Eternal was no where to be seen--and that was how it was supposed to be.  His presence was not to be felt in this realm, as every indication of his existence had been absorved completely by the veils of oblivion.  There was no sound of his footsteps, or the tell-tale shriek of blades being unsheathed, but all of these actions and more were no doubt taking place as Eternal ascended the stairs with his fellow Exalts, as they prepared to make a stand--and cause a whole lot of chaos.

Eternal was particularly useful in this endeavor, as the Death Knight's particular brand of combat was a spectacular barrage of visceral violence and unabashed gore--traits that would gain a whole lot of attention very, very quickly, if those unfortunate enough to face them had quick means of communication, or if they were being watched by some form of surveillance.

"I am curious as to how their numbers will fare against my blades--I can dance with them forever..."[Private to Gatekeeper: I have it that he activated the Charm that lets him sucks essence with each hit, and his invisibility charm.  Those are both scene-long, to my knowledge.  XD]

"We won't be hit from both sides if we kill one side off before the other can approach us." Dena points out, her voice and body language starting to take on the familiar brutal lilt that showed that she was turning pain into power again.

"Oh, Um. Well. I guess that works, kinda." Although they'd have to be very, very fast like that, because Dragons could run pretty fast too, and in this place, at this time... well. Um. At least she had practice? No; they had practice. Kinda. They'd mowed through a whole bunch of Dragon-monks just now, and everyone seemed to have come out of it ok, although now she supposed there were a lot less of them and about the same amount of, well, them. Hmmm. And a second big lot of them behind, too, so they had to take out the first big lot of them or there'd be twice of them, and then they'd be in twice as much trouble. "Won't that kinda contradict the whole pace yourself thing, though? Unless" we had some huggge advantage or something, um, even bigger than that Terrestrial-Celestial thing, really, and...

...and this corner kinda fit, really. The footsteps were getting louder now, weren't they? And if she kinda jumped right now she could wedge her blade into one of the higher-up grooves, which meant she could hold on to the hilt as her boots scuffed against the nearby wall (and this is why she liked being once-being still-being an acrobat) it wasn't even a stretch, really, because she'd gotten even more... um. Even less rigid, kinda, ever since her welcome, and this meant that her body went exactly where she wanted it to go (here here and here) until she was a dark bundle against the ceiling, carefully placed out-of-view because nobody ever looked up. Or, at least, not directly after corners, because people kind could see the ceiling in front of them as they walked, and "we set up an ambush or something, I guess. Although I need to learn whatever odd thing you're doing, Mr." whatever was his name "blade dancer, because it'll probably hurt a lot to fall the wrong way."


[OOC: 14:28, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 5 successes using 8d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,9,7,2,7,2,10,4. Hide?. ]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:02, Tue 24 Nov 2009.

The group largely remains in place near the stairwell, Danae using it as cover while Immy and Eternal concentrate on one of the skills their respective Castes know best: stealth.

Dena is the first to emerge, moving toward the right (counterclockwise, in this case). Coming from that direction is a pair of figures, one wreathed in a blaze of Earth Essence with skin as hard as marble, the other in aquamarine Water Essence that flows  around her in sinuous tendrils. Both of them wear no obvious armor, only the fine quality robe of an Immaculate of the Fourth Coil, dyed in hues to compliment their Essence. Glowing prayer strips wrought in jade and starmetal lettering are wrapped around their forearms, proclaiming sutras in honor of the Immaculate Dragon they emulate best.

Danae and Dena will both immediately recognize Stern Firmament, the Earth Immaculate Master they encountered while entering the Inner Temple. Beside him is a female Water Aspect with razor claws strapped to her hands; Eternal recognizes her as the devout, yet at times excessively cruel Peleps Sefima, who justifies her sadism by turning it toward the enemies of the Immaculate Order. [Private to Broken Eternal: If you wish you may extrapolate that she was directly involved in torturing Eternal in preparation for the Monstrance.]

Firmament and his companion stop as soon as they see Dena, though footsteps continue from the clockwise direction. "Just one?" says the woman sharply, unimpressed, and Firmament immediately shakes his head, touching her on the shoulder. "Control yourself, Sefima. Death is just another means of escape for them."

