[Log] Operation: Rescue Nowe (Light and Shadow Finale) - Part 1
Who: Dogi, Mai Tokiha, Manah, Niravhadi, Nowe, Tepet Tilis Tirana, Urick
Where: The Sealed World, the Citadel of Light
When: Friday, March 19th (late post is late!)
What: The Coalition gears up to rescue Nowe from the clutches of Lieutenant Yaha.
Watch For: The New Breed, the Eye of the Moirae, "oh shit it's a lion get in the car", the most epic bro-fist of all time
(Niravhadi needs a tag!)
The Citadel of Light is an imposing structure, towering over the surrounding land from its perch at the crest of a hill. Lit from behind by the mid-afternoon sun, the walls of the fortress almost seem to glow. The Citadel's shadow spills down the slope in front of it as if outlining a broad path for visitors to tread.
On any other day, the hill would be swarming with armored and armed Knights of the Seal. But now, for whatever reason, it's completely deserted. Not even a single archer occupies the battlements, and the hillside is empty and eerily silent.
Mercade Alexander says, "I'm sorry, I can't get directly involved. I'll keep the outer defenses busy on the flanks while you guys go in. Mai, remember what I told you."
Fuuka was quiet enough that Mai thought it would be okay to leave things in Natsuki and Akira's hands for a while. She trusted them to keep an eye on her brother too. After leaving a note behind for both best friend and boyfriend on the phones, Mai set off.
Though she made her way to the rendezvous point her own way, figuring it would be easier. In her soul, she can hear Kagutsuchi's restless rumbling, his eagerness for battle pulsing against her heart. She was a little uneasy herself - it'd be -nice- if this could be resolved without fighting, but realistically? Pff. ...
Just as well, Mai found she actually looked forward to fighting - she got restless when there was nothing to do and Orphan hunting didn't have the same thrill. And on arriving at the Citadel... it's .. um... somehow she expected more people. "Should it really be this deserted?" Just a wee bit uneasy. /Understatement.
And oh yes, the pouch Mercade had given her is kept nice and safe. Where? She's not telling! .. this place was kind of creepy.
Somewhere in the Sealed World is a flying island.
It was in the Hub yesterday, but today it isn't. Over the course of the night, a helpful Autobot had towed the island into a nearby Gate, and Nira had thanked it very politely and then let his island float about wherever it pleased to be, which mostly meant following the air currents. All in all, it's a harmless island.
Unless you spend too long on it, of course.
But over the course of time, Niravhadi got bored with just watching the landscape go by down below and thought to go see what it's like. Getting down from the island's fairly easy when you can change anything on it into anything else, and somewhere some distance away from this citadel is a griffin puttering about looking for things to kill. Nira himself is ..roaming.
Yes, definitely roaming, and fairly aimlessly at that, astride an absolutely massive lion that could match a horse for size, and seemed to also be on fire. It didn't have a mane and tailtip so much as bright yellow-white flames, the heat of which doesn't seem to trouble Niravhadi at all.
What did trouble him was the lack of interesting things down here. He'd hoped for something worth investigating but all there really is, is that shiny cathedral-thing way over that way, and at a distance, Nira isn't entirely sure it's worth checking out. Eventually he concludes that it might very well be, and nudges his burning mount in that direction. There has to be SOMETHING to do there, those sorts of places at least had guards and danger and /Adventure/, didn't they?! And look, there's people!
Thankfully things like flaming lions and fairly mundane looking riders (well, at first glance mundane) are utterly ordinary in -this- world.
It was a difficult situation for Tirana to find herself in, to be certain. The Knights of the Seal were full-fledged members of the IPL. Nowe and Urick were dear friends of hers. She really had no jurisdiction involving herself in a lovers' quarrel, except that Nowe's life was on the line, but he's kinda-sorta wanted by the police anyways. The one thing she was most certain of was that she did not want to be part of that much bloodshed ever again, and it seemed this world was just drenched in it. The most prudent course of action, therefore, was obviously not to involve herself in what may come.
So of course, she came to the Citadel. Dear Prudence was a beautiful song, but a horrible way to avert potential catastrophes.
Naturally, she couldn't come officially. Or at least publically official, anyways. Having taken a cursory examination of the grounds around the Citadel, it was her blessed fortune to find a blonde-haired chambermaid with the same unfortunate bust size as herself. One happy little song later, and said servant girl had decided to enjoy the day in her new and nifty set of clothes.doing something other than work around the castle.
Meanwhile, a poor girl in a raggedy dress and headscarf slowly makes her way to the Citadel. A bucket swings from one hand, the other sways a little less freely than the 'chambermaid' would have liked. Its rather sad not being able to twirl and dance about, but that would blow her cover! Hopefully she's shuffling and appearing dreary enough to fool everyone!
Even if she does have a chipmunk sniffing at her heels. She must've stepped in something. Yeah.
Another figure approaches the Citadel. A large, blue haired man. He wears one of those looks of heroic restlessness. Parts of him wants to save Nowe. Well, all of his parts do, but there are parts which are restless and want some sort of action. He hasn't done much of anything except fish and stay at an inn since the plague.
Though, Dogi hasn't really dealt with Nowe (et al.)'s world much, which prevents him from just going in guns blazing. He knows better, so he'll just gather with the others. He checks his equipment.
Left fist... right fist...
All done! "Let's do this." He says to no one specific.
Legna's shadow on the ground is still slightly ragged from his injuries as he circles overhead in patrol of the District. "Not a single worm in sight," he reports. "What are those fools playing at?"
Urick has declined to ride Legna, perhaps in deference to the dragon's comfort, and shakes his head doubtfully as he surveys the area from the foot of the hill. "I don't know," he murmurs, in response to both Legna and Mai. "But it's not a very warm welcome, is it?"
He turns slightly, looking over the friends who have chosen to join him. Aside from Legna, Tirana's the only one with whom he's had any real face-to-face interaction, and she's not even with the Coalition--but he's not complaining. It's a small group, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"Well." Urick smiles behind the face-plate of his helmet. "No sense in knocking if the door's already open, eh?" And he's about to turn and head up the hill, but then he catches sight of something rapidly approaching...something on fire?! He tenses visibly. "...Maybe we're not so alone after all."
Mai shakes her head uneasily. "A-" she stops short at Urick's latter comment, following his gaze. Just to prepare herself, she flicks her wrists upwards, flames curling around them and her ankles, forming into a pair of bracelets that - to all appearances - are way too big for her, yet stay on somehow nonetheless. She pauses, "What, are they throwing flaming barrels at us or something?" She calls up to Urick, unable to see what was heading their way beyond that it was fast and fiery.
Tirana wasn't supposed to be part of the assembled Aveng- er- Coalition party! No Dynast here, just another worried chambermaid trying to make inside before all hell broke loose! Indeed, she's already scampering towards the Citadel's open gate as fast as her worn-out slippers can take her. This may also have something to do with the maniac riding in on a fireball. Seriously, what the dragons, Sealed World. "I should have chosen a girl with a bigger skirt and boots," she sighs to herself.
Fear not, brave adventurers! It's just a lion! ..A .. flaming lion, sure, that's bigger than lions should be, but, uh, surely it's perfectly safe! It's wearing jewelry! Delicate golden jewelry, beads woven into the burning mane, tiny links of fragile looking chain looped in a glittering parody of a horse's bridle, each leg wearing bangles as well. Wild animals don't play dress up!
Wild animals don't have riders either, and as they draw closer, Nira slows his mount a bit with a light touch and sits up, alert and interested. Ooh, is that a /dragon/? And more people than he thought! Dragons weren't always evil, he knew that from many different stories, but this one looked particularly pugnacious.
He'll have to be careful.
... On second thought, careful isn't very entertaining, and instead he waves cheerily. "Hallo!" So much for anything remotely like stealth. They weren't intending to rely on surprise right?
Dogi looks at the castle. Then he looks at the rest of the Coalition group. /Then/ he looks at the random chambermaid. Dogi wonders how much trouble he'd attract if he made a hole in the wall. Sure, it's fun and sometimes tactically useful, but there was this once instance a few years back...
But wait! Dogi turns as the flaming lion approaches. He raises an eyebrow and replies back. "...Uh, hi." There's a tenative wave. Hey, he's interacted with polite people before, but the /lion on fire/ is a little surprising.
Urick eyes Nira warily, his fingers already firmly wrapped around the handle of his scythe. Could this be one of Yaha's illusions? They're usually more...subtle than this, and Yaha's magic has a sickly sort of feel to it that this man lacks.
The flaming lion has not escaped Legna's notice either, and before Urick can say anything, the dragon banks sharply to skim low overhead--low enough that the wind of his passing would stir the flames in the lion's mane, if the creature can be affected by such earthly influences. It's not an attack so much as a warning: Run, fool, if you value your life.
"Eh?" Just.. he just... Mai peers at Nira curiously. ".. hi..?" Well so much for subtlety, but truthfully, Mai didn't count on a whole lot of -that- to begin with. She glances at Urick, "He isn't one of ours, is he?" Well not a whole lot of reason he'd be there, but there's Legna going to shoo him off nonetheless.
Mai turns her attention to the Citadel again, watching it for movement, edging a little bit closer. Hrn. It really didn't seem too guarded, but that had to be a trick. So where were all the people?
The downdraft of massive wings sparks the lion's flames into brief eddies and swirls, Nira's hair and clothing likewise blown in the wind, but all he really does about it is duck down a little better, squinting in the dust kicked up, the lion sneezing once violently in a brief puff of fire. If either one is an illusion, it's a very well crafted one.
That dragon's really /neat/ looking. "Look at that," he says, thumping the lion on the back. "Ever see anything like it? Like a big blue pterok!" If the desire was to inspire fear it certainly hasn't actually worked. No, this revelation simply means that he wants to stay, see more of that creature, maybe plan a Behemoth based on it, and find out what's going on!
Most people have the intelligence to not stop for a chat when people are looming about with dragons, looking malevolent and hostile. "Hello! I apologize most eagerly if we are disrupting your gathering, but may I ask what you are doing?" It looked like it might be more interesting than roaming about!
Tirana is apparently the lead scout, nearly at the gate herself. Nothing to see here, just one of the servants! We are the underclass, please move along~
Dogi raises a hand like a confused student. Which he is. So he decides to throw the guy's question back at him. "What are /you/ doing?" Not accusing, just curious.
Though, every so often he looks towards the empty castle. "Hmm..." He watches, before muttering. "Too quiet. Looks like a trap." Alternatively, Yaha or whoever has Nowe might be wanting to throw a party in celebration of the heroes showing up.
Hey, he's seen that sort of thing before.
He hasn't run screaming; he's barely even blinked. Legna gives a snort of annoyance and begins a wide turn to give the outsider a bit more of an incentive, but none of the other members of the group look too terribly upset by his presence, and he isn't doing anything outwardly threatening. He settles for swooping overhead again, a bit higher this time, then turns to make his way towards the Citadel itself with swift, powerful beats of his wings. He's too big to get through the doors, but he can at least watch the humans' backs once they make it inside. Which they'd better do soon, because /his boy/ is in there, dammit.
Urick shifts his weight restlessly from one foot to the other and back again. "It's almost definitely a trap," he mutters to Dogi. Then, to Niravhadi: "We're here to rescue a friend of ours, who's being held in that fortress." He points with his free hand at the Citadel. ...Did someone just hurry inside? Maybe a lookout, gone to warn Yaha that they're here...?
Distracted now by that possibility, Urick continues without really looking at Nira. "I'm sorry, but we don't really have time to chat. If you're with us, your aid would be welcome. If you're against us--" He shoots another look at Niravhadi, his eyes cold and steely behind his helmet's grotesque visage. "--then I'm sure that will work itself out soon enough."
With that, he sets off for the Citadel and its unguarded, yet thoroughly unwelcoming, front door.
