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A Haunting Aftermath

Scene details

  • Start date: March 13, 2022, 4:07 p.m.
  • End date: March 13, 2022, 8 p.m.
  • Location: Verdios - Queenswood
  • Participants: Reize Seatlan, Ivo Galvan, Anna, Yari

Setting: As our heroes prepare to depart at last from Suryle Kingdom and travel to the goblin village so dear to Anna's heart, their contacts at Vanguards HQ issue an emergency request. Reports out of the Queenswood indicate that in the wake of the massacre of the goblins by the marauder eidola, spectral images and eerie sounds have begun manifesting on the killing grounds. Unable to safely return to their village under the circumstances, the goblins, despite their ambivalent relations with the kingdom, requested the aid of Knights of Suryle. The small troop sent to investigate ended up returning in a daze, seemingly confused about what they had witnessed there and offering contradictory reports. Though most were unharmed, a few were bedridden with nausea for days after. It is possible that those goblins slain in the attack have arisen as some strange sort of undead. The Vanguards have urged caution and requested the aid of anyone prepared to contend with such unnatural monstrosities. Thus the Star Chasers, who intended to return bearing gifts for those goblins who remain, instead hurry to their destination without knowing what awaits them there... and Anna, her beloved village now allegedly haunted, is to be confronted with not only her regrets, but her fears.

Log


 The air is heavier than our heroes remember.
 When the party had last ventured to this goblin village tucked within the Queenswood south of Suryle, to ostensibly ransom an allegedly kidnapped princess, it had been a lively and joyful place, disciplined but free. Its carefully hewn wooden walls had blended with the surrounding trees, suggesting both the techniques of civilization and a harmony with nature. Only the smoke from cookfires had marked the village's location.
 Now only the smoke remains.
 Ivo pulls the collar of his cloak up over his nose and mouth as he picks his way through the brambles on the ruined village's outskirts, furrowing his brow at the sight and scent of the wreckage that had followed in the wake of the marauder eidola's assault. The wooden walls remain splintered and fallen like so many toothpicks, coated in a layer of ash.
 "Such an industrious people would surely have restored their village by now," he murmurs, "if something weren't preventing them from doing so..."
 He feels a twinge of guilt and embarrassment. So much for returning in glory with treasure to dole out magnanimously, aiding in the village recovering from its tragedy. It seems the tragedy has gone on without their knowing.
 "We'll put a stop to it, whatever it is."
 He tries to sound reassuring, if only because he assumes this must be difficult for Anna -- not just because of how dear to her heart this village is, but because of how he remembers her reacting to the fishing village's graveyard and the specters of the burial mound. No such specters are visible yet, not at this distance.
 "Watch your step, everyone..."
 As Ivo carefully attempts to make his way around and through the fallen wooden walls, Reize's pendant flickers unexpectedly, Kernunnos seeming to rouse.
 "Hm... That is... Young champion, be on your guard."

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 Difficult is... One way to put it.
 Anna has been silent for much of the journey to her beloved goblin village. Silent and surly.
 A roiling mixed tempest of emotions stews within the young Suryle princess, and none of them are pleasant as she remembers the day her clan was nearly wiped out by a seemingly random Eidola attack.
 Anna moves through the brush and brambles with the practiced ease of someone who knows the Suryle forests like the back of her hand, and yet her pace is slow; as though each step inexorably brings her towards what she knows will only be disappointment and pain. And worse yet, she can feel... IT...
 The gnawing, smoldering, heat of the rage burning inside her, desperately clawing its way to try and escaped from the hidden place where she keeps it chained behind her fragile heart.
 "Mmh..."


  The young explorer was with Ivo and Anna, but not in his traditional away. Given the risk of spotted, it is the entire reason that he went with the recommendation of a different attire. The attire that he wears is a red hood patterned with white and an attached mask to obscure his form. He is looking over towards the distinctive throwing weapons. The crystal boomerangs. ...Luckily, Reize was confident that his father would not recognize the weapons, given that it was a gift to him after their last encounter, which was confrontational.

  Through the mask, he surveys the surroundings, feeling that oppressive energy. He looks horrified, "Ahh... this---this is bad...." He grimaces. Kernunos's warning does not help with that feeling. It is then that he clutches the boomerangs tightly.
 


