting to charge into UnderCity guns blazing to find her. Fuck anyone who got in his way. Without confirmation of her location all he had was an educated guess that she was down there, however, and being wrong could end up making whatever Maire was doing much harder unintentionally.

"He's just staring at us," sighed the agent.

"That's what we want him to do," answered Sai between mouthfuls. SINS had called him in to help with a surveillance operation, since they'd gotten a tip that Ares might be receiving some kind of illicit shipment. They needed someone to fly a drone over the area they'd been tipped off about which... really anybody could do. Flying a stealth drone through hostile, heavily monitored and guarded territory without sending any detectable signals that would tip Ares off to their presence, however, was something only he could do. "The longer we have his attention here, the less likely he'll notice something amiss elsewhere," Sai answered, chewing noisily after shoveling rice into his mouth. The agent gave him a distasteful look, which cracked a smirk in one of the corners of his mouth.

"It's fucking creepy though, he's done nothing but stare at us and drink coffee... I'm almost convinced we're actually watching a looped recording."

"Tag his window with the laser mic," he instructed, raising an eyebrow. The agent aimed the device at the opposing building, and for a moment a few hushed voices came through the speaker. The silhouette waggled his finger at them, placing his other hand on the window. His image blurred, and the speaker erupted in a loud buzzing. Sairyn snorted when the agent gave a startled jump. "How convinced are you now?"

The agent glared at him. His phone chirped. Sai watched him blink behind his dark glasses as he checked it.

"That's probably for me..."

"Wh- This is a secure line on a private network?!" He blustered. Sai shrugged. "41 messages?! Who the fuck is Lux Discord??"

"This is why you should've let me keep my phone," quipped Sai, smugly.

[Undercity - Stoneworks Interior]

[A Chaotix14 / XianaEvermor Collaboration]



ID fell into file behind them, sometimes lagging behind to look intently at something in the market. Occasionally she'd stop, and her eyes would track something out in the void that was probably just out of sight before trotting to catch up.

There was plenty of open space and small idyllic natural gardens along the hewn paths and it was all very [bright]. Swirling eddies of emotion and ideation, currents of color and glowing text. The glowing script carved into a large stone tingled against her fingertips as her hands glided across its surface idly. As she walked through the gardens, the plants leaned subtly towards her as though they were seeking the sun.

ID entered the café behind them without ordering, only holding up a hand and giving a subtle head shake. The effectiveness of the barrier wasn't anything to scoff at: even low Hazard Apexes were basically walking natural disasters. Seeing one ripped to shreds by the enchanted brambles was definitely something to take note of. She slid into a seat not quite directly across from them, unbuckling the sheathed weapon at her hip and placing it on the table in front of her so it didn't get tangled up in the chair.

Just as the sound of the sheathe hitting the slab of marble died down Zolya was the first to break the silence. "Let's start with what brought you here. After all it's not a regular occurrence for a living rumor to wander into this place, leaving such a precious stone in the hands of my pets. What do you need from us?"

Raudd, sitting next to his sister gave her a little jab before muttering. "Softer language sis, want not need." Zolya flustered for a moment before she went for the straw in her drink and took a big sip.

"Please excuse her, she's not that used to negotiations. But if you'd wish to tell us what kind of assistance you were looking for here, that way we can resolve the big-ticket items first."

"Appreciated, but unnecessary," replied ID, nodding her head towards Raudd. She turned her chair a little so she could cross her legs under the table. "A disturbance that occurred this morning drew me to the area. I came to investigate what caused it and the trail led me in this direction," she explained. No real point in lying: it wasn't her strong suit anyway.

"A disturbance from this morning you say? I'm assuming it's something of a magical nature? But if you could be a bit more specific that would be very helpful, today has been anything but uneventful so far." Raudd asked going through the day’s events in his mind taking another sip from the coffee. The things that came to mind didn't seem like they would attract the attention from someone who lived a low-profile life, at least not enough to step out of the shadows. Maybe something else had happened in the period of time they had been out of the area.

She tilted her head back and forth as though she were considering just how much to reveal to them. At the very least, she was definitely policing her words. "I'm... very sensitive to anything that disturbs the natural manascape," she admitted after a while. "Something hazed an area southwest of here, and the intensity of the emotional factor was storm-like. Disturbances like that typically lead to interesting people or artifacts, particularly crystals and...," she rolled her eyes a bit, fully aware of the stereotypes associated with her draconic theme. "I like shiny things," she concluded, a bit sheepishly.

