Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[scorri]

Hoshi grimaced at the blast of light nearly taking out her companion. Reaching a hand out, she nodded towards the warlock. "We work together and help end this. It needs to stop."

Hoshi defends Luther

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya continued healing those that had fallen earlier, trying to make sure they could leave as quickly as possible as soon as this was finished.

Nadya uses Raise+ on Lumi! Lumi 0/18-->13/18 Team NES +3

[Afterglimmer]

<Same deal as before; will deal with this tomorrow>

[spoiler=Combat]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4603054/

Luther gains 2 HP!
Luther 3/27

Rolled 4 4 3

Warlock counterspell hits Hoshi for 5 damage!

Hoshi 13/18

Luther attacks

Rolled 2 5 2 (Autohit)
12+5-10=7 damage

Warlock A:16/30

Warlock normal counter

Rolled 4 1 2

5+1-5=1

Hoshi 12/18

Hoshi counter

Rolled 4 4 6

18+4-10=12 damage

Warlock A 4/30

Luther doubles

Rolled 5 5 4; (Lethal hit after Killer Sword)

14+5-10=9 x 3=27 damage

Warlock A -25/30

Team HL gains 8 points(defend/kill)

Edited August 11, 2014 by Afterglimmer2

[Mercakete]

Norbert pulled back on the reins and, whinnying loudly at the sudden signal to stop, Rizen's hooves slid across the ground and she beat her wings to help her halt. Then, Norbert turned her to the side so he could more comfortably talk with the one who the lancer had inadvertently retreated into and been slashed by: Luther. Norbert was a little frustrated that he hadn't gotten to make the Wrathite pay himself, but at least he was down now. Evidently, his pain tolerance had been reached, too, as the slice had been to his side and really shouldn't have knocked him unconscious otherwise.

As it turned out, however, Norbert didn't have the time to say anything. Luther quickly became predisposed in a coordinated attack with...Hoshi? That soft-spoken woman from before? Well, that was puzzling. He shook off the light confusion relatively easy. No use waiting around here. So, Norbert began riding around, looking to see if anyone needed to be moved out of there. The Wrathites seemed like they were becoming less and less inclined to fight to retain their captive, and he wanted to be sure everyone could get out of there before battle-ready reinforcements arrived.

[roymbrog]

The battle was still going on, so Valter shot a fool.

Valter attacks Bishop B! +2AS from Jam, 13AS total, he doubles

Roll: 4,3,5

20+3=23-9=HIT

8+3=11-6= 5DMG

Doubles!

Roll: 5,6,3

20+5=oh who am I kidding, he hit ok

8+6=14-6= 8DMG

Bishop B HP: 8/21

Valter HP: 13/18

[scorri]

Lumi staggered to her feet, still wounded, but awake enough to point at the last standing enemy she could see, and blast him with ice, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

[spoiler=Combat]

Hit: autohit

10+2+3-6=9 damage

(i know i was supposed to get defended, but since lumi only needed a 2, the defend would have been wasted anyways

[Nanami Touko]

Was that the end of things? Eva looked around, but there didn't seem to be any more Wrathites near them. She grinned. "Alright! That's the kinda fight I'm talking about! Hahaha!" She let herself laugh and relax a little. It had been fairly hard, and that dark magician near the end had posed a bit of a problem, but after the entire ordeal, she felt pretty good. "You feeling any better after that whole thing, Shaddy? Got to loosen up, a...little?" Oh, shit, he's still down, isn't he? Eva turned around and sure enough, Shadrak was a lump on the floor.

She quickly ran on over and slid next to him, slowly propping him off of the ground. "Hey, hey, come on. Wake up, yeah? You're a dark mage, right, you can just use that weird spell of yours to get your energy back? Should I drag over a body?" The grim thought slipped right over her head as she really was just wondering if she should do that or call a healer.

----------

Once Lumi had struck the bishop down, the sounds of fighting stopped, and Tia pulled herself out of her little hidey corner. She breathed a sigh of relief, and slowly walked on over, as she hoped they would be leaving the cathedral soon. She would stay in the cart, in the future.

Edited August 11, 2014 by I have opinions

[Toogee]

Before Jam knew it, all the enemies had fallen. It was time to get everyone out before the battle began anew. The first thing Jam did was find Tia walking from her hiding spot.

"Hey," Jam said to get the girl's attention. "As soon as we get the wounded up, we should be headed out. At least, I think so. I can't imagine sticking around for the after party. Anywho, I'm checking on our fearless leader if you wanna tag along."

Whether Tia came along or not, Jam headed back to the pew where Amon was located. He still looked as bad as before, surely in need of a healer. It wasn't much, but Jam offered her vulnerary bottle to Amon.

"Care for a victory toast?" Jam joked, attempting to make light of the dire wounds.