 As they advance, Ivo, having clambered atop a jutting wooden pile overlooking the wreckage, begins fiddling with a device. His trusty amplifier having been destroyed in the battle against Deathless Draaken, the magitechnician appears to have added some new modifications to the sensor used to detect Crux fragments. Scanning the ash-strewn clearing, he frowns behind his cloak, its cloth still pulled high over his face.
 "What are these readings...?"
 While Ivo seems distracted, Anna and the disguised Reize continue to approach, maneuvering past the detritus that blocks their view. The past carnage has carved itself into the earth like a living memory. Though no bloodied bodies remain, the trappings of civilization are still damaged, scattered, overturned. It is as though nothing has changed since they last left.
 "Ha ha HA ha--"
 A laughing goblin child sprints through the clearing before them, crossing from right to left across their field of vision, not seeming to notice them, or indeed any of the dreadful scene. Another child, almost identical, sprints after them, also giggling merrily. As it does, an adult goblin steps out from under a collapsed hovel, looks toward the ruined village entrance, and waves in greeting, beginning to approach Anna and Reize.
 "Ha ha HA ha--"
 But the goblin does not seem to be looking at them, exactly, rather behind them or through them. And as a third child sprints by, an attentive gaze may note that, even for goblins, these children are remarkably similar-looking. Indistinguishable, even.
 "Ha ha HA ha-- ha ha HA ha--"
 As the children dash behind, the adult goblin continues to approach, walking straight at Anna, showing no signs of stopping. Within seconds, the seemingly unseeing figure will walk right into her.

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  Information gathering is part of a ninja's fundamental skills. No shinobi worth their salt would engage a situation without first determining what exactly is going on. If she were alone, Yari might choose to do this by getting closer, to see how these odd apparitions react to her.

  Fortunately for her, she isn't alone. She has a group of unknowing accomplices to help her along with her task!

  A ways back, following the route the party walked to get to the ruined village, a rather non threatening figure stands quietly, half her body hidden behind one of the many trees. She doesn't look like much. Some peasant that decided she'd try her luck scavenging the remains of the village, perhaps? At least, that's the story she'll spin if anyone happens to spot her.

  Yari's hands are held in an odd gesture, though. Her finger and thumb on her both hands curl together, a curved circle of what seems to be ice forming in the space the gesture creates, the makeshift contraption held up to her eye. Weird.

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 And so they finally reach the ruins of the goblin encampment...
 It's... It's all amost exactly how Anna remembers it from that fateful day. And though it feels like it might have been so long ago-- to Anna, it may as well have been yesterday.
 Seeing the damaged and overturned remnants of what was once a happy little village stings Anna with the pain of a thorn embedded directly into her heart.
 Then, she freezes.
 Hearing the voice at first makes Anna jolt, going bolt still as blue eyes dart to... The figure of the goblin child. Her hands tremble. The raging princess' knees quake.
 It can't be real.
 It's not real; she tells herself.
 And yet there's another- and another- and they don't seem to see her.
 They don't see her.
 They... Don't... See... Her...
 For a long moment, the princess looks as haunted as the clearing, eyes sunken, shoulders quaking.
 It can't be real, this can't be happening.
 But it is, and one shaking hand reaches out as the little green figure comes rushing at her, as though trying to halt the child and get it to look at her, despite knowing that's not going to happen.


  Peeking over towards Ivo, Reize looks at the device of the magitechnian. He returns his attention over to the detrius blocking their view. He frowns at the sight of the area until he approaches closer to one of the structures.

 He hears a call, a voice of laughter from a goblin child. The eyebrows furrow as he looks over at Ivo, "..This seems familiar..." Wasn't this how the first entry into the Elysia Fields...? Where they saw the remnants of the Cosmopolitans' memories? The haughter feels rather haunting.

 Reize watches Anna behind his mask, frowning as realizes how disheartening for her it is to deal with this. He doesn't step in. He just lets her find out on her own.
 