"Oh! Oh... I hope the surroundings haven't been too overwhelming. But if that trail of haze led to here, unless it's been very recent, I doubt there'll be a trace left within this area. My pets could find the continuation of that trail for you, or if that person is still within the Stoneworks lead you right to them, however their view of the immaterial is limited to the Stoneworks area." She replied as a specific person came to mind to both her and her brother.

ID made a dismissive gesture.

Having had his face buried drinking down his coffee while his sister took the word Raudd took to prodding for information hoping with wouldn't lead where he thought it would. "Anything specific about the area that got hazed? A crack in the ground, burn marks, liquid splashes or something that could identify the caster?" "What? you're not gonna tell her about your collection of precious stones?" Zolya blurted out to her brother.

"Sigh They are semi-precious stones, also most of those are uncut and unpolished, so there's only a few that have a shine to them." Raudd retorted to his sister as she went in for another sip with a cheeky smile on her face.

ID suppressed a chuckle, but the corners of her mouth did twist into a smile at Zolya's ribbing. It was... disconcertingly disarming, given the scope of what ID estimated her abilities to be. She did rummage around in one of her pouches for a while before producing a strangely shaped rock which had been sheared to a near polished finish on one side. She slid it across the table towards them.

"Unfortunately my trace sample was lost in the most recent disturbance, but I did find this at the edge of a long scar in the earth. The area was also saturated with salt water. It looked like a... not insignificant confrontation took place," she explained in a neutral tone, now watching both the siblings and their reactions very carefully.


[Undercity - Forges Region, Near Iron Town]

[A Fate0013 / XianaEvermor collaboration]



Having been thrown to the ground by the clever Hydra. Aegis had expected to be used as a chew toy only to instead hear the Apex roaring and screaming in pain. Getting back to his feet, he found Yue standing before the monster, and what a sight it was. Silver Fang all suited up in her new armor and Justice arcing in her hands menacingly.

Something about her Stance caused a part of his brain to click, old memories of hours spent in Final Odyssey rushing back. Holy shit. I'm not the only one that just tried to copy what I do in real life.

Righting himself and reapplying his spiked shell, He was struck with an idea. Really it had been a hot minute so there was a chance it wouldn't work, but still…

I wonder if she remembers the Guild’s old callouts?

Just then the charred skin on the Hydra's stumped neck began to bubble and roil. Dead cells sloughing off before an entire new head and neck regenerated out of the wound in a wet burst. Unlike its previous head, this one resembled some sort of hellish deformed leopard with too many eyes. The saliva that dripped from its hissing mouth burnt and melted the ground beneath the beast.

The situation had changed and it was about to turn bad real fast. The Cat's head began to real back while it's neck swelled. Alex could only assume it was going to spit up something . . . and if Fang was going to imitate Godspeed . . . Shit that's not good.

Thinking fast, Aegis charged forward almost on instinct. His fists slamming together in front of him as a large, heavily layered barrier quickly formed in front of him.
"Kasha! Bait and Switch!!"

"Wh-??" Yue flinched. Alex had just been on the ground, incapacitated... or so she thought. Her rear facing display showed Alex charging up behind her, and she reacted without thinking. Yue drew the Sword of Justice, slashing upwards and sending a bolt of lightning up into the air to blind the creature momentarily. In a blast of coarse metallic dust, Yue disappeared, just as Alex was about to barrel into her. Yue slid to a halt a few dozen meters to Alex's side.

As Silver Fang disappeared from the Hydra's sight, the beast was met with a glowing wall of force with a very pissed off brute behind it. The mutated cat head discharged a stream of acidic fluid from its mouth that splashed harmlessly against the hardlight. A flawless [Bait and Switch], which was then followed by what looked suspiciously like the Warden's [Battering Charge].

Aegis Slammed into the Hydra with the force of a Freight train, Knocking the beast back before catapulting himself away. He landed heavily not far from Yue's position. "So then, Fluffy here looks close enough to the Infinite labyrinth's boss on floor seven."

More blue light began to manifest and visually enlarge Aegis's silhouette. he was really riding in the hope that she would get the reference to that boss’ stupid adaptive mechanic if you hit anything but the main body.

