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A Fork in the River

Scene details

Setting: Following their successful picnic, the party has confirmed that the signal from the third Crux fragment is emanating far to the west, near the coast. The ruins of an ancient beastkin city lie there, now much diminished from the halcyon days of their people's golden age, but few save the bravest or most desperate treasure hunters venture there. The way passes through wetlands dotted with footbridges that make any travelers targets for the amphibious and aquatic beastkin descended from the denizens of that bygone city.
  Once, the lizardfolk would have merely charged a toll to any passerby. But their control of the area has been challenged by restive merfolk under the command of a headstrong new leader wielding a strange and terrible power. When our heroes find themselves caught in the middle of this factional conflict on their way to the city, they may face a greater challenge than ever before, one that hints at the deepest secrets of this world...

> Warning! Unknown enemy detected.
> The pendant shines with light unbidden...
> Summon Kernunnos?

Log

"Hup!"

Ivo's cloak flares as he carefully hops from one stone footbridge to a wooden one, wincing slightly as it creaks under him and then exhaling softly as it holds. Mustering a smile, he looks over his shoulder to beckon to his friends.

"Sturdier than it looked."

Stepping forward to make room, he raises a hand to his brow to shield his eyes from the sun, smile becoming unforced as he observes a flock of flamingo gliding beneath a heavenly bower of fluffy clouds. The chirruping of insects and croaking of frogs echo from behind his feet, seemingly stirred by the travelers' movements.

"It shouldn't be much further to the coast," he remarks, "where we've narrowed down the next fragment's location. But I'm afraid it'll be slow going. I would've taken the Saga, but..."

His gaze shifts to the vegetation bunched by the river's lazy waters.

"That might've been even slower going, and possibly offensive to the inhabitants." Though no such inhabitants are in sight, other than the birds. "Apparently it's dangerous to approach this part of the coast from the ocean, too, though no one seemed to know why..."

  • Character: Anna
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

Anna is here!

The young Suryle princess nimbly hops along after Ivo, actually fairly sure on her feet.

Probably took a load of dancing lessons back at the castle before she ran away to become a roving, adventuring, ragemachine.

Regardless, she can keep up with Ivo fairly well.

"Offensive to the inhabitants?" She does ask curiously.

"Hup!"

Given Reize's nimble form, he has an easier time landing along the stone footbridges as he follows Ivo. He furrows his eyebrows as he takes a glance forward, but only after he raises a hand below his eyebrows to aid in shielding his eyes from the sunlight.

"Ugh... great." He frowns a bit as he looks over the vegetation, "Well, just as well." He furrows his eyebrows. "We'll just have to be careful here." He grimaces, "...Yeah, no one has been able to explain about the dangers here." He runs a hand to the abck of his head. "So we'll find out ourselves and have a tale to bring back!"

Argh the sun, how she hates you terrible daystar, Ruiudosa thinks. She's lucky she has that gem, that stops her from having too many adverse affects. STILL, she has her blue parasol blocking some of the light because vampires have sun blocking parasols okay? Still, she hops along.

She eyes Reize's explanation. "Or. Lots of bruises. and scratches. and broken bones to bring back." she says, dourly. "I mean both of those can be true I guess. But I don't like the track record so far."

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

Where those before her are hopping along like nimble little rabbits, Argent's attempts at crossing are decidedly more froglike. She has to crouch down for stability every single time as her footholds creak and shift worryingly beneath her, though if she's worried at all, her expression doesn't betray it.

"If the danger is unexplained, then it is likely that it is of a nature that the majority of people cannot understand." the pale woman says as she rises up unsteadily to her feet, silvery eyes squinting slightly against the sun. A beat passes, and she follows up with "However, it is also possible that there is a lack of witnesses, caused by the deaths of all who have attempted to access this area by the coast."

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

While they make their way perilously along the way, one may notice signs that someone has passed through. Someone that wasn't an animal at least. Freshly grown foliage, stone footholds jutting out of the water away froim the naturally formed pathways and wooden bridge the group was taking... and the odd corpse or two of an aquatic creature drifting down the river, skewered with a stone spike...

All perfectly fine and normal things. Nothing out of the ordinary here. No sir. Carry on with your rousing adventure.

Ivo's smile broadens into a grin as Anna swiftly joins him. The Cosmopolitan is hardly as agile as the princess or their fearless leader, but he is somewhat heavier, so he has taken upon himself to test the wooden footbridges first. "Fear not, we shall behave with the utmost decorum," he replies lightly. He won't go so far as to call her 'your highness' anymore, but he can't resist the occasional teasing comment in that general direction. "The beastkin that reside here are known to levy a toll on travelers passing by foot. They have the reputation of being rather professional about it, though rather impoverished, as only adventurers and treasure hunters tend to pass through. There's nowhere for merchants to ply their wares on the coast these days..."

He nods to Reize as he trails off, expression turning thoughtful.

"It is strange, isn't it? I suppose with Zerhem facing so many challenges, the question of why some ancient beastkin city to the west was abandoned doesn't merit attention. But I'd assume it's related to the reason why it's dangerous to approach from the sea. It sounds bad... yet treasure hunters do venture there and return, so it can't be all *that* dangerous, can it?"

