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Prologue: Stomping Grounds ♪~~♪ Platea Bogard stands as one of the major trading posts in the entirety of Ivalice not attached to any major body of water. Unsurprisingly this makes it only slightly larger than a small city, but it remains critical to the inland states and as such large amounts of food and water tend to come through the city. True to its name, the city features a road encompassing its entirety upon which all trade occurs, with a residential area and standing Judgement outpost in the inner circle. While Clan Bogard officially owns and oversees the city, they had left peacekeeping to the occupying Judges in the time before the Judge Separation War. Now that the war's over, the clan continues to house the Judges and uses them as free peacekeeping, one of Maus Bogard's many methods of avoiding any expenses in operating the city. "So, it's only reasonable to expect anything and anyone could end up here," says a young hooded girl dressed in loose clothing. "If you go, none of the good judges will still be around. Y'know, 'cause you're the only one who isn't extremely lazy around here, Aino. Bogard Strip doesn't really need Judges patrolling the streets, but you just know something bad's gonna happen if the only Judge worth being scared of just runs off because someone said 'Redwings'. We're inland! How do you know they're not just trying to get you away? C'mon, Aino!" This headache inducing girl stands as the best thing Aino has for stomping out theft in the markets. She might just dart off at the first sign of trouble, but she certainly knows how to sniff out trouble. Useful enough to suffer her nagging, at least. The Judge and the one-time Thief continue walking along the Platea, passing by the sights and sounds of a bustling trade center. The clanging of pots and pans emits from one of the buildings they pass, accompanied by a rather heavy man's booming voice. "Ah, no, but you've got to be adding zuh ashes first, we need ze char, ze flah-vor, yah little Jamstah-ve?" Compared to the size of the blue-garbed girl advising him and his very red face, one might manage to mistake him for a bomb primed to detonate. "I 'ave been cooking with ze bomb's ash for my whole life, and you are telling to me zat I 'ave been feeding zese fine people garbage? What iz it zat you 'ave learned with such gah-sto, little Jah-mstave? What iz it zat you insist?" While the two cooks battle it out, they use a pair of volunteering customers as taste testers. The surprisingly muscular viera finds herself right at home with the absurd amounts of ahriman eye in bomb broth, but the small gria has her work cut out for her just to finish the six bowls and counting already set in front of her. It's hard to complain, though, since it does seem to be free. The two continue to trade stories with each other through the wall of food. Sat farther away from the counter, a lightly armored young man peruses a note handed to him by a similarly young magus wearing a rather strange robe and a hat adorned with the customary crescent moon that denotes accomplished magi. Crumpled Parchment posted:Hi! I know you don't know me, but I've got to tell you something very important. I'm aware that you've been looking around for a girl, name kind of like that crest on my hat, and I know where she's been off to. It's sort of dangerous to just go writing this down in case you just throw this away, but just trust me and I'll be around, okay? She might be getting in a lot of trouble, and I pretty well doubt you want that, so let's work together! Looking up from the scribblings, Sol spots the girl on her way out of the tavern. Which doesn't quite fit, because he'd just met her walking away from here. She taps the brim of her hat in his direction before going through the doors, swapping spots with a grim looking bangaa. Not here, probably. Lojak could tell bomb ash from its counterpart when he got close enough, and it helped to see the two cooks flinging it every which way like children at a year's end celebration. He'd heard a shipment of grenade ash was going to be passing through here, and that meant it'd be scattered all over the city in bits just to get through the market undetected. Bomb's ash was little more than a firestarting agent, no more dangerous than any other fire. Grenade ash, though, had levelled Mon Gardenia's Grand Orthodoxy Church just last month. The Clandestine were using the stuff to destroy monuments, and it isn't useful for much else save its toxicity. But just finding the stuff and getting rid of it wasn't going to stop it at the source. The Judge and her mischievous companion stop in front of the tavern. "What do I have to do to convince you, Aino? Really, the Platea's gonna just fall apart without you around at a time like this! I might not have any proof, but... C'mon! You always trust me!" Welcome to Ivalice. Include your detailed character sheet in your first post for my easy reference, and post away! Also there's really only so much class art, so consider anything I use to be mostly just the outfit. The thief and the magus are not the same person, but I couldn't find good art of the other female thief outfit that actually has the hood up. I expect this to be a recurring theme but also I refuse not to use class art because it's all pretty great.
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Jan 5, 2015 11:23
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Platea Bogard, The Flaming Bomb The little thief crosses her arms. "Aino! That's, like, the worst idea! Nobody would trust me, heck, nobody does trust me. I'd be- Hm? What was that?" She looks about, trying to pinpoint a sound from farther down the Platea. Aino hears nothing. "Zese fine people 'ere, zey shall decide if zis silly little recipe of yours iz for ze proper folk." The overweight chef motions towards the braggart customers as Mellt tries to find a way to put the entire souffle in her mouth at once. The bangaa's question reaches the man, and he seems to perk up as if taking his purchasing decisions of common spices as a compliment. "Ze spice iz from ze finest, ah, and only, spice trader in ze Platea. He iz somezing of a natural when it comes to ze picking and ze choosing, yes?" The chef's bragging is cut short as his hired hand, a plainly dressed young woman, interrupts. "Johns sells rice. He just resells other stuff and Ghirrahrd here usually gets it off him cheap. There's also dozens of spice traders down the entire Platea, but you probably didn't need someone telling you that." She shoots a disappointed look at the chef before returning to Felize's rather specific instructions on maintaining a fire. The chef simply responds with a huff and awaits Mellt's verdict. As Sol continues trying to edge around the rather rude bangaa, he spots something out the door. Not a frilly-dressed magus, but something large and purple coming down the Platea. Rather large. "No really, I swear I'm hearing some... Gweh!" Fio immediately darts into one of the stalls on the side of the road, sending oranges flying. While not the strangest thing she's done, she's usually a bit harder to scare with Aino around. Finally turning around to check what the Thief might have seen, Aino finds herself directly in the path of a Behemoth charging down the Platea, and barely fitting through as it does. Caught in the headlights, Aino is sweeped up in its charge as it plows directly into the tavern, taking out the entire front wall of it as it charges in. While the patrons and chefs of the tavern converse and squabble, it's difficult to pin the rumble on the general business or the absurdly large pot bubbling over with a full ahriman's eye inside, one of Felize's recipes. Suddenly, one of the patrons sitting at a side table bursts up from her seat and takes hold of what had appeared to be a folded table setting against the wall. The stout viera runs up to the counter and slams her shield through the floorboards before exclaiming, "Get down!" The tavern opens wide as the Behemoth smashes through it, but it continues to charge through and picks up Lojak on the way, while Sol had already darted off to the side. Right before it can bear down upon the counter, the Behemoth's horns slam into the giant wall shield in the way. The viera behind it buckles slightly, but rather than slowly losing to the Behemoth's push she uproots the shield and pushes straight into the beast, sending it stumbling backwards and flinging the unfortunate bangaa and viera caught in the middle of this clash off to the sides of the tavern. The viera winces slightly and crouches down, but keeps her shield at the ready and glances back at the five - er, three as the trap door behind the counter bangs shut - behind her. "If you're not looking to run away, hurry up and do something about this beast!" she yells. From atop the giant beast, a man in a rather odd woolen outfit swings a heavy flail above his head and laughs. "Something to stop the raging beast? No, no not at all, we cannot just abide this. Let us smash this wall!" The man punctuates this by slamming his flail down on the Behemoth's head, causing it to rear up and roar in anger, yet keeping its gaze on those scattered before it. Trailing behind the giant, a pair of panthers and an ahriman enter the bar, the former menacing the patrons on the sides and the latter staring down at the shield wall with a grin. Well that was sudden. This fight probably won't be too crazy because building enemies is hard and you guys have so much TV I don't even know how to spend all of it. Initiative is as follows, rolled on the Ivalice's Knights Zodiac campaign on Orokos (ahriman acts alongside Behemoth for convenience): Aino Mellt Aubrey Felize Lojak Panthers Sol Behemoth Ahriman Don't feel like you need to act in this order, if time-based conflicts arise I'll use the initiative to decide what happened how. Also if I screwed something up lemme know, but I think the only thing I messed up was rolling twice for Aubrey (both rolls came out to 6 anyways). Some enemies may have unique abilities or weaknesses. You'll be told them when you interact with them, but some people might have special ways to uncover them. Some of these may break the rules, but dear god I need some way to generate up enough Threat Value throw me a bone here.
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Jan 8, 2015 03:52
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Yours had 3 6's, for an 18 to stomp everyone else's initiative into the dust. I'm not aware of if Orokos has an option to use OVA style rolling for totals, if it does it'd be great to be able to just use that instead. But yeah, I checked and you're definitely sitting on the top of the initiative. Wrestling doesn't seem to indicate a turn of stun for the target though, so you might just be looking to be chomped by an even angrier Behemoth as its only target. If there is some condition applied that I'm not aware of, that'll mean something else.
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Jan 8, 2015 08:48
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Just in case it got missed in my last post, I plan on using initiative to determine how actions go down should they conflict, but don't post in initiative order. That's a great way to slow things down a ton in PBP and I wanna try avoiding that, so if that's stopping you from posting, no, just post. Especially since most of your actions are probably going to be beating up this poor purple monster and probably won't conflict anyways. Except... The Flaming Bomb While Aino nails a beast a dozen times larger than her to the floor with a fencing sword and Mellt attempts to crack its skull open, Aubrey darts out towards easier prey. Surprised by the gria suddenly taking its full view, the ahriman moves to flit away in a panic. It doesn't get much farther than turning about before spasming and falling to the ground in a heap, lifeless. With an 8 defense roll, the ahriman takes, uh, more than all of its resources in damage (63, to be exact) and dies outright. Welp.