"Are you growing soft?" Sefima scoffs, then with a distasteful smile addresses the Celestials. Her eyes flick toward the corners of the hall, then settle on Dena. "You are trespassing, and I'm sure you know it. I won't patronize you with an offer to return to the collar. Prepare yourselves!"

(OOC: Time to roll Join Battle.)

[Private to Immaculate Kestrel: Your Surprise Anticipation Method activates. Besides the other two coming in clockwise (you're certain there's two more of them but they're still hidden from you by the bend in the hallway) you are certain there's one more figure standing with Firmament and Sefima. You can't see the figure, as he/she appears to have some sort of invisibility effect, but you're certain someone's there, and that he/she is armed with a thrown weapon.

You also are pretty sure at least some of the Dragon-blooded have spotted you -- or will, should you attack. (All-Encompassing Earth Sense)][Private to Broken Eternal: Unfortunately, some of these Dragon-bloods have All-Encompassing Earth Sense. However, since you're still effectively invisible, you'll still get some bonuses to attack and defend for those who didn't detect your exact location (I won't say who, but I rolled for the DBs already!)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:42, Wed 25 Nov 2009.

flicker

There was somebody else, wasn't there? She knew it; or rather, she felt it, somehow, and she knew that it was true. Someone with something that wasn't see-able at all; kinda like the pale-dark-rather-handsome one, although she still somehow kinda knew he was there, even without looking. Or really hearing. He was very quiet; kinda like 23, when he wanted to be, except that now 23 had gone off on another of his long disappearing nowheres somewhere again and for all she knew he was standing behind her chuckling. Not-chuckling. He didn't laugh much.

flickerflicker

And there were... one? Two. Two more people coming up behind, but she couldn't really tell how far away they were. And that the Dragons in front of them already kinda knew where she was, so she should really stop keeping herself up here like this cos her shoulders were kinda starting to hurt, and, goodness, they didn't often bother to clean the ceilings, did they? It looked very polished, but.... ew. Honestly. It was a temple. Admittedly, it wasn't a very good temple, because it belonged to all the wrong gods (Were the dragons gods? The big ones that they prayed to? She wasn't quite sure.), but sometimes the effort could count, couldn't it? You had to do things right. So it was that she rolled down off the wall, landing (still behind the corner!) wiping her hand on her wall and wondered what all the pseudo-brown stuff was. A bit of her labeled them as icks.

"There's one more of them with them, being all invisible and stuff, and he's armed with some sort of throwing thing of I-can't-tell-what. And another two people coming up behind now, so I think they kinda know where we are already or something, and we had better move really fast if we want to kill all of them before they arrive. Any dibs?" Pause. "Oh, and I think the big bald guy kinda knows where we are already, so I don't think we can surprise him anymore." Which was irritating, but oh well. Life was like that, always with interesting things that they didn't let you do. Like, um, borrow things, and stuff; people always got very caught up about that.

[OOC: 14:51, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,3,1,10,1,4. To battle!.]

"Stern Firmament, was it?" Dena asks as she relaxes before him into an aggressive stance, putting one foot forward and wrapping the crackling strands of her essence lash around one arm.  "It's good to see you again.  I trust you've rested up well since the last time you ran away from us?"

14:35, Today: Tervila Dena failed (no successes) using 3d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,3,4. Join Battle.

Guess I won't post an action given how much is going to happen before Dena does anything useful.  I'm going to have to break down and buy the first snake style charm some day.

"Honestly, I think we have slightly more things to worry about right now" Danae added, coming up from the opposite stairwell, Impeccable Spark already held in both hands as she looked the situation over.  "Dena, I'll have you focus on Firmament--his style's a good counter for mine--try to hold the line until we've handled the others"

She turns to the others, and considers.  "Everyone else--make sure if you try something sneaky, that you never make contact with the ground proper--they can feel that kind of thing out, and it wouldn't do to lose out on any of those sorts of advantages without reason."

She sighs, and takes a few steps forward, her Daiklave held backwards as she figured out the situation.  "Let's just cut the taunts to a minimum then--you want to capture or kill us, we want to get past you, it's rather clear that our respective sides aren't willing to back down by this point"

[Private to Gatekeeper: 3 succs JB]

"I had no intention of wasting my time that way," snarls Sefima, and moves straight for Danae, leaping and immediately striking at the Dawn Caste, her claws raking viciously at her in an X formation. As she surges forward, her Water anima roars ominously, rearing up like a tiger-shaped tidal wave over her shaven head. [Private to Danae Adela: 12 sux, 8 sux flurry.]

