"I'll be taking you from the puppet, it doesn't look quite designed for what may be required," Grunt said as he stomped his foot and drug it through the lines of the design in several spots, "And I suggest you tell us how you'd proceed with getting clear before he arrives."

Arkady looks a bit shaken when Grunt crosses the circle in a similar manner one would react when you see a friend kicking a weird rock at an artillery range.

"Sthe sthpeakths thruth. Ith a bindin' thircle."

he raises his eyes off the circle and focuses on the child and the box and speaks with a stern voice: "You better not fhuck uth."

As grunt smudges the the circle, Arkady sighs but regains his alertness quickly.

"Game over. It seemth we both won."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Mon 16 Apr 2018.

The growing presence of Abyssal essence leaves Diamond Sky feeling a bit drained. After pushing and shoving and hiding her own essence, this was not something she wanted to  add to that feeling.

"Yeah, do speed your talking up," she aims at Sigereth. "We also need to extract ourselves out of here as safely as possible."

The box is ripped from the doll's hand and the circle is duly destroyed.  The doll falls over, inert.

Exhumes the Bodies rushes into view of the reactor.  He's tall, lanky, with long black hair that reaches down to his calves, and wears so much black leather he's probably clothed in a whole cow.

He's also covered in slashes, cuts, bruises, two arrows, leaking from three bullet wounds, and there's half of a Baidak axe blade stuck in his right shoulder.  He raises his finger at Sigereth and Grunt and croaks, "Oh, fucking... you bitch!"

"I am no longer in control of the facility, Exhume the Bodies,"  Sigereth says smugly, "You were warned."

"You broke your binding!  How!"

"I  believe the binding was 'I must destroy anyone who tries to enter my core and change my orders.' "  Sigereth responds to him, "You should have thought your binding through."

"Escape, then taunt," Grunt said quietly to the box he held, "And if you've got more of the combat puppets now would be a great time to dog pile him."

That having been said, his anima was gathering around his legs as he prepared to react with speed if not a great deal of planning.

Diamond Sky turns to face the Abyssal, that is standing in between them and the possible exit. The left side of her face aches, and the tiredness in her limbs from pausing for a bit, is suddenly pushed aside when the need to fight or flight emerges. Despite this she waits to see what happens, before rushing into battle. Even though her talons say otherwise.

"you thould have paid more athention to your code, thuka."

Arkady wipes blood off his chin and gives the Abyssal a devious grin.

"I gueth you are that body thathner  guy? You fucked up"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:49, Tue 17 Apr 2018.

"I used all of them.  Why do you think he took so long?  Whose axe do you think is in his back?"  Sigereth chimes in.

"Body what guy?"  Exhumes the Bodies sighs at Arkady and his eyes partly close, "Fuck it, I don't even care anymore.  This whole thing was..." The fingers on his right hand start to dance in a way immediately obvious to anyone who knows sorcery, "... Just a short blip in a long spiral to an inevitable death."

Grunt would grumble at the box later.

For now he needed to keep any spells from going off. In this space anything above the Emerald Circle would almost certainly kill. Directly or through structural damage. On the other hand, he couldn't see himself lasting long in a hand to hand exchange.

So he grabbed the remaining baidak and threw it with a essence enhanced speed at the enemy.

OOC: You wanting rolls or is this going to stay narrative?

Arkady's expression steels as he thinks through his options.
He's torn with temptation to exact revenge on one of those who were responsible for destroying his home and his family. His hand creeps towards the grip of his silver sheen pistol.

No. He needs to escape.

He resorts to his survival instinct. His eyes wander across the reactor room in almost a panicked manner and his thoughts run lightning fast. 'Only exit is blocked by a tough enemy, wounded but dangerous. Escape requires distraction. Main objective was to destroy the reactor. Reactor core removed which will result to meltdown eventually. Not fast enough. Overloading is not an option as the exact workings of the reactor are unknown to him.