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Jan 10, 2015 02:04
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Platea Bogard, The Flaming Bomb The Behemoth begins to stomp into the tavern, staring down its repeller in anger, but is stopped by yet another viera who proceeds to jam her sword directly through a freshly healed wound in its foot. Wracked with pain and brimming with anger, it sets its sights on Aino and begins to rear back its head, but Mellt knocks it back down with a giant swing of her hammer, rattling the beast's skull. Meanwhile, the ahriman meets its incredibly swift end by katana's edge as the panthers leap out towards their prey, one diving for the unprepared Star Knight's throat and the other flinging itself at Felize and getting a giant spoon across the skull for its trouble, but still managing to catch her with its claws for a moment. The Beastmaster's flail is caught by Lojak's blade and flies into a table, leaving the man without his disciplinary tool. He continues to bark orders and punch at the beast's neck, but it seems nowhere near as affected by these blows, though Mellt's hammer is reminiscent. Fueled by rage, the Behemoth attempts to swing its horns at Mellt, but despite its creaking and bending Aino's sword remains through the floorboards. The beast instead opts to take its anger out on the only person in reach, goring the Judge with one of its horns. It hefts her up, twisting her in an extremely painful way, and throws her back to the floor. The horn missed her truly vital organs, but the Judge now sports a bloody hole through her abdomen and the pain to match it. Finished with this show of force, the Behemoth seems to calm down slightly, if you could call a rampaging Behemoth calm. "How do you expect to stand against the king of all beasts? See how you already fall! You will simply be trampled underfoot!" cackles the man from atop his steed. He doesn't seem to really be in control of the Behemoth anymore, but he's still solidly planted on its back and out of the line of fire. Panther 1 Defense: 8, takes 2*4 damage from Felize. Panther 2 Offense vs. Sol: 6, vs Sol's Defense (2+0, no mods): 4. Sol takes 6 damage. Panther 1 Offense vs. Felize: 6, vs Felize's Defense: 5. Felize takes 3 damage. Behemoth Defense: 1, Behemoth takes 17 endurance damage from Lojak in addition to the Weakness complication. The Behemoth takes 15 damage from Mellt's attack. I forgot where I put those rolls but trust me on this. The Behemoth loses the effects of Beastmaster's Discipline and no longer ignores complications. Due to a complication. I maybe didn't think that one through so well. The Behemoth seems angered by Mellt's aggression and strikes with pointed fury. Behemoth Attack vs. Aino: 12, vs. Aino's Defense: 6. Aino takes 42 damage, well over a quarter of her health. She is impaired, as per the giant hole in her gut, and takes -1 to further combat actions this encounter. On the up side she's still got some HP so that doesn't go up to -2! The Behemoth remains wrestled, as it finds itself perfectly content mauling the lady who put a sword in its claw and is also very stuck anyways. TransientPeople, Sol's defense is actually 2, as Agile is the offensive of the Agile/Quick pair (goddamn these need better names). You've got a solid 5 against will attacks, but I assume you might want to change stuff up so you're not sitting at zero bonus defense and no armor. Up to you, but if you do change things I'll reroll that attack with your new values. I don't think I missed anything? This ended up pretty dense! Everyone has a move and there's a hungry hungry behemoth out to stomp all of you and also some panthers who should probably use perks next round, go!
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Jan 12, 2015 10:21
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Just real quick before I go to work, since this is a cramped space there's maybe two zones tops. So if anyone's interested in not being stunned out in front of a giant Behemoth that just gored that Judge, you should probably get moving behind that viera's shield before the delay's up. EDIT: To clarify, Sol's Black Hole will hit at the start of his next turn since it's got the Delayed flaw. It's an Area attack so it'll hit anyone, friend or foe, around the Behemoth when it comes around. Don't be standing in it unless you want to defend against it. Also, it'd be cool if people put the Perks and Flaws of their attack in their posts when they make them, both so I don't have to constantly flip to your sheets to figure out what your attack even does and also for clarity for other players. sentrygun fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Jan 13, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 17:50
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Platea Bogard, The Flaming Bomb Rolling out of the way and straining to pull her bow back, Aino fires her barbed shot at the Behemoth, aiming at the wound she'd already re-opened with her sword. Despite being such a large creature, the poison seems to take effect rather quickly as the beast's leg begins to spasm. Taking this chance to yet again test how hard a Behemoth's skull is, Mellt pulverizes the side of the beast's skull and uses the momentum to nearly bowl over Aubrey and Felize in the melee, finally crunching into the side of one of the panthers. Ducking away from Mellt's crazy hammer twirling, Aubrey and Felize each dive onto the other panther, but rather than coordinating their attacks they simply run face-first into each other, allowing the panther to scuttle away unscathed. Once the hammered one recovers, the pair of panthers dart their eyes around trying to find the best thing to chew on. There's the comical duo of chef and samurai, that one guy who didn't taste very good, and what the hell is that giant lizard doing how is he glowing? What could that be? Probably worth trying to take him down first. The panthers leap towards Lojak together, aiming for the kill outright. While one sinks its fangs straight through his arm, the other pounds its skull against the translucent shield and flops to the ground. Lojak shakes the beast off easily enough, but maybe people weren't just telling tall tales about panthers having serrated teeth. Amidst all this chaos, Sol's incantation finally completes and opens up a hole directly under one of the Behemoth's legs, trapping the beast's leg and knocking it off balance. The hole continues to pulse, dragging nearby objects into it. While the panthers dart away and Lojak holds his ground, Aubrey and Felize find themselves in terrible situations. Not pulled into a black hole themselves, but Aubrey's coinpurse breaks from her belt and is sucked into the abyss, as is the boiling pot of ahriman eye stew Felize had been waiting to finish up. A complete waste of perfectly good coin and food, lost forever to some mysterious void as it closes back up and lets free the Behemoth's leg. Rider and beast each try to right themselves, but it's no quick maneuver and leaves them open to attack. Behemoth Defense against Aino's 6, gets a 2. The poison inhibits the Behemoth. Behemoth Defense against Mellt's 8, gets a 1. Mellt deals 21 damage to the Behemoth. Panther 1 Defense against Mellt's 8, gets a 20. Miss! Panther 2 Defense against Mellt's 8, gets a 6. Mellt deals 12 damage to the Panther. Panther 1 Defense against Aubrey's 5, gets a 12. Miss! Panther 1 Defense against Felize's 5, gets another 12. Miss! Panther 1 Attack (+4 Accurate) against Lojak's Barrier (Double). 24 vs. 12, Panther 1 deals 24 damage after armor reduction (would have been all your health otherwise!). Panther 2 Attack (+4 Effective) against Lojak's Barrier (Double). 18 vs. 18, No Damage! Both Panthers are exhausted, suffering -1 to all rolls from lack of Endurance. Black Hole Saber finishes Charge Time and activates! Defense rolls against 10. Behemoth can't beat 10 on defense, no point rolling. Behemoth is stunned. Panther 1 Defense, 15. Miss! Panther 2 Defense, 18. Miss! (why are the panthers rolling so well good god, i even had to reroll due to not deducting proper dice and still got good rolls) Aino is out of reach! Mellt is out of reach! Aubrey Defense (-1 AoE), 8. Aubrey's recieves a Weakness Complication on Poor. Felize Defense (-1 AoE), 4. Felize recieves a Weakness Complication on Hatred (Those who waste food). Lojak's Barrier (Double, -1 AoE), 24. No Effect! That was pretty hosed up so I'm not going to stun out Aubrey and Felize, especially since I hate players getting stunned and am avoiding giving that power to monsters anyways. Also it's way more fun this way. I forgot Unwieldy a bunch too but that would just make the bad just as bad, so it doesn't matter much this turn. Sol's turn and top of the round. Panthers are looking ragged and the Behemoth is probably going to be super pissed when it finishes standing up. there has to be a faster way to do these rolls
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Jan 16, 2015 06:57
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Regardless of what happens this turn an 8 will hit the Behemoth, so he's potentially even easier to damage if that affects anyone's actions. I had a plan, I totally had a defense against this and Decus ruined it immediately. 
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Jan 16, 2015 09:35
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This fight's probably winding down and might even already be over technically, I'll give it a day for Felize/Lojak actions before moving on to monster round.