Ruidosa's pessimism elicits another grin from the young man. Perhaps not being all *that* dangerous is an insufficiently reassuring way of putting matters. "At least we have our new poultices," he says cheerfully, hoping to improve the vampire's mood just a little despite the beaming sun, "courtesy of Argent here--" And, courtesy of Argent, we also have a new terrifying suggestion. "I-- I'm sure it's nothing so grim," Ivo says hastily, glancing about. "This place isn't all that dangerous--"

Up ahead, a stone footbridge explodes into dust.

"--uh--"

Ivo doesn't have time to say anything more before pulling his cloak over his head and crouching down to avoid a shower of small debris, looking around hurriedly with widened eyes. All at once the marsh plants, heretofore still and silent, are rustling wildly. What appears to be the body of lizardfolk beastkin floats into view, eeriely still, as more lizardfolk pop up from the reeds hissing and spitting.

"Silrug Dac!" One lizardfolk stands out among the crowd, clad in an ornate headdress and flowing robe. "The road is ours this season by right and ancient pact. Lower your spear and swim free."

"Hurry up and die, witch!" A mocking voice echoes up from the waters. "We spit on your ways and we'll spit on your corpse." A flash of light off scales is the only hint of who speaks before he emerges, a smirking merman, long hair magnificently braided, the skin of his upper torso studded with what seem to be gems. A cohort of javelin-wielding merfolk swim by his side. "We'll take your so-called 'right' by force!"

Those gems glow again before the river waters begin to swirl and crash toward where the lizardfolk have gathered, crashing against a rising wall of water that the lizardfolk leader quickly summons, the deflected waters spraying toward the footbridge where the party has gathered and causing it to creak and sway. It seems that neither group is paying much attention to our heroes yet.

  • Character: Anna
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

Well at least Ivo isn't calling her 'your highness' anymore. Anna left that behind, so it feels kind of awkward, after all. Nevertheless as the group presses on, she halts in her tracks when a bridge abruptly explodes.

In an instant, Anna's axe is in her hand as--

She realizes the confrontation is not with them but between lizardfolk and mermen.

And then there's water everywhere.

"U-uwah!"

Anna may be good on her feet, but the wobbling of the bridge has her wobbling too.

"Should... Should we try and get by while they're busy with each other?"

Lowering his head, Reize grimaces at Ruidosa's pessimism, "...Aww, come on, Rui." He runs a hand to the back of his head. "We should be fine, right?" He cracks a large grin.

As Ivo mentions about the poultice, he nods. "See? With the poultice---"

'---courtesy of Argent.' His eyes drift towards the homunculus and her ominous outlook of the past adventurers.

"Oi, Ivo?" He glances, "What do you mean courtesy of----"

Reize's thoughts and question is interrupted by the commotion that's up ahead along with the explosion of debris. This gives Ivo the opportunity to answer that unfinished question 'never'.

"Whoa!" He skips over towards one of the nearby stone bridges, covering his face with his gauntlet covered arm. As he looks ahead, the boy observes the source. "... I wonder what is going on there."

Pause. "...Oh! Beastkin that I've never seen before!" He furrows his eyebrows. He glances back at Anna, "...Yeah, maybe we can get around them. Whatever is going on... I don't think we want to be in their sights."

Ruidosa gets all smug when Argent makes a point at Ivo. Yes. See it's dangerous! Let's find another way around! Let's... go back and eat crab! and sammiches. And hug adorable tiny piglet friends. Yeah Rui would rather be back doing all that when a rock explodes in front of Ivo and the footbridge creaks and sways and Ruidosa makes an 'urk' sound as she grabs for the closest support, which happens to be Reize.

She peers over to the fight and blinks a little. "Oh. There's. a Territorial dispute going on." she muses as she fusses for her book and takes notes as she blinks a little.

"Um..."

"Right should we get involved?...." she looks to Reize, who suggests going around... she squints.

"Maybe we can help them figure out their dispute instead?" she asks. Now being the one to ask the unpopular question since everyone seems to want to go around(???). She then frowns at Reize. "Look. A pig almost made pork of you. I'm worried okay?" she says. "T--that's all." she ''huffs'' with a blush.

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

While this conflict between Lizardfolk and Mermen breaks out, one figure stands just barely out of sight of the two conflicting groups, but within sight of the wayward adventurers. Standing on a lone stone foothold that juts out of the water is Camellia, looking visibly unimpressed with this impediment to her progress through the river delta. Her parasol is opened and set against her shoulder, blocking out the daylight as she considers just how she'll pass through...

Wait for them to kill each other?

Entertaining, but time intensive. And she's not very good at waiting, you see.

Hrm...

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

Unlike Ivo, Argent doesn't react quite quickly enough to duck out of the way of the scattering of debris and muck that comes their way. That's not to say that she gets hit by it. Miraculously it all manages to miss her, droplets of filthy water and mud scattering around her in a perfect homunculus shaped outline.

"Given the violent nature of their territorial dispute, I believe it is likely that we will either later encounter more members of the aggressive group, or will later be found by this one." she says as she calmly watches over the rapidly developing situation. "It appears unlikely that they will listen to diplomacy, as they appear to be ignoring a reasonable request as it is. I suggest that we avoid the situation, and should either of these groups approach us at a later time, we will simply take advantage of their weakened state."

Ivo glances between Anna and Reize before nodding, albeit with a worried furrow of his brow. "We can give it a shot," he replies a little uneasily. "They destroyed one footbridge, but if we move quickly to *that* one--"

It also explodes into dust.