Tirana didn't exactly hurry inside. In fact, she paused right at the gate itself, peering in first to make sure there wasn't any nets or pit traps or swords waiting for the first one to run in. Its only after she takes a good look around to make sure the coast is clear that she does indeed step in. Can't be too cautious in these times, y'know? Right?
About time. Mai glances at Nira once more, but once Urick has set off, Mai hops off of the ground and zips after him - flying is so much faster than running. Moving to catch up with Urick, Mai glances behind her at the others, and then to the other man who she deems to be the leader in this, "Should we split up? We might cover more ground and find Nowe that way." And they might walk right into multiple traps yo. Good times, good times.
"I am seeking adventure!" He sets his hands on his hips and fairly beams at Dogi. For those few moments, Niravhadi strikes a remarkably noble figure, the very embodiment of a young hero seeking the aforementioned Adventure. It passes quickly, as he leans forward, fingers knotted in the flames of the lion's mane again. "And I thought to myself, that this gathering looked quite impressive and yon building quite ominous! Perhaps here could be found something interesting! And here I am."
Surely he's trustworthy. He seems to be, in spite of popping up in a suspicious manner and riding about on a great flaming monstrosity. Trust him. It's so easy to do. Just stop wondering why it's so easy to do.
And then Urick explains why they're there, and Nari seems to sober right up. "Oh, how terrible. A friend captive by nefarious forces!" He also entirely /misses/ that chilly stare, clasping his hands briefly and looking terribly worried. "It must truly be horrifying inside, to require such numbers to oppose it, /and/ traps! Your friend must be in great danger! I will assist you!!" Decision: made!
The lion is poked between the shoulderblades, his voice quieter. "I told you there would be adventure here." The lion gives a disdainful snort and ambles after Urick. Nira is content to stay riding, it gives him the liesure time to study Mai and Dogi with interest. Certainly Dogi looked like he might be the sort to do dramatic rescues, but Mai looked to be a fairly ordinary girl, and he's visibly puzzled by her, scratching his head lightly in confusion. Urick fit the story. Dogi did too. But Mai's just some g--
Oh. Oh, she can /fly/. "This is going to be fantastic," he says brightly to nobody at all.
Dogi nods at Urick. The entire thing reeked of a trap, and for all he knows the front gate has a massive pit ready for all of them to walk over it. He shrugs to himself. He's ready for it, anyway, so he follows Urick into the Citadel, forming the rear guard.
Hey, it could be useful. You never know, Yaha might be coming back from whatever it is he might be out for. Or an army might roll in and try to start a fight. Things could get bad.
Though he nods once at the idea of splitting up. This would allow Dogi to mill about the Citadel and punch in walls, setting off traps and attracting the attention of anyone inside.
That's how he'd like to work, anyhow.
There are no traps inside the Citadel, at least no obvious ones. Just a single hallway that leads into a long oval-shaped antechamber, with another, narrower hallway at the far end. The antechamber is carpeted in rich wine-red, and the rest of the floors are hard stone, polished to a mirror shine. Sconces and candelabras line the walls, bathing everything in a warm golden light. It's a beautiful place, really, and it might even seem welcoming if it weren't so...empty.
Yes, the interior of the Citadel of Light is just as deserted as the exterior. The hush is akin to that of a cathedral, an echoing silence that makes every footstep, every breath, every rustle of clothing, seem much too loud.
"I wouldn't," Urick states tensely. "If we split up, who's to say we'll be the same when we meet again?" He pauses, perhaps realizing what he just said, and shakes his head. "I don't know...maybe I'm just being paranoid." Then, more quietly: "...I hate it here."
The hallway at the far end of the antechamber leads to a staircase going down. At the bottom, it continues straight ahead for a short distance before opening into another chamber, this one small and round and apparently just as empty as the rest of the place. But there's something strange about the air in here...something very subtle, as though the temperature dropped by a single degree.
The lack of doors and alcoves makes Tirana an unhappy undercover agent. She should have waited for the Coalition to enter, /then/ follow them instead of trying to get a good spying spot first. Instead, she's trying to sneak down a hallway in broad candlelight. Every brush of her tattered clothing is almost echoing off the walls too. No murmurs, no scampering, not even the skittering of rats! Someone really must like clean and quiet!
A little daunted, she still forges on ahead. Daintily she takes up the hem of her skirt as she descends the stairs, nary losing a drop from her bucket as she does! Its still creepy, rustling and sloshing and dragons blessed where /is/ everyone in here? Did Yaha intend to face Urick by himself? And why does that thought creep her even further out?
The hallway leads to yet another chamber! Something isn't right, however, and more importantly its been too long since she's carried something this heavy this far! Setting the bucket on the floor, she finds the shadowiest part of the room to slinks herself up against a wall to rest. Sneaky like ninja, she is.
Mai Tokiha glances over her shoulder at their unexpected assistant - but hey, the more the merrier, provided he doesn't stab them all in the back afterwards. Sorry Dogi, no wall smashing for you today it seems. She glances back to Urick at that comment, putting a hand to one of the bracelets on her left wrist. "Because of that man, Yaha...?" She hopes that what Mercade gave her works. She won't lie, she's more than a little uneasy - and she's been trapped in an illusion before.
Onside inside the Citadel, Mai stops flying to walk - unless the hallway is cramped with heroes in which case she'll fly after all. "So what's the plan then?" She glances at Urick, her hair fluffed slightly. "What's with this atmosphere...?" She rubs her arm with a grimace.
As they reach doors, Nira dismounts and follows on foot, looking around with obvious interest, the lion still padding along on quiet feet. Never does he have to worry about sudden chills, not with a great burning lion at his side, but for the most part, the raksha's letting them do their thing, not interfering, not harming, not hindering-
..Except he's humming, quietly, under his breath. The astute might recognize it as snatches of music from various action movies. Lacking a proper soundtrack, /provide one/.
While everyone else obviously has the wit to be worried about potential traps and the danger of this place, Niravhadi is oblivious. Or simply doesn't care. The atmosphere of this place was /wonderful/! Everything is so beautiful and elegant! Nira is ..going to have to duplicate some of this in his castle on the island.
Dogi nods again. Hey, it was a plan. Sometimes plans don't work. Sometimes plans fail spectacularly. Hopefully this one won't.
Though, now Dogi has a question. "When you said 'be the same', do you mean different in the mind, or different as in we all grow arms and other weird things?" Then again, there's always the chance that one or more of the team might undergo their soul-searching here and come out stronger than they had been.
Dogi keeps up the rear guard, though. He doesn't do much about stealth, though, what with /flaming lion/ nearby.
"Yes," Urick replies to Mai. And to Dogi, "I meant in the mind...but there's no telling what he'll do." He shakes his head again. "That Yaha...I'd rather not see him." His voice is low and bitter.
Tirana is the first one into the smaller chamber, which means she'll be the first one to see the heavy iron gate slam down, blocking the corridor ahead. And as the rest of the party clears the staircase, an identical iron gate descends behind them. There's a few feet of space in the hallway in front of each gate, but beyond that, the only place to stand is in the small round chamber itself.
And in the chamber, a dim yellowish light rises from the floor. With it comes a singularly unpleasant /sucking/ sensation, like something is trying to siphon away all the warmth and strength from anyone standing in the room.
YIP. Mai utters that particularly brave noise when the gate SMASHES down behind them. "Aaa..!" And grabs hold of the Gate, pulling.. but even with her strength, it doesn't budge. Maybe punching it --
Another gasp, and a shudder at the change in floor color, "What's going on..!" It was strange - a bone cold chill sinking into her, almost numbing her strength away. Instinct says to get away - get away, get warm.
She immediately takes to the air, bracelets spinning into fire again to hold her aloft as she hugs herself. "Ugh! .." ... yeah Mai is so not going to be able to pick everyone up. Not even close. "There has to be a way out..!" .. how does that iron stand up to fire anyway?
They closed the gate on the chambermaid? She's innocent! She's a civilian! She's totally not an IPA officer skulking about in disguise!
Well, alright, maybe her hair was a little too virbrant for a peasant, but it couldn't have been that suspicious!
The 'servant' is still up against the wall when the next surprises hit. So this is how they welcome raiding parties around here, she thinks with a shiver. Well, they won't get her Essence without a fight! She knows just the song- er- no, that's not quite going to work is it? Maybe the touch of a wood aspect.... No, not that either. Does she have a charm? Does she even have time to think of a convoluted plan before she's left a withered husk? Perhaps the solution has been staring her in the face all along!
Without warning, the maid promptly picks up her bucket and heaves its dirtied brownish contents at the light. She didn't know the water was used! The room as close as it is, someone or multiple someones may have also become wet. "Oh dear."
Dogi is a little close to the gate when it slams shut. "Woah!" Dogi pulls forward instinctivly so as to not get stabbed or squished by the gate. Then, he looks around quickly. "Yep, a trap." He starts doing what he does best: Look around for a weak point to do some creative redecorating. Hint: There are a lot of weak points.
But such thoughts are put aside as the fire begins to drain the warmth from him. Normally a man of fire and hot-bloodedness, even he starts to feel a bit of a chill as it does its work. He shivers. "What's going on?"
Niravhadi does not like iron. At all. It interfered with so many things on so many levels and offended him by its /presence alone/. That it was barring his path made things ... well, so much worse!
And then the floor starts glowing, and he considers very carefully whether he might like that even less as his lion slowly buckles until it's lying on the floor, its head on its paws, the flames dimming to the low sparking deep red of banked coals.
The raksha steps backwards carefully, willing to risk the unpleasantness of iron instead of that glow. Those couple of feet of space is enough for one person to take up, and just perfect for him! He's very, very careful to not actually /touch/ those iron gates, however.
"How strong are these bars, do you think?" If there's anything he could do, he could do brute strength! It'll just ..require touching that loathsome element, or pulling his goremaul from Elsewhere and smashing it, but either way this isn't a good place to be. Out of the glow as he is, he's not suffering from that strength-draining effect, but his poor lion...!
Urick whirls as the gate clangs down. The iron bars rattle in Mai's grip, but shows no other sign of moving.
Facing forward again, Urick sets one foot on the glowing floor--and immediately recoils, staring down at the floor in a mixture of disbelief and dull horror. "He wouldn't," he breathes.
The renegade stays firmly within the safe zone (which puts him--and his iron helmet--quite close to Niravhadi), not moving even when a wave of dirty water sloshes around his shoes. The floor appears unaffected; it continues to glow dimly beneath the layer of wet grime.
Urick stares across the room at the gate on the other side. "It has to be one of you," he says slowly. "He's...using the magic of one of the other Districts, somehow." His own. "Sacrifice a life to open the way...you just have to endure until the gate opens."
Mai Tokiha clamps her hands over her mouth. "A.. what? Are you -" She shakes her head, "No way, there has to be a way to open the gate without sacrificing it. It's just iron isn't it!?" She glances at the others, then Nira and his lion - poor kitty :( - "I don't think it can be all that strong. But 'sacrificing' someone to this.. -Floor- it's just going to put us at a disadvantage...! Knock one more person out of it - come on, really, there's another way isn't there?"
One thing was for sure. She wasn't touching that floor. It's icky.
A sacrifice? Something nobly heroic to help save the day at the cost of... well... yeah. Tirana had always wondered what her decision would be in a situation such as this. If it would help save Nowe...
Except that she wasn't exactly here to save Nowe. Well, she was but she wasn't. Its complicated. Enough so that she's still staring at the floor and rather oblivious to the fact that Nira of all people joined them. "Um, are you sure that is the only way out?"
A /life/? Nira is not willing to die for someone ELSE'S story! (And where did this disgustingly unclean water come from?) "If a sacrifice is required," he says slowly. "My dearest Elation may serve, if also he will survive." The lion flicks its ears at the sound of its name, lifting its head briefly to regard him .. then set its head back down. "But he and I have travelled long together and his life means much to me."
