"Uh huh... I know what you want and I'm not that easy." -Mikan, Page 4.
Kingdom of Renalta - Heart of Madness
Mikan looks between Abjaar and Cennick, and nods in agreement with them as she walks over to the tarot cards.
"Alright James, we'll play your game." As she turns The Fool and The Devil to the side, The Empress & Death cards disappear. A few feet from the table, a doorway appears embedded in one of the walls, and the door swings open by itself at a slow pace, creaking as it does so. Looking through the doorway, it appeared to lead to the central plaza of the Renaltan capital. Though, in the capital's central plaza, a statue of Kouri stood tall: Here, it was a statue of a noble looking man none of them would recognize, though it was likely one of Kouri's ancestors.
Mikan leads the way without hesitation, with Eric once again becoming superstitious and distrusting enough of magic to put him behind the rest of the Queen's Blades. The plaza was bigger than the one in the modern capital, and seemed modified by James' imagination, as the surrounding buildings all lacked doors and windows. It was simply a very large, open space, with a statue in the middle. In addition, the buildings lined the area around in a circular fashion, leaving no avenues or methods of escape save for a long, wide, cobblestone path that led up to the castle of Renalta, which was almost an hour's travel away at a leisurely pace.
Standing several feet away at the base of the statue were two figures. One was a tall, muscular man in a thick, tattered, black cloak with a hood. The hood was drawn back to reveal the face of a tiefling.
"Marcus..." Mikan said softly, her tone almost mournful.
"He traveled with the Queen and I so he could get closer to his quest of vengeance against Malaki. He died, rescuing me." Marcus had no response for her, and merely stared at them with a two handed blade unsheathed. He seemed to possess an abnormal amount of strength, and was decked from his feet to his shoulders in plate mail armour with chain mail underneath it, leaving only his head as a weak point. One he would likely protect zealously.
Standing a couple feet beside Marcus was Queen Kouri, though she appeared much younger: In her late teens to early twenties. Her blue hair almost seemed more vibrant, as did the flames that wreathed her hands. The dress she wore had a slit along her left leg, which caused Mikan to raise an eyebrow.
"I see your imagination is as perverted as ever." James replied, his tone unsettling.
"I could make her dance too, if you like." Behind both Marcus and the younger Kouri was a woman in thick purple robes, covering her from head to feet. A hood obscured her facial features, though the iconography of a white hand that gave out a ring of light was embroided on her chest, back, and black gloves. Her hands were raised, and from them, several white strings of light seemed connected to both Marcus' and Kouri's back.
"I wonder if that's a weak point." Eric mused out loud.
"Seems kind of obvious though if I can recognize it..."
The woman in purple robes had two large, grey wolves to each side of herself that seemed protective of her. Those likely replaced what the other two cards would have been, and were distinctly weaker than Marcus & younger Kouri.
They all simply stood in wait. Mikan blinks in slight confusion as James further iterates his game to the Queen's Blades.
"The moment you begin your attack, they will react in turn. I'm being generous and giving all of you the first move. Once they're defeated, you can head up the path to the castle, where within I and Dirge await you. If you try to walk down the cobblestone path without fighting, they will engage you instead. As for the rest of the rules... You'll have to figure them out all by yourselves! Exhilarating, isn't it? Here, in fact, just to show good sportsmanship, I'll even let each of the Queen's Blades ask one question for information before they begin! Only one, though. You can ask it whenever you like too, I mean, so you can save your question for the middle of a fight if you're alive. Am I talking too much? Dearie me, I'm holding up the show, aren't I?" Mikan shakes her head and takes a deep breath; she seemed unsettled by the prospect of fighting the ghosts of her past. Eric on the other hand was already loaded and just waiting for the order to attack. He would wait to coordinate with the other Queen's Blades. Unless, of course, they could think of something else.
Imperium/Amazons - The Dream of Empire
Fahim looks puzzled at Gremlock and shakes his head.
"I... Have already admitted my study of the Imperium is limited. Your irritation appears misplaced, goblin." Veira takes a few deep breaths and gets back to her feet, though she still shook a little between her emotional state and weakened nature from casting so much magic.
"I'm alright, I'm okay, that spell just took a lot out of me. That's all." She smiles wearily towards Sonia. Minstrol's accusation towards the spirit left it unphased. They were lucky it didn't seem to care for their emotions, because it seemed highly unwise to insult an intangible spirit who was their
only guide in a massive labyrinth.
Seeing as nobody else was seeming to come up with good ideas, and Gremlock's plan of just setting up explosive barriers wouldn't save whoever was pulling the lever next, Fahim scratched the back of his head and looked at the dwarf. Disappointed by her silence, he then glances up to the spirit and narrows his eyes.
"There is no right answer." The spirit crosses its arms and tilts its head.