[Nanami Touko]

"Y-yeah, we should!" Tia piped up along with Jam, deciding to follow her. Maybe Amon could give her some direction in what to do. Maybe she could even help! Their 'fearless leader' didn't look like he was doing very good. A rather large wound and gasping for breath? One would probably doubt he was the leader for having taken such a nasty hit. Tia didn't say that, of course. "Uhm, A-Amon, is there...anything I can do, to help us get out of here faster?" There must've been something. Even if it was just helping people to their feet.

Edited August 13, 2014 by I have opinions

[-Cynthia-]

Victory!

Battle Average: 57 points

Well, the Wrathites seemed to be defeated for now, but they still weren't well enough to move- which could spell trouble. Eva seemed to be trying to help Shadrak, though not in the best way.

"Don't be enocuragin' him, ya practically just offered yourself to be the next pigeon," Nadya warned Eva before applying her staff to Shadrak's various wounds. No need to repeat that Amon incident.

The battle was done- the humans seemed to have spared at least some of the Wrathites though not all. "Are you all right?" Liam asked Joanna, tunign towards her. She did not appear to have suffered any physical wounds, but he wondered if the chaos and violence of the battle disturbed her.

[Phoenix]

Picking Up the Pieces

Old Average: 743

New Average: 800

Shadrak was almost beside himself when Eva offered to drag an enemy over to him. As much as he wanted to finish what he'd started with Alastor, he'd prefer not to be berated by anyone who had their own beef with him. They could fight amongst themselves for all he cared. Shaking off the daze that came with being floored, he said, "Y-yeah ... sure."

But it wasn't to be, Nadya had quickly come by, healed his wounds, and warned Eva of enabling his preferred healing methods. "Hey, that was a completely different situation," he protested. The last thing he needed was for the nomad to convince others he couldn't discriminate between friend or foe.

After helping out Lumi and Pete, Joanna remembered Amon's words from earlier. She remembered them, but she felt she'd left him in this sorry state for far too long already, and despite the fatigue eating away at her, she healed his wounds as well. She just hoped he'd had time to calm down. After she'd stood up from him and began wandering around to find anyone else in need of healing, her sense of balance left her and she fell onto her knees. Too much ... too quickly ... ... I can't keep up anymore .... "I-I'm fine ... but I can't keep up anymore," she replied to Liam. To her, not being able to address even half of the injuries, or save even one of the wrathites from dying was as good as a crushing defeat to her.

Amon picked himself up as Tia approached, and once he had, he noticed that there were still plenty of wrathites around. Fortunately, not a one of them looked like they were up for a fight. They had just defeated the stronger bunch, so with all the healing that had just taken place, what chance did these regulars have? That didn't stop a trio of them from taking up defensive positions at the entrance leading out into the corridors bridging the Hall of Wrath from the Hall of Nature, their last way remaining escape route. "Keep an eye out while we finish picking ourselves up. If any of those other wrathites make a move, call it out so we can respond." That just left Alastor; Joanna hadn't managed to heal him before stopping to rest, so he was in no condition to fight back ... but they'd left him incapacitated the last time as well.

"You really should have avoided all of this, Alastor. We don't want to fight you people," he said, frustration and fatigue behind nearly every word.

Unpoof

Lilith sighed at Athrun while the latter's guards, some wrathites and soldiers, kept their conversation as private as they could by keeping the civilians at a safe distance from them. The two stood at the center of a large circle, the ambient chatter and noise preventing their voices from carrying very far. "Are you ever going to clear these people out of here? It's still dangerous."

"You're practically a tourist attraction. They aren't going anywhere until you do," Athrun groaned.

"Then maybe I should just go find Desmond myself. You don't seem to know exactly where he is and I don't want to cause another scene." I'd rather not go before making sure Liam isn't going to wind up captured, but if I can- "That light!" A voice Lilith didn't recognize came from the crowd, and as she glanced over her shoulder, she saw somewhere in the neighborhood of seven arms pointing toward the night sky. She quickly turned around in time with Athrun to see the fading light of a warp spell.

"What is that?" Athrun said, squinting at the black spec.

"It's a person," Lilith said, slowly beginning to reach out with her offhand as her eyes carefully tracked the man. She wasn't going to let someone fall to their death like this.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

"Mmm hmm," Nadya replied to Shadrak in a dubious tone of voice, looking him over before scanning the rest of the group for further injuries.

"You've done all that anyone could ask of you. Let's leave this place," Liam said softly, bending down and scooping Joanna up into his arms. I suppose we should at least stick with these humans for now- I need to figure out where they took the emblem piece at least.

Alastor coughed, barely conscious as Amon approached. "I did not want to fight you either, but this was unavoidable. I do not think there is need for further bloodshed however," he managed to croak out in a hoarse voice.

