10/29 --- Δ Haggard Traveler’s Reprieve?????

[gluttoning]

Who: ??? & you!
What: Something's starting...
Where: Δ Haggard Traveler’s Reprieve (Twilight Shoreline)
When: Sunday, 10/29
Warnings: Will be added as needed.

( Perhaps intrigued by the mail allegedly sent by CC Corp, perhaps visiting the Shoreline by chance, gating into the Area goes as it always does, until the music stays cut for longer than it should, and the black, liminal transition screen lingers for a little too long. The seconds tick on. They near turn to minutes. You can't struggle, you can't argue— you can only simply be, and it occurs to you that maybe you'll be trapped midway here, conscious, for maybe forever.

And then you hear static. Your vision warps; pixels strain into words, blurred and unstable. You see them combat for your attention; you see— )



( And then you load in. )

( POST NAVIGATION )
( Sign-in Comment (Mandatory) • How to Play • Mechanics

Phase 1 • Round 1 • Round 2 • Round 3 • Round 4 • Round 5 • Round 6

Phase 2 • Round 7 • Round 8 • Round 9 • Round 10 •
Round 11 • Round 12

Epilogue )

Comments

[justonezero]

I'll swap around where I'm needed, so just call out if you need healing!

ROUND ONE (1/2)

[gluttoning]

[The echoes of a name unfamiliar ring out. The sight of people he knows. Knew. Burning fires, from sadness and fear and anger and determination. Aggression, all flavors, all sorts, good and bad and inbetween, all being pulled towards a target. All eyes focused forward, even if some look to one another.

Good.

There is no recognition from Tarvos. Only the glancing over across at Leviathan, at Shoka, at Hani, at Kara. No longer knowing.

Only angry.

--

The sound of rumbling stone and cracking carapace echoes as Tarvos lurches forward, bared teeth gnashing, heaving for breath. With back overturned and muscles flexing, he looks like little more than an animal agonized under an unseen sound, eyes fully blackened as he focuses them fully on the players.

His face twists, a final human expression of despair and fury, before his silhouette starts to bend and burst, the Lord Partizan buckling over with a bellowing roar. Horns twist out as bones and muscles expand, the stretch of chitin coating his face to leave nothing behind but a solid white mask, nothing but black beyond the eyes, a shadowed line of tears unshed crawling down the length of his face. Legs fold in on themselves and extend outwards in enormous points of white and red, the wings on his back seeming to crawl their way out and expand nearly three times their size, the eye-like patterns against every segment bursting open and staring in nothing but fiery need for vengeance.

He stands nearly 13 feet tall with wings nearly twice the span by the end of it, only a few moments like a moth emerging from a chrysalis. But he doesn’t seem to need the time to mourn, to process, the spear that materializes in his hand a brutal object of spikes arranged haphazardly, now gripped in stone hands with so much force that he might snap it in half.

The empty eyes of a mask stare, and he immediately charges forward like a bull enraged, taking a long and physical swipe at Leviathan, Kara and Haru. (16) ]

SUSPICIOUS SEDUCTION (INVULNERABLE)

[tablescraps]

Suspicious Seduction: Macha's signature ability. Charms all targets within a mile radius simultaneously, making them susceptible to Macha's orders. This move is unavoidable and incurable.

• Whenever Macha casts Suspicious Seduction while invulnerable, the following will occur:
 • Macha will roll a 1d5 for each character. The charm is at its weakest when a character receives a 1, and stronger as we count up the scale to 5, its maximum intensity.
 • Macha will usually use his charm to attempt to line up characters for Tarvos's attacks.

• If your character receives a 4-5, I will note that they are charmed by Macha and regard him as a close ally. They trust him enough to follow his orders to a T.
 • In this phase of the fight, charm is dispelled when they take any amount of damage from either an enemy or an ally.
 • A debuff icon on each affected character will inform everyone of the dispel conditions.
 • A minimum of one character will be in this category each cast.

• If your character receives a 2-3, I will note that they are confused as to who's their enemy and who's their ally. Disoriented, your character will focus on attacking and will not use support, tanking, or healing abilities.
 • Each comment, players must flip a coin. If heads: your character attacks an enemy; if tails: they attack an ally.
 • Confusion is dispelled whenever the character takes any amount of damage from either an enemy or an ally.
 • A debuff icon on each affected character will inform PCs of the dispel conditions.