"Hmm."

Water magics continue to clash before the party's eyes, the surrounding flowers issuing their signature rattling as they sway wildly from the impacts of gouts and orbs of water colliding with one another. The merfolk begin to fling javelins tipped with glowing ice toward their lizardfolk adversaries, who seem to be focusing on defense, summoning more wavering bubbles to ward off these strikes.

"Silrug!" The lizardfolk leader shouts over the rising din. "This destruction avails us not! With the bridges go our livelihood!"

"Hahaha!" The merfolk leader laughs swaggeringly, the gems that stud his chest pulsing with pale blue light. "Cutini Nak, you doddering fool, this swamp is all you know. This is only the beginning for us. With this power, I'll return in glory to Aurita Meloda. I'll renew it -- no, go beyond the legends of the past! But first--"

Before the party's eyes, a veritable giant serpent formed of pure water rises from the river and lunges for the lizardfolk, their shields shuddering against its overwhelming force.

"High Priestess!" Another lizardfolk can be barely heard shouting to their leader. "We must retreat--" But she can be seen shaking her head and reaching out her webbed hands to reinforce the barrier.

Ivo, having activated and raised his buckler in a rather futile effort to ward off some of the blasts of water that shower toward the party with increasing intensity, looks back to Reize with similarly increasing alarm.

"Normally I'd agree with Ruidosa, but at this rate--" He quickly nods to Argent. "I'm not sure they'll listen to us. But maybe we should listen to them! Should we just get out of here...!?"

As the sounds of warring magic become overwhelming, only Silrug Dak's mocking laughter can otherwise be heard.

  • Character: Anna
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

This is getting... Precarious. Precarious to say the least.

With the bridges being destroyed and the confrontation between the mermen and lizardfolk growing more heated, with water flying literally everywhere, Anna is looking like a wet cat, and about as happy as one to boot.

And then. Then she gets angry.

It starts with a scowl as that fury starts to peek out from the hidden place behind her heart.

Then her eyes turn bloodshot as a haze of scarlet overtakes her vision.

But no. No no no, not now.

A slow breath and she calms down enough to make a bit more of a rational decision.

Taking to a knee, she searches the mossy ground and finds two decently sized, smooth, river stones.

Anna then spends 90 Job Points on a Squire ability.

>Menu

>Skills:

Barbarian Rage

Frenzy Rage

Hit with axe

>Throw Rock

Reeling back her arm she FASTBALL PITCHES the first rock, intending to crack the skull of the lead merman as hard as she can.

Before she tosses the second rock up in the air and uses her axe to baseball swing the second stone at the lizardfolk leader.

She intends to just bean the both of them with blindsiding force.

"KNOCK IT THE HELL OFF!"

At first, Reize was uncertain over what to do. It looked like it was going to be a dispute between two warring factions. There was no need to get themselves involved with this for now. He glances back at Ruidosa as she offers the idea of trying to solve the dispute, or offer a hand.

"..I suppo----ah..?"

There is something that Reize had noticed during the exchange. It is becoming clear who had been the aggressors of the dispute. Even worse, the emergence of a giant serpent attacks. When he watches the other side try to act on just defense, the boy's eyes narrow as he tightens his fists.

He brings both of his hands towards the boomerangs, immediately bolting in a beeline towards the merman leader. Off the corner of his eye, he can see a fastball pitch from Anna as it aims to the merman's head.

Reize pushes off faster, aether emanating from within as he rushes straight towards the opposite side of the merman. Where as Anna's fastball strikes, Reize comes from the opposite side with a fierce roundhouse kick for the merman.

Double tap.

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

"............"

Camellia senses as the situation intensifies. Streams of violent water magic fly past her precariously, tousling her hair and dress as she stands there, waiting. Anna winds up and tosses a fastball at the Merman leader, and Reize speeds in, following up with a roundhouse from the other side.

It seems like they may have this situation well enough in hand, but ....Maybe she'll help them just a little bit.

She lifts a leg and then taps the foothold she's standing on with the toe of her shoe, sending out a pulse of earth aether. It ripples along until it winds up underneath the merman leader...

What follows is a forceful geyser of stone debris that threatens to toss him up into the air like a rag doll if he doesn't get out of the way.

...Hey, isn't Reize also in the line of fire?

Small sacrifice.

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

And now everything is exploding into violence. Argent isn't much of a direct combatant, so unlike the more aggressive members of the party the homunculus holds back. "Ah. It appears we have been forced into confrontation." she says quietly, eyes following the path of the rock until...THWACK. And then another THWACK.

"...they appear unusually potent. I believe he has had his power enhanced in some manner." she calls out to them, pale eyes watching those odd gems curiously. "I believe it may be advisable to...oh." she goes on only to trail off as that sudden geyser throws their would-be opponent skywards. "...I was unaware that any members of this group were proficient in that form of magic."

"Look," Ivo is saying with barely restrained desperation, his now soaked hair plastered to his head, gesturing behind himself toward the chaotic fray. "This is a territorial dispute. We don't know the circumstances of this contract or pact or whatever, so while I understand an impulse to intervene, we-- and he's gone."