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Jan 19, 2015 23:39
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Platea Bogard, The Flaming Bomb The earth quakes as the Behemoth wrenches its foot from the black hole and stomps it back down onto mostly-solid floorboards. It seems pretty pissed, and the viera shieldbearer makes sure to say so just in case it wasn't terribly obvious. "Maybe shoot it in the eye there, sister," she says, nearly knocking Aino's aim off as she slaps her back. The arrow joins its twin in the Behemoth's foot, the poison causing even more involuntary twitching in the beast. Using the planted shield as a step, and nearly knocking it over onto the shieldbearer and Aino in the process, Mellt launches herself at the Behemoth and brings her hammer down on it's skull. Unsurprisingly, the stone hammer does little more than knock the unbreakable beast's head around, despite the ringing smash that emits. The jolt is, however, enough to knock its rider directly off his seat and straight into the hole left from Sol's magic, leaving him stuck halfway through. Blinded by rage, Aubrey swoops directly into one of the panthers instead, lifting it up with her sword and slamming it back down, not unlike the Behemoth and Aino. The sight is, perhaps, not terribly pleasant for Aino, but it certainly gets one of the panthers out of the way. Regrettably, no gil tumbles forth from the panther. drat. While Sol prepares for another sword maneuver, his gallant stance is interrupted by being flipped upside down and landing on his head. As Felize continues her assault on the wasteful man, Sol finds himself a bit preoccupied. Managing to ignore the ridiculous sight long enough to keep his composure, Lojak sweeps the remaining panther off its feet with his greatsword and follows up with an overhead swing. It's not pretty, but it solves the problem. Wrenching himself out of the hole, the rider looks up at his mount looming over him. He swings his arm out as if drawing a weapon, but realizes his flail still rests on the sidelines of the tavern. "King of Beasts, halt and listen! I shall-" The man's speech is cut off as the beast stomps the man out. It remains with rage in its eyes, but holds quite a different look than it had earlier. It moves to approach the party, but suddenly stops as a high pitched 'kweh' sound breaks the silence. It looks about the tavern, looks behind itself, and turns about to leave rather calmly, its swooping tail forcing Mellt to duck out of the way while flying straight over Aubrey's head. Despite its previous actions it walks down the Platea rather peacefully, eventually disappearing from sight of the tavern around a bend in the road. "Behemoths are terribly territorial, but aside from the young ones without a land to call their own yet they're not interested in disrupting another beast's domain." The shieldbearer lays her shield against the bar and hobbles forward, favoring her right leg, while holding a chocobo call up. "The land of man is traditionally kept by chocobos, since we use them so much. The beast just needed a reminder of where it was once it got a clearer head. I'd say you knocked some sense into it, maybe. Regardless, it seems the Clandestine's getting a lot busier, but that scratches off one of their more potent agents." The shieldbearer hoists Aino up onto a chair and produces a vial of blue liquid. "Probably better to get to a proper white mage over that, eh, hole in your guts, but the best I know is a little out of the way at the moment. This X-Potion should at least patch it up temporarily until you can get to her." Interrupting the shieldbearer's speech, the chef bursts out from the cellar he had been hiding in and begins loudly lamenting the state of his tavern. It's hard to tell if he's broken up about it or just wants something to complain about, but the shieldbearer just waves him off and continues. "Name's Aries, by the way. Well, technically not, but I've gotten so used to people calling me that by now that it may as well be the case. Kind of a surprise to see a few odd faces off the street fend off a proper Behemoth, though, even if that guy was probably dragging the poor thing down. Mind if I ask where you all washed up from? If I'm not interrupting, eh, whatever's going on over there?" Aries points at Felize, who doesn't seem quite finished taking her anger out on Sol. Aino hits the Behemoth at no contest. Impaired x2. Behemoth Defense vs. Mellt. 1 vs. 20. Critical Hit! Mellt deals 133 damage to the Behemoth! KO! The panther is cut in half! Aubrey handily defeats it, but ruins its prizes as a result. Sol's Defense: 2d6 vs. Felize. 5 vs. 1. As a surprise attack, Felize handily flips the Star Knight over. Sol technically went first but whatever this combat is totally over anyways and this is a far better result. Lojak splats the other panther, probably would have killed it anyways and if you guys wouldn't have a whole turn just to finish off the remaining 10 HP would be super boring. The Behemoth stomps on the Beastmaster. The expected occurs. Aries, Knight of the Knights Zodiac uses a chocobo call! The Behemoth becomes Confused and flees! Aries, Knight of the Knights Zodiac uses an X-Potion! Aino's health is restored, but the Impairment remains. The Beastmaster is slain! The Behemoth flees, but territorial beasts may still hold grudges. The panthers and ahrimans are just mincemeat, though. The viera shieldbearer claims herself to be Aries, one of the more influential figures in the Knights Zodiac and probably someone people with knowledge of military history would know more about.
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Jan 21, 2015 22:41
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OVA's new to a lot of us and the new version might be new to all of us. If anyone has changes they'd like to make, by all means.
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Jan 21, 2015 23:20
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Platea Bogard, What Remains of the Flaming Bomb Tavern Out on the Platea, an arm thrusts itself forth from a nearby orange stand. It flops around for a bit before finding a grip on the edge of the stand, and Fio bursts forth sending even more oranges flying. She cocks her head towards Aino's command and seems panicked for a moment, but quickly gets a grip and replies, "Ah, eh, y-yeah! Right on it, Watz, morbol, yes!" Fio darts down the abandoned Platea towards the central hub of the city, nearly tripping over some oranges in the process. Aries turns on her heel and stares blankly at Aino. "Knight Aries? Aye, so cold, sister!" Marching up to the Judge as well as someone with a twisted ankle can, Aries takes a massive swipe at her and tangles her into a headlock. Before the rush of panic and sense of danger can really take purchase, the tension of the situation is immediately relieved as Aries begins drilling into Aino's skull with a solid noogie. "You can't have already forgotten your best friend, the war hasn't been that long sister! Your mind hasn't addled, has it? I'm the one who took all those blows to the head, should be me if anyone!" Aries bursts out laughing, nearly toppling off balance from her bad foot. She regains her balance easily enough, pushing off from Aino suddenly. "Just as much of a sourpuss from the looks of it, though. Think the lass was just about to bean him with the giant spoon, too." Hobbling over to the Behemoth's prey, Aries snatches a partly open pouch laying near him. She draws a fist-sized chunk of brown magicite from the pouch and holds it up to inspect it. "Placed a fair deal of faith in him, then. Hadn't even seen him get the beast into the city, perhaps he was a bit smarter than he looked," Aries mumbles to herself. After pocketing the crystal shard and tossing away the pouch, Aries lets out a sharp, commanding whistle. "Well, unless you've like to rummage through this poor sod's belongings, I've got a proposal for you lot! If ridding Ivalice of the sort of person who would ram a Behemoth through some tavern for laughs just because he heard I might be about sounds like a right and good plan, I've likely got someone who would like to meet you. If not, it's a drat shame to see people knock a Behemoth about just to round out their evening. And, should you be worried about the mess he left, I'm sure it'll be taken care of properly. Aye, 'No?" Aries gestures towards Aino with a grin. Among the Beastmaster's possessions are a curved sword and a satchel of powder. These should be of interest to a couple of party members. sentrygun fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 23:34
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Lojak: That's definitely some zombie powder.
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Jan 24, 2015 04:02
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Platea Bogard, What Remains of the Flaming Bomb Inn Aries snorts. "Haven't heard that one before. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue as well, but I guess it means you got at least a couple of sticks out your rear end. Still got the ol' judge one, though." She rolls her eyes at the mention of Red Wings, leaning up against her shield which itself is leaned against the bar. "Red Wings, Zombie Dance, Breakers, you name a jagd crawling clan and they've like to have shacked up with the Clandestine by now. Hells, think the lass mentioned the Red Wings are out and about over the skies now. Clandestine must have gifted them a jagd-flier as some kind of signing bonus. Doubt they've got any idea how to use it, but I can't say I follow the crew of a lot of bandits," The shieldbearer explains, shaking her head.
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Jan 25, 2015 05:12
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Platea Bogard, What Remains of the Flaming Bomb Inn Poorly attempting to cover a laugh, Aries waves dismissively towards Sol. "Kiddo, I know you've probably heard all kinds of brainwashing from them and you're mighty young, but you're looking at the smashed corpse of one of the Knights Clandestine," Aries says as she hobbles towards one of the smashed tables in the tavern and hefts out the beastmaster's flail. "Aye, right as I thought. Take a good look at the symbol on that handle. You've like to have seen it on whatever recruiting or riling up the Clandestine poisoned your silly little mind with. The rose-wrapped blade, how quaint." Aries drops the flail in front of Sol and crosses her arms. "And if you lot hadn't been here, I wouldn't've broken my drat ankle sliding in to protect you. Still, if you need some right and proper convincing, the lass wants off to the west to help against the Clandestine salting the earth. With how righteous you seem to mark yourself, I suspect seeing it will move you quickly. Or not, but the lass is terribly impatient and is like to fly away without me if we don't get moving. So what'll it be?"
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Jan 25, 2015 20:55
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Platea Bogard, What Remains of the Flaming Bomb Tavern The Knight sizes Aubrey up and chuckles. "It's just a lot of metal, but if you think you can even heft it along I imagine you could find someone who would want it. Maybe the lass could use a new anchor or some nonsense, and she's got about as good as coin to give." The flail itself weighs twice as much as Aubrey, if not a good bit more. That the Beastmaster swung it above his head with ease might be a bit more concerning given its sheer weight. Sol: There's still totally a dead ahriman that was killed with a single, swift slice laying around.
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Jan 26, 2015 00:12
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Platea Bogard, What Remains of the Flaming Bomb Inn or Tavern (same difference) Aries grins at the culinarian. "Monsters? Probably. Can't say for sure, but I'd be surprised if hey weren't manipulating a few into whatever nonsense they plan. After all, just look at this nonce," she says, giving the corpse a push with her bad foot. "When we know where to stop them, I'd be glad to rout the bastards. The problem is the whole 'random acts of chaos' thing they have going on. At best, I just knew this one was after me pretty directly. Just didn't expect him to come charging at me with a beast we hadn't thought could even be in the city." The Knight hefts her shield up off the counter and starts towards the door. "Anyways, I'll just take all of that as a proper 'yes' because I'm like to start busting down walls myself should I need to stand on this foot much longer. Follow along then, aye." Aries blows her chocobo call again once she steps outside the tavern and straps her shield to a rather large bird who comes sprinting down the Platea in response. Taking it by the reins she leads the party off towards one of the ends of the Platea. Watz, a nasty looking morbol, and two beastmasters wielding whips and keeping the monster in line pass by as you go. Watz greets his superior with a salute. "Judge Aino, trust that I'll take care of this, Fio's told me the whole of it. And, while you hadn't mentioned fellows, I suppose you're off to track down the Red Wings as you'd mentioned? Any standing commands in your absence?" He awaits her response, then continues along with the clean-up crew. Platea Bogard, Airship Strip Passing through the mouth of the markets and into the transportation hub, Aries leads the party over to one of the smaller docked airships, a passenger class as opposed to the much more common merchant classes taking up the majority of the docks, which has a young woman arguing with a seeq in front of it. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have even built the airship docks here! Now you're charging me to use them?" The woman appears to be waving a pistol in the seeq's face, but he seems rather nonplussed. "Docking fee's five-hundred, lady. Ain't that much, pays for the workers helping the merchants and keepin' an eye on yer ships," the seeq replies. "Do you even know who I am!?" the woman shouts, continuing to wave her pistol about. "Gods, Highwind, set the drat pop-gun aside and pay the man his pennies," Aries shouts, beating her fists together as she moves towards the scuffle. The woman turns towards her and pushes her goggles onto her forehead, bunching her short hair up in a rather ridiculous looking way. "Aries, you finished playing bait for a ghost? Because you decided you should have all the coin in case you could snag another you suspected, so I'm stuck keeping this thing from eating me!" the Engineer yells, shaking her pistol at the Knight instead. "I'm not going to eat you miss, and if you'd just said you needed to meet your friend for the money in the first place..." the seeq is interrupted by the Engineer turning towards her ship, aiming her pistol, and firing a pellet that turns to dust immediately upon hitting a small design on the ship's port side. Part of the port falls out and forms a staircase, allowing access to the ship which the Engineer immediately takes. Aries grumbles, face in palm, before hobbling towards the ship's staircase. "Forgive the lass, she means well, I think," she tells the seeq, handing him a small sack of gil. "Mind if I ask why the girl's got her airship key made up like a gun, then?" Aries just shakes her head at the seeq and gives him a 'you don't want to know' look, which he takes as a satisfactory answer and walks off to do his other duties in the port. "Well, here she is. The Highwind's latest, The Highwind. Crazed lass you saw there's our pilot, Cid. Loves airships to death. Cannot understand people. She's also rightly head of House Pisces, though unlike the rest of the Zodiac she'd taken the position from her father after the Separation. Trust me, she knows what she's doing, just try not to get the wrong of her or there'll be no end to her whining," Aries explains. She secures her shield to her chocobo and directs it to board the ship before turning back to the party. "By the by, if you've need of any supplies or the like, you should get them before we go. The Highwind's got plenty of the usual stuff, but I can't say I know any of your particulars. Won't be a long flight to where we're going, but Serenity doesn't have much more than piles of magic books and plenty of water and one of those two hasn't been having the best of days. Otherwise, have your run of the ship and we'll like to be off soon." Anything you guys want to do while still in a city, go for it. Otherwise, you've got another knight of the Zodiac about and a custom-built airship made by her hand to explore. Run around and detail it how you like, because I'm already writing way too much and this just leads into another giant pile of writing so I figure this is a decent way to split it up. Reasonably, the only significant thing about the airship is that it's not meant to haul tons and tons of trade goods. In other words, it's basically the size of most any typical Final Fantasy airship save maybe that ridiculous spaceship from 8. Other than that, go hog wild.
