AChapter 18
The Pearled Amethyst is down at the bow and starting to shudder and drop out of the sky. Overhead several of the emergency escape derricks can be seen fleeing for safety as the passengers not in attendance at Lady Silmeria's party leave the stricken ship. In the ballroom however things are in dire straights, the ship is foundering and several members of the Imperial Guard have formed a wall between the party and the exit. To complicate matters a tall viera lady wielding the staff of a summoner is facing off against Silmeria in full Esper form! Swirly time and Boss Battle music for it appears to be on!
There's not even a pause. Ainsley, quite agitated by the obstruction and the apparent revelation that these stupid cultists are involved, murmurs a spell, speaking the arcane words loudly and clearly... and aims her finger right at the guard that shot down the captain, aiming to get retribution for the man's treachery first. She makes sure not to stand at the fore of the group, though, while she does this.
Azar is moving to get into the face of one of the soldiers near the one who shot the captain. One blade she holds up in a position to strike, while the other is held in a defensive position. As soon as she is in striking distance, she will lash out.
Lee, meanwhile, flexes his hands, balling them into fists a couple times, the black flames flickering around his fingers surging a bit each time he does. There's no worry about Ainsley being out in front as she casts, Lee is a couple paces in front of her, grinning viciously at his own chosen target to the other side of the Captain's executioner, a grin that might even be a bit unnerving given the presence of very clear fang-age. He too advances, opposite Azar, almost stalking his target, though he's also listening to Ainsley's muttering, familiar with some of her spells, even if he can't cast them himself, and when he hears it conclude, he'll make sure to crouch so there's no chance of him being in the way of Ainsley's line of fire.
While the rest of the party chooses their initial targets carefully, the Daughter of Death sees only one true enemy. As the Viera Summoner makes her challenge, Silmeria's black eyes narrow faintly... And then the Esper crouches, charcoal wings flaring high, before sweeping downward, adding speed and ferocity to the lunge that carries her forward, the blue-steel edge of her Gunblade ringing as she brings it up in a single, brutal stroke. [Heavy Blow]
Silmeria is good with that blade of hers but the Viera is no slouch, she half turns to the side and Iluren whistles past her, maybe slicing off a few hairs which float gently in the air as she turns, brings her free arm up and JUDO chops Silmeria back a few paces with a expert strike to the chest. Azar's guard doesn't fair as well as the warrior lass' weapon slices into his arm and he yells in pain and staggers backwards, bringing his weapon up to bare. As for Ainsley's spell she incates it correctly but something in her mana flow must have been off as the Colonel brushes it aside and levels his gun at Lee. ) [Spoofed By: Silvante]
He /knocked her spell away/. Ainsley glowers, and doesn't bother murmuring the arcane words this time. She collects mana in both hands, and then snaps her hand in a sweeping motion to try to do a different form of casting, determined to hit the man and keep him from shooting her dear fiance.
It's a good spell and it streaks across the Ball room and the Colonel half turns to take the brunt of it on his cloak. It certainly caught his attention and the focus of his gun moves to Ainsley.
Azar grunts, bringing the sword back to the ready position, her feet constantly moving as she looks for another opening. Taking a risk, she lunges forward to press her advantage.
Clang! Azar's lunge is deflected by the guard she is fighting, he grins at her and his free hand socks her right in the nose before he dances back a few steps. Off to her left the ring of sword on sword echoes through the hall as a group of nobles attack the guards whilst off to the right a rather slender, black haired Countess starts to hurl lightning at another guard, seems not all of these nobles are pampered and useless.
Lee rises once Ainsley's initial spell passes him, advancing a step or two while taking up an odd, but apparently well-practiced stance, feet wide and hands before his chest, one palm facing up, the other, a few inches above it, facing down, dark energy starting to swirl on the edge of visibility between them. As Ainsley's second spell passes him, and the Colonel's aim shifts from him to Ainsley, his grin becomes a scowl, and he switches intended targets from one of the soldiers beside the Colonel to the Colonel himself, shifting to pull the energies he's gathered into one cupped palm before thrusting that palm towards the Colonel! It's not black fire that rushes from his hand as he lets out a fierce cry, but a reddish-black bolt of energy instead! [Negative Chi]
The Colonel snaps sideways as that reddish black bolt lances out toward him but he isn't fast enough and it hits him on the shoulder and he grits his teeth and grunts in pain as it does its work. "Ugh.... you shall..." his gun flares as he shoots the dragon in human form! The bullet digging into his shoulder.