The footing beneath the bridges is almost nonexistent. The dense plants disguise deep mud that plunges into water unseen. Leaving the wood and stone of the footbridges is decidedly dangerous, especially when facing beastkin capable of unmatched swiftness underwater, even more so than standing on them while they are collaterally damaged and destroyed. Yet Reize, buoyed by summoned aether, is able to briefly skim the surface of the wetlands, even appearing to run on water for just a moment before he lunges into the group of merfolk.

"Hm!?"

The first rock whizzes narrowly by the merman leader's head. Silrug Dak's gems appear to flash briefly the moment before he barely dodges, his sneer vanishing and replaced by shock. He's a perfect target for Reize, yet just as the boy's kick is about to crash home, a blur becomes a figure interposed: a brawny mermaid wielding a stout trident, her eyes glaring venomously at Reize as she blocks his strike. All three are promptly blown back by an unexpected blast of stone and mud rising from the ground, the ranks of the merfolk scattering and becoming disorganized by the aetheric assault.

"Who--!?" Silrug looks quickly from Reize toward the gathered party, seeming to identify them as the source of all these attacks. "Heh." But rather than seem angered, his sneering grin returns in earnest, broadening toothily. "Heh heh hahaha!"

Anna's second rock bounces with a flash off of the lizardfolk's water barrier, seeming to have regained some of its consistency with the fading of the merman leader's concentrated attacks, but attracts their attention. The high priestess looks to the erstwhile princess. "Humans, withdraw!" Cutini Nak calls in the brief lull of battle. "These are not your lands or your concerns! Do not waste your lives here!"

"It's too late," Silrug Dac crows. "Too late for them, and for you!" In an instant, his gems blaze as bright as the sun above, cutting through the mud and dust still raining down after the mysterious earth aether assault. "Know my power--!"

A pulse of blue light ripples from his form. As it passes, time seems to slow. Movement is dampened, as though the air were slush or mud, until it comes to a

stop

> Warning! Unknown enemy detected.

and then all at once everyone is moving again in a rush, faster now in fact, as though all are being dragged to a single point, a point of light that gathers above the last intact footbridge where much of the party still stands. There is none of the physical or mental distortion effect that the party has come to associate with eidola. Rather, it is as though a great vacuum is slowly but surely pulling everyone and everything toward the point.

"Haaaa ha ha aha ha hahaha!"

Water is sucked into that node of light's roiling embrace until it begins to resemble an enormous elemental beyond anything seen at the adequect, chunks of ice beginning to manifest about it in a veritable arsenal, some long and thin like spears, others wide and flat like shields or platforms. It hovers above all those gathered, out of range of melee attacks.

"Behold our people's lost art," Silrug Dak proclaims, "mine again!"

> ELEMENTAL CHAOS, THE BEASTKIN BLASPHEMY has appeared.

"What is *that*?" Ivo blurts, staring up at the monstrous apparatus, appearing like some frigid satellite. He grabs at his cloak, which threatens to tear off of him and fly up into its orbit, frost beginning to form on his eyebrows from the chill. "This strange *pull*-- Kernunnos!"

Reize's pendant is pulsing rapidly where he stands upon a cluster of swamp weeds, still next to Silrug Dak and his mermaid bodyguard. Argent begins to fill a strange vibration herself, soon realizing that it comes from the starmetal athame she found in the ruined aqueduct, the dagger quivering in tune with the bizarre phenomenon above.

"This magic is unknown to me!" Kernunnos calls from the pendant. "But this-- this *emptiness*-- Reize! Young champion! We must banish this-- *thing*! Bring me to its heart--"

As the hidden eidola speaks, the swirling vortex only gathers more water, continuing to grow without ceasing. The lizardfolk begin to withdraw in confusion, only the high priestess staring up in what seems to be astonishment and horror. Confusion begins to turn to panic as ice crystals begin to form in the air and rapidly transform into smaller elementals, all appearing in the wake of the vortex above.

"Hero! Make haste!"

> Challenge Elemental Chaos?

>> Yes

>> No

  • Character: Anna
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

The lizard high priestess tells them to withdraw?

But the party has to pass through these lands.

Anna heaves an indignant sigh as her rocks only startle the merman and lizardwoman.

But then Silrug Dac Summons something. And for a long moment Anna can only stare in awe and shock.

The Elemental that comes forth teems with strength and primal might as it freezes the world around it.

> Challenge Elemental Chaos?

>> Yes

>>>>>>YESYESYESYESYESYESYES

Anna's eyes widen slowly, bloodshot with mounting fury as she looses the floodgates of her Rage and chokes her grip on her axe.

"Reize, I'll distract it." Is all she says before she bull-rushes the elemental beast, leaping from rickety bridge to rickety bridge.

By 'distract it' she means 'leap on top of it and start wailing with her axe'.

Upon his foot making impact against something hard, Reize hisses to look over the mark. While Reize did strike something hard, it definitely did not hit the mark that he hoped for. His eyes meet with the glare of the mermaid, returning that same fierce look.

Sudden interruption of stone, sludge, and the burst of water.

"WHOAAA!" While Reize is caught in the middle of the eruption, he manages to push himself back and use the aether around him to recover from the debris. He rolls back over to his feet, keeping both boomerangs drawn and inverted as he leans forward aggressively.

Everything starts to appear slower in his vision. His eyes try to focus on the movement of the world around him.

It all stops.

"Whh----"

The sudden recollection and rush of movement, the light gathering at the last footbridge get his attention. "Wh---gghh.." He grimaces as he feels that enveloping vacuum draw him in.

