11/05 — ΣHeartless Snaring Cathedral...?

[userunfriendly]

Who: █████ & visitors
What: scheming
Where: Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground (Hulle Granz Cathedral)
When: Sunday, 11/05
Warnings: to be added


[ Despite the ominous aura, the haunted tower has seen no shortage of visitors recently. But for those who gate in today the air itself is different. The skies are black, and the mist that had blanketed only the top of the tower now pours out across the plains, shrouding the ruined city from sight.

Anyone who goes looking for the master of the tower will find that the room he occupied before now holds only a single door, standing unsupported in the middle of the room. It beckons, tugging with a terrible compulsion — you know whatever sight awaits you is one you'll later wish you could forget, and yet... you look. But the door opens only onto the bridge leading to Hulle Granz Cathedral, where the first quiet strains of choral music through the open doors guides you on. ]

((Note: Characters are welcome to receive the location from any other player and gate directly to Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. Allowing those who found his tower inaccessible to come join, too, is cruelty.))

Comments

ROUND 7 (1/2)

[userunfriendly]

[ The tethers from Oria and Deto drain gratifyingly fast. Gorre's HP is shooting upwards again even as others scramble to sever those connections. Tylor's Vak Spiral and Albedo's Transmogrify connect in a timely fashion, taking a chunk of health each; Tylor's substantial, as the red flames dance, and Albedo's less so — but still notable.

Down, down, up, up, up. Gorre's drain outraces the damage dealt, doing more than breaking even. Shoka and Kara each abuse a door, slamming it shut rather quickly before Gorre can enjoy his full round of drain from the effect. Oria and Deto are freed from Whispers of the Witch — Gorre's form shifts again, back to his corporeal armor, and the arena flames once more burn colorless. With Nanashi and Sinclair's efforts, Oria and Deto find their health restored; the data drain takes a little more from Gorre, who hardly seems to mind.

Ganymede's Mumyn Lei does knock Gorre to sleep, long enough for Hector to land his Guiltridden and for Ganymede to attempt his candle metaphors. Gorre becomes exasperated eventually and attempts to shake Ganymede off with surprising vigor (19?!)... Ganymede may roll (with advantage, for a dancer's natural grace) for the dubious privilege of staying mounted on his giant boyfriend.

Whether he remains or not, Haru's Data Drain Type D: Blind strikes Gorre, leaving him incapacitated as Fuurin, Levi, and Mithrun also close to miss embarrassingly. Gorre takes irritable swipes at them in retaliation with his blades (13, 6, 3, 12), all misses in his blinded state. Kara and Dehya, however, make the most of the advantage, with Beastly Mane and Stagger Shot landing with force... that nonetheless only scrapes his HP in this form. Gorre has been dropped to about 90% again, and stunned, unable to act for the next round. ]

ROUND 7 (2/2)

[userunfriendly]

[ And then Owen opens his door. Purple flames light, the tether snaps into being again, and Gorre — immobile — resumes his ghost form. Owen is under the effects of Whispers of the Witch... but perhaps the whispers are a bit softer, his memories easier to bear now that he confronted them of his own volition. He will drain HP towards Gorre at a rate of 30% a turn.

Around the arena, two other doors, without handles open again. Miharu and Yael may reemerge at their leisure. Perhaps they were in a pleasant place, suffused with the nebulous feeling of a time when they were happy, and finding themselves abruptly on the battlefield again is cruel. Or perhaps they were somewhere cold, empty, and utterly alone. The choice is theirs! Welcome back. ]

[insinning]

[OWEN WHY but Sinclair looks at the flames, frowning. The flames are purple, so...]

Who has darkness element attacks? Hit him now--

[...and, depending on how much damage they can deal Michel, Sinclair will go find his door again. What can he find? If they can outpace the HP being absorbed with more damage...]

[murrmoire]

Going!

[ Hey hey Gorre! Meet Twin Darkness (15) :) ]

[glassbell]

I do.

[ This is a surprisingly well-performed Reaper's Dance (20) fueled by petty annoyance at door shenanigans. They were fruitful shenanigans to be had, but >:T ]

ARMOR CORE 2/4

[dissimulative]

[ Seeing as how Gorre is in ghost form again, Oriade clicks his tongue. Instead, he uses Armor Core to give Ganymede double defense boost along with debuff immunity for 15 minutes. ]

[alchemicalbirth]

[ Hearing Sinclair, Albedo leaps into attack-

Ani Revolver with a darkness themed maneuver, but it misses (3) ]

[weaseled]

[How cruel, making him think there was ever a time when he wasn't engaged in one manner of warfare or another. Gorre doesn't succeed in fooling Yael with his little parlor trick, but he does succeed in irritating him. As if he could ever accept such a pleasant existence.

No longer closeted, Yael emerges, primed to turn right back around and inspect the door, but he notices Fai lying on the ground instead. Naturally, his attention is on him first.