The chop to the chest is weathered, the Esper regaining her footing in short order. Pelting back forward, the unnatural woman pirouettes between two steps, using the leverage granted by the movement to swing the blade of her ebony-handled scythe in a flashing diagonal arc, as though the Esper sought to cleave the Viera in two at the shoulder. [Heavy Blow]
It's a good slice and the Viera woman sways backwards, it rakes across her front and several buttons are sliced off and a red line oozes blood softly across her brow as the viera steps backwards, brings her summoning staff upright and points it at the Esper. She shouts a word in a language which makes peoples stomach turn and for a moment the Esper girl is surrounded by sigils. They try to latch onto her but with a crackle of her wings and the deep tolling of a bell the spell shatters as Silmeria all but shrugs it off. Which is when the Grand Duke runs left nad points his small wand at the Viera and a spray of ice beats her back further.
Realizing what the real threat is, here, and that Lee can handle his own target, Ainsley turns her attention to the viera that Silmeria is fighting, and begins to chant another Fire spell... because she pretty much has no other way to fight, after all, not yet at least. She casts it, but this time without the growl or scowl, trying to hit the Viera while she's still reeling from the ice attack.
The Viera spins, catches Ainsley's fire spell on the end of her staff and swats it across the room where a Steward bats it out of the air with a silver tray before it strikes a couple of elderly ladies. "How rude... can you not see I am busy My Lady Ainsley? Please... your clumsy attack almost hit me. If you wish to help dispose of the Esper's hencheman" she spins her staff and turn to face Silmeria again.
Azar is not going to be slowed by a punch to the nose. She wrinkles it and huffs, pressing forward once more as the guard steps back. Once more she raises her sword into position, looking for an opening, slashing out at a vulnerable spot.
The guard tries to swat Azar's sword aside only to mistime his stroke and get the blade through the stomach. He gasps and shudders, slumping and leaning forward to clutch at her blade in shock before his eyes glaze over.
Lee is rocked back a step by the impact of the gunshot on his shoulder, the only other response to being hit being a grunt of pain, but he is moving forward again almost immediately, dashing to close what distance remains between the Colonel and himself, leading with a vicious knife-hand strike from his uninjured arm! [Nerve Strike]
The Colonel is caught totally off guard by Lee's sudden lunge, his attack gets him right in the neck and with a shudder he drops to the floor limp and tunned. Victory to lee but not before the Colonel in one last ditch move stabs his dagger throgh the man's foot and unleases an electrical charge into Lee that then blows the man backwards across the room. The Colonel however is out of the fight and a couple of his soldiers dash forward in an attempt to drag him to safety but a couple of young noble men rush in to clash with them.
~(LEE!)~ Silmeria calls as she presses her advantage, turning to sweep her Gunblade around, with a loud crash of noise as she pulls the trigger, ~(The Colonel's gun! Give it to me, somebody, please!)~ Her attention returns to the Viera, the Esper's wings flaring as she pushes forward. ~(You've failed your Knight, and failed your Mistress,)~ she snarls, ~(But were I you, I would fear what will happen when you stand before Lord Hades.)~
It's a good attack, Silmeria's gunblade makes a crashing booming sound as it goes off and the Viera just bends backward out of the way of the blade and the shot and her legs snaps up in an attempt to kick Silm in the chin! She misses thankfully but sways gracefully back onto her feet.
The damage done to Lee gets a squeal of surprise out of Ainsley, "LEE!!" she cries, and her breath catches in her throat, her hand /almost/ raising to direct a cure spell at him... she stops when she realizes it would be useless, and turns her eyes instead back to the guards, now shaking with stress and anger, and prepares for another fire spell, hoping to carve a swath through them this time with her magic. "GET OUT OF OUR WAY!!"
Ainsley carves a way through several guards, blowing them down in screams and burning flesh! At least three of them dropping like flies to the proverbial boomf of her fire magic! Which of course makes those guards who survive scream and open fire on the lizard girl with the boom spells! A hail of bullets come streaming across the room toward Ainsley and no one is able to predict the lizard girl dodging in the wrong direction. She's struck in the arms and legs and falls backwards with a thump. Which is about when the Viera screams and blasts a line through the guards who just shot Ainsley. ) [Spoofed By: Silvante]
Azar grunts, lifting a high-heel clad foot to the guard's shoulder, and kicking the man off of her blade. She flicks the blade, getting off most of the blood and gore, and turns towards the general melee around the Colonel. Azar blinks as magical destruction makes mincemeat out of several guards, and she throws herself into the carnage, searching for the Gun that Silmeria yelled about.