A moment of clarity. Every reactor has a vital construct that allows the reactor's continuous use.

Coolant. Failed cooling would eventually cause a reactor meltdown relatively quickly. Sigereth is no longer in control so the she can't engage protective protocols.
Their chances of survival are slim, but other options are as unlikely.'

As Grunt throws the baidak, which Arkady considers as a one ballsy stunt, he executes his plan.

"NO FFFFUCK YOUUU!"

He pulls out his pistol and opens fire on nearby pipes he believes are containing hot coolant that's been through the power reserves already. That should provide adequate distraction due to vaporising coolant, and delay the meltdown until coolant has ran out.

"EVACUATE NOW. MELTDOWN IMMINENT, DAVAI DAVAI BLYAT!!!"

It all happens almost in the blink of an eye. A flying baidak. Arkady shouting about reactor meltdown. Sigereths bindings broken. Sudden need to evac. Her brain is reminded just how long the distance between her and Benisuzume is.

In that split second Diamond Sky..? also bursts in to action. The lights blink and shadows grow just for a moment, and then she is there behind Exhumes the Bodies. Her form having turned into something completely unrecognizable with no distinctive features as her aura is finally let to break free.

She grabs the two arrows lodged at him and twists and bends him in their direction to move him aside to let the others to pass him. Not giving him any more moments to spare her free hands talons aim for his throat.

"Move it!" She shouts at the others before looking at Exhumes the Bodies. "Mournful Topaz Seraphim, Set Beckons and Gardener of Screams. It's been a looong day with these obstacles that I've crushed. How about you join them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:55, Fri 20 Apr 2018.

The remaining baidak makes a disturbingly elegant arc in the air, momentarily grabbing everyone's attention- including Exhume the Bodies'.  The Abyssal freezes just long enough for Arkady to turn and blast the coolant pipes, filling the room with dirty, skin-blistering steam.  Thee's an ape-stampede out, twisting the Abyssal around in place.  That gives Diamond Sky more than enough time to rush the Abyssal and give both of the arrows a huge twist.  He has only a moment to look into her featureless eyes and appreciate how truly fucked he is.

"That's not- urkh-"

He falls to the ground, throat gushing black blood.

As the others run, Sigereth starts directing them.  "I opened all doors right after you disconnected me!  Head directly towards your ship!  Meltdown in 2 minutes!"

"Nu pizdec! RUN!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Not even Arkady himself knew why he laughed. Was that his way of coping with stress? was he happy that the cursed facility is going to blow up? Or did he catch some 'not so good' habits from the erymanthoi. Who knows...

As he rushes through the door he "accidentally" kicks the abyssal on his way out after this his laugh turns into more of a snicker.

He keeps running with the crew.

"There is such a thing as being too eager with self detonation protocols," Grunt huffed out as he sprinted, "Move you damned apes!"

Sigreth was tucked under his left arm.

"How far away from the facility will the blast radius be?"

Not wasting any extra effort or thought on the Abyssal, she just wipes her talons clean and leaves him lying in the black pool that was slowly forming around him. The whole deadly lunge had been somewhat cathartic, she notices in herself.

”I’ll accompany beside you in Benisuzume,” she notes upon joining the group in running.

Ew, gross, Abyssal blood on Arky's shoes!... A whole lot, he must've caught the guy's throat.

"You are assuming there is a meaningful theoretical end to the radius,"  Sigereth says to Grunt, "It depends how badly it destabilizes the black hole in the center of this worldlet."

"Oh crap, even I kno dat ain't good!" A blood-ape shouts as they bowl their way through the halls.  Eventually they head up towards the initial hallway, where they find the remaining demons of the Konnidan have set up up a roadblock.  There are dead zombies, dead Baidak, and more than a few dead demons strewn about the hall.  The demons cheer as they see the team- and then realize exactly what the running means.

"OH SHIT" echoes through the hall.