"Floor seven... Th-the Lindwyrm??" She stammered, still wrestling with the fact that he was standing. Yue was pretty confident she'd seen him take a direct hit in the ribs from that spiked tail. Armor or no, that would have left her with some serious bruises if not fractured or broken bones, which is why she rushed over to intervene as soon as she saw him go down.

He slammed his fists in anticipation as the beast coiled itself back together and glared the two armored heroes down. "You take point and I follow your lead? I'll keep up long as you make your callouts."

"R-right uh," she paused, trying to quickly collect herself and adapt what were normally strategies for an 8 player encounter into a duo act. "Uh... uh, L-lockdown Launch to Elemental Discharge!"

L.L. was a solid one. If the enemy could be interacted with physically you would pin them down in the most disadvantageous way possible or send them into the air to be picked off. In F.O. That would require at least three well-coordinated players.

"Jeez, I'll see what I can do!" He crouched low and waited for her to move first.

Yue darted away several steps as one of the Hydra's heads focused on her, taking a breath. She drew the sword with a flourish to build up a charge as she ran, and as the torrent of spikes and acid a [Flash Step] instantly slid her into position on the creature's flank. She took a breath, sword in high guard as the charge rode the flow of [Crimson] and wreathed her body in lightning.

There was a short-lived flash of blue, as Alex catapulted himself off a temporary launchpad for extra forward momentum. The effect was like he had been fired from a cannon, gaining the same general effect of a [Gallant Charge] but lacking the pretty particle effects.

The Hydra's remaining head tried to snap down at him, only to be met with a solid ball of condensed force to crack its teeth against, like a glowing jawbreaker from hell. He skidded into the ground in a three-point landing just below the beast’s large frame, cocked back a gauntleted fist, and launched himself upwards at the Apex's chest.

Executing a mostly perfect [Rising Iron], Alex wasn't done just yet, and neither was the beast. With The Hydra seemingly not even winded and already trying to right itself. Thinking quickly, Alex threw his arms out and launched a dozen U shaped constructs that looped the creature’s necks, limbs, and length of its body to keep it from moving. He forced it violently onto its back, wincing as the constructs we're already breaking: they weren’t even close to being fortified enough in such a short amount of time, and only buying the two maybe a handful of seconds.

That's all the famous "Godspeed" would need. Alex bubbled himself as he hit the ground.

"Light Him Up!!"

"...Oh," ID muttered after a long moment of silence, seeming to physically relax for the first time since her arrival. With one last look towards the hole from which the frenzied creatures would likely emerge, she followed behind Raudd (at a respectable distance) through the inner circle. The scarlet scales adorning her body slowly dissolved, and her eyes relaxed back to their original burgundy, though her gaze was no less intense. Her eyes lingered on the runestone for a long time as she crossed the threshold, studying the patterns of mana flowing through and around it.

A static barrier strong enough to hold off an Apex was no small feat... literally, the scope of the barrier was enormous if it encircled the entire settlement. Mother would be interested in this. ID kept a hand on the hilt of her Firebrand. Even though fighting with a mage who commanded a territory as large as this one wasn't on her to-do list, she didn't relax her guard completely. They seemed like nice enough people, but retreating to discuss business over tea and cakes while literal monsters terrorized the lands just outside the door was just a little too surreal for her to trust. Someone with a more tenuous grasp of reality might question if this was real or not, but ID could read the writing on the stonework... its glow scraped uncomfortably bright against her traumatized [Dreamsight], causing her to squint a little.

ID fidgeted as she watched Zolya erect the barrier, feeling more and more like she'd just stepped into a spider's web.

Well then... looks like there's nowhere else to run.
Enchanting work? ID raised an eyebrow, and once the dogs left her stance relaxed a little, but her hand did not come off the hilt of her Firebrand. The person on the other end of that earpiece conversation had a keen eye if they had already identified her as the one who crafted the Fire Crystal. Though... it could have also been their network of spies, she noted, flicking her eyes up towards the flock of summoned animals.

"Is that all?" she asked, with a note of incredulity. "Wait. Right..." she muttered into her mask, reminding herself that material enchanting wasn't such a casual chore, and for most people a Fire Crystal wasn't something you just gave away willy nilly. At least it had done its job of buying her some good will.