• If your character receives a 1, I will note that your character is under the RP effects of charm but is not obligated to do anything. Your character regards Macha positively, but does not feel compelled to act. Your character can shake the charm off through willpower at your discretion.
 • A debuff icon will appear on your character indicating they are charmed, but will disappear once the charm is shaken off.
 • A minimum of one character will be in this category each cast.

ROUND ONE (2/2)

[tablescraps]

( There is recognition in that flickers across Macha's gaze, because Macha is, until the end, a human operation, and it is his place to yearn. But the eyes across his body stay split wide open in a fixed and haunted gaze. Is failing to save their friend, too, unrequited affection? Is failed affection a failure to communicate? Are we, in life and in death, always alone?

His lips split, a sweet, sweeter scent carrying on the wind: )

. . . No. I'll take you to heaven, too.

( The sound of rumbling stone near drowns him out.

In the shadow of Tarvos's twisting, Macha's body splits and cracks. The crevice at his chest that marks him a chrysalis vivisects him from jaw to stomach, as if something were meant to crawl out. Flesh and muscle pulled apart; bone and ligament split with such force his body trembles and his neck breaks with a sickening snap. What comes forth from his cavernous chest is—

nothing. This was a love that bore no fruit. He must be empty, as he'd always feared.

His head hung limp, it's almost certain he's died. But his ragged breath persists; too grating, too loud, so unwillingly still alive. The cracked glass veins that run along him shatter, and burst; his limbs overflow red, his body-embed eyes gazing at you as the blood swallows them like a sinking ship.

From the candy glass rises around him a thing that encircles him like an embrace, the pattern of an eye carved into the round glass. As if lifted up by a gentle pressure within it, he floats through the orb and up through the top, laid across it, legs limp. Like an optical illusion, with a suddenness you realize the glass eye and Macha are much bigger than they seemed at first: 10 feet (3m), Phase and Eye together, lofty in their height.

He gazes down at you with unnerving need from atop his glass eye, a black halo worked behind his visage, a veil flowing softly about him. Fallen from love's grace, what else is there for Macha but this, who else can he want but you?

Macha's HP values cannot be seen; and, stranger yet: inspecting Macha will tell you he has a buff up, "Well-loved," with listed no end duration.


And somewhere in that rumbling of Tarvos's thunderous steps, it catches your ear: a haunting and beckoning melody from the caverns of Macha's split chest, one that resounds across the endless oceanscape, one that brushes its soft fingers along the curve of your jaw and tips your chin as if to say, look here, look up.

Your gaze drifts to a bright, beautiful light; one that dances within Macha's black halo, and bathes him in Heaven's light. Your weapon feels loose in your grip; your tension fades from your muscles. You feel at ease around him. You feel calm. That you ever meant to harm him or his ally slips far, far away from your mind.

Macha has cast Suspicious Seduction! See this comment for details and how to dispel the status effects.

Ramiel, Kara, and Hani drown in the full flood of Macha's allure; you are now charmed by Macha. The siren's melody resounds gentle within your chest; with his finger, Macha beckons you directly into Tarvos's warpath, and, trusting him as you would any ally, you find your feet carrying you to where he wants you fixed. You stride directly into Tarvos's attack! Kara has already been targeted by Tarvos; she goes still in the face of his attack, and takes a critical hit!

Oria, Ganymede, Levi, Haru, Swallow, Nanashi, and Deto are only partly lured by Macha's trap; they are now confused. Macha is wonderful; Macha puts you at ease... but aren't these people your allies, too? Why are they fighting one another? Is someone lying to you? Are you safe? Panicked, you can now only attack— and you attack both enemies or allies. (Flip a coin each comment; if heads: your character attacks an enemy; if tails: they attack an ally.)

Dehya and Hector brush past Macha's snare; you trust Macha, but know you cannot let mislaid affection distract them from what you're fighting for. Aware of the grim reality of the situation, you can shake off this affection and focus on the fight. )

[curvaceous]

Ah-

[ Kara is extremely unprepared for the onslaught of Macha's Suspicious Seduction spell, and she happens to be in the front when Tarvos unleashes his first swipe. It hits a wide radius of people, but Kara happens to take the full force of it all.

This is their first combo. First fucking combo, and it does this much. ]

Ugh!

[ She lets out a loud, pained yell before she drops to her knees before Tarvos. This is going to hurt. This is bad, real bad. She's down for the count, and perhaps down for good, barring someone swooping in to help her out. ]

[secondthoughts]

[ This entire situation is just—so disappointing.