They scramble over the barricades.  One minute left.  Captain Fistfoot has already begun the engines of the ship.  Demons pile through the entrance, which thankfully is designed to allow just as many people to enter the ship as exit.In a few moments they're out of the facility and starting to leave.

"Primary core meltdown should be beginning now," Sigereth says in a quiet whisper, "The biggest danger won't be the blast radius.  It'll be which direction the black hole decides to ricochet."

"Your escape plan seems very poorly strategized," Grunt tells Sigreth mildly as he straps in, securing the inanimate demon in the seat next to his. Rather he's being sarcastic or just making a neutral observation is hard to tell from his tone. "So our odds are determined by the radius of the singularity as it escapes and what arc it takes."

"Somebody let the fleet know they may need to get out of the way."

Blue Fox parts from the others and jumps into Benisuzume. There is no time to take respite in being something so familiar when she straps herself in. She ignites the engines and upon moving takes quickly some distance between herself and the facility. The explosion could grant her extra speed but to avoid the pull of the blackhole she position the ship behind something bigger like Konnidan or any other wreck left floating after the battle.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:47, Thu 26 Apr 2018.

Arkady rushes to the ship and waves others to hurry.

"Less talking, more... escaping! Hey Cap'n!!! STEP ON IT FOR FUCK'S SAKE! I'd like to watch this shit show from afar! Davai davai!"

He braces himself against anything he can grab on and braces for takeoff.

"Blyat... I need a drink."

"I did not think that escape was feasible."  Sigereth admits. "But that is correct."

"ON IT, Konnidan to Jagganathika, oi, move guys!  Possible black hole coming our way, who the fuck knows where!"  Captain Fistfoot hollers.

"If the black hole passes within 90 square degrees, we will perish." Sigereth says calmly, "There are 41253 square degrees in a sphere, so that gives us a one in 458.37 chance of certain death."

"Well, dat ain't bad," The captain mutters to Arkady as the Konnidan's engines start the ship moving.  "Steppin on it.  OI, you, get down to the engine rooms and give it the JUICE if you want to get movin fastah!  A little essence never hurt no engine!"

The Jagganathika starts moving against the starscape.  They feel a prickling sensation as the warp field begins to falter.  From what they can remember, the warp field required constant demonic sacrifices to stay up; it'd make sense they wanted to reduce casualties.

"KONNIDAN, this is Captain Mageldrigal.  Prepare your engines for immediate jump.  We expect immediate enemy reinforcements as soon as the field fades!  Diamond Sky, maximum burn for the Jagganathika!"

ONYX SPIRE starts to fall into itself.  The tall spires sink into the planetoid, causing hundreds of secondary explosions like twinkling lights within the structure.  One section of the planetoid explodes outwards catastrophically- away from them, towards the remains of the dead star nearby.  The rocks are each large enough to flatten the Jagganathika.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:49, Mon 30 Apr 2018.

"A risk has to be weighed both in likelihood and severity if it happens," Grunt told Sigreth chidingly, "And not taking the possibility of victory into account seems unwise."

He couldn't fly the ship, or really control any of the factors that would see him alive or dead ten minutes from now.

But he could absolutely scold the boardgame.

"So, any other bindings? I imagine they'll keep you somewhere they can blow the atmosphere until we're sure. Certainly wouldn't call up any baidak for the next few days without permission."

"Coming in hot!" Blue Fox confirms to Jagganathika.

This was the chance for her to burn the remains of her essence. She hits the petal to the metal, and when her essence lurks into the systems, the Benisuzume speeds ahead, a shiny blue shaded dot appearing here and there, always closer to Jagganathika. Luckily speed had always been at her side.

"Well let's see if I can squeeze some power outta this thing." Arkady says in a slightly stressed note.
Seeing the Onyx spire fall apart,  Arkady rushes to the engine room in an accelerating pace
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit..."
As he reaches what he thinks is the power distribution and starts conveying Essence. His arms start to glow and his anima starts to shine in rainbow colors as he's attempting to push the Konnidan's jump engines to their absolute peak efficiency.