"Explain." Fahim suddenly sighed in relief.
"That tells me enough. You didn't respond to Minstrol's accusation that it was a lie, yet you just asked me to explain my answer... My answer to an oddly worded question. The levers were simply here as decoy choices, weren't they? Because there is no one particular asset more valuable than others in a multicultural army that seeks to use all of its individual elements with utmost efficiency, rather than absolute uniformity."
The spirit pauses, then nods.
"Yes. An acceptable answer." It motions towards the door, then pauses once more.
"You seem to be a follower of the others, why did you answer?" Fahim looked to the others and hesitated before he answered: It was readily apparent he didn't want to offend them, but he had to speak the truth.
"Those that I follow seemed incapable of ascertaining an answer outside of the box, so I made the decision that I had to do it... After all, a barbarian would never think outside the box if physical choices were presented to him first." The spirit, satisfied with the answer, opened a large door to the next area.
Fahim this time led the way, though he seemed highly uncomfortable doing so. As he entered the next area, slowly and cautiously, his suspicious eyes examined the large area. Before he could acclimate his eyes, the spirit began speaking once more.
"It should be known that there were others who came before you. They appeared to be impatient and violent. They were unable to pass the other test to gain access to the treatises." Veira looks up at the spirit.
"Demons?" The spirit nodded, much to Veira's surprise.
"Why would you ever let demons through in the first place?!" The spirit looked among the queen's blade with confusion.
"You are a very strange people, to judge others by their race... Regardless, they did not survive the second and final test. However, they did not seem content with remaining dead..."
Finally, their eyes acclimated to the low lit torches surrounding the large chamber. It was spherical in shape, with stairs covering the floors, walls, and ceiling--the whole area, save for a flat area no larger than five square feet in size at the bottom of the stairs. The stairs even led up and around the walls to the ceiling, and much to their surprise, looking up at the ceiling revealed an Agent of Greed--a skeletal rogue looking cretin, to be more precise--and four pale looking corpses of humanoid demons, pulling darts out of themselves and tossing them aside. Yet, while they remained on the ceiling, the darts fell several dozen feet to the floor, where they promptly shattered like glass.
It seemed as though wherever the stairs were, that is where gravity pushed down: Standing on the stairs of a wall made the wall a downward point. If one were to jump off a wall or the ceiling however, they would most likely fall and break several bones on the descent. All save Armerza, who likely could survive if she landed on her shield, though she would still sustain some moderate injuries.
The Agent of Greed finally notices them and shrieks, speaking in incomprehensible noises to its compatriots. They were all decked in chain mail vests and leather pants, as well as leather helmets, and appeared to be feminine in shape, though it was impossible to discern if they were male or female in the dimly lit conditions of the spherical chamber. Two wielded crossbows, while one wielded a pair of one handed axes, and the last one wielded a sword and shield. The four of them surrounded the Agent of Greed, intent on keeping it safe from harm as it pulled out menacing looking, black throwing knives, which seemed coated in a glowing pink substance. The mages in the room would recognize it to be some sort of magical poison, but only Gremlock had the qualifications to recognize that it was a poison to cause its victims to become submissive. Getting hit would impede them, and possibly even render them unable to resist the Agent of Greed if it compelled them to cease fighting, but only if it could penetrate their defenses and cut into their flesh.
They could attack from any angle, and while the Agent of Greed wasn't caught off guard, the Queen's Blades did seem to have a few seconds to move and attack before the crossbows could reload. If they fell off the walls or ceiling it could cause them great harm, but it could also feasibly permanently put down the undead demons at the Agent's command...
Kingdom of Liveria - Ancestral Bonds
As Andrea's whip lands at her feet, the orc which the princess was possessing shakes his head.
"We need one alive to interrogate. Now everyone else doesn't have to worry about using non-lethal methods. It's better if I stay back." The orc ducks behind a stone slab, although occasionally his eyes wander to Andrea's form.
"... I hate possessing orcs." He mutters quietly, and uncomfortably, with a hint of strain in his voice in attempting to retain control.
As Elrbetrt gets to her feet, Gabriel nods to Draza and ascends over-top of the stone slab. He grimaces as he takes a position beside the blind knight, then looks to the three charging.
"STAND DOWN OR PERISH BEFORE MY MIGHT!" He attempts to intimidate them, but the bloodthirsty look in their eyes implied that such an action was likely too late. As Rayvon moves to help defend, the three orcs finally reach their targets. Gabriel is able to effectively block one, and Elrbetrt is able to block a second, but the third manages to flank them both and lunges for one of Elrbetrt's blind spots. His axe buries itself greedily and clumsily into Elrbetrt's side, penetrating her armour and causing her to flinch. Blood would quickly start to run from her nose and mouth: Mere minutes left to live without healing...