"I apologize for the damage: I was chased onto your land by that creature and then attacked. I'm willing to cooperate but, are you sure it's wise to be relaxing?" She asked, tilting her head curiously at Raudd, who was now engaged in scritches with one of the wolves. She had yet to release her [Fortification] or [Hardening] spells.

"Have you forgotten? Apex tend to travel with packs: we might only have a couple minutes to catch our breath, is this place so well prepared that we need not spread the word? The Hunt is beginning!"

The distant din of frenzied creatures began to waft up from the hole J-3 and the others had emerged from. ID could feel the subtle tremors in the ground underneath her feet of the swarms digging through the collapsed tunnels when everything else was still. She stood her ground for the time being, but otherwise made no other moves.
"Oh Gods, oh... Safety with the Erlings, yesyesyes, finally sweet safety," muttered Rat as he attempted to scrabble farther away from the battle raging just behind him. Between gouts of flame and jets of water he crawled, making himself as small of a target as possible.

"Safe space... saaaaaaaaaaaaaaafe space yes. Stoneworks is a saaafe space if... Rat... Can... Just...," he stretched, reaching his spindly claws towards the last bit of Earth that would carry him over the ledge and out of danger. His fingers just barely made purchase on it when something scooped him up roughly.

"WHAT?!! NOOOOO WHYYYYY?!" his voice trailed off in the distance as he clutched desperately at the few blades of Stoneworks grass he was able to salvage.

ID's slitted amber eyes watched Raudd carefully without blinking, though she was very clearly aware of where each member of the pack of wolves was, as evidenced by the fact that her stance shifted slightly whenever one strayed too close. Her eyes narrowed very slightly at him as he spoke and she listened but she wasn't really hearing his words. Her breath came heavy, escaping from the mask and igniting in an occasional flicker of flame, though she did not appear to be winded. It felt like she was looking through him, and she was... her [Dreamsight] had mostly recovered, though she felt it burn in the back of her eyes subtly... what had her attention were the hungry wisps of [OBLIVION] escaping from his wounds.

"Shōkyo mahou??" Whispered ID, to herself mainly. Mother would be interested in that for sure. Her eyes flicked away from him between words to assess the flock overhead, and watch one of the corvids break off and follow the escapee. Good to know.

Three scenarios... she thought, as her attention turned back to Raudd, watching every muscle twitch as he spoke.

Best case: Exit combat without souring reputation with Stoneworks.
Second best: Combatant attacks after lowering guard. Exit combat intact (some collateral damage)
Worst case: Peace untenable. Survival at all costs. If I must, turn it all to glass.


There was the other signature that had passed briefly through her sphere of influence to be aware of as well. A long range combatant? If it was the magician who crafted the local Grand Enchantment the situation could turn sour for her really quickly. ID resisted the urge to turn her head to look farther into the Stoneworks. He was done talking... expecting a response, she guessed. Presumably "put your weapons down, or else." ID contemplated "Or Else" for a tangible second, rolling her shoulder slightly. She felt the melted fabric give way, exposing gleaming red scales running down her skin.

"Heel the dogs," she replied cautiously. "Please," she added after a moment: the combatant seemed to believe she was not in the position to be issuing demands. There was a possibility he was correct. She released the heat hesitantly, allowing the area to cool rapidly and crackle as glass hardened and splintered under her feet. Her stance did not change: she could still react if "peacefully" actually meant "you die," and her [Hardening] would hold the wolves at bay for a time. She could fortify it... but for the time being decided not to cast any spells, should that be seen as a hostile act.
Eyes fluttered open to black.

Yue was washed along eddies of ideation, emotion, and color. Invisible figures slithered around her, brushing against the curtains of [Silver] surrounding her. Coils of [Crimson] drifted out lazily from her core, drinking in the [Silver]. She inhaled... but could not breathe. A pang of panic lanced through her, as she found she could not move. Was she dead? Tendrils of [Crimson] connected her loosely to... something in the distance. There was no up or down: direction had no meaning. She wrestled with her body to turn and look around, to blink, to breathe, anything. Wraiths behind the curtain writhed hungrily, groping and pawing at her. A spike of fear drove through her, only serving to incite further frenzy in the wraiths.