 Ivo, long engrossed in the act of interpreting his esoteric device, suddenly startles. He urgently turns his head, glancing about for where his party went, only to espy Anna and Reize in the proximity of what appear to be goblins ignoring their environs. Registering the unsettling laughter, the hairs rise on the back of his neck.
 "Anna, step back!" the young man shouts. "That's not--"
 But it's too late. The goblin for whom Anna reaches out simply passes through her outstretched hand, not reacting to her in the slightest. Contact with its spectral form sends a cold shock through her, eliciting a lurching nausea akin to vertigo, setting her thoughts awhirl.
 She's back in the village as it was. No, tomorrow, it will be as it was, and all is well. No, that can't be right. It was destroyed yesterday. No, it was not just yesterday. It will be destroyed tomorrow. It has already been destroyed tomorrow, and all is doomed. She can save them. She cannot save them.
 Time seems to stretch like a coiled spring. Days pass as the specter slowly moves through her head. And then, with a snap, time snaps back into place, the split-second passes, and she has returned to this moment, the nausea her only souvenir from her lengthy journey.
 "Anna, are you alright!?" Ivo says, jumping down from the log to his friends. The goblin child, for it is only one child, continues to run in an endless laughing loop before them. The same adult goblin emerges from the collapsed hovel, and from the angle they are at now, they can clearly see it passing through the wall. "They're not ghosts or undead at all. These are remnant eidola, fragments of memories left behind by the effects of other eidola damaging souls. This must have been the effect of the marauder eidola..."
 He steps to the side. With an open view of the clearing, more strange phenomena become visible, their looping effects apparent. A campfire still appearing to be lit, doused by a splash of water from nowhere, only to be lit again moments later. The same bright-hued butterfly fluttering through the air only to disappear. Snatches of moments that had dwelt in the recesses of the minds of those who had perished.
 "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "We can't communicate with them, or even lay them to rest. But, like any eidola, their effect on mortals is dangerous... we'll have to disperse them with Kernunnos's help."
 Ivo hesitates.
 "Do you... need a moment, Anna?"

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 No. No, Anna is not alright. Not after that.
 Contact with the goblin child shakes the Suryle princess to her very core; the wash of cold that flows through her, the visions that flow over her consciousness renders the girl in mute shock as they fade and she collapses to her knees with a soft thump, thoughts blurring wildly.
 "I'm..." She starts to speak. "I..."
 They're Eidola.
 It's the worst possible outcome that could come to pass.
 "You're... You have to be joking?" She wheezes through the nausea swirling in the pit of her gut, blue eye slowly turning a bloodshot red at the corners.
 "That's... That's not fair... That's not fair at all!"

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  Repeated looping phenomena, a lack of respect for things like 'walls'. Yes, this is exactly what Yari was looking for. But now that she's confirmed that fact, the very trio she was using as bait to scope out the situation have suddenly become a problem. Through her spyglass she watches the trio in turn, assessing them one by one.

  Then with a flick of her wrists those frozen lenses dissipate, a little water vapour left momentarily in the air the only evidence that they ever existed. The woman starts to walk, adopting an uncertain, worried gait that's so typical of particularly low ranking peasantry, twiddling her fingers together nervously as she approaches the party.

t "U-um, uh...hello? Are you three the adventurers they sent...?" she calls out.


  The boy was correct. Reize was afraid on how right he was about the environment. It is remnants of the eidola. It is a reflection of what -was-. Reize watches the interaction between Anna and the remnant eidola and lowers his head.

 It is after that Anna finds out the truth that the boy walks over to join Ivo in checking in on Anna. "...Oi, Anna." He watches the interaction of the environment with a frown. He closes his eyes, running his hand over his mask.

 It is horrible to see it looping.

 The masked boy approaches Anna, resting a hand over to her shoulder. ...It is at least until a figure approaches them. The peasant woman's approach earns a curious cant. "...'Sent'?"

  He looks over towards Ivo, as if deferring the conversation to him. Reize can't exactly handle the conversations like this.
 