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Jan 26, 2015 09:26
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oh god i misworded that but now there's a morbol judge, OH WELL i'll take it Also among other things that happen when I write a giant post at 3am, I forgot something super important for Sol: Your package is marked for delivery to one Millicent in Serenity, the town Aries mentioned. Viers told you rather plainly that the sake of people's lives hinge on this, regardless of whatever this war may be. Do this not for him, but for Ivalice's downtrodden. sentrygun fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 03:35
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Platea Bogard Aubrey drags behind the rest of the party as she drags the flail along behind her. She seems pretty committed to it and isn't doing too terrible of a job of it, at least. A weapons trader hands her a decent sum of gil for the thing, possibly out of pity for watching the girl try her best to heft it around, but it's nothing compared to what she'd had this morning. The Highwind Aries gives Sol a genuinely quizzical look. "Forget monastic order, you're like to have sprung up from the ground last week. Aino's got the right of it, though it does leave out my favorite part. We'd have had the war won with Leo's dagger while we'd barely even launched the assault on the Emperor, but Sinclair in all her obscene kindness went ahead and brought the Emperor back to life, whereafter he consumed Leviathan whole and made the entire ordeal far more difficult than it really had to be. And that's why Robel is a lake instead of a flourishing city. Pretty lake, too. Aye, but- Oi! Wrecker get yer neck out of the drat greens!" Aries interrupts herself to drag her chocobo away from a toppled over basket of Krakka root, the bird appearing to be rather resolute in fitting its entire head inside of it. As Cid makes her preparations to send the Highwind high, the party settles into its facilities. Finding a nice open space on deck to practice, Aubrey finds herself finally able to test her newly found sword. One sliced rope and a very angry engineer later, she finds a more open space on the other side of the ship and finds a good bit more in the way of peace. The weighty blade isn't entirely what she's used to, but it has its advantages over a lighter blade. The Talwar has two moves for Aubrey. The first is Riposte, a Disarming Trap (15 END cost). By putting yourself in an advantageous position, you can lash out at an attacker before their attack without compromising yourself in the process. Tell us what the other move is, bahamut. Sol finds himself a nice view along the starboard of the ship. Cid breaks his serenity rather quickly by stating that he should 'shove himself in some corner under the deck instead of blocking the drat blocks'. It seems unlikely she's had to deal with so many people nosing around her ship while getting it ready, but the task seems rather stressful for just one person. Is Sol too stubborn to move? Does his code of conduct dictate he should assist Cid, or is sailor work too far below Nobility and Temple? Mellt's usual restlessness finds itself sated by an entire boat of labor. Cid begrudgingly accepts the viera's help pushing cannons back into their place ("Bastards said having the cannons readied was scaring some of the merchants," Cid explains), but upon seeing how much faster that goes she gladly commands the viera about to do some of the more taxing duties. What ridiculous feat of strength does Mellt pull off to impress everyone, or does she have some other plan in mind? Felize takes to the lower decks to scout out anything akin to a mess hall. What she instead finds is a rather impressively stocked kitchen manned by an impressively stocked man who calls himself Biggs. "Lil' lady, allo there! Heard there'd be some guests so I was just at work making up something special. 'Sides, the boss's been a real grump all day, figure she could use something to sweeten her back up!" the man guffaws, tossing a pan into the crystal-powered oven. What crime against food does Biggs commit, and how does Felize save the day? Lacking much in the way of tact, Lojak essentially barges into the helm of the ship while Cid busies herself with some charts. At least, it should be the helm, but it doesn't look anything like what Lojak's ever seen before. "Eh? You, dammit, of all the places you guys could bother me... The helm's for the captain, and these charts are a headache enough to navigate without having to deal with people busting down doors around me. GEDDOUT!" the engineer yells, jabbing her protractor towards Lojak. What's weird about how the Highwind seems to operate? Can Lojak help Cid out with plotting the course, or does he even want to? Aino seats herself in the quietest part of the ship she can find. This is mostly because the only other person in the top seems to be confounded as to why he has company. The small fellow takes a few moments before speaking up, "'Scuse me miss, it's probably not the best of ideas to be up here, a little dangerous if you're not used to it and I am a little busy finishing my pre-flight inspection. Ah, the name's Wedge, by the by. Politeness and all that, yes?" Who's this Wedge fellow remind Aino of?
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Jan 28, 2015 03:46
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The Highwind Cid stares blankly as Mellt does an hour's task in a few minutes. She glances down at her list of preparations, folds it up and pockets it. "That about does it, I guess. All that's left for labor is manually pulling one of the tertiary propellers, since the pulley's still broken and it won't start up with the rest of the ship. Normally I just get Biggs and Wedge to do it, but you'd probably do it a lot better and not force me to deal with the ship buckling on liftoff. I didn't quite expect to be lifting off within the hour, but I can make do, just be ready when I need you." Cid walks off with almost a skip in her step; competent passengers were a bit of a first for her. The skip dies about the time she reaches Sol, but his response almost catches her off guard. "Uh, yeah, I am right! If you plan on making yourself useful, you can, er... Ah, the ropes. Having plenty of spare coils is important, but I haven't had the spare time to store them. Over there, can't miss it," Cid says, jabbing her thumb behind her towards a veritable mountain of tangled and knotted rope. "Just pull it all together neatly, and don't even think about cutting any of the knots unless you've got the gil to buy new ones double over." Cid thumps the block Sol had been standing in front of a few times, nods to herself, and continues on. In the helm, Lojak recognizes the charts Cid has pretty well. An old volume that was reprinted and distributed amongst jagd-fliers, back when they couldn't get much farther above the ground than a kite. It's riddled with shorthand and the crystal streams are lumped atop each other in the same color and line. Not the best, but the Platea is hardly the kind of airship hub that would have newer charts available for sale. While Cid attempts to play the whole thing off as stuff she already knew, Lojak teaches her how the charts are supposed to be read and plots a short path around Jagd Burneh to land in Serenity. Shouldn't take more than a few hours, really. Once she's settled on her course, Cid yells out the helm for Wedge and confirms with him that the ship meets inspection. She signals Mellt at the broken propeller before returning to the controls inside the helm, which don't really resemble any controls Lojak's seen before. The activation works much the same, save for the odd shape of Cid's key, and upon pulling the key's trigger the control panel lights up in green, likely from the crystal battery. Despite there clearly being no wheel to grab, Cid grasps the empty space in front of her and begins straining as if she really were pulling a wheel for liftoff. Mellt effortlessly spins her propeller out as the others begin to whirl, letting go of the rope as the tertiary propeller starts to sustain itself. Cid makes a sweeping motion as she lets the seemingly imaginary wheel fly, then she raises her arms up high and pushes, shouting 'liftoff!' The airship lurches, then immediately alights, softly but swiftly rising up above the Platea. Cid steps away from the control panel and grins. "I could get used to things going this smoothly all the time!" she laughs. Back in the kitchen, Biggs watches with wonder in his eyes and Felize draws a dish of the finest thing mangoes, dough and flan flesh have ever come together to create. Which certainly says something, because flan flesh is generally associated with horrible rotting smells and food poisoning. "We'd only had that in the store room for selling off to alchemists for a bit of gil. I'd never have thought you could use it in baking!" Biggs exclaims, clapping his giant hands together with glee. Just to ensure everything had gone right, Felize pulls one of the rolls from the pan and takes a bite. The gelatinous material gives the rolls a chewy texture without being sticky, and alongside the sweet of the mango comes a tang of orange granted by what one could only assume is the diet of the red flan. Perfection, even moreso than Felize had anticipated. She could get used to having a crystal-powered oven, for sure. The pair of chefs bring the delight up to the helm as the ship begins to soar upwards. Cid's excitement is almost deadened by yet more people barging into her personal domain, but the sweet smell stops her tongue. "Thought you'd like a treat before the flight, captain!" Biggs rumbles as Felize presents the garnished plate. Cid sniffs at the roll before inelegantly shoving the entire thing in her mouth. Her eyes sparkle as she chews and she takes a moment after swallowing before speaking up. "Biggs, you most certainly did not make this." The brute shakes his head and motions towards Felize with his oven-mitted hands. "I dunno what you put in this but you should definitely keep doing that, and maybe teach Biggs a thing or two about how to use that stupid oven Sinclair insisted I buy. Uh, anyways, you can just leave that on the desk over there, and get going under the deck. Get everyone else going too, I don't know what you all know about airships but the Highwind does a pretty good job of making sure anything that lands on it doesn't stay on board for long." Cid shoos the chefs out of the helm and barks a similar order out to everyone remaining on the deck. ♪~♪ Once everyone's safely inside the Highwind, Cid grabs hold of the imaginary wheel again and shoves her whole weight into it. If it had looked like an odd Mimic's act to Lojak before, it's obvious there's some force actually there that stops the girl from just leaping face-first into the controls. With another roll stuffed in her mouth, Cid yanks the 'wheel' back suddenly and spins it all the way to the right, mumbling through the pastry, "Emph-bawrk!" As Wedge had suggested, holding onto something proves to be a good idea as the gently floating suddenly jerks forward and bowls everyone over, save for Biggs who had already been standing against the proper wall. "We should be there in under half an hour, just give it a few minutes and you'll adjust to the Highwind's speed. I wouldn't suggest doing anything that requires much precision, though!" Wedge explains, dusting himself off from having rolled along the entire floor. Seems the little fellow picked the wrong wall to stand against. ???? ♪!!!