All at once everything went silent: a pulse of [Strength] turned the wraiths to what she assumed was dust. Something took her gently and turned her, sliding the massive luminous surface of the moon into view... except it was "wrong" in a way she couldn't describe. That is until it opened a massive, luminous yellow eye and stared down at her. The surface of the moon began to shift ponderously, lifting its gleaming silver-scaled head and stretching its wings to encompass the "sky." It breathed power and grace and all she could do was lock eyes with it... if she still had eyes. It reached down towards her, and with one single talon, gently pushed her back towards the [Emotion] and [Noise] she'd been drifting away from.

Not... Yet...


The force was unreal. The gentlest of grazes catapulted her away, throwing her thousands of miles in an instant. Motes of light streaked past dizzyingly and just as she felt solidity rushing up on her back...


[Paradox - Forges Region - Ignis Citadel, Texas USA]



Yue suddenly gasped for breath. Something was over her eyes, pressure on her shoulders and chest. Wisps of [Crimson] flared out of her skin and she grabbed reflexively, sitting up and lifting someone off the ground. An instant stretched into eternity, and in her hand was this fragile thing, tentatively held together like wet sand that would crumble if she just closed her fist. The cool cloth slid from her face and she locked eyes with the Citadel medtech that had been tending her, paralyzed by the intensity of her gaze, grasping desperately at her wrist.

Everything started to come back. The warm glow of [Creative Intent] emanating from the displays of weapons, armor, tools, and machinery spread throughout the room stabbed deep into her retinas like a bright light she could not block out. She exhaled slowly, gently lowering the medtech back to the ground, and feeling something rigid relax from the corners of her eyes and brow. She pressed her palms into her eyes and drew her knees up to her chest as Forgemaster energetically explained to her what was happening. Muted pain signals tingled throughout her body deep under her skin like something inside her was ripped clean out of her body and then shoved haphazardly back into place. His words drifted in and out of her consciousness while she shifted herself off of the table she'd been laid upon until something he said prickled down her spine like icy water.

"Wh-What?!" Yue turned towards Forgemaster sluggishly while massaging her temples.

"He's out there fighting a dangerous giant monster! BY HIMSELF! How many times do I gotta say it before it gets through that thick skull of yours?!"

Yue found a mix of emotions swirling in her chest, a few familiar: Anxiety, fear, excitement... a few that were too alien for her to identify. She found her eyes drawn towards the sword still embedded in Citadel floor.

"C-... Can I borrow that?" She asked, pointing at the sword. She heard Forgemaster suck in air for what she at first thought would be an indignant refusal. Who would want a priceless artifact swung recklessly at monsters in a pitch battle, after all?

"You mean you actually want to USE it?!" He exclaimed, with childlike glee. The whiplash sent a spike of numbed pain down her neck as her head snapped back towards him. The excited Tinker was already rustling waist deep in a crate full of heavy sounding metallic objects, and his sudden enthusiasm cracked the corners of her mouth into a smile.

"I mean... does it kill Kaiju?"

"Oh, enthusiastically so."

"Do we have time to make a minor modification?"

"What did you have in mind?" A sly smile spread across the Tinker's face as he drew a scabbard out of the crate.




In the distance, a glint of silver atop one of the Black Citadel's spires tinged orange by the lavafall behind the Citadel superstructure dropped towards the earth. A plume of dust rose up, slowly fading into the faintly glowing mist of the distant Forges. The Hydra's discordant shriek echoed over the rocks as it brought down its talons heavily onto Aegis' barriers, sending a spiderweb of cracks throughout the hardlight. Before he could recover, the bone-spiked tail whipped around and caught him in the side, throwing him roughly into the dirt. It was over him in the blink of an eye, crocodilian heads darting down to clamp down on his torso.

As Aegis was preparing to shield himself with a barrier, there was a flash of silver between him and the beast. After a very tangible pause, a deafening clap of thunder and shockwave roughly buffeted him with coarse metallic dirt. The Hydra's center head had become a stump with arcs of lightning cauterizing the wound and raking down the creature's back, interrupting its attack and staggering it backwards several paces. The plume of dust that had appeared to his side at the end of three deep scars in the rock flickered electrically as a pair of red eyes gleamed menacingly. Fang flicked the sword of Justice, as though to clear the blood from the blade, sending electricity dancing over the rocks and snaking up the metallic surface of her Drachenmail as she slid the blade home into its scabbard with. Still glowing like smoldering embers, the runic script running throughout the seams of her armor sizzled lightly as they slowly faded. Yue lowered her stance, holding the scabbard behind her while she prepared to [Godspeed Slash] with the other.
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