 Ivo looks away from the kneeling girl. His skin is crawling. It's dangerous to be in the proximity of these... things. Though they do nothing but repeat unceasingly and, unlike other eidola, are not capable of intentionally approaching or attacking, their mere presence twists the mind. Even Kernunnos would have corrupted their souls were it not for the containing capacities of Reize's pendant.
 "...Tsk."
 Frustration visible on his face, Ivo raises his device again, pointing it at the looping goblins. The unsettling laughter won't stop, but it is joined by a faint whirring and clicking as the device adjusts itself in response to Ivo's inputs, its power crystal flickering as the contraption around it shifts.
 "...I've got a lock on this signature," he says, still unable to bring himself to look directly at Anna. "I should be able to detect eidola in advance... and confirm their similarity to the readings of the marauder that attacked your village."
 Ivo knows this approach is imperfect. He's basing it off of the remnants of the marauder's passing, not the marauder itself. The fact that these are fragments of goblin souls, on which the traces of their murderer remains, confounds the data. But he speaks with a conviction undeterred by fallible empirics.
 "We'll find the one that did this."
 He looks back to Reize, the Cosmopolitan's features grim, glancing from the boy's hooded face to his pendant. Ivo hesitates before parting his lips to speak--
 "Hm?"
 Only to be interrupted by an unexpected guest. Brow furrowing again, lowering his cloak to reveal his face, he turns to look at the peasant woman. Is there a village of humans around here?
 "That's right," he says. "Don't worry. We've identifed the cause of this phenomenon and we have a solution. So please keep your distance and-- eh?"
 The device in Ivo's hand, newly attuned to the eidola nearby, is emitting a loud static sound and flashing brightly. But it is not being pointed at the goblins.
 "What's wrong with this thing--?"
 It is being pointed at the woman.
 "That's odd." Baffled and embarrassed at encountering a seeming error moments after his dramatic pronouncements, Ivo starts to fiddle with the device. "I'll have this fixed in a-- no, wait--"
 Slowly, he looks up from the device. Eyes narrowing, he steps back.
 "Who *are* you?"
 "Reize!" Kernunnos calls, cutting in even as Ivo speaks. "This new presence-- it is akin to that man's--!"

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  The odd woman opens her mouth to reply to Ivo...but then Kernunnos cuts in, causing a frown to crease her brow. Irritating thing. Why did it have to go and call her out like that?

  Well, there's no helping it now. In one swift motion Yari's arm moves. Where just a moment ago that hand was empty, now it's clutching a clear, spade shaped object...a kunai? Without even saying a word the little weapon flies out, but not at Ivo, or even Reize. They're looking right at her, ready to fight and defend themselves.

  No, instead the projectile is flying right towards the much more distracted and /vulnerable/ form of Anna. What a dirty trick.

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 It takes Anna's entire force of willpower to not start hyperventilating at the dawning realization of what has become of her beloved tribe.
 Ivo says he can maybe use the readings to track down that Marauder- the one responsible for everything.
 Anna's knuckles pop audibly. Her teeth grind.
 "I'm going to kill it..." She hisses, eyes staring off into the distance as she nearly loses control over the fury chained away in the hidden place behind her heart.
 "Gonna kill it... Gonna kill it... Gonna kill..." She repeats like a litany of rage, a mantra of true fury, before Yari interjects.
 The Berserker Princess' head snaps toward the woman approaching, and she stares not like a frightened girl, but in a manner akin to a chained beast.
 Right before the kunai is flung.
 It's a dirty trick alright. A cheap shot that lands true as the spade-shaped blade punches the princess in the gut and sends her tumbling back with a sound somewhere between a yelp of surprised pain and a snarl of murderous intent.


  Reize turns towards Ivo once more, whose device seems to give off an indication to the source. "...Would that put an end to the remnants here?" He considers, "... Well, it did when we had to take out the actual eidola here..." He recalls the fight against the General and the Cosmopolitan Soldiers. He frowns slightly, recalling how difficult that was for his older friend.

  Good, Ivo can handle the speaking for now. In Reize's current state, he cannot risk the presence of a familiar face spotting him. It is why he is hesitant in the leading role right now.

  However, when Ivo's device radiates onto the figure, Reize's eyes widen as Kernunnos calls out to him.

  .... wait, akin to that man?

  Ringo?

  ... Does that mean that Ringo is an eidola of sort? Or has that essence?

  Those thoughts are pushed away as he focuses on the peasant woman who is more than who she appears to be. That kunai, now aimed towards Anna, alarms Reize. "Anna!" The crystal boomerangs drawn in hands, he leans forward while he takes a more aggressive stance. "What's your aim, here?!"
 