The Konnidan speeds ahead, suddenly supercharged by an infusion of Solar essence.  Ahead of them they can see the Jagganathika opening up its hangar for Diamond Sky, who blows past them in a blur of blue-black light.

"No.  Any more bindings and I wouldn't have been able to function."

Then they feel it.  The warp bubble collapses.  There's all of a half second before space is completely full of Dead ships, a vast armada, including three flagships.  Arkady even gets to see via a feed in the engine room.

"Idiots."

Diamond Sky hits the hangar hard, all but crashing in.  ONYX SPIRE finally finishes its implosion.  The planetoid shatters like a glass bottle, sending shards of itself out everywhere, and there- a howling black hole is sent out, away from them, and directly into a portion of the Abyssal fleet.  A full Buchenwald-class flagship and several Nanking-class cruisers are sucked right in, and the rest of them are pulled out of alignment.

"JUMPING!"


The Konnidan and the Jagganathika linger just long enough to see the ruin of the enemy fleet before jumping to safety.

---

Destiny/Entanglement to follow in the near future.

+++AFTER ACTION REPORT+++

CASUALTIES:  COSMO CORENTINE, CALLSIGN 'CROSSFIRE' [MIA - ASSUMED DEAD] ; 126 FIRST-CIRCLE DEMONS [KIA - ANTI-WARP FIELD SACRIFICES ; BOARDING PARTY]

ENEMY LOSSES:  125 DRACUL-CLASS CORVETTES ; 125 ASSORTED IMMACULATE DRAGON-BLOODED AND/OR IMPERATORS ; 3 ATTILA-CLASS FRIGATES ; 1 BATAAN-CLASS FRIGATE ; 8 NANKING-CLASS CRUISERS ; 3 STALIN-CLASS CRUISERS ; 1 BUCHENWALD-CLASS FLAGSHIP ; 1 ABYSSAL CONSTRUCTION FACILITY [ONYX SPIRE] ; 4 ABYSSALS [GARDENER OF SCREAMS, WOUNDED ; MOURNFUL TOPAZ SERAPHIM, WOUNDED ; SET BECKONS, CAPTURED; EXHUME THE BODIES, KIA]

MAJOR TACTICAL VICTORY ; PIVOTAL STRATEGIC VICTORY

SECRETARY:  JUNO

THIS TRANSCRIPT SEALED, LEVEL 30I:  PRE-EXODITES, COMMAND, CORE ONLY
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:17, Tue 01 May 2018.

Arkady
*5 Destiny:  Session Reward
*1 Destiny:  Exodite Reward
*2 Destiny:  Alcoholism
*1 Cultivation:  Exodite Reward
*5 Entanglement:  Generalized.  Spend towards Relationships, Enemies, etc. associated with these threads.
*1 Entanglement:  Exodite Reward

Blue Fox
*5 Destiny:  Session Reward
*1 Destiny:  Daredevil
*1 Cultivation:  Blessed by the Gods
*5 Entanglement:  Generalized.  Spend towards Relationships, Enemies, etc. associated with these threads.

Grunt
*5 Destiny:  Session Reward
*1 Destiny:  Exodite Reward
*1 Cultivation:  Exodite Reward
*1 Entanglement:  Exodite Reward
*5 Entanglement:  Generalized.  Spend towards Relationships, Enemies, etc. associated with these threads.

Lucifer
*5 Destiny:  Session Reward
*1 Destiny:  Known to the Dead
*1 Cultivation: Worship
*2 Cultivation: Manifest Destiny [2 Major Wounds]
*5 Entanglement:  Generalized.  Spend towards Relationships, Enemies, etc. associated with these threads.
*1 Entanglement:  Icon of Dawn.
*5 Way:  Longinus