Still, it is surely better to sacrifice an animal than a sapient being. It would be a tragic note for him to lose his dearest friend! Urick's closeness is tolerated; he moves over as carefully as he can to make room for the Pact-man and his loathsome helmet.
Mai had the right idea.. stay out of the glowy stuff. And then he hears Tirana. "Why, Lady Tirana! Here we are in strange places together once more!" The sobriety of a moment before is gone, just like that! "I did not believe that you, also, would be one to seek adventure!"
Dogi looks around again. "Wait, wait. Hold on. Can't we all just sacrifice a part of our lives or something and--" No, Dogi. Bad idea. "Lemme try something. Which way are we going?" Yes, Dogi is going to try the strategy set down by Master Sun Tzu, the 'Punch Wall' gambit.
Or something like that. He can't remember what strategy manual it was in, but it was totally in one of them. Or he may have just been reading something while drunk and /thought/ it was a war manual that advocated what he does best. Whatever works for him!
He shivers some more.
"I...I don't know." There's a note of despair in Urick's voice. "Maybe there is another way, but I don't know what it might be, other than just breaking through the gate." He points at the gate on the far side of the room. It seems like it would be theoretically possible, just...difficult.
But maybe it won't be necessary. As the glow in the floor continues to drain the life-force from those standing on it, the gate slowly begins to rise. Inch by inch, with agonizing slowness, with each second that passes mirroring each weakening heartbeat. Freedom is within reach...but will it come quickly enough?
Not good not good. "Come on, hang in there!" Don't give in to the swamp of despair! "Aa - it's moving..!" But not fast enough. Worried for the state of those standing on the chamber, Mai zips over to the rising gate, hovering in place and trying to get it to open faster. It doesn't even have to be fully up! Crawl for freedom people! Women and flaming lions first! "Is everyone okay?"
"Oh goodness!" Of all places, Nira was /here/ as well? "Um, I must apologize, um, I do not know of any Lady Tirana," she answers rather suggestively. Hint hint, nudge nudge, know what she means? "I am merely a servant girl who is unfortunately caught up in some fiendish plot!" See? Totally not a Tirana, even if she is a Tirana! "I also apologize if I dirtied your shoes, um."
The gate is moving, so they're doing something right! A thought does occur to her, and she asks, rather hesitantly, "Perhaps if everyone stepped on it, that way it would open faster and nobody would sacrifice themselves?" Though, she does have to wonder: Would that be considered aiding and abetting?
Well, if someone has to be the first, then so be it. The 'servant girl' steps onto the glowing floor, almost immediately squeaking with a shudder.
Nira rakes fingers through his hair briefly in a futile attempt to get it to organize itself. "Well, I have heard many times that when subtlety fails, one must use brute force. I am certain between myself and this young blue haired stranger, we can accomplish this." It seems subtlety isn't going to work and his poor lion looks so utterly exhausted..
He snaps his fingers lightly. "Ah! I am sorry, most fairest servant girl! Your radiance was such that I was unable to distinguish between you and another elegant beauty of my aquaintence!" Because now is totally the time to get this handled, right? As the gate begins inching upwards, however, the raksha watches with evident interest and then steps forward, reaching back as if to grasp a weapon held across his back.
Except as he does so quite suddenly there actually /is/ a weapon, a solid, dark metal mace that looks to weigh as much as Niravhadi himself does. Crossing from one side to the other takes a few hops through the draining floor, but once on the other side, waits patiently to wedge the goremauls heavy head beneath the gate. If mere iron could break such sturdy construction, then he will have failed as a blacksmith many times over. It won't leave /much/ room beneath, juuust enough for the largest of them - besides poor Elation - to squeeze beneath, but it should prevent the gate from lowering again.
Dogi wants to /try/ the Punch Wall gambit, but alas he can't. His strength is slowly starting to weaken. He blinks and begins to walk (slower than he would like) towards the ever opening gate. Strength sapping spells! His one weakness!
But then, he watches what the new guy with the strange mace is doing, and nods. "Okay, new plan." Without spending precious energy talking, he shuffles over to the iron gate and PULLS! He pulls upwards in an attempt to try and help the guy with his gate lifting, possibly to try and help it go faster and make it easier for everyone else to escape. This may or may not involve him lingering longer within the field. But boy, is he pulling. But man, does he look like he's pulling hard.
Slowly...slowly, the gate rises. But then Niravhadi steps in, along with Dogi, and the space between the gate and the wall widens noticeably thanks to their efforts. It only takes a few seconds for them to make enough room to get through--seconds that could have been minutes, and minutes that could have been fatal.
"You did it..." Urick steps forward, wincing as he crosses the still-glowing floor. "You actually got through. Well done!" He sounds genuinely impressed.
The hallway beyond seems safe; no strange glow in the floor, no subtle wrongness in the air. It continues on ahead at a slight downward angle; the walls here are slightly rougher, as the construction delves directly into the cliffside.
And it's still empty and quiet--but not for long. From somewhere up ahead, a voice calls out. "Help me!" It's the voice of a young male: Nowe's voice. "I'm down here! Please, help!"
Letting go of the gate as the others take over, Mai waits until its open - and then sidles on through. "Is that him?" Mai glances at Urick for confirmation. She's dealt with people who impersonated other people. Stupid Yuki. "Nn.." She shakes her head. "Trap aside, I don't like this - where is everyone? Shouldn't there be... well.. guards all over?" she asks in a quiet voice. Hopefully they don't come out into a new chamber full of angry bees. Er, Guards.
They could all join forces to open the gate!
Or they could just, y'know, pry it open. Tirana has to jump back to the safety of the edges, lest she get goremaul'd by a prancing Nira. ... Didn't he come in unarmed? She's certain she didn't see anything that huge strapped on his back or on his pet flaming lion, the poor thing.
There's more than enough room for her to scramble underneath with everyone else. The urge to smooth out her skirt is tossed away when she remembers her role again. "Oh dear," she bites her lip, "It does sound like someone is in trouble, though, um, that would be terribly convenient, would it not?" She peers down the hallway hesitantly, "It could very well be a trap!" Ahoy there, Captain Obvious!
The mace has a purpose. Leverage ... and not having to touch cold iron. He could deal with steel just fine, and any other metal for that matter, but the illusion of humanity might be keeping them friendly-like, and he was unwilling to damage that. With the gate open, he whistles low. "Elation. Up with you, lazybones, come on."
The lion reluctantly heaves itself to its feet and creeps under the iron gate as well, and Nira's polite enough to hold things as they are, flipping the goremaul around so it's bracing the gate up a little higher so Dogi can get through as well. Only then will he let go /and/ pull his weapon free.
"Convenient? Why, my beautiful serving girl, that is the purpose of this grand venture! You see somewhere in this shining dwelling is ..." He pauses and frowns. "Well, I am not precisely certain who, but they are in danger, and must be rescued! Thus it is not truly convenience, it is a guidestone to show us the way we must go!"
Trap or not, off Niravhadi goes down the hallway. "Hello~? Who is calling? Are you in danger??"
Dogi grunts a bit as he hauls the gate up. Ye Gods(or 'ddeses, he isn't picky), that's a heavy grate. Of course, soul sucking glow doesn't help much, and it might be taking more out of him than he would like. He grunts a bit and waits until everyone (including the fire lion) is out before he himself pulls through the gate and lets it go.
He blinks and notices as Niravhadi stalks off in search of danger. Of course, possibly because of his weakened body, he might be wanting to overcompensate a bit, so he GOES WITH Nira and stalks down the hallway.
Hey, Nowe's in trouble. They can't dilly dally. Onward!
The hallway opens out again, this time into a rough-hewn chamber that looks considerably less-well-kept than the rest of the Citadel. The walls are unpolished and the floor is covered in gravel and loose stones. There's another staircase leading down through an open doorway at the far end of the room, but perhaps of more immediate interest are the six iron-barred doors lining the room itself, three on each wall. Each door has a tally mark scratched on a plaque on its front, but they don't seem to be in any recognizable order.
And in the dark cell behind one of the doors (the one marked "5", for the record) is a familiar figure.
"Nowe!" Urick steps forward eagerly. "Is that you?"
Unsurprisingly, the dungeons are a dark, dismal place. For all that they may be lightless, though, they are dry; that in itself is a small favour and a blessing. The flooring of the cells themselves are finished in packed, bare earth. Some are empty, some hold fugitives. Some hold monsters. Others are house and home to nothing but scattered bones.
But the fifth cell, that one does hold a familiar figure.
Chains clink in the gloom. The figure inside shambles forward, restrained by a thick manacle around each ankle, and a similar band of iron around his neck and forearms.
"Urick!" The dragon's child sounds immensely relieved. He looks more underfed than usual, grimy and forgotten in this lightless place. There are deep shadows under his eyes; his brown hair dusty. "Am I glad to see you. Hurry up and get me out of here...!"
It seems he's been relieved of his weapons as well as his clothing; he wears only colourless, tattered rags.
What is it with people charging forward? Mai puts a hand to her head. "Honestly it's like it's ingrained into their genes." She mutters to no one in particular. She glances behind her, even as she trots along behind the man as he approaches Nowe. "Does anyone else think this is a little bit -too- easy...?"
Tirana can but only stare after Nira as he heroically marches down the hallway. He really /is/ full of surprises, isn't he? Not neccessarily wise ones, either! Yet he does have a point, and she quickly scampers after him and Dogi. The latter's condition worries her a bit, though she's not entirely sure her Touch can heal. She does give him a re-assuring pat on the shoulder, "That was very brave of both of you."
Ah, the dungeon. Lovely as ever. The 'chambermaid' shudders again, such accomodations were far far /far/ from her style. Urick's the first to point out who's behind door #5 and Tirana races over as well, catching herself at the last minute. The last she saw of Nowe, he was happily vacant. Was there anything else she was missing? Would it count as aiding and abetting again?
Well, it couldn't hurt to look! The maid locks eyes on Nowe and in that moment, the Madness-Analyzing Stare does it work. Hello, is there anyone home?
It's not charging into danger! It's charging to the rescue! "Ah, Nowe. We are here to rescue a 'Nowe'! Surely a brave, but forlorn soul, who-" Niravhadi's decisionmaking on how this story should be playing out is brought to a jarring stop not by the cells, not by that young voice from the forbidding dungeons, but Mai's voice. He turns neatly to face her.
"It is too easy at this juncture because it is almost a certainty that we have yet to uncover the true enemy, who is lying in wait /this very moment/." He all but dances in the proper direction, bits of various jewelry jingling. "I wonder what our terrible foe may be. An evil dragon, to match the good circling outside? A fearsome beast from the grave?"
No, no, he needs to worry about the rescuing! He should be /concerned for their safety/. "I and Elation will watch for danger. If the door requires being smashed down, I will endeavor to aid you!" Because massive weapons are great versus these kinds of things. Until then, he's going to be alert for danger. This is the time where traps come!
Dogi is of a similar mind! Hey, if they /all/ charge into danger, then they won't be all strung out and they can all focus on whatever lies ahead! He fears not ambush!
Them again, some of the more lingering effects from the strength-sap seems to be fading. Yes, he's in a bit of pain, but it's starting to become bearable. He grunts as sense starts to return. "We should probably be ready for it." And, in fact, he takes his attention off of actually /saving/ Nowe and instead he focuses on watching the place. "Oh, man. I hope there /is/ undead." At least the undead is something Dogi can /understand/. This Sealed World or whatever is confusing.
Urick's stride falters at Mai's words. "You're right." This is Yaha's domain, after all. Who's to say this isn't just another trap? He hangs back, eagerness wrestling with distrust. Damn that Yaha...he can't even be sure if his own little brother is who he seems to be. Tirana moves towards the bars, and Urick takes another restless step forward. "Be careful...!"
He -can't- seriously be.. is.. someone.. w..