 Ivo glances at Reize as he awaits the strange woman's response, though he mostly keeps his suspicious eyes on the newcomer. "According to the standard theory, more advanced eidola are capable of consuming the lesser," he murmurs. "None of us can disperse these remnants, but if Kernunnos is willing to help, his power could make this place safe for the goblins again." But the pendant-dwelling eidola's exclamation causes the already dubious young man to arch a brow. "Who's 'that man'?"
 As he so often does on these adventures, Ivo feels as though disconnected puzzle pieces are snapping together. Why would his eidola detector be triggered by this strange woman? And why, according to Kernunnos's ethereal perception, would she also bear some resemblance to this unknown man? Is there some connection between the two?
 "What--!?"
 His thoughts are cut off all at once. What at first he thought was a trick of the light was some sort of throwing knife that impacts against his distraught companion. Gritting his teeth, quietly grateful for the Argent-brand healing compresses they've brought with them, Ivo drops his sensor unceremoniously and draws Hauteclare, engaging its floating blade in hopes of parrying any further ranged attacks.
 "If she's an eidola," he says, "she doesn't act like any I've ever met! Reize, let's pin down her movements!"
 When Ivo thinks he has an opening, he thrusts out his hilt, sending the sword's blade darting at range straight at the strange woman, aiming to force her to evade to the side where, if Reize attacks in concert, they may be able to quickly strike her down. At the very least, he wants to better understand what this mysterious enemy is capable of.

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  Yari does move to sidestep when that blade comes thrusting at her, giving Reize a chance to capitalize...but at the same time a spray of frosty little needles shoot out from the inside of her sleeve. Oddly they don't seem aimed at anyone in particular. Or indeed, at any of the party at all. Instead they sink into the ground, seemingly harmless...until patches of ice start to spread from each one, covering the ground between her any the party and making traversal tricky.

  If that wasn't bad enough, her other hand is reaching into the confines of her robe, pulling out a spherical object and bringing it to her mouth, teeth catching on a string at the top of it. ...maybe Reize can interrupt before she manages whatever it is she's trying?

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 Picking herself back up, Anna... Unceremoniously yanks the kunai out of her belly and tosses it aside.
 Then.
 Then she gets mad.
 It's not like her normal mad, oh no, this is a level of fury the likes of which the berserker princess has never reched before.
 Ivo's words elude her.
 Reize's attempts to reason sail clean over her head.
 Driven to the heights of utter fury by the fate of her beloved tribe, needing something- or someone- to take it out on, her focus fixates entirely on Yari as she lunges for the woman thoughtlessly, axe already in her hands, swinging wildly as she goes skidding over the icy ground, slipping and snarling the whole way on a path intending to take her straight for the ninja.


  "I can explain later," Reize offers Ivo in remarks about the man that Kernunnos was referring to. He hasn't been able to properly talk about their encounter too much, he realizes. Not only that, but it may benefit his traveling partners knowledge of the man should they encounter him again.

  There are more pressing matters as the peasant with the throwing knife is on the attack. The boy sprints off on the other side, moving at an wider arc while Ivo has Hauteclaire's blade dart in her direction.

 The ground presents itself as a potential obstacle. However, Reize has gotten used to such grounds thanks to his previous partner. He balances himself on the slippery floor, using the momentum while spinning to help aid him. Once he is close enough, Reize takes off from the ground, spinning in a full spin before lashing his foot out with a roundhouse kick towards the back of Yari's head.
 


 "Gghh--!"
 Ivo manages to compel their opponent to dodge, but his attempt to send his flying blade flicking back in order to harry her further goes awry. When Anna rushes past as though her wound were merely a scratch, he reaches out instinctively with his off-hand to try to stop her, stepping forward. But his foot slips on a patch of ice that wasn't there a moment ago. And while he doesn't go sprawling, he does fall to one knee, his wrist jerking and sending Hauteclare's blade spinning off and thudding against a scorched tree on the village's outskirts.
 The laughter of the looping goblin child echoes.
 "Be careful!" he calls, unable to follow his friends into battle for the moment, trying to struggle to his feet and wrench his blade from the tree using his hilt's gravitational power. "We don't know what she's capable of!"
 Or, indeed, what she is.

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  To her credit, Yari does see both attacks coming. The problem is she reacts to Reize just a fraction of a second too late. By the time she can make to move out of the way of his kick she's already moving away from Anna's frenzied rush, managing to dance out of her clumsy, stumbling attack...but not out of the path of the foot that's whirling around to hit the back of her head.

  Crack.

  The force of it sends her sprawling forwards, right towards the very berserker princess she so recently got away from as whatever tool she was planning to use falls to the ground...