Sprinting over to him, Yael sits Fai up and supports his weight against his palm, raising the other to hit Gorre with a Data Drain Type A: Single. With that, he doubles Fai's defense and makes him invulnerable to status effects for the time being.

Leaning down to speak to Fai,]

Hey. Don't push yourself too hard.

[fluorite]

[ Ah. His eyes widen when he sees that Yael has come out of the closet finally, and a look of relief washes over his face. With a wry smile, he regards Yael. ]

If I can bring him back, there's no pushing myself too hard.

[ That's how he sees it. Michel is surely in there somewhere and Fai will be damned if he's going to lose a friend that understands him so well. So, with Yael's support, he stands up all the way. ]

I'll stop short of any big injuries, though. I promise.

[ He's not here to cause Yael any real worry here, after all.

So, he takes a step back and flips open his tome to cast MeAni Zot (1) and immediately fumbles it, dropping it onto the ground. Fuck. ]

1/2

[weaseled]

[weaseled]

[...................He can trust Fai on his own, can't he? That fumbled spell says otherwise, but Yael isn't going to baby him.

Giving Fai a pat on the back, Yael heads back to find the door he came out of. There's no rule that says he can't put himself back in the closet.]

Don't make any promises you can't keep. Keep your eyes on Big Mike while I check out the door.

[sicklysweet]

[sicklysweet]

[…Ah. Interesting. It’s less horrible this time around, even if Owen does find himself subconsciously putting a hand to his stomach because he can picture the red and the pain blooming there. He can’t place a how and a why but it seems it happened at… at some point…

But before anyone tries anything, hopefully—]

Don’t close the door - he’s only vulnerable with them open.

[But does Owen really have the health pool to tank this…?

Still, he’ll cast Temperance Reversed while he’s still standing, doubling the timer on Gorre’s debuffs.]

[insinning]

He'll keep draining your health - I think we should switch. Get yours closed after everyone with darkness attacks deals enough damage and I'll get mine open. I have more health than you.

[OWEN...]

[sicklysweet]

The drain isn’t as fast this time.

[owen you are a support class.]

…If you open your door and mine stays open, that’ll give him more vulnerabilities, won’t it? The more options we have, the more we can drag Michel out of this mess, right?

[…]

Don’t worry about me yet. I can heal myself next chance I get.

[He did bring a heal core to the fight, so!]

[threatmewted]

[She tilts her head to catch Sinclair's words, barking out a quick:]

On it!

[And, as a tribal grappler, races from the now shut door to instead try to pummel Gorre with a Shell Shock (14) - a single, darkness based hit that knocks your foe down.]

[tylorific]

[ Tylor hears Sinclair's call for darkness and hums.

Hold on, he's sure he has a couple of those.

It takes him a few beats to check and make his way closer. Good thing he's stunned, or this punch would be easy to avoid. He leans his knee on a rung of his crutch to swing his fist with as much force as he can. Shell Shock (18). Though he is winding this up with one leg balanced on a crutch, so either he is really lucky or this probably won't hurt as bad.

He stumbles back more than a few steps in the aftermath of his own attack, but he avoids falling. Especially if Hani is still there to greet his hand. His voice is still light. ]

Stop trying to be so scary, would you?

[curvaceous]

[ ok but consider not one, not two, but three shell shocks!! (14) take that you edgy meatball ]

[trashtier]

We really gotta do something about that HP regen!

[Levi goes in for another attack, this one successful (14) as he brandishes his sword:]

Ani Revolver!

[ophidie]

[Neither she nor Yael can go back through the doors whence they came, and something about emerging from that realm, driven lower and lower by those cruel dreams, makes her completely disoriented.

What had she been doing before she went there? It was something about the flames, wasn't it? She had thought they were immunities, but it sounds like she was wrong... she probably could have been a little smarter.

Her Vak Maxima (1) isn't even close (just like auntie), swinging so wide that when it's over she has to pause and sag against the downturned hilt to regain her balance.]

[insinning]

Miharu, are you okay? [Calling over from his door. Yes he's opening his again]

[ophidie]

I'm fine. Just disoriented. [She shakes her head, trying to clear it. There's a certain cruelty that can only be driven like a fine spike into one's own self... she suspects it might be one Michel knew well, even before Gorre.]

... What are you doing? [It worries her to see him back at his own door, when he's probably already shared a great deal of the things that torment him.]

[legendofthelion]

[Fucking HP regen! Dehya strikes broad with her blade (12) to try and offset some of the regen but she doesn't have a darkness attack, so.]

[ganymed]

[ Thanks to this, Ganymede is back on Michel's shoulder again after being knocked off.

He's pretty persistent, isn't he?

Also, he will do a dance, via Dek Do to slow him down. ]

[userunfriendly]

Why are you here again? Do you desire to experience what Tarvos showed you?

[ He's even larger. It would be simple, if Ganymede weren't so annoyingly difficult to catch. ]