[Script]

A Falling Man Called Gar

I won't be afraid, with you by my side♪ "Technically warping would get me out of—" suddenly sky "—here... great." The sudden rush of falling took away any thoughts of singing. "Wonder if I could toss these bombs and use the shockwave to cushion my fall?" But there were people! "Screw'em, like usual." Isn't that the wrathite cathedral? "So I get to kill some wrathites at least?" Isn't that where the others went? "Maybe? Even less of a reason to care." Why are you arguing with yourself? "I wanted to hear my voice one last time." Well in that case... "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Gar spread his arms wide. A normal person might consider the impending dread or think of cherished moments... but what person could ever count a suicidal freefall in their life?

Edited August 13, 2014 by Script

[Nanami Touko]

From the talk between Nadya and Shadrak it seemed fairly obvious what they were implying. Eva wasn't quite sure how to take that. He seemed like an angry individual, but to do that to one of his allies? Hmmmm. "Well... Was he dying?" she asked Nadya. "If it wasn't serious and he just attacked one of us to heal some minor wounds I could see that being a big problem, but... If he was dying he wouldn't really have another choice, would he? If that was the case, I wouldn't mind. Since he wasn't bleeding out I figured I'd just offer him the leftovers before the prime rib." She laughed a little at her comparison. She was a bit hungry herself. "I could use some fuel too, honestly..." she said, standing up and helping Shaddy up to his feet.

----------

"Sure! Even I can handle that." Tia felt a lot better, having something to focus on. It'd keep her mind away from itself and actually make her feel useful to the group. She walked over to face the Wrathites, but still kept her distance. "I've got my eyes on you, so... S-So don't try anything, alright?" she asked over at them, though still a bit quiet. She still didn't have the bravado to get any louder, even if she felt a bit better.

Edited August 13, 2014 by I have opinions

[roymbrog]

The fighting was over, but they weren’t out of this mess yet. There were other soldiers in the room, and though they didn’t seem interested in fighting, they were still blocking the exits. The others were getting healed and readying to leave. Valter’s wounds had been healed at least enough to stop the bleeding, and there were others worse off around, so he had decided not to bother the healers, especially after turning to see Joanna fall to fatigue. Liam immediately picked her up, which was probably for the best. The horseman probably couldn’t carry her in his state anyway. He sighed, and walked a few steps over to pick up the sword he’d dropped to clean it off and put it away.

That was when Amon walked by speaking to Alastor. Valter hadn’t realized the wrathite was still alive, but he was clearly conscious, if barely. His bow was still in hand, and his gaze hardened as he drew and nocked an arrow. Twice already had this man led fights over the emblem, and twice had he nearly killed Valter. The horseman wasn’t about to let either happen a third time. He leveled the arrow at his head and released it.

[Ether]

With the commander stirring, Angelica had been about to go over to him and restrain him with a quick snare... judging by the barrier on his weapon, if she could kick it away, he'd be unable to break through under his own power. If need be, she'd execute him, but he shouldn't be a threat any longer so long as she managed to get to him before he took hold of his lance.

Alas, it was not meant to be, as the horseman quickly knocked an arrow and loosed it at the man's skull. It would take some sort of divine intervention, or divine stupidity, to save him now.

[scorri]

Hoshi stood, shaking slightly. So much death and destruction, and she'd been a large part of it. She shuddered and slowly moved over towards some of the others in the group. As she was approaching them, she gasped as one of their number drew his bow and started to shoot the enemy leader she'd knocked down. "NO! HE'S DONE, DON'T!"

Lumi meanwhile was more concerned with Pete. "Hey there, you doing ok?" She held out a hand to him. "Come on now, get up. That nice avian healed us both, so you should be better now, right?"

Edited August 13, 2014 by scorri

[Ether]

Angelica wasn't sure if Hoshi was simply lamenting, or had intent to intervene, but it would only end badly if it was the latter. Extending her arm in front of the alchemist to block a potential ill-advised sprint with a knowing shake of her head, Angelica tried to pull the dark mage's attention, atleast for the moment of the man's probable demise.

"I know it's painful, but this is what war looks like, Hoshi. Seems that commander has history with some of them, though Valter most of all. This path that we're on... fighting, killing... it's not a thing we can escape from, anymore. Not unless we want to leave everyone to the wolves... well, to the birds would be a better term, I guess." The adept noted, before moving her hand to Hoshi's back, pulling the petite woman's head lightly against her shoulder, trying to comfort her by gently brushing through her hair.

"If you need to, you can cry... I won't tell anybody, or laugh, okay?"

[scorri]

"... no but I... I didn't kill him. I gave... I gave him the chance to live, so that this wouldn't end like this... I..." She swayed and then sank to the ground. "He didn't... he didn't have to die. We had won..." She stared hopelessly at the other mage. "Why... why am I here if this is what it's going to be like? If death is all that awaits us... I'm not a killer. I'm supposed to be in charge and I... I can't even save one man."