Azar has the eyes of a hawk! With a negligent slide through the carnage, slicing down a guard with one hand she spins and kicks the Colonel's gun at Silmeria and the Esper barely catches it, fumbling scythe, Iluren and gun until she drops the gunblade and with a CHIME it vanishes back into hammerspace. ) [Spoofed By: Silvante]
Lee groans and grumbles as he gets back up to his feet from where the Colonel's parting shock landed him, his clothes smoking slightly, the man sore all over, his foot bleeding a little and stinging like the Dickens from getting a dagger through it, and ruining his boot in the process... His eyes practically blaze crimson with his soured temper, but at least his smirk holds some satisfaction at having taken down the Colonel, at least momentarily. With a slight limp in his step, he starts doggedly back towards the fight. And then Ainsley goes down in gunfire, and the viera's scream isn't the only sound that comes in response: it, and the death of more soldiers by the viera's own hand, is followed by by an angry and inhuman roar filling the room for a second or two, from none other than Lee himself, the man's expression darkening further to something akin to rage as he takes hissing breaths between clenched teeth, flickers of black flame whisping out with every exhale, and his pupils narrowed to cat-like slits. His discomforts are ignored, and he rushes back towards the melee, tearing into the first soldier he comes across with murderous intent and vicious blows!
Murder is indeed done upon the poor soldier who gets in the way of Lee and righteous vengence! The poor boy is pummelled into the ground by the man's rage. By Ainsley however the Grand Duke has appeared, moving his wand across her body, starting to cast some sort of spell.
The distraction, while at a cost, is all Silmeria needs. As Iluren disappears with a ringing chime, the Esper plants the butt of her scythe into the ground, raising the stolen gun and narrowing her eyes, as tiny white motes of energy gather at the barrel of the gun. The Esper's wings snap out to either side, casting a dire shadow upon the magic-wielding Viera. ~(Enough of this,)~ she says, the eldritch echoes of her voice seeming to bleed the color away from all within her shadow, ~(It is time you answered for your crimes to My Lord.)~ With a squeeze of the trigger, the magic blasts outwards, the sound not so much a blast as a toll, as of some great, silver bell, and a stream of holy magic leaps forth from the gun's mouth. [Ruin Bullet]
That Hail of Magical damage slams into the Viera and she staggers backwards and stags, clutching at her chest as blood oozes ot of her wounds. She coughs and blood drips down her chin as she stares at Silmeria and laughs, "I have failed... but I ... shall... not stand before thy lord...." She grins and then seems to collapse in upon herself. Flames and shadows engulfing her form and then she is gone... There is a moments of silence and the remaining Imperial Guards flee the room in a panic. There is no time for congratulations however as the ship suddenly lurches and drops, lifting evertyong a good foot into the air before they slam back into the deck. The Grand Duke slowly helping Ainsley to sit up looks around "We must hurry..."
Ainsley groans as she gathers herself to a stand after she's helped to sit up, gripping at one of her arms, the sore sensation gripping her form, especially after the slam against the deck. The lurch of the ship makes her grimace, and then she starts moving as fast as she can go, but she motions for the nobles to start moving, for those that still stand after the battle. "Come, now!" she calls.
"Where to then? Which way?" Azar wipes her blades on a convenient tabard, since it's owner no longer requires it, and sheathes both of her blades. "We're getting out with the clothes on our backs and the weapons at hand."
Lee slowly straightens as the viera is put down by Silmeria and the remaining soldiers, after a silent pause, flee the room. Lee's hands are a little bloody, and seems he may have even bitten someone in the chaos before the Viera's death, as there's blood on his lip as well, but with the soldiers on the run, he calms himself one second, then rushes to Ainsley and the Duke the next after the ship lurches, offering the scholar his arm for support, and giving her a smile, as she starts calling for people to follow. He gives a quick look around, and in response to Azar, "More a 'ardship fer some of us than fer others, but lifeboats'd be my first guess!" He pauses, then grumbles half to himself, "Assumin' that bitch offa Princess left any intact fer us..." He glances to the Grand Duke, asking, "You know her at all well? She th'type ta think that fer ahead?"