Mai just stares at Nira a second, bewildered that someone actually talks like that. Kind of refreshing actually. "... I don't know, but it's probably that person he was worried about." She jerks a thumb towards Urick. "I hope it's not a dragon." Not because she was afraid, because - well, she could always summon her own dragon to help, but it would be so inconvenient in what was otherwise a pretty clean rescue attempt.
How clean it was so far is exactly what was worrying her though. Of course if Nowe truly was Urick's brother, Mai could understand his rashness. She would be the same way if it were Takumi. Oh -- well there would be a lot more fire involved actually...
"Come on! Get me out of here!" Nowe pleads through the iron bars that imprison him, reaching out. He's definitely looking worse for the wear; dirt and grime smudge his skin, and there's even a bit of stubble at his jaw. His hair sticks out worse than it normally does, its colour dulled by dirt and neglect.
Nothing seems to happen until Tirana approaches the bars. In an instant they snap open of their own accord, sliding upward with the shriek of tortured metal. Nowe leaps from the cell as though eager to see his rescuers--
--and the skin seems to melt from his face and body, running like water.
What leaps out isn't the dragon's child, but a skeletal warrior bearing a blood-edged halberd. Bone and steel rattle as the skeleton leaps out. The halberd is raised and then lashed out to try and spit the Not-A-Chambermaid on the pointy end.
Nowe critically strikes Tepet Tilis Tirana with his SURPRISE attack.
A brainwashed Nowe was her worst fear. An illusion she could also imagine. What she never saw coming was he illusion with a deadly surprise launched at her! No sooner than her Stare had registered 'Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis' than she finds a halberd embedded in her shoulder. 'Eeek' quickly switches to 'AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH'.
Instincts ingrained by the finest Dynast senseis kick in. Or will once the pain and bleeding and shock subsides. That may take a while, the blood-curdling scream is a sure-fire indication that more than just hurt!
Light slippers barely make a sound as a young woman hurries through the Citadel. She's tracked the path that the others have followed to get to where they were. The oak staff is slung against her back, her fingers wrapped around the shaft lightly. She's very light on her feet, with little issues of jumping over whatever soldiers she's managed to run across, or sending a fierce strike from the staff to throw them out of her way. She doesn't want to use much of her strength when she knows she'll have to use a great deal of her magical power once they locate Yaha and Nowe.
"Look out," the sorceress quickly speaks up once she skids to a stop. The scream is not noticed, as she's already drawing what magical force she can into herself. She twists the staff around her, arcing it across her body in a single motion, while sending a shower of red-hot bolts of flame in the direction of the undead attacker.
Manah misses Nowe with her Wait... magic doesn't work on skeleton knights, does it? attack.
Nira not only talks like that, he does it with a stylish accent! "Indeed, as do I. Dragons are noble beings." Undead would be better. He could handle undead. But instead of handling anything, he leans against his lion and studies his nails, picking at them lightly then rubbing them on his vest. Trouble is always obvious, they just need to wait for it--
And there it is! At Tirana's scream, Niravhadi whips around, nearly collides with Manah, backs up a step, grabs his goremaul, and /points/ at the skeletal ... skelly. "It is indeed undeath!" He'd strike, or something, but there's a whole lot of people between him and the skeleton, so all he's going to do is point out the obvious.
Urick mentally facepalms at the talk of undead. "Don't say that," he cautions. "Be careful what you wish for..."
...because it just might come true. And it just /did/. "Tirana--!" Urick shouts, completely forgetting about her earlier statement that she is most definitely not Tirana, no sir, not at all. And that's most definitely not Nowe, either.
"Damn it, Yaha!" Urick has had just about enough of this. He pulls his scythe from its harness, grasps it in both hands, and rushes forward to swing it at the undead warrior, his strike fueled as much by frustration against his former companion as by a desire to protect Tirana.
You miss Nowe with your GRRRRR attack.
Oh she knew -- oh okay she didn't know THIS was going to happen but she -KNEW- it was too easy. Still there is a brief, startled shriek of surprise from Mai, and then people are all rushing forward to attack the beast. Flames form at the palms of her hands - but it was too cramped an area, too many people near the target for her to fight.
Unless she burned them too.
"THAT'S Yaha?" ... No. Just. no.
Fortunately for our fearless heroes, skeletons are not the brightest monster in the bunch. They make great shock troops, as long as they don't require very complicated directions.
And when it comes to focusing on a single target, that doesn't work very well either. Manah's flamestrike seems to dissipate as soon as it touches the slain warrior's bones, curling up and wisping out of being. The skeleton turns, red eye-lights fixing on the sorcer--
--/WHIFF/. Urick's axe narrowly misses the bony creature, which causes it to turn. The skeleton leers its death-grin as it aims that halberd for Urick, blade whisling through the air as it strikes.
Nowe hits Urick with his *aggro* attack.
Man, the /one thing/ you ignore while watching for trouble. Dogi did not expect SKELETON NOWE. Though he did expect (or at least secretly want) skeletons so maybe he only half expected it. Or something to that affect. That said, it /was/ suprising so Dogi jumps a bit at the sudden attack, or possibly the screaming. Or maybe the sudden firebolts. Who knows.
What isn't surprising is what Dogi does about it. The screaming can't be dealt with by him (He has no healing abilities. Curse you, Red, and your magic abilities), and the fire is actually good for his team (at least in theory), so all he can really do is jump at SKELETON NOWE and try to fit a punch in amongst all the meleeing going on.
Dogi critically strikes Nowe with his Falcom Punch attack.
The chambermaid that really isn't Tirana has run out of air to scream, she's sucking on wind now as she stumbles backwards. Conveniently, she finds Nira and just collapses against him with a choked sound. Urick and Dogi and Manah(!) have the skeleton under control, now all she has to do is bring herself under control! One hand tries to prop herself up against the adventurer while the other finds the wound. The Raksha may feel the Essence flowing from the air about them and into the girl, and in a moment the wound heals over. The pain, however, and her own stupidity, however, are a long ways from recovering. "Ah..."
Tepet Tilis Tirana heals Tepet Tilis Tirana with her When I Think About How Much Its Bleeding, I Touch Myself action.
The blonde doesn't hesitate once she sees that she's drawn the attention of the creature. However, what she quickly does is attempt to pull Tirana back and away from the skeleton. She looks ready to send off another attack, but... this is hesitated as the Raksha nearly collides into her.
The young woman's light movements are enough to keep her out of his way, while she begins an attempt to circle the skeleton. She's drawing on her magic again- but... she doesn't use it. Not yet. She simply holds onto it, ready to unleash it when the time comes. Manah never lets her crimson gaze stray from the enemy. Not for the time being, at least.
Yaha is the skeleton? No, no this wasn't an actual foe, this was a mere taste of more interesting things. And with most everyone else charging to fight - well, the strange new sorceress, and Urick and Dogi anyway, Nira steps forward to help them juuust in time for Tirana to stumble backwards.
He catches her, vaguely startled. She wasn't an enemy skeleton!
"My lady, are you well?" He'll hold her stable easily enough, the tug of Essence suddenly and terribly tempting. Resisting that temptation for now is better, especially with the smell of blood so strong. "Please, fair one, stay with Elation. He will protect you as he protects me." And if Tirana will allow it, she will be gently set beside the burning lion - and she'll probably quickly realize the flames don't actually hurt. "The battlefield is not made for such elegance, I would be heartbroken if further harm came to you."
Wait, isn't there fighting going on? This isn't the right time for potential romantic interludes!
The halberd's blade bites into flesh, and a spray of blood arcs from the wound. It looks painful, but Urick only grunts and staggers back a step or two. He has to take a moment to resituate himself, and Dogi has already stepped in ahead of him to continue the attack.
"That's not Yaha," Urick growls, "but it's Yaha's doing. I don't know of anyone else who could craft an illusion like that." He shifts his grip on his scythe, watching for an opportunity to strike again. His gaze flicks sideways towards the red-eyed sorceress. "Manah...it's good to see you. I was afraid you weren't coming."
Turning, the skeleton tries to finish through on that strike to the pact-partner. The halberd raises, now sporting a fresh coating of blood along its blade edge, and--
--collapses, several rather important reanimated bones shattered by the impact of Dogi's powerful punch. The bones crumble to the floor, disintegrating as they do, sifting into grey dust. The halberd clatters to the ground; as it does, rust seems to erupt from within the weapon, ravaging the steel. The blood simply... disappears.
The dungeons are eerily silent, afterward.
It seems the real Nowe wasn't down here after all.
Is that guy seriously hitting on some girl? In the middle of a fight? "I don't believe this." Mai chuckles faintly - but focuses on the skeleton as people unload their attacks. "Is it d-- uh, und-.. " ... "Can you actually -kill- something that's already dead?" Ah, apparently so! What a relief..
She nods towards Manah in acknowledgement, though still looks a bit anxious. Where there was one skeleton, there are often others, right? "So if he's not here, where could Nowe be?"
The sorceress quickly looks back at Nira and Tirana once things have calmed down. She only watches the pair in silence for a moment until she shakes her head and looks back towards Urick. "I apologize for being late. My past experiences with this building, however, have been useful in tracking down where everyone would be..." She frowns at where the skeleton was a moment ago, then shakes her head. "...though it's obvious that Nowe is not here. Should we press forward?"
Manah remembered what was ahead. This caused for her to be only slightly anxious... until she lets out a slow breath. She tells herself to calm down slightly. Yaha had better not have done anything to Nowe... Otherwise, she will...
Outwardly, she shows no anger or irritation at the situation. Those paying attention, though, may notice that she's clutching the staff at her side tight enough for her knuckles to have a slight tinge of white to them.
"Um." The shock was gone. She had enough self-control to heal herself. Tirana finds the willpower to meekly nod back at Nira's question, wiping the blood from her hand on her already ruined wenching clothes. "I, um, I have had better days," she coughs.
Admittedly, she found his words rather, well, truthful. The battlefield really was not meant for beautiful girls such as herself! "Oh, um, thank you," she tiny-voices back to him. Slowly her mind centers back in on her situation. Namely that she's now conflicting between aiding and abetting and assaulting an IPA officer. "I, um, am honored and touched by your words," she slowly sways to her feet, "But, um, as a completely innocent servant of the castle, I am swayed by all of your heroic deeds and simply must travel with you to rescue your friend!" See? Spying is easy! "She is right," a nod is given to Manah, "Let us hurry!"
Believe it, Mai! Especially as Niravhadi isn't actually stopping. With the skeleton destroyed, he puffs up a bit as if he'd done the destroying himself. A foe, vanquished! "See how justice and righteousness prevail! They inspire even this, a poor serving girl, to risk danger and death itself to turn on her loathed master! None can stand against our combined might!"
Even if he didn't know any of their names, they are now part of his Party.
"But yes, of course, we must travel on, for somewhere here is a poor soul trapped under tyrrany and oppression, and he must be saved." Niravhadi sighs, then looks around again. "I am wondering, does this exquisite castle have a main audience chamber? That would be the most ideal location for a final confrontation, do you not agree?" Clearly someone with such an elegant home would understand how these confrontations work.
Thus, this Yaha fellow would be waiting for them where he can most properly display his power and strength! That's what audience chambers are /for/. Internally, Nira is pleased. This is definitely making for a very good story, he could have scarcely invented something better on his own.
Dogi is that damn good, apparently. Killing something that's already dead, that is. But in rea;oty Dogi is kind of underwhelmed. Sure, it was undead. But there was only one and it wasn't that hard to kill. Or, more technically, it was too easy. Not in the 'hahaha I am Dogi, the mighty!' sort of way, but more of the 'That was it?' variety. The entire episode seemed 'off', somehow.
But enough of that, though. VICTORY. At least for right now. "Is everyone all right?" He asks to the others. When the innocent servant speaks, though, Dogi buys it. "Of course, completely innocent lady. I for one agree that you should come join us." Maybe he doesn't 'buy' it, but he's at least willing to believe it for the time being. So maybe, he 'borrows' it or somesuch.