[Ether]

"You can't control other people, Hoshi. Regardless of your intentions, sometimes, people will die... everyone will, eventually, after all." Angelica replied, bringing herself down to eye level with the druid and pulling her into a tight hug, once again resting Hoshi's head on her shoulder, speaking softly into her ear.

"All you can do is fight as hard as you can so that they don't have to die... it didn't pan out, this time, but... you're strong, Hoshi. You have the power to make a difference... power that so many people who would do the same lack. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes it'll be your hand that ends someone." The adept continued, rubbing the quivering woman's back gently.

"But don't question why you're here, Hoshi. You're here to save your homeland from the Fallen, right? To stop that invasion Steinn talked about, to save hundreds... thousands... millions... it hurts now, and that pain will linger in your heart, but... Alastor. Him and anyone else that might lose their lives along the way... when you succeed, they'll look down at you from the afterlife with smiles and forgiveness... what a fool I was, better you survived than me. You're here to do good for this world, and sometimes that means bearing a lot of weight and pain... but if you question the worth of what you're doing, you only invite yourself to fail." Angelica continued, trying to keep an eye on their surroundings while comforting Hoshi... the last thing the girl's psyche... or either of their healths needed, was to be impaled on a spear.

"And if you fail, what will his death have meant? Or anyone else's? If you don't move forward, then what's left for those that were left behind?"

[-Cynthia-]

"I understand why he did it, but suckin' the life force outta other people seems like a bad habit and one I'd rather not encourage. There's a reason Mercy made the healin' staff after all," Nadya mentioned, waving her staff for emphasis.

"This is the man who was your guardian appointed by the Church of Mercy? A man who would kill a defenseless prisoner? 'Tis a shame I did not arrive earlier it seems," Liam asked Joanna, frowning as he witnessed the execution.

[scorri]

Hoshi shook her head, tears coming to her eyes now. "I'm... I'm not that special. Others are strong, better fighters. I just... I'm not strong. I'm weak and timid. Saving my homeland... That would require them to listen to me. Believe that I know more about Fallen than they do. To them... I'm nothing. A woman who fled the country because she was undesirable and unmarried. A woman is nothing when she is not attached to a man there, and even when she is, it is the man's worth that matters. My magic means nothing. At least when I was with Weyland, I was doing something that mattered, at least somewhat..."

[Ether]

"You're plenty strong... no one with a control field like yours is allowed to say she's not strong, not on my watch." Angelica replied, as she continued gently rubbing Hoshi's back.

"If they think you're useless just because you don't have a husband, then that's simple, isn't it? Prove them wrong. Show them how strong you really are, like you showed us today. Show them your alchemy, those crazy sized spells you fired off earlier... show them that no matter how many times you're knocked down, you'll get right back up and keep fighting. Unmarried? Hah, like that means anything at all... and undesirable? I'll tell you myself that's complete bullshit. Besides, there's no way word won't get to them about the attack in this city, all you need to tell them is to take a look at what happened, here... and hell, between people here and there... it's no contest who the Fallen hate more, who'll get it even worse than we did." Angelica continued, as she pulled slightly away from Hoshi, only enough so to look the sobbing woman directly in the eyes.

"If any man, Kigenese or otherwise, has the nerve to walk up to you and tell you that you're nothing because of any of that ingrained crap... well Hoshi you're gonna have to stop me because even if he survives what I'm going to do to him, he'll wish he hadn't. Anyone who believes any of that... they're the ones who are worthless, Hoshi."

[scorri]

Hoshi just quietly shook her head. "You... you don't understand. It... it does not matter what I do. All they will see is an unmarried woman who fled from her father, disobeyed him. I..." She sighed quietly. "Thank you for trying to make me feel better. I... uhm, I do appreciate it, I just... I just need some time to think." She tried to smile at the other woman, though the result was largely unconvincing. "As you said, it's not about us, it's... about the future and saving people. So... I... I need to think about what's best for everyone. Which... may be me not being in charge."

[Ether]

"You're right... I don't understand. I'm not Kigenese, I haven't lived that culture... but I'll tell you something. My father was no different... hell he was probably worse. And you know what else... I'm also an unmarried woman who disobeyed and ran away from said father... so why should you feel worthless if we're the same, huh? So long as you sit back and let them disrespect you, of course they'll think you're worthless. So stand up and demand that respect in such an undeniable fashion that despite you being an unmarried woman who ran, they'll still know that compared to you, they're the ones who are nothing." Angelica replied, her grip on Hoshi's shoulders tightening, mostly without her notice.

"If you think you aren't fit to lead, that's your own choice to make... but who are you proving right if you lay down and fall to obscurity, Hoshi?"