♪ Elsewhere, a shadowy room fills with shadowy figures. The first to speak is a short woman shouldering an axe nearly as large as her bicorne hat. "And it ends just as I told you. If you'd trusted us with that thing those Zodiac dolts wouldn't have their grubby little mitts all over it, and I can assure you of my ability to properly level an entire city." A firey blade impales the table directly before the woman, grasped by a viera wearing an extremely wide-brimmed hat. "If you were to be given this duty, you would likely have just sold the magicite. I would not call crashing yet another airship into a city in your incompetence 'levelling' it, either. With how much you've made a joke of your namesake, it's no wonder you and your band of sea-monsters wouldn't be trusted." Before the two women can butt heads, a towering bangaa slams his mace through the table between them. "Ssshut up, the both of you. Bickering like thisss only proves you are each incompetent foolsss. Yet the question standsss: what shall we do about recovering the cryssstal?" Devoid of peculiar features to cast a shadow with save a set of indistinct heavy armor, a fourth figure leans against the table and rasps through their helmet. "This is not a matter with which any of you should be concerned. The man you speak of has completed his task, and such duties will remain within our most trusted ranks. You have your task, and a paltry number of days with which to finish your preparations. Cease your senseless bickering, or I shall find more suitable candidates." The other three groan and grumble, but none speak out loud. Chapter 1: Our Zodiac Braves ♫ The Highwind ♪~♪ Cid's voice fills the lower quarters of the airship from strange boxes installed along the halls. "Twenty minutes before we reach Serenity, and we're well past Burneh so you shouldn't have to worry about me swinging you about like that again. Hopefully Wedge let you know ahead of time!" Wedge suddenly looks concerned and gives a comical shrug, mumbling something about having 'definitely not heard about that'. "The Highwind sails smooth so long as I don't have to steer it much, so you should probably be safe to walk around and get your bearings. If you're feeling skysick, I sure hope you're an experienced carpenter and have the finest of lumbers to replace my floor you ruin. Knowing you all though, one of you probably is!" Cid ends her broadcast with a snort. "Um, Serenity's an odd little village. They call it the home of Black Magic, but it's fallen out of favor as of late," Wedge says, attempting to drum up conversation. Aries strides into the room from the chocobo bay and follows up, "Aye, Red Magic's like to be a good bit more useful, and most practitioners aren't experts in the arts anyway so the limitations of the Red aren't all they're cooked up to be. Also doesn't help much that there's not really a war about anymore, so war mages aren't exactly in demand. Nowadays the place is more interesting for its grand river, the only one that has a known heart. Unfortunately, that's exactly why we're bound out to there, but we'll also meet little Sinclair. She can fix the damage from that gape in your chest, Aino, and put my leg back the right way. Wouldn't trust another soul for it." Before we land in Serenity, what has everyone heard about it? For a smaller bit of civilization, it's found a lot more importance than most cities can claim, so surely there's rumors and stories abounds.
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Feb 1, 2015 01:53
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The Highwind While the Highwind's normal flight speed already takes some getting used to, it's fairly disorienting when everyone suddenly feels like they're falling. Taking a glance over the edge of the deck, it does in fact appear to be the case as the Highwind descends towards a lake in the distance. Except, don't airships usually just get above where they need to be and descend straight down? The strange boxes crackle again as Cid speaks up, "Oh yeah, I should probably mention we're descending. Maybe not what you're used to, but why waste time doing it the old fashioned way? Might want to hold onto something!" Despite the confidence in Cid's voice, or possibly because of it, it's difficult to reconcile the fact that you're on a floating boat hurtling towards the ground, and the feeling lasts for a painful minute before the airship splashes down into the water and rapidly settles. The propellers cease and Cid switches the ship over to seafaring, getting it the rest of the way to the lake's shore where Serenity can be seen not too far away. "And we're here! Hours before any junker you've probably had to suffer before." Everyone offloads from the ship, leaving what heavy things they don't need, or at least don't want, in the capable hands of Biggs and Wedge, who both remain behind to watch the ship. Cid walks straight on ahead without waiting for the rest of the party. "She's probably off to see what she can get for the ship, we shouldn't be here long anyways and I doubt she'd do much more than bicker and whine if we dragged her along," Aries explains. She mounts Wrecker and keeps at a slow pace alongside the party, taking the chance to keep off her bad leg despite how well she seems to be taking it. Serenity ♪~♪ It's a short walk to Serenity, and it being a mage's town shows pretty quickly. No walls, no guards at a gate, nothing. You just stride on in and nobody seems to mind. A patrolling Judge riding a chocobo shows that the place is still watched by the Law, but it seems like nobody's really around to break the peace. Aries leads the party to a small tented area on what appears to be the town green, which houses several bedridden citizens, a young Devout marked by the usual cat-eared hood and red robe, and a familiar Magus. The Devout looks up from her patient and gasps as she spots Aries. "Sinclair, 'allo lass, I've been needing to see you most of the day now, and perhaps you could-" Aries starts, before stopping as she gets a rather angry pout from the Devout. "Your leg's broken! And you've been walking on it all day? Aries, you can't just depend on me all the time to make sure you don't get seriously hurt, if you do stuff like that my magic alone won't be enough to fix it!" Sinclair shouts, swatting a small branch decorated with leaves and flowers as closely as she can at Aries' face. Despite her protests, Sinclair starts prodding at the Knight's leg, a white glow emanating from her hands and blending into Aries' leg. Once the glow fades, Sinclair stands up, pouts at Aries again, and immediately walks over to Aino before Aries can manage to get a word out. "You're hurt too, did Aries do something stupid and just let you wait until she got here instead of bringing you to a White Mage?" Aries glances away with a guilty look on her face, but Sinclair doesn't wait for Aino to answer before using her magics again. She prods Aino in the stomach twice, the first time eliciting a spasm of pain reminiscent of the attack that caused the injury in the first place, and the second immediately saps that spasm and all of the associated pain away. In fact, the Judge feels more relaxed than she's felt in years, that magic must be pretty potent. Finished with her healing, Sinclair crosses her arms and faces back towards Aries. Following a heavy sigh, Aries relays the events of the Behemoth attack on the Platea to the girl, the contents matching with everyone's experiences. Sinclair listens, thinks for a moment, then shakes her head. "I still don't think that means every little strange thing that's happening can really be blamed on the Clandestine. Besides, you said he was after you, and you've intentionally been antagonizing them this whole time just to get something like that to happen. I still don't think Serenity's poisoning is because of the Clandestine. We found the Jormungandr near the river's heart, and it really does look like it just got killed by wild animals. It's unfortunate, but it's far more important for me to keep working on helping these people recover and to try my best to purify the waters of its blood. That's that." Aries turns to the party, explaining, "I guess I didn't mention it, but Serenity's suffering from their river being poisoned, and while I'm certain it's the doing of the Clandestine, little Aquarius here suspects otherwise. Regardless, the people here are suffering and despite the relief efforts of the Law, it's no good for people who already drank of the tainted waters. I'd hoped to hear of a turn of events, but it looks just as bad as when I left." Sinclair beckons the Magus closer and says, "The best the citizens have managed to solve at least one part of the problem is with Millicent here, but we're having trouble getting what we need for her ritual." Millicent waves it off with an embarrassed look on her face, "Sinclair, really, you can just call me Milly. And, um, Sol! I, er, really didn't expect to run into you here. I guess it's not so much a bad thing, though, uh, how did you get all the way here when you were just in the Platea earlier? I've got Warp to cast, but I kind of expected you'd still be in the Platea. I'd just come back home for a moment to check on how things are going, ehheheh." Millicent puncutates her sentence with an extremely nasally little laugh. Sinclair, Devout Aquarius, casts Curaja! Aino's injuries are completely mended, and even some ill effects from the past feel relieved. Sinclair's very presence soothes the party, not unlike the rumors of a Devout's grand powers have suggested. Everyone recovers all of their HP and MP! Serenity seems to be in a poor state, its waters poison and the superstitions of its curse seeming rather likely. Felize recognizes the mention of a Jormungandr, an extremely poisonous and venomous giant sea serpent which avoids predators effectively, as killing it would taint the waters for years to come. Apparently its scales are pretty good when boiled, though. Sol, wasn't that delivery addressed to...