Before Gabriel could respond, Kraclaw throws one of his axes, calling Kasim's bluff. Gabriel looks away as Rayvon lunges in just in time to deflect the throwing axe with her shield. For some reason, he had hesitated, as though he was struggling to focus on his aim: Giving Rayvon the time necessary to deflect the blow that would have likely ended Gabriel's life. He breathes a sigh of relief as he grapples with the orc in front of him. On his left was Rayvon, several feet further was Kraclaw who was approaching slowly, and on his right was Elrbetrt. Elrbetrt was facing two orcs, one in front of her, and one on her right side. A few feet to her right was the entrance, where the orc flanking her had his back turned to Kasim, Draza, and Laenaia.
Zoe raises her crossbow, having fumbled on her reload initially. Cursing under her breath, she aims and fires at the orc flanking Elrbetrt. The bolt easily finds its way into the base of his spine, bursting forth through his guts and thoroughly mangling him. The orc falls over, dead from shock as Zoe starts reloading as rapidly as she could for a third shot. Kraclaw still had one more throwing axe before engaging with his spear if he so chose...
Goblin Holds - Antiqua Scientiam
As the group starts to put their plan into motion, Esyllt would feel her calico starting to return. It had likely found something, but she wouldn't be able to know what it was until it grew closer to her position.
As Aslo popped out from cover, the golems immediately reacted to his presence. Tossing his bag of rats and moving away was the smart decision he'd find, as he managed to get a mere two steps before one of the golems smashed the part of the roof he had been standing on less than five seconds prior. Rats come hording out of the bag by the
hundreds, swarming into its every nook and crevice, attempting to cling onto it as many simply end up sliding down its exterior. There were in fact, so many rats, that the second golem registered it as an indiscernable threat and slammed its metallic fist into the back of the first golem, causing it to fall over. Small holes had been punched into its thick outer shell where the second golem's knuckles had connected, and though a few rats were crushed when the first golem fell, the majority remained unscathed.
They swarmed over each other, climbing over its metallic exterior to dive into the small holes created. Though the second golem swatted at them desperately, with the unsettling sound of rat bones being crushed and its fists quickly turning red and pink with blood and internal organs, several rats managed to infiltrate the interior of the golem. As Maeven slips past the second golem, she would see the grotesque sight of oil spurting out of the first golem's back and limbs, before it suddenly bursts into flames. Many more rats further still started burning and writhing in pain, though a few escaped and scattered in every direction, their job done. As Aslo could hear the sound of dozens of rats squeaking and screeching in brief suffering, the smell of horrendously burned flesh wafting into the air from the smoke, a single rat returns to him with the rat bag in tow. He somehow recognized it as the rat he had been petting in Kouri's company back in the castle. The rat stares up at him, and drops the bag at his feet.
Meanwhile, as all of this occurred, Maeven managed to easily slip past the second golem and push her hands against the door. It opened effortlessly, and as it did, the second golem suddenly went silent and ceased moving, going perfectly still. It seemed it was safe for the rest of them to proceed: Esyllt's distraction hadn't even proved necessary, though it was still better to have in case the rats hadn't performed their task as admirably as they did.
Within the interior of the building was a metallic compound, which seemed highly reflective. So much so that each wall reflected back to the other wall several times over, resulting in a nauseating effect that could only be compared to a hall of mirrors. The whole, large room contained merely a single table of switches at the centre of the room. Examining it at a distance proved rather fruitless, as none of the buttons, switches, or incomprehensible doodads seemed to mean anything to them: It was a level of technology simply beyond their frame of reference to understand.
Unamo stares in awe of the burning flames and black liquid that slowly seeped out from the first golem to spread them. She moves quickly past the second golem, since it was disabled, and entered the building a few seconds after Maeven and came to a stop as her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and confusion at the reflections.
"I don't understand." Unamo says as she waves one of her arms.
"I heard of such places at... At carnivals, outside of the Amazon, but this is... Quite a sight." She seemed to calm for a moment, but a pang of pain running up her injured leg quickly reminded her that she wasn't in the clear yet.
Nyla, on the other hand, didn't rush immediately into the building. She would be the last one to do so, instead making sure that neither Aslo or Esyllt would be caught out alone, leave alone the cripple Daevon. She watches as a rat runs up to her foot and cowards behind it. Sighing, she kneels down and picks up the rat, and scratches it underneath the chin.
"You did good." Her eyes move to Esyllt.
"So did you, being ready to back things up with your own distraction." Yet, her eyes couldn't help but betray a certain amount of admiration for Aslo as she glanced at him up on the rooftops.
Esyllt would be able to feel her cat's presence nearby, it had gained a lot of ground during all of these events. It managed to confirm to her that there were demons, and they were quickly approaching the area. There appeared to be not one, but two agents, each with their own cadre of minions. The cat however was unable to tell what kind of demons they were without getting caught, so it chose to flee quickly to relay the information to Esyllt. Unamo's spirit was still unaccounted for in its entirety.