Not Kara herself, obviously. Just—

Whatever. It's not important. Hector, free from both damage and the charm, keeps a keen eye from the backline on everyone else rushing into the fight, ready to dispense his healing where need be.

Except Kara goes flying. And you know what happens when Kara goes flying? DAD MODE ACTIVATED.

He drops all other priorities and runs over to her, brandishing his staff into the air with a Pha Repth on her. ]

Kara! [ He didn't mean for his voice to break. He skids in his run on his knees and comes to a stop right by her and cradles her into a sitting position. ] You okay?!

[legendofthelion]

[She feels it, but Macha--no, Mithrun, Morgan's efforts roll off of Dehya. She shakes her head, but Macha isn't the thread she goes for.

No, it's seeing Kara taken out by their combined efforts that has Dehya rush forward at Tarvos. Her blade catches fire and she aims for his side to slam Vak Maxima into him (13).]

[threatmewted]

[Everything's disorienting - what the heck is she doing again?

She swings blindly - accidentally aiming for Deto with a successful hit (12). At least it's just a normal attack?]

[curvaceous]

[ DAD IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!

Kara is grateful for the heal, because yeah, that's absolutely going to save her life, even if her HP bar will probably continue to tick down shortly. Her injuries are pretty bad, after all, given by how she's bleeding out and how labored her breathing is. ]

T-thanks. Sorry...I was careless.

[ This won't be good for future fights, huh.

She manages a smile, though. ]

I'll be okay. I just need...a moment.

[tinged]

[ they do trust tarvos, they do love macha, but they have never, never been afraid of hurling their spells in the direction of friend and foe alike. and just like what happened with emil and bear, they will never hesitate to attack.

once kara gets struck, that's all the incentive they need to cast a the upgraded version of their level 4 spell merue rom, and water rushes everywhere - at tarvos, at ramiel, at kara, at themself. ]

[userunfriendly]

• Winter, Blade Brandier
• N, Damage Core
• N

[dissimulative]

[ Everything feels so disorienting. Perhaps the siren song would have been more effective if Oria hadn't forced himself to get used to anything that's related to the ocean with his own armor, that actually smells like the ocean. Walking purifier.

Anyway, he queues Rai Repulse and shoots it at Tarvos--it most likely won't crit, but it sure is aimed well (heads, 4, 19). ]

[curvaceous]

[ JESUS HANI!!!

Kara knows what they're trying to do, but the wave hits her, too, and she lets out a pained shriek. It's a small spell, but it still hurts. ]

Ow!

[deto]

[ OW and she gets a free sandwich, congrats! and also half the damage reflected back because of his gear? also congrats on confusion dispelled! for both of them

but wait, who is she, what's going on ]

... Where'd the sandwich come from...?

[threatmewted]

[WHY DID SHE JUST GET HIT BY A SANDWICH.]

Ow!

[rebelles]

[ The swing knocks the wind from Haru and she finds herself thrown off her feet and into the sand. She can taste cinnamon in her mouth as she pulls herself back up to standing shakily, and that's when she hears the call of the siren song blinding her to enemy and friend.

She levels her gun, pointing its barrel at... at who? Deto's being attacked, and so determining Swallow an enemy, she opens fire at Swallow. (11). ]

[deto]

[ DON'T ASK THIS GUY ]

Hey, that scythe is pretty dangerous and it hurts.

[ JUST SAYING ]

[justonezero]

[Confusion status... if only he could like, use support spells right now...

But he can't, so he tries to assist with an attack - and hits Dehya with his staff (17). FORTUNATELY, SQUISHY HEALER DOES NOT DO MUCH DAMAGE.]

[threatmewted]

I got turned around, sorry!

[Turning back to the bosses!]

[threatmewted]

[She gets hit! Ow.]

Noir?!

[legendofthelion]

[Dehya gets smacked in the shoulder by a staff, which isn't disarming (haha) but it does hurt. That's gonna bruise.] Ow, watch it!

[ganymed]

[ Ganymede is glaring at the two.

Do these two think he's stupid?! ]

Go to hell!

[ And then he smacks himself in the face.

...Just give himself a moment, guys. ]

[deto]

[ WELL now that deto is free (thank you random cat-bird girl, who?), he grabs nanashi by the shoulder and

flicks him on the forehead ]

Nacchin, snap out of it!

[rebelles]

I won't allow you to hurt him!

[ She has to protect Mithrun! Er, or was it Deto? Yeah, she's a bit confused. ]

[justonezero]

Uwah!

[Flicked! Status effect fades!]

C-confusion in this game is no joke...