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Feb 5, 2015 04:48
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Serenity, Triage on the Town Green Sinclair boggles at the cook. "Well, yes, we did remove it from the waters, but... Eat it!?" Aries pats her on the head, a mischievous grin spreading across the viera's face. "Sinclair, lass, I suspect she knows a thing or two about cooking. After all, Cid had rather pleasant things to say about her baking." Sinclair stares up at Aries, somehow boggling even harder. "Cid always says she hates when I bake, though! How are you supposed to bake cookies better than with divine blessings?" Millicent glares at the two Zodiacs. "I would say there's more important things at hand right now." The two mumble apologies while looking away, leaving the Magus to speak. "I guess a proper introduction might be more useful. As Sinclair said, my name is Millicent, daughter of Elder Kurwen. I was lucky enough to be away when the tragedy struck, so I wasn't poisoned myself. Our first priority was to remove the corpse from the river, but doing so hasn't healed the river. Its corrupting blood lingers, both in the waters and in the bodies of those who drank of it, and now it's seeming like the best we can do to keep the ill clinging to life while we try to figure out a solution. "Despite being warned away from it, I want to visit the Heart of the river and attempt to heal it there, but, well, there's two problems. The Heart's guarded by ancient constructs built by Serenity's founders, and those are nigh immune to any magics. While I don't wish to destroy them it's the only way to reach the Heart, and I'm sure we could rebuild them anew. Being a Magus, though, it's probably plain to see where my trouble destroying them comes into play, and Serenity doesn't really have a martial guard to speak of. The Judges don't really approve of my plan, either. "I also need a purifying agent to cleanse the Heart with, and that's still yet to arrive. I'd actually, eheh, meant to ask Sol to help out with the former, perhaps, eh, as a favor. Maybe that's a little presumptuous of me though, we only just met today and didn't even speak... Uh, but, regardless of that, without the purifying agent it would be a bit of a pointless endeavor," Millicent concludes. Having returned to a more serious expression, Sinclair picks up after the Magus. "I've been here the past couple of weeks to assist the ill and attempt to purify the waters, but despite trying the usual cures to Jormungandr poison nothing seems to be sticking. I can only assume the naturally occurring magics in Serenity may be linked to it. People often call this place cursed, but I suspect there's something more to it, and that something may lie in the Heart of the river. T-That's just an assumption though, but it's kind of all we have to go on. I've been left completely dumbfounded by this epidemic and despite doing my best to keep these people among the living, I just can't bear to see them continue to suffer like this." Sinclair sniffles and rubs at her eyes, and Aries pats her head more consolingly this time, and the triage falls to silence save for the intermittent coughs of the ailing. One of the nearly two dozen patients in cots reaches out near Lojak and rasps in a rather miserable sounding voice, "Lend the poor lass your arms, sonny. It's almost worse seeing a child of the White cry like this than suffering this damned affliction..."
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Feb 9, 2015 09:08
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Serenity, Triage on the Town Green Millicent waves her hands in front of her, "Oh, whoa, no, I'm not Aquarius, I'm just one of the citizens." Sinclair raises her hand with a pout, as if to indicate herself. Millicent continues, "But, well, we're certain we know where the poison came from, the dead sea serpent found in the river. Bypassing the constructs would require someone strong enough without magics, and that's a bit difficult for me, but, um... Wait, does that say-" Millicent catches a glance of the package Sol carries sticking out of his pack, then reaches for it rather suddenly. "To Millicent, in Serenity, a parcel for woes? W-well, that's quite the coincidence, isn't it? You're the deliveryman for the healing salts too! I'd just thought you'd make for a good fighter to help me with the constructs!" Millicent snatches the package and spins it around, nodding to herself. "With this, there's nothing stopping us from just going right out to the Heart right now, eheh! And, well, I still don't know why you'd want to eat it, but the Jormungandr's corpse is right along the river, so we'd be passing it by anyway." Millicent's cheerfulness stops rather suddenly as she scans her eyes across the party. "Um, that is... If you all wouldn't mind helping. The elders don't really approve of my plan, but..." The Magus intends to bust through the Heart of the river's defenses and use the salts Sol was carrying to purify the river. The defenses were constructed in ancient times by the founders of the town and are effectively immune to magics, according to Millicent. What's the party's plan on busting down ancient history, or scruples about it if heroes can really have that sort of thing.
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Feb 14, 2015 05:32
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Serenity, About Town ...And a potion in the grass, just laying there! Not even half empty! Score another for Aubrey. Ooh, and that looks like a tent just sitting there in that cra- "Excuse me miss, are ya lost?" A little girl holding a Black Mage-dressed teddy bear approaches the scavenging Gria. "Did ya drop somethin'? Can I help?" Aubrey's pretty sure this is the first time someone's interrupted her stea- uh, scav-... Lost and found work. Important lost and found work. Aubrey's caught red handed, except the little girl probably doesn't realize what she was up to. What does Aubrey do? Serenity, Triage on the Town Green Millicent gives Lojak an exaggerated pout. "The elders think the work of the ancients shouldn't be touched, since they clearly knew better than us. But that's stupid! They're just sitting around while the whole village suffers just because they think some other elders centuries ago know what's going on now!" Millicent exclaims. "But it's not like they have some secret plan they don't want to tell anyone. So, unless you wanna just sit around like they do, um, the rest of your friends are right! We should just go!" Aries strides over and plants her hand on Millicent's head, nearly knocking the girl's hat off. "You should at least wait the night. The walk isn't far, but it'll still be night by the time you get there. The airship's a novel idea, but I'm sure Cid will say something like 'it's not a drat canoe' or something. Aye, speak of the devil," Aries points at the approaching Engineer with her free hand. Cid appears to be carrying several large scrolls, what Lojak would identify as airship charts. Before even saying hello, she unrolls one and stuffs it in Sinclair's face, turning the girl's pleasant greeting into crinkled muffles. Cid says, "Sinclair, you understand this magic nonsense right? This thing make any sense to you, because I'm pretty sure I just got ripped off by a bunch of wizards. Aries what are you on about, I heard about half of that and no I did not build a canoe." Aries makes a gesture as if to say 'told you so'. Once Felize explains the plan directly to Cid, she almost looks surprised. "Hells, I wouldn't expect someone to want to leap from an airship in flight, but there's a person-sized trap door in the cargo bay for a reason. Yeah, I could do a soft liftoff, float it over there, and bring it back to the water once you're there. If you need to get back out the same way, you could use some flares to signal me back over. Good food and good plans, I'm liking you already." Aries covers her face with her hand. "You're serious, aren't you? Well, I won't stop you, but seven people in those ruins is already going to be cramped. I'll trust you lot not to get yourselves killed, given you handled that beast well enough, and I'm sure Sinclair could use a hand around here, even if she won't admit it." Sinclair looks up from the oversized chart to do exactly that. Aries prepares to walk away, then stops herself suddenly. "Wait, there were six of you, right? Where's the wee dragon lass?" Millicent seems ready to leave as soon as possible, and Cid's amenable to your halo drop plan. There's just the matter of getting the party back together. Where'd Aubrey go?
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Feb 17, 2015 04:44
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Serenity, About Town The little girl's eyes light up as she spots what Aubrey is poorly attempting to hide. "Ah, you found the potion! I was gonna bring 'at to Miss Sinclair 'cause she said it's how I could help, but I lost it. Do ya wanna go take it to Miss Sinclair wif me? She's real nice, she even put Mister Garura's hand back on!" The girl raises her teddy bear up and makes it wave with one of its hands, red stitching sticking out where it was likely sewn back on.
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Feb 18, 2015 10:57
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Serenity, Triage on the Green Aubrey and a little girl push their way into the tent not long after Aries finishes her head count. Aubrey hands the girl a potion, which she brings to Sinclair with a huge smile on her face. "Miss Sinclair! Pappa said, um, there's a lotta reh-muh-deez that's gonna get here real soon, but since you said anything's real helpful, here you go!" The devout accepts the vial with about just as big of a smile. "Thank you, Chloe, I'd been running a bit short on potion. I'm sure someone will be very grateful for this. Tell your father I'm sorry to take so much from your shop, I do promise to return the favor eventually." The little girl hops about in delight. "Pappa said it's no problem, anythin' Miss Sinclair needs we got! Oh, and Miss Dragonlady! Come to the shop some time, maybe Pappa might've found what you were lookin' for, it's the Laughing Mandruh-um... Mandy. It's hard to say, hahah!" Chloe darts off at that, carrying 'Mister Garura' off. Sinclair heaves a sigh once the little girl's out of sight. "The people of Serenity are trying so hard to fight against this. I do hope you all can find something I haven't." Shattering the mood, Cid groans and starts back towards the airship. "C'mon then! I already beat sundown getting you here, you may as well see if you can't get out of those ruins before night falls or something." The Highwind on Lake Tranquil The party loads back onto the airship with Millicent tagging along. The magus shoves herself between some boxes set around the primary mast, mumbling something about 'already being airsick' and tipping her hat down to hide her face. Cid shouts some orders to her subordinates and they get to work setting the ship up for liftoff. Mellt adds the finishing touch by manually starting the broken propeller again, letting the Highwind assume a low hover as it skims over the lake and towards the river. The river twists and turns for a bit, and Felize spots the felled serpent laid out with some crates and tools in the field near the river. Poor preservation methods, but the townsfolk were probably painfully unaware of the delicacy they had on hand as they worked to prevent its blood from further contaminating the river. Closer to the ruins, the river begins to take on a purplish-grey tinge. The ruins are built into a mountain and climb halfway up it, covered in ornate designs and severely curving architecture that still stands mostly sturdy despite erosion. Millicent crawls to the edge of the airship to look at the ruins. "Everything originates from and returns to the Heart. We've tried purifying the waters outside of it, but that corruption just bleeds back out of it to replace whatever's clean. That's why I'm pretty sure the problem is in the Heart itself, I just hope I'm right..." Reaching a large, open balcony partway up the ruins, the airship hovers over it and lights up with Cid's voice. "Alright, just head down to the cargo bay, Biggs should have a rope ladder rigged up for you to get down to the ruins. Each of you should probably grab a flare, just in case, and use it if you need to signal us to pick you up. The Highwind's fine to idle in the air here, but I have no idea what those ruins look like from inside. If you're not out by nightfall I'll dock back out in the lake and keep an eye out for your flares. Don't keep me waiting!" The climb down to solid ground isn't long, but it's enough to freak out Millicent. Biggs brings her down on his shoulders instead, since an hour of watching her try to climb the ladder down herself seems a bit unproductive. Once everyone's settled, the Highwind floats off a ways and idles nearby. The balcony appears to have been made for ritualistic purpose, with several wide brimmed pots and curved slopes along the railing for catching rain. Most of pots are full of clean and clear water, though a few seem to have been recently emptied. On the opposite side, a large staircase leads into the ruins proper, each step curved to catch rain as well. The end of the staircase vanishes into darkness, with the few sconces lining the staircase holding unlit torches. A bestial roar echoes down the mountain. Probably just some monster doing its thing, but Aino inexplicably shivers at the sound. Millicent ignores it as she sets the tip of her wand on fire and holds it up like a torch. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Aino, what's your 'gut' reaction to that roar? Mellt, these ruins seem more rickety than that bandit watchtower you raided on Mt. Gulg last winter. What's the plan if stuff starts falling apart? Do you even care if the ruins fall apart? Aubrey, you've had to sneak around from time to time ever since the Archduke ordered your capture. When just flying straight overhead isn't an option, what's your infiltration plan? Sol, the night's slowly creeping in, enough that the sun still shows but the stars are sliding into view. Do you consult them before you lose sight of the skies? What vague vision do they grant you? Felize, when most people hear 'construct', they don't think of terribly edible things. Maybe that's still the case now, but what do you spot in Millicent's torchlight for a split second before it flees? What do you know about these things? Lojak, the Highwind's available for support, if needed. You poked around the ship for a time during the flight to Serenity, what did you spot that might be useful for backup aside from the obvious cannons?