Where: The Sealed World, the Citadel of Light
When: Friday, March 19th (late post is late!)
What: The Coalition gears up to rescue Nowe from the clutches of Lieutenant Yaha.
Watch For: The New Breed, the Eye of the Moirae, "oh shit it's a lion get in the car", the most epic bro-fist of all time
(Niravhadi needs a tag!)
The Citadel of Light is an imposing structure, towering over the surrounding land from its perch at the crest of a hill. Lit from behind by the mid-afternoon sun, the walls of the fortress almost seem to glow. The Citadel's shadow spills down the slope in front of it as if outlining a broad path for visitors to tread.
On any other day, the hill would be swarming with armored and armed Knights of the Seal. But now, for whatever reason, it's completely deserted. Not even a single archer occupies the battlements, and the hillside is empty and eerily silent.
Mercade Alexander says, "I'm sorry, I can't get directly involved. I'll keep the outer defenses busy on the flanks while you guys go in. Mai, remember what I told you."
Fuuka was quiet enough that Mai thought it would be okay to leave things in Natsuki and Akira's hands for a while. She trusted them to keep an eye on her brother too. After leaving a note behind for both best friend and boyfriend on the phones, Mai set off.
Though she made her way to the rendezvous point her own way, figuring it would be easier. In her soul, she can hear Kagutsuchi's restless rumbling, his eagerness for battle pulsing against her heart. She was a little uneasy herself - it'd be -nice- if this could be resolved without fighting, but realistically? Pff. ...
Just as well, Mai found she actually looked forward to fighting - she got restless when there was nothing to do and Orphan hunting didn't have the same thrill. And on arriving at the Citadel... it's .. um... somehow she expected more people. "Should it really be this deserted?" Just a wee bit uneasy. /Understatement.
And oh yes, the pouch Mercade had given her is kept nice and safe. Where? She's not telling! .. this place was kind of creepy.
Somewhere in the Sealed World is a flying island.
It was in the Hub yesterday, but today it isn't. Over the course of the night, a helpful Autobot had towed the island into a nearby Gate, and Nira had thanked it very politely and then let his island float about wherever it pleased to be, which mostly meant following the air currents. All in all, it's a harmless island.
Unless you spend too long on it, of course.
But over the course of time, Niravhadi got bored with just watching the landscape go by down below and thought to go see what it's like. Getting down from the island's fairly easy when you can change anything on it into anything else, and somewhere some distance away from this citadel is a griffin puttering about looking for things to kill. Nira himself is ..roaming.
Yes, definitely roaming, and fairly aimlessly at that, astride an absolutely massive lion that could match a horse for size, and seemed to also be on fire. It didn't have a mane and tailtip so much as bright yellow-white flames, the heat of which doesn't seem to trouble Niravhadi at all.
What did trouble him was the lack of interesting things down here. He'd hoped for something worth investigating but all there really is, is that shiny cathedral-thing way over that way, and at a distance, Nira isn't entirely sure it's worth checking out. Eventually he concludes that it might very well be, and nudges his burning mount in that direction. There has to be SOMETHING to do there, those sorts of places at least had guards and danger and /Adventure/, didn't they?! And look, there's people!
Thankfully things like flaming lions and fairly mundane looking riders (well, at first glance mundane) are utterly ordinary in -this- world.
It was a difficult situation for Tirana to find herself in, to be certain. The Knights of the Seal were full-fledged members of the IPL. Nowe and Urick were dear friends of hers. She really had no jurisdiction involving herself in a lovers' quarrel, except that Nowe's life was on the line, but he's kinda-sorta wanted by the police anyways. The one thing she was most certain of was that she did not want to be part of that much bloodshed ever again, and it seemed this world was just drenched in it. The most prudent course of action, therefore, was obviously not to involve herself in what may come.
So of course, she came to the Citadel. Dear Prudence was a beautiful song, but a horrible way to avert potential catastrophes.
Naturally, she couldn't come officially. Or at least publically official, anyways. Having taken a cursory examination of the grounds around the Citadel, it was her blessed fortune to find a blonde-haired chambermaid with the same unfortunate bust size as herself. One happy little song later, and said servant girl had decided to enjoy the day in her new and nifty set of clothes.doing something other than work around the castle.
Meanwhile, a poor girl in a raggedy dress and headscarf slowly makes her way to the Citadel. A bucket swings from one hand, the other sways a little less freely than the 'chambermaid' would have liked. Its rather sad not being able to twirl and dance about, but that would blow her cover! Hopefully she's shuffling and appearing dreary enough to fool everyone!
Even if she does have a chipmunk sniffing at her heels. She must've stepped in something. Yeah.
Another figure approaches the Citadel. A large, blue haired man. He wears one of those looks of heroic restlessness. Parts of him wants to save Nowe. Well, all of his parts do, but there are parts which are restless and want some sort of action. He hasn't done much of anything except fish and stay at an inn since the plague.
Though, Dogi hasn't really dealt with Nowe (et al.)'s world much, which prevents him from just going in guns blazing. He knows better, so he'll just gather with the others. He checks his equipment.
Left fist... right fist...
All done! "Let's do this." He says to no one specific.
Legna's shadow on the ground is still slightly ragged from his injuries as he circles overhead in patrol of the District. "Not a single worm in sight," he reports. "What are those fools playing at?"
Urick has declined to ride Legna, perhaps in deference to the dragon's comfort, and shakes his head doubtfully as he surveys the area from the foot of the hill. "I don't know," he murmurs, in response to both Legna and Mai. "But it's not a very warm welcome, is it?"
He turns slightly, looking over the friends who have chosen to join him. Aside from Legna, Tirana's the only one with whom he's had any real face-to-face interaction, and she's not even with the Coalition--but he's not complaining. It's a small group, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"Well." Urick smiles behind the face-plate of his helmet. "No sense in knocking if the door's already open, eh?" And he's about to turn and head up the hill, but then he catches sight of something rapidly approaching...something on fire?! He tenses visibly. "...Maybe we're not so alone after all."
Mai shakes her head uneasily. "A-" she stops short at Urick's latter comment, following his gaze. Just to prepare herself, she flicks her wrists upwards, flames curling around them and her ankles, forming into a pair of bracelets that - to all appearances - are way too big for her, yet stay on somehow nonetheless. She pauses, "What, are they throwing flaming barrels at us or something?" She calls up to Urick, unable to see what was heading their way beyond that it was fast and fiery.
Tirana wasn't supposed to be part of the assembled Aveng- er- Coalition party! No Dynast here, just another worried chambermaid trying to make inside before all hell broke loose! Indeed, she's already scampering towards the Citadel's open gate as fast as her worn-out slippers can take her. This may also have something to do with the maniac riding in on a fireball. Seriously, what the dragons, Sealed World. "I should have chosen a girl with a bigger skirt and boots," she sighs to herself.
Fear not, brave adventurers! It's just a lion! ..A .. flaming lion, sure, that's bigger than lions should be, but, uh, surely it's perfectly safe! It's wearing jewelry! Delicate golden jewelry, beads woven into the burning mane, tiny links of fragile looking chain looped in a glittering parody of a horse's bridle, each leg wearing bangles as well. Wild animals don't play dress up!
Wild animals don't have riders either, and as they draw closer, Nira slows his mount a bit with a light touch and sits up, alert and interested. Ooh, is that a /dragon/? And more people than he thought! Dragons weren't always evil, he knew that from many different stories, but this one looked particularly pugnacious.
He'll have to be careful.
... On second thought, careful isn't very entertaining, and instead he waves cheerily. "Hallo!" So much for anything remotely like stealth. They weren't intending to rely on surprise right?
Dogi looks at the castle. Then he looks at the rest of the Coalition group. /Then/ he looks at the random chambermaid. Dogi wonders how much trouble he'd attract if he made a hole in the wall. Sure, it's fun and sometimes tactically useful, but there was this once instance a few years back...
But wait! Dogi turns as the flaming lion approaches. He raises an eyebrow and replies back. "...Uh, hi." There's a tenative wave. Hey, he's interacted with polite people before, but the /lion on fire/ is a little surprising.
Urick eyes Nira warily, his fingers already firmly wrapped around the handle of his scythe. Could this be one of Yaha's illusions? They're usually more...subtle than this, and Yaha's magic has a sickly sort of feel to it that this man lacks.
The flaming lion has not escaped Legna's notice either, and before Urick can say anything, the dragon banks sharply to skim low overhead--low enough that the wind of his passing would stir the flames in the lion's mane, if the creature can be affected by such earthly influences. It's not an attack so much as a warning: Run, fool, if you value your life.
"Eh?" Just.. he just... Mai peers at Nira curiously. ".. hi..?" Well so much for subtlety, but truthfully, Mai didn't count on a whole lot of -that- to begin with. She glances at Urick, "He isn't one of ours, is he?" Well not a whole lot of reason he'd be there, but there's Legna going to shoo him off nonetheless.
Mai turns her attention to the Citadel again, watching it for movement, edging a little bit closer. Hrn. It really didn't seem too guarded, but that had to be a trick. So where were all the people?
The downdraft of massive wings sparks the lion's flames into brief eddies and swirls, Nira's hair and clothing likewise blown in the wind, but all he really does about it is duck down a little better, squinting in the dust kicked up, the lion sneezing once violently in a brief puff of fire. If either one is an illusion, it's a very well crafted one.
That dragon's really /neat/ looking. "Look at that," he says, thumping the lion on the back. "Ever see anything like it? Like a big blue pterok!" If the desire was to inspire fear it certainly hasn't actually worked. No, this revelation simply means that he wants to stay, see more of that creature, maybe plan a Behemoth based on it, and find out what's going on!
Most people have the intelligence to not stop for a chat when people are looming about with dragons, looking malevolent and hostile. "Hello! I apologize most eagerly if we are disrupting your gathering, but may I ask what you are doing?" It looked like it might be more interesting than roaming about!
Tirana is apparently the lead scout, nearly at the gate herself. Nothing to see here, just one of the servants! We are the underclass, please move along~
Dogi raises a hand like a confused student. Which he is. So he decides to throw the guy's question back at him. "What are /you/ doing?" Not accusing, just curious.
Though, every so often he looks towards the empty castle. "Hmm..." He watches, before muttering. "Too quiet. Looks like a trap." Alternatively, Yaha or whoever has Nowe might be wanting to throw a party in celebration of the heroes showing up.
Hey, he's seen that sort of thing before.
He hasn't run screaming; he's barely even blinked. Legna gives a snort of annoyance and begins a wide turn to give the outsider a bit more of an incentive, but none of the other members of the group look too terribly upset by his presence, and he isn't doing anything outwardly threatening. He settles for swooping overhead again, a bit higher this time, then turns to make his way towards the Citadel itself with swift, powerful beats of his wings. He's too big to get through the doors, but he can at least watch the humans' backs once they make it inside. Which they'd better do soon, because /his boy/ is in there, dammit.
Urick shifts his weight restlessly from one foot to the other and back again. "It's almost definitely a trap," he mutters to Dogi. Then, to Niravhadi: "We're here to rescue a friend of ours, who's being held in that fortress." He points with his free hand at the Citadel. ...Did someone just hurry inside? Maybe a lookout, gone to warn Yaha that they're here...?
Distracted now by that possibility, Urick continues without really looking at Nira. "I'm sorry, but we don't really have time to chat. If you're with us, your aid would be welcome. If you're against us--" He shoots another look at Niravhadi, his eyes cold and steely behind his helmet's grotesque visage. "--then I'm sure that will work itself out soon enough."
With that, he sets off for the Citadel and its unguarded, yet thoroughly unwelcoming, front door.