Kingdom of Tuleria - Unto the Breach
Aeyr's taunt proved meaningless as Arkos blitzed past her to attack by himself. His sand attack doesn't end up blinding the vampire's sight, but does obscure the actions Arkos was taking behind it. He successfully impacts her, and she ends up losing one of her daggers, but rather than falling to the ground she ends up grappling his glaive, pushing it up onto his chest, and then ramming her second dagger into his shoulder. While his rocky armour stops the majority of its force, she does manage to penetrate and cut an inch into his flesh, causing blood to seep out in large volumes. Not immediately life threatening, but quite painful. The two remain in a grapple as the sounds of men shouting and charging reach her ears. She looks down into the desert valley and spots the remaining buccaneers all charging up towards her. Her eyes widen as she attempts another escape, only to be prevented by Arkos, who had her effectively grappled.
As the Buccaneers all reach and swarm around her, she breaks free only to be tripped by Arkos and fall to the ground. The Buccaneers then all circle around her and begin repeatedly stabbing her. She screams and howls for a few seconds, but it doesn't last long in the face of the angry, though somewhat fatigued mob.
Quar, meanwhile, manages to stabilize his own wound with his magic. Breathing slowly, he looks up at Aeyr, then glances towards the scorpions.
"Get moving, go-- agh." He winces and grasps his guts in pain.
"Quickly. Before it's too late. The buccaneers can't do it without the Queen's Blades. I'll be fine. I just... Need a couple minutes... Sorry..." There was deep remorse on his face for his failure, though he continued to mend his own wounds.
Meanwhile, as all of this was going on, Otto looked between Toorg and Filomena. Before he could shout otherwise, Filomena charged once more at a scorpion. Shaking his head, he moves to engage the healthy scorpion with Toorg, taking the long way around to flank it at an angle rather than charge it head on. A lesson which Filomena likely should have learned the first time as she descended into the extremely deadly grasp of the chitin-covered scorpion. Though her blow connects with its injured pincer and does manage to break the chitin in such a way as to break its pincher, the other, still perfectly intact pincer was easily able to rip through Filomena's flesh like a pair of freshly sharpened sabres. Being cleft in two across her torso, her death was nearly instantaneous.
Toorg's charge reaches the scorpion, which was ready for his frontal assault as it darted out of the way of a slam on his part. It latches both of its pincers around Toorg's left arm as it hit the desert hand, and with a few unsettling wrenches it attempts to take Toorg's arm off. As Toorg recoils and brings his arm up, the scorpion is lifted off the ground momentarily before finally succeeding at its task of wrending off Toorg's limb, sap spraying wildly from the open wound, though not killing him outright it would slow him down and momentarily phase him. As the scorpion drops the wrended off limb to go for a second attack against the stunned Toorg, it ends up blind sided by Otto, who swings for its side and ends up cleanly cleaving off three of its legs from the back to the centre. It falls down, and as it manages to turn itself slowly in the sand to face Otto, Toorg slams his right fist into its side, rolling it over to expose its more vulnerable underside. Toorg and Otto then take turns bashing it, about a half a dozen times each as Otto yelled incoherently about his family's honour in the tongue of his motherland. After a few solid bashes from both, the scorpion ceases twitching, and its innards were thoroughly juiced. Otto stares up at Toorg, covered in the blue blood of the scorpion.
"RAAAAAAAGH! ONE MORE, TREE MAN!" Otto was clearly frenzied and ready to take on the other scorpion.
Meanwhile, whilst all of this was happening, Yuri went for the final lunge against the magician. Her defensive training made her ill suited to this task, and though she was able to lunge competent, the vampire was able to leap back. Yuri stumbles in the sand, and the vampire drops her spell and counter-lunges, sinking her fangs into Yuri's collarbone. There was a certain madness to the vampire's movements now as the two fell into the sand and rolled down into the valley. Yuri manages to shove the vampire back, painfully, as her fangs ripped through a couple inches of her flesh. They came to a stop several feet closer to Aeyr and Arkos, though it still managed to keep her pinned to the sand, Yuri's blood dripping from its fangs as it kept pushing itself against her arms, that barely held it at bay. In the whole flurry, her weapon had fallen a few feet from her: Out of reach.
"HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE WORTHLESS, MORTAL!" The vampire taunts, still trying to go for the nourishment that could preserve her precious immortal life. It was so focused on Yuri that it couldn't see Aeyr and Arkos nearby, ready to kill it and get it off of her.
Still, Yuri could feel a chill in her wound. A sickening feeling in her gut told her that the vampire may have done a little more than simply drain some blood from her body...