~(Then you go nowhere,)~ Silmeria says into the silence, as the dark flames consume the Viera's corpse, ~(And a sadder fate I cannot know.)~ Her moment of dramatic tragedy is foiled, however, by the lurching of the ship, and her wings flutter as she uses her scythe to pull herself upright, releasing it into the void once she's found her feet. ~(Thank you, Grand Duke... but they're right, we should leave with all speed, and hope there's yet lifeboats for us to use.)~
A moogle flutters down followed by several others, they look around and the steward waves a paw, "This way, follow us, there are some life dirigibles left. It'll be a bit of a squeeze but we have to go. The Engineering crew is gone and what is left of the float stone is being held together by hope." The Grand Duke looks at Lee and grimaces, "I don't think she would... she's not the sort to plan this sort of thing, she tends to leave that sort of planning to him." he points at the Colonel, "I suspect he has boats waiting for him and his men... if we hurry we can take them and get off the Amethyst follow the mogs they know the way." and with that the party start to move out along the walnut pannelled companionway of the ship toward the life derricks.
The scholar lizard tries to keep up with the others, and hurries to follow the direction of the mogs that are indicated. Ainsley doesn't say much, she just grimaces at the painful sensation of having been hit by bullets and then having to run to safety, entirely focused on escaping at this point.
Azar stretches out her legs, and bends down to scoop up the lizzy wizard, holding her so that she can lean onto Azar's shoulder, facing the others behind her. "It's alright Ainsley, I'm earning my pay now, eh?" The woman chuckles, "This has been far more exciting than I thought it would be... and twice as scary." She follows steward as quickly as she can. You page, "mind if I pose before you> Then you can close us out with Silm's response to the duke" to Silmeria.
Lee hustles along with all the rest, nodding in satisfaction as Azar picks Ainsley up, something he'd have done if she hadn't, clapping Azar on the shoulder as he adds, "You aught not be runnin', anyway, luv, not 'till you've got a bit more healin' in ya." He gives Azar a grin, as well, "Jus' wait until things *really* get weird, this'll look like Titanday brunch!" Slowing his pace slightly, he takes up the rear, behind the party and the Grand Duke.
The party make it after a few false starts, at least one back track around a collapsed corridor and the inadvertant rescue of a party of four. The Garson Family, mother, father, three beautiful daughters and a baby who had been stranded in their stateroom and the group of about 30 make it to the derrick deck. The escape derricks are there but there are only three of them but a bit of juggling, some packing and everyone is able to be loaded inside. The Grand Duke is the last in, caring for all the others first and when he steps in he stands beside Silmeria as they cast off and watches sadly as the Amethyst plummets toward the farm land below, burning and billow flames. "I fear... this is going to be the start of something bad. Regardless of our survival the Imperial war machine is still going to be working on Public Opinion over this and there is only so much I can do to counter it... thank you though... all of you. Without you this plot would have led to our deaths and our heirs would be receiving the news about how we had been slain by Emberstrand Terroists by dawn tomorrow. At least now I can continue to fight and manouvere and they have tipped their hand in a way... but there is a long road ahead of us before peace can be found."
~(One more for the butcher's bill,)~ Silmeria whispers sadly, as the derrick steers away from the crashing wreckage of the grand and glorious ship. Shaking her head, she closes her eyes, her form dimming, color bleeding back into skin and hair, and wings fading from sight, until once again merely the humble priestess clad in an exquisite dress, remains. "I fear the bad has already begun, Grand Duke... and will only get worse, before the light creeps back in." Looking back over her shoulder at the trio she travels with, a brilliant smile lights up her face as she turns back. "Oh but don't worry, sir... We all have our fights to take up, once we've landed. And I've little fear that, sooner or later, we'll all see victory."
The Grand Duke inclines his head and watches as the Amethyst plunges into the field of some poor farmer and detonates into a ball of incasdescent flame. "I fear you are right, I wish you well in your journey..... and I hope when next we meet it is in happier days...."
19:05, 24 June 2013 (UTC)19:05, 24 June 2013 (UTC)Silvante 19:05, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
The Pearled Amethyst falls!
News filtering into Emberstrand with the latest airship arrivals is speaking of just one thing. The Pearled Amethyst. The most luxurious air-liner in the known skies has crashed into the plains near the Phon Coast. Official statements of what happened appear to be sketchy. Some crews are claiming it was a group of Emberstrand National attempting to assasinate the Imperial Princess Carmelian, Grand Duchess of Tchita whilst notable passengers apparently claim it was the work of an unknown Viera assailant.
The Grand Duke Hamilton of Mosphoran has issued a statement calling for peace and the whispering words of war to be put to rest. Claiming that the destruction of the Pearled Amethyst is another symptom of how the Empire is straying from the righteous path. But the voice of the Imperial Princess is loud and quite insistent that the attack was aimed at her and only the fast actions of the leader of her personal guard detail Colon Kerchan allowed her to escape whilst "Other" nobles fled to the nearest escape dirigible.
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