It hovers above him, way out of the range of the young explorer.

"Wh---.."

> Challenge the Elemental Chaos?

> Yes.

"Let's do this."

The objective is clear. Get close to the heart of the creature. However, that thing is hovering in the air. Even worse, all of the stone and footbridges are done. The boy notices the smaller elementals made of ice crystals.

There is an idea!



Reize is springing off the ground, leaping over towards one of the elementals and pushing off with a kick so that he can spring board to the next.

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

...Well, that sure is something.

Camellia can't expressly 'see' whatever that is, but she can feel the sheer amount of aetherical energy brimming in the evironment now is enough of an indicator for her that something...... interesting, is taking place.

So interesting, in fact, that she doesn't move to offer any assistance with this fight whatsoever. No, she stands by and uses her senses to study and decipher just how this art worked... Maybe it could prove to be useful down the line.

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

Stumbling slightly with that dragging vacuum force, Argent struggles to keep her footing on that treacherous foothold she's found herself on. "Ah. I require assis-" SPLASH. Ah. She fell. Finally her perfect hair is sullied with all that dirty water, turning those beautiful silvery locks a muddy shade of brown.

It had to happen eventually. Luck alone couldn't keep her pristine forever. Alas.

All that aside, there really is a much more pressing concern. After tossing her soaking wet hair behind herself to keep it out of her eyes she draws that long knife, head tilted to one side as she regards it curiously, then looks up at the enormous elemental. "Ivo. Something is happening." she says as she gives the athame an experimental wave through the air, pushing it closer to the elemental to see if the vibration grows any stronger.

The adventurers challenge Chaos -- but doing so is no simple matter.

Anna rushes toward the terrible foe, leaping with extraordinary agility between the few shattered remnants of the surrounding footbridges, nimbly dodging the debris that fly through the air in the great elemental's orbit. Though it hovers high above, its vacuum-like pull assists in her leaping skyward, and it seems for a moment as though she'll be able to close into range. But being unable to maneuver in the air, she is blindsided by one of the chunks of ice that circles dangerously around the elemental's center, knocking her back to the ground. In moments she is set upon by three minor water elementals, aiming hammer-like blocks of ice and spear-like needles at her as though assisting their larger brethren. Even as they do, however, a fourth minor elemental spawning in the background is sucked up into the orbit of the elemental chaos -- and it grows just a little bit more.

"What in the--" Ivo is flabbergasted. "It's creating *and* eating them? But by the laws of aetheric equivalence, it couldn't thereby *grow*--" He hesitates before looking toward the lizardfolk. "Cutini Nak! Lady Priestess! Do you know what this is!?"

The lizardfolk leader seems to stir at last as her fellows cower behind her, briefly glancing toward Ivo before looking back toward the growing monstrosity.

"This," she finally says, "is our sin."

"Great," Ivo mutters, drawing Hauteclare, "very helpful. Anna, I'll back you up!" His sword's blade gleams in the sun as he launches it toward the hovering elemental, his wrist twitching as he deftly avoids the many flying obstacles to send it piercing into the obscured center of the elemental. Yet the blade is soon seen piercing through into the sky, seemly passing through. "What? There's-- Reize!" The Cosmopolitan sounds truly strained, shouting as loud as he can to ensure he's heard. "There's *no core*!"

That moment, Reize is passing by Anna, stomping on one of the minor elementals attempting to join the three already menacing her, leaping into the air up among the chunks of ice that orbit the elemental chaos. Despite the precarious footing, it seems a promising path. Yet a blur in his peripheral vision will give him the slightest alert before a javelin hurtles up and threatens to run him through.

"Not so fast!" The mermaid who blocked his attack before has launched herself from the waters with extraordinary force, several more javelins bound to a holster at her side, her trident in her hands. "You dare strike at our chief! I, Gasa Dan, am your opponent!" So saying, she swings her thick fish-like tail at Reize in midair, attempting to clobber him and bludgeon him down into the waters where she has the obvious advantage.

Meanwhile, the athame's pulsing intensifies. Ivo looks hurriedly in Argent's direction for just a moment as he tries to regain control of his flying sword. "Yes, I'm *sorry* about your hair, but Priel can groom you once we-- huh!?" He double-takes, looking back to the dagger. "The starmetal is--" It's not just the dagger. The homunculus can feel something *within* her resonating, as though whatever frequency has set the athame to vibrating is passing through from it to her.

> Argent has learned Star-Crowned Arts "Aetheric Tuning" and "Aetheric Projection."

As she extends the athame, she can feel it pulled in two distinct ways. One pull is toward the great elemental, yes, but also toward the minor elementals and even the merfolk's wavering barrier. The second is much subtler amid the chaos but still detectable. It is toward Reize. No-- Reize's pendant?

> Tune athame to what aspect?

>> Water

>> Creation

>> Sheathe (Cancel Tuning)

  • Character: Anna
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

That... Did not work out as planned. Anna didn't even get to the elemental beast before orbiting debris wings her and launches her backwards into the muck, only to be assailed by the smaller elementals.

"Rrghh..." She picks herself up, water up to her chest as she starts to fend off the minor elementals, flailing her axe with wild aplomb to defend herself.

"Handle these!" She practically snarls as Ivo leaps in to help her, she flails her way through the water as fast as she can, churning up muck and mud and mire in her wake as she...