Tirana didn't exactly hurry inside. In fact, she paused right at the gate itself, peering in first to make sure there wasn't any nets or pit traps or swords waiting for the first one to run in. Its only after she takes a good look around to make sure the coast is clear that she does indeed step in. Can't be too cautious in these times, y'know? Right?
About time. Mai glances at Nira once more, but once Urick has set off, Mai hops off of the ground and zips after him - flying is so much faster than running. Moving to catch up with Urick, Mai glances behind her at the others, and then to the other man who she deems to be the leader in this, "Should we split up? We might cover more ground and find Nowe that way." And they might walk right into multiple traps yo. Good times, good times.
"I am seeking adventure!" He sets his hands on his hips and fairly beams at Dogi. For those few moments, Niravhadi strikes a remarkably noble figure, the very embodiment of a young hero seeking the aforementioned Adventure. It passes quickly, as he leans forward, fingers knotted in the flames of the lion's mane again. "And I thought to myself, that this gathering looked quite impressive and yon building quite ominous! Perhaps here could be found something interesting! And here I am."
Surely he's trustworthy. He seems to be, in spite of popping up in a suspicious manner and riding about on a great flaming monstrosity. Trust him. It's so easy to do. Just stop wondering why it's so easy to do.
And then Urick explains why they're there, and Nari seems to sober right up. "Oh, how terrible. A friend captive by nefarious forces!" He also entirely /misses/ that chilly stare, clasping his hands briefly and looking terribly worried. "It must truly be horrifying inside, to require such numbers to oppose it, /and/ traps! Your friend must be in great danger! I will assist you!!" Decision: made!
The lion is poked between the shoulderblades, his voice quieter. "I told you there would be adventure here." The lion gives a disdainful snort and ambles after Urick. Nira is content to stay riding, it gives him the liesure time to study Mai and Dogi with interest. Certainly Dogi looked like he might be the sort to do dramatic rescues, but Mai looked to be a fairly ordinary girl, and he's visibly puzzled by her, scratching his head lightly in confusion. Urick fit the story. Dogi did too. But Mai's just some g--
Oh. Oh, she can /fly/. "This is going to be fantastic," he says brightly to nobody at all.
Dogi nods at Urick. The entire thing reeked of a trap, and for all he knows the front gate has a massive pit ready for all of them to walk over it. He shrugs to himself. He's ready for it, anyway, so he follows Urick into the Citadel, forming the rear guard.
Hey, it could be useful. You never know, Yaha might be coming back from whatever it is he might be out for. Or an army might roll in and try to start a fight. Things could get bad.
Though he nods once at the idea of splitting up. This would allow Dogi to mill about the Citadel and punch in walls, setting off traps and attracting the attention of anyone inside.
That's how he'd like to work, anyhow.
There are no traps inside the Citadel, at least no obvious ones. Just a single hallway that leads into a long oval-shaped antechamber, with another, narrower hallway at the far end. The antechamber is carpeted in rich wine-red, and the rest of the floors are hard stone, polished to a mirror shine. Sconces and candelabras line the walls, bathing everything in a warm golden light. It's a beautiful place, really, and it might even seem welcoming if it weren't so...empty.
Yes, the interior of the Citadel of Light is just as deserted as the exterior. The hush is akin to that of a cathedral, an echoing silence that makes every footstep, every breath, every rustle of clothing, seem much too loud.
"I wouldn't," Urick states tensely. "If we split up, who's to say we'll be the same when we meet again?" He pauses, perhaps realizing what he just said, and shakes his head. "I don't know...maybe I'm just being paranoid." Then, more quietly: "...I hate it here."
The hallway at the far end of the antechamber leads to a staircase going down. At the bottom, it continues straight ahead for a short distance before opening into another chamber, this one small and round and apparently just as empty as the rest of the place. But there's something strange about the air in here...something very subtle, as though the temperature dropped by a single degree.
The lack of doors and alcoves makes Tirana an unhappy undercover agent. She should have waited for the Coalition to enter, /then/ follow them instead of trying to get a good spying spot first. Instead, she's trying to sneak down a hallway in broad candlelight. Every brush of her tattered clothing is almost echoing off the walls too. No murmurs, no scampering, not even the skittering of rats! Someone really must like clean and quiet!
A little daunted, she still forges on ahead. Daintily she takes up the hem of her skirt as she descends the stairs, nary losing a drop from her bucket as she does! Its still creepy, rustling and sloshing and dragons blessed where /is/ everyone in here? Did Yaha intend to face Urick by himself? And why does that thought creep her even further out?
The hallway leads to yet another chamber! Something isn't right, however, and more importantly its been too long since she's carried something this heavy this far! Setting the bucket on the floor, she finds the shadowiest part of the room to slinks herself up against a wall to rest. Sneaky like ninja, she is.
Mai Tokiha glances over her shoulder at their unexpected assistant - but hey, the more the merrier, provided he doesn't stab them all in the back afterwards. Sorry Dogi, no wall smashing for you today it seems. She glances back to Urick at that comment, putting a hand to one of the bracelets on her left wrist. "Because of that man, Yaha...?" She hopes that what Mercade gave her works. She won't lie, she's more than a little uneasy - and she's been trapped in an illusion before.
Onside inside the Citadel, Mai stops flying to walk - unless the hallway is cramped with heroes in which case she'll fly after all. "So what's the plan then?" She glances at Urick, her hair fluffed slightly. "What's with this atmosphere...?" She rubs her arm with a grimace.
As they reach doors, Nira dismounts and follows on foot, looking around with obvious interest, the lion still padding along on quiet feet. Never does he have to worry about sudden chills, not with a great burning lion at his side, but for the most part, the raksha's letting them do their thing, not interfering, not harming, not hindering-
..Except he's humming, quietly, under his breath. The astute might recognize it as snatches of music from various action movies. Lacking a proper soundtrack, /provide one/.
While everyone else obviously has the wit to be worried about potential traps and the danger of this place, Niravhadi is oblivious. Or simply doesn't care. The atmosphere of this place was /wonderful/! Everything is so beautiful and elegant! Nira is ..going to have to duplicate some of this in his castle on the island.
Dogi nods again. Hey, it was a plan. Sometimes plans don't work. Sometimes plans fail spectacularly. Hopefully this one won't.
Though, now Dogi has a question. "When you said 'be the same', do you mean different in the mind, or different as in we all grow arms and other weird things?" Then again, there's always the chance that one or more of the team might undergo their soul-searching here and come out stronger than they had been.
Dogi keeps up the rear guard, though. He doesn't do much about stealth, though, what with /flaming lion/ nearby.
"Yes," Urick replies to Mai. And to Dogi, "I meant in the mind...but there's no telling what he'll do." He shakes his head again. "That Yaha...I'd rather not see him." His voice is low and bitter.
Tirana is the first one into the smaller chamber, which means she'll be the first one to see the heavy iron gate slam down, blocking the corridor ahead. And as the rest of the party clears the staircase, an identical iron gate descends behind them. There's a few feet of space in the hallway in front of each gate, but beyond that, the only place to stand is in the small round chamber itself.
And in the chamber, a dim yellowish light rises from the floor. With it comes a singularly unpleasant /sucking/ sensation, like something is trying to siphon away all the warmth and strength from anyone standing in the room.
YIP. Mai utters that particularly brave noise when the gate SMASHES down behind them. "Aaa..!" And grabs hold of the Gate, pulling.. but even with her strength, it doesn't budge. Maybe punching it --
Another gasp, and a shudder at the change in floor color, "What's going on..!" It was strange - a bone cold chill sinking into her, almost numbing her strength away. Instinct says to get away - get away, get warm.
She immediately takes to the air, bracelets spinning into fire again to hold her aloft as she hugs herself. "Ugh! .." ... yeah Mai is so not going to be able to pick everyone up. Not even close. "There has to be a way out..!" .. how does that iron stand up to fire anyway?
They closed the gate on the chambermaid? She's innocent! She's a civilian! She's totally not an IPA officer skulking about in disguise!
Well, alright, maybe her hair was a little too virbrant for a peasant, but it couldn't have been that suspicious!
The 'servant' is still up against the wall when the next surprises hit. So this is how they welcome raiding parties around here, she thinks with a shiver. Well, they won't get her Essence without a fight! She knows just the song- er- no, that's not quite going to work is it? Maybe the touch of a wood aspect.... No, not that either. Does she have a charm? Does she even have time to think of a convoluted plan before she's left a withered husk? Perhaps the solution has been staring her in the face all along!
Without warning, the maid promptly picks up her bucket and heaves its dirtied brownish contents at the light. She didn't know the water was used! The room as close as it is, someone or multiple someones may have also become wet. "Oh dear."
Dogi is a little close to the gate when it slams shut. "Woah!" Dogi pulls forward instinctivly so as to not get stabbed or squished by the gate. Then, he looks around quickly. "Yep, a trap." He starts doing what he does best: Look around for a weak point to do some creative redecorating. Hint: There are a lot of weak points.
But such thoughts are put aside as the fire begins to drain the warmth from him. Normally a man of fire and hot-bloodedness, even he starts to feel a bit of a chill as it does its work. He shivers. "What's going on?"
Niravhadi does not like iron. At all. It interfered with so many things on so many levels and offended him by its /presence alone/. That it was barring his path made things ... well, so much worse!
And then the floor starts glowing, and he considers very carefully whether he might like that even less as his lion slowly buckles until it's lying on the floor, its head on its paws, the flames dimming to the low sparking deep red of banked coals.
The raksha steps backwards carefully, willing to risk the unpleasantness of iron instead of that glow. Those couple of feet of space is enough for one person to take up, and just perfect for him! He's very, very careful to not actually /touch/ those iron gates, however.
"How strong are these bars, do you think?" If there's anything he could do, he could do brute strength! It'll just ..require touching that loathsome element, or pulling his goremaul from Elsewhere and smashing it, but either way this isn't a good place to be. Out of the glow as he is, he's not suffering from that strength-draining effect, but his poor lion...!
Urick whirls as the gate clangs down. The iron bars rattle in Mai's grip, but shows no other sign of moving.
Facing forward again, Urick sets one foot on the glowing floor--and immediately recoils, staring down at the floor in a mixture of disbelief and dull horror. "He wouldn't," he breathes.
The renegade stays firmly within the safe zone (which puts him--and his iron helmet--quite close to Niravhadi), not moving even when a wave of dirty water sloshes around his shoes. The floor appears unaffected; it continues to glow dimly beneath the layer of wet grime.
Urick stares across the room at the gate on the other side. "It has to be one of you," he says slowly. "He's...using the magic of one of the other Districts, somehow." His own. "Sacrifice a life to open the way...you just have to endure until the gate opens."
Mai Tokiha clamps her hands over her mouth. "A.. what? Are you -" She shakes her head, "No way, there has to be a way to open the gate without sacrificing it. It's just iron isn't it!?" She glances at the others, then Nira and his lion - poor kitty :( - "I don't think it can be all that strong. But 'sacrificing' someone to this.. -Floor- it's just going to put us at a disadvantage...! Knock one more person out of it - come on, really, there's another way isn't there?"
One thing was for sure. She wasn't touching that floor. It's icky.
A sacrifice? Something nobly heroic to help save the day at the cost of... well... yeah. Tirana had always wondered what her decision would be in a situation such as this. If it would help save Nowe...
Except that she wasn't exactly here to save Nowe. Well, she was but she wasn't. Its complicated. Enough so that she's still staring at the floor and rather oblivious to the fact that Nira of all people joined them. "Um, are you sure that is the only way out?"
A /life/? Nira is not willing to die for someone ELSE'S story! (And where did this disgustingly unclean water come from?) "If a sacrifice is required," he says slowly. "My dearest Elation may serve, if also he will survive." The lion flicks its ears at the sound of its name, lifting its head briefly to regard him .. then set its head back down. "But he and I have travelled long together and his life means much to me."