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Feb 22, 2015 01:35
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The Heart's Wall, Ceremonial Raincatching Branch Aino steels herself against the roar, and it doesn't seem like anybody else heard it. Probably just one of those ghost noises. Ah, and there it is again. The Highwind lights up with Cid's voice again. "Holy hells! What is that thing?" Aino turns about to follow the others, but spots what Cid's on about first. A familiar face, though its scale standing atop the side of the ruins above the balcony and the color of its hide in the setting sun, it doesn't look entirely the same. A King Behemoth, two broken arrows sticking from one of its feet and a bloody gash in the middle of a heavily darkened part of its forehead. Pretty distinct. Aino acts swiftly and surely, not panicking in the least (or at least, not showing it) as she sprints to the steps and starts down them. There's no other way to go besides tumbling down the side of the mountain, and the Behemoth seems eager to exact its vengeance now that it's on its home turf. ♪~!!!~♪ "Starboard, broadside! Fire!" Cid heralds the Highwind's cannonfire, three cannons operating on an automatic firing system launching iron shot at the beast. One smashes it right in the face, giving the party enough time to react while it recoils. Another sails into the side of the mountain, but the third blasts off a chunk of the ruins which smashes down right in front of Lojak. Missed by an inch, but the impact leaves the bangaa reeling for a moment, long enough to fall behind the party. Once the Behemoth recovers, it slams onto the balcony and begins crushing through the ruins, chasing down its prey. Fending the beast off again would seem manageable if it weren't for everything around you falling apart as it approaches. Millicent is definitely panicking, but manages to stay in step with the party while lighting the way with her wand. The raincatching stairs lie in front of the party and lead into the ruins proper, funguar spores mixing with the water in spots to make a strange, sticky mixture. The two remaining questions apply more to the near future than now, so let's not wait to get into the interesting stuff! He's back! And while you probably could beat him up again, the Behemoth's on his home turf and is crushing it under his feet. You don't have time to stand and fight without falling into the rubble, which seems like a bleak fate at best. Get running! Lojak falls behind slightly, Unlucky as usual. This is going to be a slight modification of an Extended Action, basically the goal is to keep ahead of the Behemoth, and possibly stop it in its tracks. So, it's a chase scene, except you're being chased. The Behemoth is faster than you, though, so just running won't save you. You can interact with obstacles to try and get ahead, or slow down the Behemoth. You can also opt to hang back and attack the Behemoth, but you'll have to be directly in front of it which is pretty dangerous. If the Behemoth overtakes you, you'll get attacked by it and knocked forward, no chance to defend. Millicent will just follow along and stick to whoever's in front, or whoever needs her for something. I'll try to describe the path ahead well, but you can also use your stranger skills to attempt to 'invoke' things and use them, like Creating Advantages in FATE. Your degree of success determines how helpful the thing will be to you, so feel free to declare whatever seems appropriate. When you interact with an obstacle you'll be given a difficulty number. Succeed and you'll bypass it, do well and you might be able to turn it against the Behemoth or help others with it. Fail, and you'll fall behind or suffer a consequence. code:Lojak is two steps in front of the Behemoth, and the rest of the party is three steps in front. The raincatching stairs lay ahead of you, but they'll be hard to run down between them being slick with water and sticky with funguar spores. Either take them slowly and let the Behemoth catch up, or do something to get down them quickly. Difficulty number of 4 to interact with the stairs on foot, possibly different to do something tricky with them. Feel free to get inventive here! Someone can also attack the Behemoth to try to slow it down if you're fine with taking a risk.
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Feb 28, 2015 05:26
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Oh, by the way, Sinclair's presence cured everyone's Endurance as well. I intend to make you need it in the ruins.
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Mar 2, 2015 02:46
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The Heart's Wall, Minor Funguar Colony Detachment Lojak turns to face the Behemoth, driving his sword into the ground. A large chunk of spore-coated brick raises up and meets the Behemoth, which in turn smashes directly into it. It appears dizzed, but only for a moment before it regains its footing and resumes its charge. Mellt leaps down the staircase with a thump, sending spores and mold flying through the air. Aino follows suit, emitting sparks as her boots screech against the brick floor which seem to catch the spores as they float up. Millicent stumbles behind the two, managing to descend the stairs but dropping her wand for a moment before recovering it, dousing the flame. Yet, the ruins seem plenty bright, and as Felize launches her bangaa fellow into the rest of the party and Aubrey floats just above, they each realize too late what's about to happen. It's a funguar colony. Lojak braces for impact with the floor. Mellt and Aino make way for him, neither wanting to take the brunt of a several hundred ponze lizard in plate mail propelled via fork. Just before he lands, however, the few lit spores flare up and overtake the air in flames for a split second before erupting, blasting the floor out from under them. Aubrey manages to stay aloft, and Felize finds herself at the bottom of what remains of the staircase, a leap away from clearing the gap if she wants, with a gawking Millicent fumbling to reignite her wand. While Lojak is stuck fumbling with the visor of his helmet, Aino and Mellt can see strange lights floating around a pool at the bottom of their fall. It's hard to tell if the pool is deep enough to break the fall, but another roar from the Behemoth above them lends evidence to the idea that the Behemoth is extremely angry about the two viera who wounded it earlier in the day. It probably wouldn't mind landing on you and crushing you flat, and certainly would fall faster than you. The Behemoth approaches the staircase rapidly, barely giving Felize a chance to think before she can act. Her and Aubrey spot the rest of the funguar colony on the other end of the hall, a mold-ridden mess likely full of those walking shrooms. It already seems to be catching fire in parts from the eruption, but not quickly enough to catch and explode again immediately. Aino throws up some sparks and blows out the floor under her, causing Lojak, Mellt and Aino to start falling down a newly formed gap. The Behemoth is momentarily impaired by Lojak's Tremor, but still dangerously close. Felize is on the staircase and has the option to try leaping across to the other side, though the slippery footing on the stairs makes it hard to do without falling down with the others (DN 8) She'll have to get going some way quickly though, the Behemoth's right on her tail. Millicent will probably go whichever way you go. Aubrey's fine to land on the other side and descend into the funguar colony if she can cut her way through without disturbing its inhabitants (DN 8). She could also fly down and join her friends, but it won't be easy to catch up to them. Lojak's forced to join the falling group for his stun, but it won't stop him from acting this 'turn'. Everyone falling, you can just land in the pool and take your chances playing water polo with a giant beast when it lands on you, or try to pull some kind of stunt to get yourself in a better position. I'm setting the bar high for a success (DN 10), but despite the strange circumstances surrounding it, this fall does put you a fair bit ahead of the Behemoth. And if I hear from Sol that'd be fantastic.
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Mar 3, 2015 06:31
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The Heart's Wall Above, Felize hops across with Millicent just before the Behemoth smashes down on them. The two of them chase after Aubrey as she dives straight into the spore colonies, swinging the Talwar around like a whirlwind. The funguars themselves keep deflated and low to the ground, not wanting to incur the wrath of the spinning dragon tearing through their home. It's not long before the three emerge on the other side of the colony, covered in spores but making good time! Aubrey manages to catch herself as she spins straight off a sharp drop, puffing up spores everywhere as she beats her wings. Once the spores clear, the three see a partially destroyed staircase leading down to what appears to be a series of catwalks over a long hallway filled with water. Felize and Millicent hop down the gap in the stairs without trouble, given a lack of pursuers. Once they reach the catwalks, they find them to be rather swingy, but still sturdy so long as they aren't tread upon too quickly. Glancing back down the opposite way along the pool, flickering lights from the torches illuminate a few figures before a pair of splashes ring out. Then, a roar sounds... Below, Mellt swings her hammer to propel herself into the wall, then smashes it into the stone to secure herself against it. Lojak tries something similar, his gauntlets screeching against rock to slow his descent before the wall stops, leaving a much shorter fall into the shallows of the pool. 'Shallows' being relative, as the pool does seem plenty large enough to contain the Behemoth while the water Lojak stands in only goes up to his thighs. As for Aino, she simply takes this as any proper emergency escape procedure would go aboard a ship over water. Jackknifing into the water, the viera plummets straight to the bottom and braces for impact. With a long roar, the King takes his place on his watery throne. Perhaps not in the most regal of fashions, but a king must make due in times such as these. Aino tilts away just before one of its feet sloshes into her, but the rapid and significant displacement of water sends her suddenly up the steps, stopped by Lojak's solid stance before she's swept away any farther. Mellt waits in the wings, ready to jump at any moment as the Behemoth recovers and finds its footing. Back in the catwalks, the pool underneath suddenly rushes and floods with water as a loud splash sounds, cutting the roar short. The flooding doesn't seem to stop, maintaining a steady rate despite likely being spurred on by the Behemoth dropping in. Perhaps a sort of magic? This is where the Heart of the river lies, after all. Pool crew, Lojak succeeds, helping Aino from getting caught by the Behemoth or something just as bad. Mellt succeeds, putting herself a step behind the Behemoth. Feel free to make your attack on your next move Gorbash, the Behemoth is suffering even more negative dice than usual between Lojak's impairment and the surprise element of this attack so it's exceedingly unlikely you'll miss. I am bad at making you all spend Drama Dice from your MP pools. The Behemoth will take a bit to catch back up with you, you can opt to get more of a head start or bust out a plan. Catwalks crew, you're a bit ahead of the Behemoth, on the only likely path it'll be taking. The catwalks should be high enough up to be safe from the Behemoth, so you're not stuck running. Any preparations you'd like to make to help the others out once the King gets back up and charging? You've got your skills, the height advantage, and a bit of time. Felize, It suddenly occurs to you: everyone knows the myths about Behemoths calling down the stars themselves upon their prey, but a few lesser known stories talk about them shooting lightning from their horns. And there's an awful lot of water around here...