  ...with the string that was attached to it clutched between the ninja's teeth. Within seconds thick, acrid, dark smoke starts to spew from the little ball. A smoke bomb?

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 Calling out for Anna to be careful is... Well it's like yelling at a wall. The girl is set on her course of destruction now, and nothing short of greivous bodily harm is going to stop her.
 Snarling, she lunges, axe swinging wide and wild as...
 The smoke bomb goes off.
 Sputtering and coughing, eyes watering, Anna stomps once... She stomps again.
 She stomps a third time with a howling roar of fury, her rage growing red hot as she hacks through the smoke in an attempt to hit *something*.


  Once the foot makes purchase to the back of the stranger's head, the young man descends to the ground and he skids along the ice. He narrows his eyes as he finds himself sliding back from the mysterious stranger.

 His eyes widen when the object hits the ground. The dark smoke spreads around, "...Ah?!" He coughs out, "Cover yourselves, everyone!" He drapes an arm over his masked face, trying to shield himself from the smoke. He takes steps away, unable to shake off the atmosphere of the memories playing itself off round them.

 After all, they are still in the presence of the remnant eidola.

 Unfortunately, Reize cannot see through the smoke, especially given the mask that he has on. That is why he finds himself on the receiving end of a swipe. "Whoaaa....!" His eyes widen in shock as the blade slashes out his way.

 He is tilting his head away and rolling on his back....

 The axe makes a clean swipe of his mask, the mask shatters as it hits the ground. ...So much for a cover.

 "ANNA!" Reize calls out, grimacing as he checks the rest of his body. Okay, no blood.
 


 Ivo gets to his feet only to have his vision obscured by a rising plume of smoke. Summoning Hauteclare's blade back to its hilt, the magitech weapon able to wrench itself free of the tree where it was embedded, the young man squints dubiously as he sees the smoke puff in various directions from Anna's frenzied thrashing within. That's not good.
 "Reize!" he calls. "Come to the sound of my voice!"
 He hears the mask shatter as, moments later, the boy tumbles out of the smoke, head blessedly still attached to his body.
 "Close enough," Ivo quips, before reaching into his cloak. His sensor could theoretically pick out where the woman is standing in the smoke, but he wouldn't he confident about being able to avoid hitting Anna, especially with the unnerving presence of the remnant eidola mere meters away, looping ad infinitum. So instead, Ivo brandishes what looks like a green marble or egg, one of the elespheres he crafted and gave to Argent before their venture into Aurita Meloda's undercity.
 "Let's try this--!"
 The spheres, though volatile, are harmless, emitting only brief bursts of their associated aether. When he tosses it at the billowing smoke, the sphere bursts in a sudden gust of wind that ruffles the hair of anyone in the vicinity. It won't deactivate the smoke bomb if it continues pouring forth smoke, but even if so, it might clear the air just for a moment, and perhaps long enough for Anna to get a glimpse of her opponent.

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  Having taken those moments where Anna and Reize both were distracted to recover, Yari's on her feet by the time Ivo gets to work dissipating her smoke. And moving, too...but this time, away from the party. At first it seems like she might be on the retreat, but a quick glance shows that she's on a beeline for one of those remnant eidola.

  The woman's right hand and forearm are enveloped in a layer of ice, molding around her fingers to form cruel, frozen claws. She's taken the opportunity to make an attack on something that you'd really think someone would be interested in attacking, given her other attackers and, well, these apparitions not being something you can just claw to pieces.

  ...something's up.

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 With the smoke clearing and Anna realizing that she aaaaalmost took Reize's face off, the girl grinds to a halt.
 Briefly, there's an apologetic look on the raging royal's face as she struggles to rein herself in and get some control back.
 That doesn't happen.
 Not when Yari turns and makes a rush with those frigid claws at...
 "... No..." Anna whispers.
 "NO!"
 And then all semblance of control is gone.
 There are no words now. Just a roar of indignant, insensate, unrelenting, rage loud enough to rustle the trees as Anna moves harder- faster- than she's ever moved before, intending to powerslide her whole body into the ninja in a full on flying tackle.


  Reize looks up at Ivo, frowning slightly before he looks over at Anna. He could see her expression soften. There is a smile and then he lowers his head with a nod. However, his eyes shift towards the stranger when she charges at one of the 'ghastly' figures with her arm made of ice.

 "Time to return the favor."