Still, it is surely better to sacrifice an animal than a sapient being. It would be a tragic note for him to lose his dearest friend! Urick's closeness is tolerated; he moves over as carefully as he can to make room for the Pact-man and his loathsome helmet.
Mai had the right idea.. stay out of the glowy stuff. And then he hears Tirana. "Why, Lady Tirana! Here we are in strange places together once more!" The sobriety of a moment before is gone, just like that! "I did not believe that you, also, would be one to seek adventure!"
Dogi looks around again. "Wait, wait. Hold on. Can't we all just sacrifice a part of our lives or something and--" No, Dogi. Bad idea. "Lemme try something. Which way are we going?" Yes, Dogi is going to try the strategy set down by Master Sun Tzu, the 'Punch Wall' gambit.
Or something like that. He can't remember what strategy manual it was in, but it was totally in one of them. Or he may have just been reading something while drunk and /thought/ it was a war manual that advocated what he does best. Whatever works for him!
He shivers some more.
"I...I don't know." There's a note of despair in Urick's voice. "Maybe there is another way, but I don't know what it might be, other than just breaking through the gate." He points at the gate on the far side of the room. It seems like it would be theoretically possible, just...difficult.
But maybe it won't be necessary. As the glow in the floor continues to drain the life-force from those standing on it, the gate slowly begins to rise. Inch by inch, with agonizing slowness, with each second that passes mirroring each weakening heartbeat. Freedom is within reach...but will it come quickly enough?
Not good not good. "Come on, hang in there!" Don't give in to the swamp of despair! "Aa - it's moving..!" But not fast enough. Worried for the state of those standing on the chamber, Mai zips over to the rising gate, hovering in place and trying to get it to open faster. It doesn't even have to be fully up! Crawl for freedom people! Women and flaming lions first! "Is everyone okay?"
"Oh goodness!" Of all places, Nira was /here/ as well? "Um, I must apologize, um, I do not know of any Lady Tirana," she answers rather suggestively. Hint hint, nudge nudge, know what she means? "I am merely a servant girl who is unfortunately caught up in some fiendish plot!" See? Totally not a Tirana, even if she is a Tirana! "I also apologize if I dirtied your shoes, um."
The gate is moving, so they're doing something right! A thought does occur to her, and she asks, rather hesitantly, "Perhaps if everyone stepped on it, that way it would open faster and nobody would sacrifice themselves?" Though, she does have to wonder: Would that be considered aiding and abetting?
Well, if someone has to be the first, then so be it. The 'servant girl' steps onto the glowing floor, almost immediately squeaking with a shudder.
Nira rakes fingers through his hair briefly in a futile attempt to get it to organize itself. "Well, I have heard many times that when subtlety fails, one must use brute force. I am certain between myself and this young blue haired stranger, we can accomplish this." It seems subtlety isn't going to work and his poor lion looks so utterly exhausted..
He snaps his fingers lightly. "Ah! I am sorry, most fairest servant girl! Your radiance was such that I was unable to distinguish between you and another elegant beauty of my aquaintence!" Because now is totally the time to get this handled, right? As the gate begins inching upwards, however, the raksha watches with evident interest and then steps forward, reaching back as if to grasp a weapon held across his back.
Except as he does so quite suddenly there actually /is/ a weapon, a solid, dark metal mace that looks to weigh as much as Niravhadi himself does. Crossing from one side to the other takes a few hops through the draining floor, but once on the other side, waits patiently to wedge the goremauls heavy head beneath the gate. If mere iron could break such sturdy construction, then he will have failed as a blacksmith many times over. It won't leave /much/ room beneath, juuust enough for the largest of them - besides poor Elation - to squeeze beneath, but it should prevent the gate from lowering again.
Dogi wants to /try/ the Punch Wall gambit, but alas he can't. His strength is slowly starting to weaken. He blinks and begins to walk (slower than he would like) towards the ever opening gate. Strength sapping spells! His one weakness!
But then, he watches what the new guy with the strange mace is doing, and nods. "Okay, new plan." Without spending precious energy talking, he shuffles over to the iron gate and PULLS! He pulls upwards in an attempt to try and help the guy with his gate lifting, possibly to try and help it go faster and make it easier for everyone else to escape. This may or may not involve him lingering longer within the field. But boy, is he pulling. But man, does he look like he's pulling hard.
Slowly...slowly, the gate rises. But then Niravhadi steps in, along with Dogi, and the space between the gate and the wall widens noticeably thanks to their efforts. It only takes a few seconds for them to make enough room to get through--seconds that could have been minutes, and minutes that could have been fatal.
"You did it..." Urick steps forward, wincing as he crosses the still-glowing floor. "You actually got through. Well done!" He sounds genuinely impressed.
The hallway beyond seems safe; no strange glow in the floor, no subtle wrongness in the air. It continues on ahead at a slight downward angle; the walls here are slightly rougher, as the construction delves directly into the cliffside.
And it's still empty and quiet--but not for long. From somewhere up ahead, a voice calls out. "Help me!" It's the voice of a young male: Nowe's voice. "I'm down here! Please, help!"
Letting go of the gate as the others take over, Mai waits until its open - and then sidles on through. "Is that him?" Mai glances at Urick for confirmation. She's dealt with people who impersonated other people. Stupid Yuki. "Nn.." She shakes her head. "Trap aside, I don't like this - where is everyone? Shouldn't there be... well.. guards all over?" she asks in a quiet voice. Hopefully they don't come out into a new chamber full of angry bees. Er, Guards.
They could all join forces to open the gate!
Or they could just, y'know, pry it open. Tirana has to jump back to the safety of the edges, lest she get goremaul'd by a prancing Nira. ... Didn't he come in unarmed? She's certain she didn't see anything that huge strapped on his back or on his pet flaming lion, the poor thing.
There's more than enough room for her to scramble underneath with everyone else. The urge to smooth out her skirt is tossed away when she remembers her role again. "Oh dear," she bites her lip, "It does sound like someone is in trouble, though, um, that would be terribly convenient, would it not?" She peers down the hallway hesitantly, "It could very well be a trap!" Ahoy there, Captain Obvious!
The mace has a purpose. Leverage ... and not having to touch cold iron. He could deal with steel just fine, and any other metal for that matter, but the illusion of humanity might be keeping them friendly-like, and he was unwilling to damage that. With the gate open, he whistles low. "Elation. Up with you, lazybones, come on."
The lion reluctantly heaves itself to its feet and creeps under the iron gate as well, and Nira's polite enough to hold things as they are, flipping the goremaul around so it's bracing the gate up a little higher so Dogi can get through as well. Only then will he let go /and/ pull his weapon free.
"Convenient? Why, my beautiful serving girl, that is the purpose of this grand venture! You see somewhere in this shining dwelling is ..." He pauses and frowns. "Well, I am not precisely certain who, but they are in danger, and must be rescued! Thus it is not truly convenience, it is a guidestone to show us the way we must go!"
Trap or not, off Niravhadi goes down the hallway. "Hello~? Who is calling? Are you in danger??"
Dogi grunts a bit as he hauls the gate up. Ye Gods(or 'ddeses, he isn't picky), that's a heavy grate. Of course, soul sucking glow doesn't help much, and it might be taking more out of him than he would like. He grunts a bit and waits until everyone (including the fire lion) is out before he himself pulls through the gate and lets it go.
He blinks and notices as Niravhadi stalks off in search of danger. Of course, possibly because of his weakened body, he might be wanting to overcompensate a bit, so he GOES WITH Nira and stalks down the hallway.
Hey, Nowe's in trouble. They can't dilly dally. Onward!
The hallway opens out again, this time into a rough-hewn chamber that looks considerably less-well-kept than the rest of the Citadel. The walls are unpolished and the floor is covered in gravel and loose stones. There's another staircase leading down through an open doorway at the far end of the room, but perhaps of more immediate interest are the six iron-barred doors lining the room itself, three on each wall. Each door has a tally mark scratched on a plaque on its front, but they don't seem to be in any recognizable order.
And in the dark cell behind one of the doors (the one marked "5", for the record) is a familiar figure.
"Nowe!" Urick steps forward eagerly. "Is that you?"
Unsurprisingly, the dungeons are a dark, dismal place. For all that they may be lightless, though, they are dry; that in itself is a small favour and a blessing. The flooring of the cells themselves are finished in packed, bare earth. Some are empty, some hold fugitives. Some hold monsters. Others are house and home to nothing but scattered bones.
But the fifth cell, that one does hold a familiar figure.
Chains clink in the gloom. The figure inside shambles forward, restrained by a thick manacle around each ankle, and a similar band of iron around his neck and forearms.
"Urick!" The dragon's child sounds immensely relieved. He looks more underfed than usual, grimy and forgotten in this lightless place. There are deep shadows under his eyes; his brown hair dusty. "Am I glad to see you. Hurry up and get me out of here...!"
It seems he's been relieved of his weapons as well as his clothing; he wears only colourless, tattered rags.
What is it with people charging forward? Mai puts a hand to her head. "Honestly it's like it's ingrained into their genes." She mutters to no one in particular. She glances behind her, even as she trots along behind the man as he approaches Nowe. "Does anyone else think this is a little bit -too- easy...?"
Tirana can but only stare after Nira as he heroically marches down the hallway. He really /is/ full of surprises, isn't he? Not neccessarily wise ones, either! Yet he does have a point, and she quickly scampers after him and Dogi. The latter's condition worries her a bit, though she's not entirely sure her Touch can heal. She does give him a re-assuring pat on the shoulder, "That was very brave of both of you."
Ah, the dungeon. Lovely as ever. The 'chambermaid' shudders again, such accomodations were far far /far/ from her style. Urick's the first to point out who's behind door #5 and Tirana races over as well, catching herself at the last minute. The last she saw of Nowe, he was happily vacant. Was there anything else she was missing? Would it count as aiding and abetting again?
Well, it couldn't hurt to look! The maid locks eyes on Nowe and in that moment, the Madness-Analyzing Stare does it work. Hello, is there anyone home?
It's not charging into danger! It's charging to the rescue! "Ah, Nowe. We are here to rescue a 'Nowe'! Surely a brave, but forlorn soul, who-" Niravhadi's decisionmaking on how this story should be playing out is brought to a jarring stop not by the cells, not by that young voice from the forbidding dungeons, but Mai's voice. He turns neatly to face her.
"It is too easy at this juncture because it is almost a certainty that we have yet to uncover the true enemy, who is lying in wait /this very moment/." He all but dances in the proper direction, bits of various jewelry jingling. "I wonder what our terrible foe may be. An evil dragon, to match the good circling outside? A fearsome beast from the grave?"
No, no, he needs to worry about the rescuing! He should be /concerned for their safety/. "I and Elation will watch for danger. If the door requires being smashed down, I will endeavor to aid you!" Because massive weapons are great versus these kinds of things. Until then, he's going to be alert for danger. This is the time where traps come!
Dogi is of a similar mind! Hey, if they /all/ charge into danger, then they won't be all strung out and they can all focus on whatever lies ahead! He fears not ambush!
Them again, some of the more lingering effects from the strength-sap seems to be fading. Yes, he's in a bit of pain, but it's starting to become bearable. He grunts as sense starts to return. "We should probably be ready for it." And, in fact, he takes his attention off of actually /saving/ Nowe and instead he focuses on watching the place. "Oh, man. I hope there /is/ undead." At least the undead is something Dogi can /understand/. This Sealed World or whatever is confusing.
Urick's stride falters at Mai's words. "You're right." This is Yaha's domain, after all. Who's to say this isn't just another trap? He hangs back, eagerness wrestling with distrust. Damn that Yaha...he can't even be sure if his own little brother is who he seems to be. Tirana moves towards the bars, and Urick takes another restless step forward. "Be careful...!"
He -can't- seriously be.. is.. someone.. w..