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Mar 9, 2015 01:36
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The Heart's Wall, Primary Artery Aino steps out first against the Behemoth, waving some extremely coarse language at it as well as one of her arrows. It can't seem to find the other rabbit, so this one will just have to take its full ire. Trudging through the water, the Behemoth slowly lines itself up exactly where Felize wants it, and she lets loose the stone block which slams straight into its head, over the already existing wound from Mellt's hammer. Lojak takes this opportunity as leverage, despite the danger of giant falling stone blocks, and positions himself under the Behemoth. With a mighty swing, he catches one of the beast's horns as its head jerks down from the weight of the stone, driving the blade through the dense bone and cleaving it off entirely. Blood trails after the horn as it goes flying straight towards Aubrey, who catches it and then catches herself midair before being dragged down by the weight. It's strange and offputting to her immediately, but before she discards it she realizes just how much a Behemoth's horn could be worth, especially as cleanly cut as it is. If only it wasn't so incredibly heavy... Once the others have cleared away from the reeling Behemoth, Mellt smashes through debris, raining it down upon the beast. The ruins hold up, but most of the wall she used comes apart and drops her down in the shallow water with Aino and Lojak. The Behemoth lies beneath a mountain of cobblestone, and Millicent looks down from the catwalks to congratulate everyone. "Nobody's stopped a King Behemoth before with anything short of full powered artillery! That's amazing! The Heart should be just down this way, c'mon, let's-" The floor rumbles. Bits of stone tumble from the top of the pile over the Behemoth, and suddenly it bursts its head from the debris. But not to lash out with its remaining horn or teeth. It raises its head up high and calls a resounding "GRRRRAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" Nothing seems to happen at first, but Felize notices a molten red light building up from the gap in the ceiling she made. It's hard to believe that the ancient stories of Behemoths calling down the stars are actually true, but the ceiling is certainly beginning to turn convex and the entire ruins are rumbling. This is Meteor. The Behemoth King gets completely piled on by busting up half of the ruins on top of its head. It's trapped and down for the count, but not without a proper sendoff. Meteor is crashing down on where you stand, and hanging around seems like a good way to go the way of the dinosaurs. Aubrey, that horn is more than worth its weight in gil. And since it's extremely heavy, that's a lotta gil. You can opt to hold on to it, but don't expect to be flying around with that weighing you down.
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Mar 20, 2015 08:10
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There's always Green Magic. Which because I still don't know what Green Magic is actually supposed to be may as well be anything! Quick, Haste, Float? Go wild!
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Mar 30, 2015 00:47
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Rolling some extra dice for Lojak gets +Quick Added Dice, which regrettably doesn't double up, but does step it up to a 6. Aubrey's already at +3 Quick, so it doesn't really have an effect. Aino could benefit, but doesn't need it for this roll anyways. The Heart's Wall, Primary Artery Spurred on by Mellt's magic, the two viera and Felize all sprint down the shallow water, straight outta here. Behind them, Lojak is dragged down by his armor and Aubrey is dragged down by her prize. They manage not to get completely flattened by molten rock, as everything behind them seems to be, but the ritual path gives way to the lower floors of the ruins. The growing hole pulls the both of them down, where they fall a short distance before suddenly stopping. The horn appears to have gotten stuck in a gap not quite large enough for it, and Aubrey hangs onto it while Lojak finds himself wedged in a gap between the hole and the horn that's too small for him to fall through. Once she confirms the horn won't just tumble away from her if she lets go, Aubrey tries to do the obvious before realizing a Magus-sized weight is holding onto her legs for dear life. Rather than complaining, Millicent is mostly just trying not to look down and panic. The rushing water from the waterway pouring down on all three of them just makes this whole thing even worse. The three who managed to clear the Meteor are in relative safety, but there's no telling how stable the rubble leading down into the hole is. Mellt's spell prevents Lojak from getting caught in the blast radius proper and Felize from getting caught by anything, but Aubrey and Lojak are in a bit of a bind and Millicent comes along for the ride. The fall would be dangerous for Millicent and Lojak, and Aubrey's got Millicent weighing her down. Anyone can act, but if you aren't careful the ruins could fall apart even more than they already are.
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Mar 31, 2015 05:56
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Dive back into danger and try to drag them out, attempt to wrench Aubrey away from her solid brick of gil against her will (or figure out a way to get it out in one or more pieces), see about blowing the gap even more open and riding the water down into the depths of the ruins. Doing that last thing but on accident because you rolled bad is also doable. This is probably just the instigator in me that loves making things go hilariously wrong, though. Basically everything leads to a dumb adventure and you'll eventually get to the Heart because who wants to get a Game Over and realize we forgot to save for the past three EDIT: Reviewing this post, the simple answer is 'get (your friends) out of danger' I think.
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Apr 2, 2015 02:43
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Millicent "Um, well, yes, but it'll send me back to Serenity and I've got the... Oh." Millicent digs in her pouch with one hand while clinging onto Aubrey's legs with the other, and pulls out the package she got from Sol. It's definitely portable and shouldn't require the Magus. She hands it up to Aubrey, then reaches back to her pouch to get her wand. A few flicks of it and a dark spiral starts twirling around her. "Just make sure you're definitely at the Heart, or it might not work! Oh, and I didn't really expect a Behemoth, but I never got a chance to warn you about the-" And the Warp spell completes, Millicent vanishing into a small spiral void. Well, that'd definitely be the case. Millicent's not weighing Aubrey down anymore and Mellt's headed down to help the two remaining stragglers. Aubrey and Lojak have a chance to help the effort on their end.
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Apr 5, 2015 03:55
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The Heart's Wall, Leaking Artery With Aino and Felize holding onto the rope, Mellt lowers herself down the crumbling terrain and through the rushing water. With Millicent gone, Aubrey gets up on the horn and grabs onto Lojak to try to hoist him out while Lojak hefts up the horn and throws it. The result is pretty odd to see before Aubrey loses her grip on Lojak, but Mellt manages to duck under the soaring horn that Aubrey's clinging onto before grabbing hold of Lojak before he stumbles back down into the pit. Aino and Felize drag the two out of the pit, and everyone retreats to a more stable part of the artery. The Heart of the River Aubrey manages to pull the horn out of the ground after its crash landing and likely continues to cling to her treasure while the rest of the party catches their breath. Everything seems relatively safe for now. Farther down the artery, the waterway suddenly drops off into a large room, connected to various other waterways similar to this artery that you can spot dotting the walls. It's probably fair to assume this is the Heart. It's also probably fair to assume that the steps down to the great pool at the bottom are actually funguar colonies, which lead down to a giant, colorfully spotted platform floating on the surface of the pool, which tilts up and reveals two large, beady eyes staring up at you. After a moment it tilts back down. You got a big ol' critter submerged in the pool of the Heart, and a 'stairway' of colonies to descend if you want to head down to it. It doesn't seem to want to kill you, unlike most wildlife in Ivalice, but you did come here to help the Heart. What's the plan?
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Apr 7, 2015 21:24
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The Heart of the River As Felize cross-references monsters in her head, the critter in the Heart looks up at her again with its beady eyes and suddenly raises two large arm-like appendages out of the water, holding them up. What might seem like a threatening gesture to the rest of the party, Felize recognizes as the Funguar greeting. Clearly, it's just trying to say- "HELLO" ...Okay, Funguar don't normally talk. Especially not in people-tongue. It seems nice, though, and it is greeting you politely! Also worth noting, it's rather unlikely its spores would be the cause of Serenity's woes, especially as such a large Funguar. At worst it might flare up some of their allergies, but that's hardly a concern for them at the moment.
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Apr 10, 2015 23:32
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The Heart of the River The giant Funguar stares back at Felize for a moment before tilting its head, dipping part of its cap into the water. Funguar are fairly primitive to begin with, but it doesn't seem like one becoming giant has made it much more intelligent. Still, it seems pretty okay with you just hopping on down the colonies to reach it.
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Apr 15, 2015 22:58
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Apologies for my bad posting getting worse, I've been feeling not-great and things I've been thinking about lately don't exactly make me want to go straight to writing stuff. The Heart of the River The party is free to descend down to the Funguar's cap should they wish, and whoever lands on the spongy surface elicits a small puff of spores. The water of the Heart seems to cycle out through certain descending tunnels while replenishing through other ascending ones, the water likely pushed up by pressure. The walls thrum with the rushing of the river, a strange sort of natural mechanism. While the large Funguar displaces a great deal of the water, it doesn't rise far enough to reach the empty arteries higher up that the party entered from. Of particular note, the water seems to be crackling and fizzing in one spot. It's difficult to see through the water as the spores have an effect not unlike algae on it, so a closer look would be required in order to investigate it. When Aubrey checks Millicent's package, she finds it full of large crystalline chunks. Despite looking similar to salt, they're solid and extremely difficult to break apart. The Funguar seems content to let the party traipse around on its cap, staying still so as to not cause anyone to tumble into the waters. How friendly! You've got purifying salts, something weird crackling inside the water, and a Funguar pal keeping you afloat. Anyone who would prefer can stay up on the Funguar colonies if they like, they won't hurt the Funguar's feelings. You could just toss the salts right in, or inspect things further. What's the plan?
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Apr 22, 2015 23:37
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