"HEY, SEA-HAG!" She blurts at Gasa Dan to get the mer-woman's attention off Reize.

Before a frenzied Anna sets upon Gasa Dan.

"I dare strike -you-!" declared as she lunges in a full body tackle to try and get the mermaid's attention of Reize so he can try and get Kernunnos to the giant elemental's core.

The boy makes the immediate impact against one of the ice elementals. There is that rush of battle as he makes that springboard towards the next creature. He is taking the promised path of getting to the core---

Two things interrupt that.

The first and most pressing one is the sense of something flowing his way. He turns his body just in time--- the blade of the javelin strikes along his cheek, grazing along just enough to draw blood, but it is nothing more than just a small graze. It could had been worse.

He looks down at the buff mermaid. His eyes narrow as she comes forth with the tail to the water. The impact sends the boy sprawling down but that is not enough without his next plan of action.

---- 'There's no core'

That second thing that interrupts him.

That action is halted as he hits the waters. "Ugghh...." What's worse is... a _VERY IMPORTANT REVALATION_

"I can't swim! AAHHHHH!!!"

The boy flails until he starts to flop around. This leaves him as a sitting duck to Gasa's onslaught. However, it looks like Anna is to the rescue. This will give Reize a chance to find something to get a footing on and cling onto it. He grimaces...

"Okay... let's try this again...." He looks up at the elementals. "...I need to get up there....!"

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

After taking the time to 'observe', Camellia thinks she's gathered as much about the nature of this art as she can from observation alone. Her curiosity simply won't be sated by mere study any longer. And so, she takes a step aside... where a rock foothold juts up from the water to support her. Then another... and another... forming a pathway as she moves around the main conflict to avoid the large scale battle. No, her target is elsewhere. Namely, the merfolk bodyguard and their leader who was all too occupied with the summoning.

She positions herself behind them, locking on to their aetherical signatures... And then, she lifts a foot, and stomps the ground.

What follows are two deadly sharp stone pillars that burst upwards from behind the both of them, aiming to skewer them right through their backs.

What? Warnings? Mercy? No, none of that here. That would jeopardize her immediate goal.

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

The homunculus blinks slowly, head tilting left and right as she swings it vaguely left and right. Towards the elemental, towards Reize and his pendant and back again. "...ah. I do not know what effect this will have." On the one hand, she can to some degree recognize the aspects the knife is trying to pull towards, and it would be quite difficult for the aspect of creation to be particular dangerous, at least without a particularly concerted effort to make it so.

Then again, it's a knife. Typically made for harming things. Ah, but this is a ritual knife, not really meant as a weapon. Decisions, decisions.

Eventually, a decision is made. Making her stance as stable as she can amidsts the chaos and the water she reaches her hand out, athame in hand, pointed squarely towards Reize and the pendant he carries and follows that feeling the athame is imparting on her, letting whatever power it has work through her.

...hopefully, nothing too terrible would happen. Besides, the sensation from the pendant is weaker. Surely it won't be /too/ terrible if anything goes wrong.

Ivo's blade returns to its hilt just in time for several minor water elementals to manifest upon the footbridge where he and Argent still stand. Gritting his teeth and positioning himself between them and the homunculus, he lunges for one's core and shatters it in a single skillful strike, surprisingly even himself with the critical blow. But the elemental does not disperse like all the others the party has encountered. Instead, within moments, its icy core reforms, even as several more appear, a cluster of them now advancing on the two as Ivo backs closer to Argent.

"I've never seen anything like this," he says, wonder warring with stress in his voice. "Even the minor elementals have some sort of... anti-core! Like its mass is pulled about not some matter but... dense emptiness...?"

Meanwhile, Reize soggily clambers out of the shoulder-deep water of the river as Anna tackles Gasa Dan to the side, the two fearsome warriors splashing up a storm in a valorous melee. His pendant shines with light unbidden. "My champion!" Kernunnos calls. "Use whatever power you possess to bring us closer to the center of this abomination!" This may be the first time an eidola has called something else an abomination. "Then call upon my power! I can only hope I have saved up enough to-- hmm!?"

Argent's athame has begun to glow with a glorious light. Beside her, a shard of ice scores a cut on Ivo's arm, yet the scholar still strikes, shattering another elemental's false core. Before this one can reassmeble, however, Argent extends the athame and lets its power course through her.

> Argent uses Star-Crowned Art Aetheric Projection - Creation Tuning.

> Argent casts Sunspot.

A lance of light bursts from the dagger, cutting through the emptiness within the elemental, and its surrounding fragments shudder before melting all at once, a point of shadow pulsing before being consumed by light. As though in a chain reaction, the surrounding elementals undergo the same effect, all four gradually melting away, leaving Ivo blinking in stupefaction.

"One of my children-- here--!?" But none seem more baffled than Kernunnos, his voice echoing from the pendant. "Anointed of Vaeltrandia! Bringer of Ascent! Raise your weapon to the heavens!" He seems to be speaking to Argent. The athame in her hands glows unabated. "Reize, now! You too must ascend!"

Ivo has taken the magitech amplifier from his cloak and seems to be attempting to manipulate it, but it only sparks and crackles to his visible frustration. It is another voice entirely that chimes in.

"Our penance shall open the way--!"