 Taking a hold of one of his boomerangs, he attaches a small clay against it. With a spin, he throws the boomerang out towards the woman. The boomerang bounces from the ground.

  It bounces over to one of the rubble and then flings in front of the ninja...

  Suddenly, there is an flash of light exploding in front of her as the boomerang passes by her.
 


 Ivo looks after the sprinting ninja in confusion.
 According to the standard theory, more advanced eidola are capable of consuming the lesser.
 Slowly, Ivo's eyes widen.
 "Reize!" he shouts again. "We need Kernunnos's help, now!"
 As he speaks, he reaches deep within his cloak for their most precious possession: the Crux of Creation, three-fourths complete. As though he were striking a spark with flint, he clutches three elespheres in his other hand, the small orbs almost spilling from his grasp, and brings them down upon the Crux, causing their thin shells to crack and the aether to pour into the semifunctional relic, its starry surface beginning to glow.
 "I offer up the power of Creation!"
 The artifact captures the surge of aether and converts it into raw Creation. Though he cannot feed it directly into Reize's pendant without the power of Argent's Aetheric Projection, its presence should at least be enough for Kernunnos to draw upon its power. And they must hurry. Though Reize is attacking to counter Yari's onward rush, even as Ivo speaks, Anna is plunging into the midst of looping memories of fallen goblins, the temporality-warping effects of the remnant eidola afflicting her already unstable mind. Whatever this strange woman is planning, the party can no longer risk waiting for Anna to come to accept what they must do here.

> Kernunnos's Summon Gauge has increased to 55%. Summoned Art is available.
 "Please -- purify this place!"

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  A berserk princess flying at her from behind, a flashbang ahead, and an interfering Kernunnos poking his nose in to boot. Things have gotten rough indeed for poor, innocent Yari. What did she ever do to deserve this sort of treatment?

  Oh. Right. The knife to the gut.

  Her claw lashes out just a moment before light explodes right in front of her, one of those apparitions vanishing away just a split second before the ninja finds herself blinded. Relying on memory of her surroundings she leaps /mostly/ gracefully to the side, hopefully out of the way.

  Not a few seconds after doing whatever it is she did to that apparition of one of Anna's loved ones, the ninja's body seems to be changing. Her hair fades from that dark shade to something resembling a pale, faded sort of blue, while her skin is pale enough to look more suited to a corpse. And the air around her is getting downright /chilly/. Uncomfortably so.

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 Poor and innocent are not descriptors Anna would use for Yari. Not after getting stabbed by a kunai for literally no reason as far as she knows. The wound is slowing her. The mind-warping phantoms of the past are wearing her already weak judgment capabilities thin. She's too late to halt the ninja's icy claws from... Making one of the phantasmal goblins seemingly disappear.
 Too slow... Too slow to stop her...
 Anna lunges, fully intent on toppling Yari to the ground, careless of the changes or drop in temperature...
 Because if she can just pin this woman down...
 The Suryle Princess is going to start punching. And she won't stop for the world.


  The tone of urgency from Ivo kicks Reize's mind to prepare forth the call. They need Kernunnos's help. Reize looks at his pendant, "...It's now or never, hope you're ready!"

  The good is that the boy managed to blind the stranger. Unfortunately, it seems that she already tore through one of those apparitions. In turn, she appears more hideous and deformed. It is suddenly getting colder. To make matters more alarming, Anna is trapped into her fury. If nothing else, the boy has a distraction to make his next move work.

  Reize takes a moment to appear serene.

  Soon, an aetheric explosion erupts around the youth as he draws a hand into the air, "THIS IS MY WILL!" His body is kicking into overdrive as he draws upon that well of energy. Given that they have to push forward, Reize extends his hand out into the sky.

 "KERNUNNOS! COME FORTH AND LEND ME YOUR AID!"
 

 


> Reize summons Kernunnos.

 Ivo flinches away as a whirlwind whips up, far outstripping the little gust he had conjured before, and seems to draw the light from the relic in his hands, leaving it dulled again. Above the ravaged village, shining down upon the remnants below, manifests a brilliant white stag, so bright that to gaze directly upon it leaves spots in one's vision. Its radiance falls upon the wrestling princess and their foe alike, bathing them in a pale hue. Rather than heating from without, it seems to warm from within, more metaphysical than physical. Yet some of the ice that has manifested upon their foe's contorting body may begin to melt regardless.
 "Entrusted with divine memory. Called upon by human will."
 The voice that sometimes murmurs from Reize's pendant now booms across the blighted battlefield, words intoned as in a priest's ceremony.
 "This is the glory of our world's form. Ever reformed. Created anew."
 As the light touches the looping and laughing image of the goblin child, its edges grow hazy, its substance seeming to melt away.
 "In fading, so return. Deus, Sive Natura."