Mai just stares at Nira a second, bewildered that someone actually talks like that. Kind of refreshing actually. "... I don't know, but it's probably that person he was worried about." She jerks a thumb towards Urick. "I hope it's not a dragon." Not because she was afraid, because - well, she could always summon her own dragon to help, but it would be so inconvenient in what was otherwise a pretty clean rescue attempt.
How clean it was so far is exactly what was worrying her though. Of course if Nowe truly was Urick's brother, Mai could understand his rashness. She would be the same way if it were Takumi. Oh -- well there would be a lot more fire involved actually...
"Come on! Get me out of here!" Nowe pleads through the iron bars that imprison him, reaching out. He's definitely looking worse for the wear; dirt and grime smudge his skin, and there's even a bit of stubble at his jaw. His hair sticks out worse than it normally does, its colour dulled by dirt and neglect.
Nothing seems to happen until Tirana approaches the bars. In an instant they snap open of their own accord, sliding upward with the shriek of tortured metal. Nowe leaps from the cell as though eager to see his rescuers--
--and the skin seems to melt from his face and body, running like water.
What leaps out isn't the dragon's child, but a skeletal warrior bearing a blood-edged halberd. Bone and steel rattle as the skeleton leaps out. The halberd is raised and then lashed out to try and spit the Not-A-Chambermaid on the pointy end.
Nowe critically strikes Tepet Tilis Tirana with his SURPRISE attack.
A brainwashed Nowe was her worst fear. An illusion she could also imagine. What she never saw coming was he illusion with a deadly surprise launched at her! No sooner than her Stare had registered 'Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis' than she finds a halberd embedded in her shoulder. 'Eeek' quickly switches to 'AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH'.
Instincts ingrained by the finest Dynast senseis kick in. Or will once the pain and bleeding and shock subsides. That may take a while, the blood-curdling scream is a sure-fire indication that more than just hurt!
Light slippers barely make a sound as a young woman hurries through the Citadel. She's tracked the path that the others have followed to get to where they were. The oak staff is slung against her back, her fingers wrapped around the shaft lightly. She's very light on her feet, with little issues of jumping over whatever soldiers she's managed to run across, or sending a fierce strike from the staff to throw them out of her way. She doesn't want to use much of her strength when she knows she'll have to use a great deal of her magical power once they locate Yaha and Nowe.
"Look out," the sorceress quickly speaks up once she skids to a stop. The scream is not noticed, as she's already drawing what magical force she can into herself. She twists the staff around her, arcing it across her body in a single motion, while sending a shower of red-hot bolts of flame in the direction of the undead attacker.
Manah misses Nowe with her Wait... magic doesn't work on skeleton knights, does it? attack.
Nira not only talks like that, he does it with a stylish accent! "Indeed, as do I. Dragons are noble beings." Undead would be better. He could handle undead. But instead of handling anything, he leans against his lion and studies his nails, picking at them lightly then rubbing them on his vest. Trouble is always obvious, they just need to wait for it--
And there it is! At Tirana's scream, Niravhadi whips around, nearly collides with Manah, backs up a step, grabs his goremaul, and /points/ at the skeletal ... skelly. "It is indeed undeath!" He'd strike, or something, but there's a whole lot of people between him and the skeleton, so all he's going to do is point out the obvious.
Urick mentally facepalms at the talk of undead. "Don't say that," he cautions. "Be careful what you wish for..."
...because it just might come true. And it just /did/. "Tirana--!" Urick shouts, completely forgetting about her earlier statement that she is most definitely not Tirana, no sir, not at all. And that's most definitely not Nowe, either.
"Damn it, Yaha!" Urick has had just about enough of this. He pulls his scythe from its harness, grasps it in both hands, and rushes forward to swing it at the undead warrior, his strike fueled as much by frustration against his former companion as by a desire to protect Tirana.
You miss Nowe with your GRRRRR attack.
Oh she knew -- oh okay she didn't know THIS was going to happen but she -KNEW- it was too easy. Still there is a brief, startled shriek of surprise from Mai, and then people are all rushing forward to attack the beast. Flames form at the palms of her hands - but it was too cramped an area, too many people near the target for her to fight.
Unless she burned them too.
"THAT'S Yaha?" ... No. Just. no.
Fortunately for our fearless heroes, skeletons are not the brightest monster in the bunch. They make great shock troops, as long as they don't require very complicated directions.
And when it comes to focusing on a single target, that doesn't work very well either. Manah's flamestrike seems to dissipate as soon as it touches the slain warrior's bones, curling up and wisping out of being. The skeleton turns, red eye-lights fixing on the sorcer--
--/WHIFF/. Urick's axe narrowly misses the bony creature, which causes it to turn. The skeleton leers its death-grin as it aims that halberd for Urick, blade whisling through the air as it strikes.
Nowe hits Urick with his *aggro* attack.
Man, the /one thing/ you ignore while watching for trouble. Dogi did not expect SKELETON NOWE. Though he did expect (or at least secretly want) skeletons so maybe he only half expected it. Or something to that affect. That said, it /was/ suprising so Dogi jumps a bit at the sudden attack, or possibly the screaming. Or maybe the sudden firebolts. Who knows.
What isn't surprising is what Dogi does about it. The screaming can't be dealt with by him (He has no healing abilities. Curse you, Red, and your magic abilities), and the fire is actually good for his team (at least in theory), so all he can really do is jump at SKELETON NOWE and try to fit a punch in amongst all the meleeing going on.
Dogi critically strikes Nowe with his Falcom Punch attack.
The chambermaid that really isn't Tirana has run out of air to scream, she's sucking on wind now as she stumbles backwards. Conveniently, she finds Nira and just collapses against him with a choked sound. Urick and Dogi and Manah(!) have the skeleton under control, now all she has to do is bring herself under control! One hand tries to prop herself up against the adventurer while the other finds the wound. The Raksha may feel the Essence flowing from the air about them and into the girl, and in a moment the wound heals over. The pain, however, and her own stupidity, however, are a long ways from recovering. "Ah..."
Tepet Tilis Tirana heals Tepet Tilis Tirana with her When I Think About How Much Its Bleeding, I Touch Myself action.
The blonde doesn't hesitate once she sees that she's drawn the attention of the creature. However, what she quickly does is attempt to pull Tirana back and away from the skeleton. She looks ready to send off another attack, but... this is hesitated as the Raksha nearly collides into her.
The young woman's light movements are enough to keep her out of his way, while she begins an attempt to circle the skeleton. She's drawing on her magic again- but... she doesn't use it. Not yet. She simply holds onto it, ready to unleash it when the time comes. Manah never lets her crimson gaze stray from the enemy. Not for the time being, at least.
Yaha is the skeleton? No, no this wasn't an actual foe, this was a mere taste of more interesting things. And with most everyone else charging to fight - well, the strange new sorceress, and Urick and Dogi anyway, Nira steps forward to help them juuust in time for Tirana to stumble backwards.
He catches her, vaguely startled. She wasn't an enemy skeleton!
"My lady, are you well?" He'll hold her stable easily enough, the tug of Essence suddenly and terribly tempting. Resisting that temptation for now is better, especially with the smell of blood so strong. "Please, fair one, stay with Elation. He will protect you as he protects me." And if Tirana will allow it, she will be gently set beside the burning lion - and she'll probably quickly realize the flames don't actually hurt. "The battlefield is not made for such elegance, I would be heartbroken if further harm came to you."
Wait, isn't there fighting going on? This isn't the right time for potential romantic interludes!
The halberd's blade bites into flesh, and a spray of blood arcs from the wound. It looks painful, but Urick only grunts and staggers back a step or two. He has to take a moment to resituate himself, and Dogi has already stepped in ahead of him to continue the attack.
"That's not Yaha," Urick growls, "but it's Yaha's doing. I don't know of anyone else who could craft an illusion like that." He shifts his grip on his scythe, watching for an opportunity to strike again. His gaze flicks sideways towards the red-eyed sorceress. "Manah...it's good to see you. I was afraid you weren't coming."
Turning, the skeleton tries to finish through on that strike to the pact-partner. The halberd raises, now sporting a fresh coating of blood along its blade edge, and--
--collapses, several rather important reanimated bones shattered by the impact of Dogi's powerful punch. The bones crumble to the floor, disintegrating as they do, sifting into grey dust. The halberd clatters to the ground; as it does, rust seems to erupt from within the weapon, ravaging the steel. The blood simply... disappears.
The dungeons are eerily silent, afterward.
It seems the real Nowe wasn't down here after all.
Is that guy seriously hitting on some girl? In the middle of a fight? "I don't believe this." Mai chuckles faintly - but focuses on the skeleton as people unload their attacks. "Is it d-- uh, und-.. " ... "Can you actually -kill- something that's already dead?" Ah, apparently so! What a relief..
She nods towards Manah in acknowledgement, though still looks a bit anxious. Where there was one skeleton, there are often others, right? "So if he's not here, where could Nowe be?"
The sorceress quickly looks back at Nira and Tirana once things have calmed down. She only watches the pair in silence for a moment until she shakes her head and looks back towards Urick. "I apologize for being late. My past experiences with this building, however, have been useful in tracking down where everyone would be..." She frowns at where the skeleton was a moment ago, then shakes her head. "...though it's obvious that Nowe is not here. Should we press forward?"
Manah remembered what was ahead. This caused for her to be only slightly anxious... until she lets out a slow breath. She tells herself to calm down slightly. Yaha had better not have done anything to Nowe... Otherwise, she will...
Outwardly, she shows no anger or irritation at the situation. Those paying attention, though, may notice that she's clutching the staff at her side tight enough for her knuckles to have a slight tinge of white to them.
"Um." The shock was gone. She had enough self-control to heal herself. Tirana finds the willpower to meekly nod back at Nira's question, wiping the blood from her hand on her already ruined wenching clothes. "I, um, I have had better days," she coughs.
Admittedly, she found his words rather, well, truthful. The battlefield really was not meant for beautiful girls such as herself! "Oh, um, thank you," she tiny-voices back to him. Slowly her mind centers back in on her situation. Namely that she's now conflicting between aiding and abetting and assaulting an IPA officer. "I, um, am honored and touched by your words," she slowly sways to her feet, "But, um, as a completely innocent servant of the castle, I am swayed by all of your heroic deeds and simply must travel with you to rescue your friend!" See? Spying is easy! "She is right," a nod is given to Manah, "Let us hurry!"
Believe it, Mai! Especially as Niravhadi isn't actually stopping. With the skeleton destroyed, he puffs up a bit as if he'd done the destroying himself. A foe, vanquished! "See how justice and righteousness prevail! They inspire even this, a poor serving girl, to risk danger and death itself to turn on her loathed master! None can stand against our combined might!"
Even if he didn't know any of their names, they are now part of his Party.
"But yes, of course, we must travel on, for somewhere here is a poor soul trapped under tyrrany and oppression, and he must be saved." Niravhadi sighs, then looks around again. "I am wondering, does this exquisite castle have a main audience chamber? That would be the most ideal location for a final confrontation, do you not agree?" Clearly someone with such an elegant home would understand how these confrontations work.
Thus, this Yaha fellow would be waiting for them where he can most properly display his power and strength! That's what audience chambers are /for/. Internally, Nira is pleased. This is definitely making for a very good story, he could have scarcely invented something better on his own.
Dogi is that damn good, apparently. Killing something that's already dead, that is. But in rea;oty Dogi is kind of underwhelmed. Sure, it was undead. But there was only one and it wasn't that hard to kill. Or, more technically, it was too easy. Not in the 'hahaha I am Dogi, the mighty!' sort of way, but more of the 'That was it?' variety. The entire episode seemed 'off', somehow.
But enough of that, though. VICTORY. At least for right now. "Is everyone all right?" He asks to the others. When the innocent servant speaks, though, Dogi buys it. "Of course, completely innocent lady. I for one agree that you should come join us." Maybe he doesn't 'buy' it, but he's at least willing to believe it for the time being. So maybe, he 'borrows' it or somesuch.