The lizardfolk have bravely reassembled in the background, having given no ground against the encroaching foe even as their barrier seems on the verge of falling to surrounding minor elementals. Cutini Nak stands resolutely, her robe rippling with gathered power, as her allies chant in unison. Gradually, all the surrounding water elementals seem to slow, and with them the chunks of ice surrounding them. The maelstrom above Reize begins to settle down a bit, ice hovering now, though seeming to strain against their invisible bonds.

> Cutini Nak casts Ebb and Flow.

> The power and speed of all water magic has been halved.

"Witch!" Silrug spits again, glaring across the ruined footbridges at his nemesis. "You'll die along with the rest of these f-- ghahgh!?" One of his allies has leapt in front of Camellia's sneak attack to little avail. With Gasa Dan distracted fighting Anna, none remain strong enough to deflect the attack. When the dust settles, three merfolk have fallen into the weeds, only Silrug still twitching, though bloodied. "Ughh... what..." He seems incapacitated, yet the elemental above remains unaffected even as the light of his gems fades.

There is so much going on. Reize is having a difficult time concentrating around. So many of those elementals moving around. It is like a storm that the boy has to break through. However, he cannot feel that 'necessary' power. He takes a deep breath, trying to get his footing once more.

What is a sight to behold is Argent drawing the knife towards his pendant. That glimmering pendant, or rather, the source enchants the knife to consume those elementals in its light.

"...Whoa..."

Everyone is fighting hard.

Ruidosa is facing off against those elementals and the merfolk. Anna is fighting against the mermaid. Ivo and Argent are trying to deal with the elementals.

Reize cannot slack off.

His eyes widen as he sees the sight of elementals above him. The young boy begins his sprint towards the lower most ice elemental. When he leaps off, he starts using one over the other like a spring board. It does not stop with the first one. The boy moves on to the next, and the next, and the next like a spiralling set of stairs.

"We'll get there Kernunnos..."

His mind is focusing on the image of a shadow. ...A long haired shadow that he seeks. The visage is not there, but that feeling is just enough to get the move on. The boy will get to the top.

There is a voice of power.

"THIS IS MY WILL!"

A flare of energy erupts from the young boy. It is aether yet there is something welling within. It is deeper than aether. It is what brings it all together. It is what shapes the world to a want... or a need.

Will.

As the boy is boosted, he springs above each elemental until he pushes off an elemental to shoot off into the sky like a comet. His hand starts to manifest a glowing tarot into his hand as the pendant glows. The bright, shining glow is radiating from the pendant before he calls out.

"KERNUNNOS!"

"COME FORTH!"

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

"Hm. ...It'll do." Camellia murmurs, completely ignoring the fight with the elemental as she focuses squarely on... what was his name? Silrug? Beastkin names took a few tries to get right. Right, that one. He was still alive. Barely. Probably not for long.

Of course, that's not actually her concern. She strides right through the carnage and walks up to the merfolk leader, all bloodied as he is, and 'stares' at him. "Hello there." She smiles thinly. "... That art you used was quite interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I..."

With one hand holding her parasol against her shoulder, she lifts her other free hand, and earth aether gathers around her fingers, forming cruel looking talons made out of stone. "...am going to be relieving you of your... catalysts? Tools? I'll find out in time." Unceremoniously, she digs her fingers into the socket where the gem is and proceeds to yank it out. Then, she goes for the next gem... and the next...

Best not to watch this play out in its entirety.

  • Character: Argent
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

Ah, finally. Some instruction. With that command still echoing through the air Argent raises her arm and the athame with it skyward, pointing the blade directly up above her. Her eyes are squinted half shut against the still shining light, struggling to see exactly what's going on through the light and the water and the ice and the chaos.

"I do not know what I am doing."the homunculus says quietly, managing to catch sight of those smaller elementals melting away against the light emanating from the tool in her hand. "However, it appears to be effective." With the threats closest to her repelled, her features look /ever so slightly/ more relaxed. It's time for the hero to do his heroing thing. They tend to be rather good at resolving these things.

As the boy's hand extends, glowing card held, so his will reaches out -- to shape a power beyond mortal limits.

> Kernunnos's Affinity Rank increases to 4.

> Reize summons Kernunnos.

The lizardfolk and merfolk alike slow and cease their frenzied struggles to stare up in awe at the primeval force that manifests above them, a giant stag glowing so bright as to rival the sun, a field of pure light. It gallops through the sky, free at last, any ice daring to approach it vaporizing in an instant.

"A great spirit," Cutini Nak breathes. "Here...?"

Yet it is not long before all assembled feel dizziness or queasiness begin to set in, the color of their surroundings seeming to be seeped in amber. Even Kernunnos's allies are affected by the distortion caused by his presence. It is obviously dangerous for him to appear in his true form for long.

"My child!" A voice that thus far has been heard only as an echo from Reize's pendant now booms with a fulminating resonance worthy of a god. "Offer up your prayers!"

> Kernunnos's Summon Gauge is at 17%. No Summoned Art is available.

"To still be so frail, after such a long rest..." The great stag's voice briefly becomes subdued as he hangs in the air, unflinchingly weathering the storm of the elemental chaos. "How I relied upon the adoration of my faithful."

Just then, a beam of sunlight pierces upward through the tumult and the tempest, the remainder of the power gathered within Argent's athame being drawn upward and into Kernunnos himself, the eidola appearing to absorb the Creation-aspected energy.