> Kernunnos uses Summoned Art Deus Sive Natura.

 A field of light begins to expand from Kernunnos's glowing body, his own form becoming instinct as though he is dissolving into his own incantation. Where his light touches mortals, they are left unscathed. Where his light touches eidola, they begin to fade.
 The woman contending with the princess may sense that she is in considerable danger from this incoming art.

  • Character: Yari
  • 2 years, 8 months ago

  If she were just a bit quicker, Yari might have been able to slip away from Anna's grasp. As it is she ends up beneath the young princess, blows already starting to hammer down on her, meaty thwacks mingling with the less meaty sounds of Anna's fist hitting ice where it adorns Yari's skin.

  If she wasn't about to be purified by some stupid, meddling stag, Yari might be willing to resort to something a bit less drastic. As it is she needs to get away, and soon. Partially human she might be, but how healthy can having the part of her that's eidola purified be?

  With one arm holding off Anna's assault as best it can, the young ninja seeming unconcerned about the cracking sounds and the decidedly /wrong/ angles a couple of her fingers are at after catching a particularly nasty strike, the other flashes through a series of odd gestures as she inhales a deep breath...and then exhales.

  The air that comes out is /cold/. Cold enough that it hurts the moments it hits Anna's exposed skin, frost forming quickly all over her face.

  And thus using that as a distraction she slips free from underneath the princess, eyeing the girl darkly before her returning her focus to Kernunnos, and that oh so very dangerous art coming her way...and then turns, her form practically blurring as she bursts into a sprint

  > Yari uses Secret Ninja Art: Run away.

  • Character: Anna
  • 2 years, 8 months ago


 Let it not be said that Anna is unstoppable. The girl is verymuch so stoppable. Though her fury clouds her mind and numbs her senses, and she pays no heed to the pain in her hands with every time her knuckles descend upon Yari, that sudden blast of cold air to the face is more than enough to blow the Suryle Princess backwards, tumbling off the woman with a sound somewhere between a hiss and a snarl as...
 Reize has summoned Kernunnos.
 "A-ah..."
 In an instant all the girl's fury fades as she watches dumbstruck as the grounds are purified. The goblins are washed away as easy as that, and she stiffens where she sits, plopped on her ass. Before her head hangs and the fury gives way to a quiet, silent, pain that Anna will have to deal with on her own.



  Reize steels himself, preparing for the worse now that he had summoned an eidola into existence to distort the fabric of reality. As the reality becomes distorted around him, the boy tenses up. As the brilliant white stag manifests, Reize closes his eyes.

 He takes in the essence of the light as it washes across the forest. Reize re-opens his eyes to see the light envelop the remnants of the memories... the goblin child, melts away.

 The young explorer closes his eyes. He takes a few steps over towards Anna as she sits down, he offers her a warm smile. "...They should be able to rest, now." He offers in comfort.
 


 Ivo sways, blinking rapidly, as the light clears. Kernunnos has vanished as though he never was. Their enigmatic foe has seemingly vanished just the same. Gone is the eerie sound of laughter, the unceasing goblin images, the fluttering butterfly, the undying campfire. All that is left is burnt wood and ash.
 At last, the survivors can begin to rebuild.
 But at what cost, Ivo, as he looks at Anna's slumped and forlorn form, is not prepared to say. He attempts to speak but is struck with a wave of dizziness. It occurs to him that while the Crux and the elespheres now allow the party to empower Kernunnos at will, the presence of a sapient eidola, however brief his manifestation, is exponentially more dangerous than the presence of these remnants. Summoning might be best regarded as a last resort.
 The kind boy offers words of comfort. Ivo gathers himself.
 "The rest of the community can return now," he adds quietly. "We'll leave them the treasure we brought to assist in their rebuilding. When we return, this will be a happy village again." And they will return, to celebrate this renewal, and mourn those perished.
 But what is lost, alas, will remain so.