> Kernunnos's Summon Gauge is at 34%. Summoned Art available.

"This power-- I remember--!"

Kernunnos resumes his gallop through the sky, plunging direct toward the hidden center of the terrible elemental and the emptiness there, even as the last of the footbridges below are torn into smithereens. Ivo is reaching out to help steady Argent as the wood beneath them cracks and splinters when his gaze is drawn toward screams of pain almost drowned out entirely by the rush of power above. His eyes widen as he finally espies an all too familiar face, or at least parasol.

"Camellia...!?" It's for the best that no children see what she seems to be doing now. Ivo instinctively points Hauteclare in her direction only to stumble; he can't forcibly stop her under these circumstances. He hesitates only briefly before beginning to shout in her direction. "I appreciate your affections, but stalking me is inappropriate!" No ordinary taunts are likely to stop her. As Silrug writhes in agony, the majority of the gems affixed to his skin cruelly extracted, Ivo winces in sympathy and thinks hard before suddenly brightening. "Hey!"

He reaches into his pocket and takes out a bit of fabric.

"Want your garter back!?"

Should Camellia be distracted for even a moment, Silrug, roused from semiconsciousness by horrific pain, will seize the opportunity to lunge into the river and desperately flee, blood trailing behind, just as a blinding flash of light erupts above.

"Entrusted with divine memory, called upon by human will!" These words sear themselves directly upon the minds of those assembled below the magnificent horned demigod. "This is the glory of our world's form, ever reformed, created anew!"

Blazing, Kernunnos plunges into the void--

"DEUS, SIVE NATURA!"

> Kernunnos uses Summoned Art Deus Sive Natura.

--and vanishes in a blinding flash of light.

All is still. The sepia-toned haze fades. The dizziness recedes. The elementals sink into the river and dissolve. And the elemental chaos is utterly gone.

Amidst the silence, a single frog cautiously ribbits.

  • Character: Camellia
  • 1 year, 9 months ago

"Surely, you can do better than that." Camellia says without missing a beat, as she yanks one of the last gems out of Silrug's battered body. Once it's done, she stands up again, and considers just what she'll do with this one now that she has what she wants...

It would be prudent to get rid of him just in case he decides he wants to have revenge later, but... Well, frankly, she doesn't really care. So when the merman scampers off into the water, she just turns her head, 'watching' by following his aether signature as he splashes into the water and vanishes, leaving a trail of blood.

"My, they sure are quick to escape."

She raises the gems in her clawed hand, and weighs them. Yep. This should be it. With that, she stows the gems away and turns to face the general direction of Ivo's voice, a wry smirk on her face. "I wouldn't dare to separate you from such a valued memento. Keep it." Camellia says with a mildly mocking tone, turning away in the aftermath, and proceeding to wander off. Yes, she got something good today. Now to study and run some... ah, field tests. Yes.

This will be fun.

The only thing that is left in Reize's voice...

... is a defiant, primal cry.

EXCEED ART: Summon Kernunnos - Deus Sive Natura

The boy remains high in the air, still giving out that primal cry as the pendant continues to shine. Everything envelops him as the very center of the distortion effect. However, for some strange reason.. it's a part of him? The presence of the distortion feels different than when he faced the eidola. In a way, he can feel himself pulled into such a warp.

The boy's eyes remain wide as he extends both hands into the sky.

As the sepia-toned haze fades and everything is starting to become back to normal, the energy of the boy slips unconscious and begins a very fast descent.

....Of course, he is not left alone... for there is someone there to catch him and take him back to the ground.

What is an adventurer without his pacted partner?

Ivo, watching as Ruidosa safely catches Reize with alacrity befitting a vampire capable of inflicting terrible curses (maybe), slowly sinks to his knees in exhaustion, his arms slipping from Argent now that she no longer needs any steadying. The wooden footbridge about he and the homunculus barely exists. Indeed, now that the chaos has subsided, it seems that only a single pillar remains, supporting only the cluster of planks upon which they remain.

"The athame... the Star-Crowned... beastkin blasphemy... coreless elementals..." The Cosmopolitan takes a deep breath, then heaves a sigh. "Nope. I don't get it."

But rousing cheers have come up toward the assembled lizardfolk even as the merfolk withdraw in confusion, slipping beneath the waters. Only Gasa Dan remains, her head bobbing above the water to show her panting in exertion from her extended struggle with Anna. Her look of profound frustration gradually transformations into one of terror as she sees her leader absent and quickly retreats as well. With the enemy gone, Cutini Nak approaches the remains of the footbridge with solemn elegance.

"Humans, you have saved more than us with your efforts. We knew not you had pacted with a great spirit. We bow before you." She and her cohort do so. "Please, join us at our village for a victory feast. We shall explain all that we can, though," she adds, "we do hope that you shall do the same. Even Silrug Dac would not dare commit such blasphemy again soon."

"I'm not sure he'll be able to even if he wishes," Ivo mutters, looking rather grim, before he shakes off whatever is bothering him, stuffing Camellia's garter deeper within his cloak, and rises to flash a warm smile at the high priestess. "We would be honored to join you. Our fearless leader is in need of a little nap in any case."

And so our heroes find unexpected allies on their adventure, awaken to new powers -- and begin to learn of a new and terrible foe.