Stern Firmament wields no weapon, but as Danae recalls, he needed none to strike with the force of a mountain. The man has already assumed the Pinnacle of Earth, his body so solid and heavy that he seems to pull his opponent slowly inward, as if he were surrounded by his own gravitational field.

"There will be no retreat," the Earth Master says calmly. "Not for us, not for you or your hidden man." Though Broken Eternal is invisible to the eye, a shadowed spectre, Firmament glances knowingly toward the Abyssal's position. "At the end of this, only one of our groups shall live. I have accepted it; I hope you have, by now."

Firmament opens his attack with a flurry of meteoric punches, pummeling at Dena if she were a wall or a door standing in his way, intending to crack her in twain. [Private to Tervila Dena: Attack 1, 10 sux. Attack 2, 3 sux. This was Crashing Wave Style (Water Dragon), but I seriously doubt you'd have a problem parrying 3 sux so the flurry ends up stopping there.]

[Private to Immaculate Kestrel: Kestrel sees only a disturbance in the air where the invisible person is. A leap perhaps, a flicker of motion... ]Then four pale blue chakram appear seemingly out from nowhere, a pair hurtling toward Immy and two on a course to bury into Eternal's neck and torso. If not for the pink haired girl's previous warning about a third combatant, those razor discs may have given the Abyssal a very unpleasant surprise. [Private to Immaculate Kestrel: 2 attack flurry. 12 sux, 16 sux (ignore 3rd roll).][Private to Broken Eternal: 2 attack flurry. 11 sux, 10 sux. Post your defense, then an attack in the same post :)]

---

OOC: actions
tick 0 - Sefima
tick 1 - Firmament [Private to Immaculate Kestrel: Invisible person acts at this tick as well!]
tick 2 - Danae
tick 3 - Eternal, Kestrel
tick 5 - Dena
(2 more Join Battle at tick 10)

[Private to Immaculate Kestrel: You can continue to point the (likely Air Immaculate)'s position out to others so they are not surprised, so long as you can reflexively spend 1m per action and activate Surprise Anticipation Technique. You still get a -2 external penalty (subtract successes) per attack against her (let's just say it's a her). However, a caveat: If she attempts to reestablish surprise, and you've already used a Charm that turn, you will have to rely on natural Awareness to find her... unless of course you have Surprise Anticipation in your combo. (I will let you rearrange xp to do this now if you want)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:27, Sun 29 Nov 2009.

"You're really rather aggressive about this whole thing, don't you agree?" Danae noted, Impeccable Spark snapping upwards, blade igniting in a burst of Essence to accelerate fast enough to counter Sefima's initial blow, cobalt flecks of lightning breaking off of the clashing Magical Metals, and forcing Danae back a few feet--something expected given the comparable strengths she had compared to her opponent.

Water Dragon...  The element of fluidity...  She'd probably be good at redirecting and avoiding attacks...  Without being more familiar with the style though, all Danae could do was take a more conservative approach, striking when she had the opening, and blasting whatever she could out of her opponent--and not to waste her strength diving into the black abyss...

She twirled around, stepping back onto the stairway she had come from, carving a fragment of it out with a casual slice of her weapon, and snapping it up at Sefima, shattering it into dust between her blade and the Water Aspect's claws, sending the dust into her eyes, as she pivoted on her heel, spinning around, and lashing outwards with a golden-glowing blow, forcing the Immaculate to fall back or take a wound.

Probably one of those more difficult fights, she reasoned, the Immaculate Order wouldn't send amateurs to defend the inner sanctum like this.

[Private to Gatekeeper: Activating Reflex Cut as my Combo Action, using Heavenly Guardian Defense on the first of Sefima's attacks, and a standard parry on the second.  I'll also retort with a single melee attack, augmented with 10 motes on Second Melee Excellency, to buy 5 successes, on top of my 4 rolled, pre-stunt.  Total is 9, and I've spent 14 motes in the first exchange.]

Dena rocks back slightly, rolling onto her heels to absorb some of the impact as a ham-sized fist slams into her gut, followed by an elbow strike to her left temple before she catches Stern Firmament's blow by ducking slightly and taking the impact of a blow to the face on her forehead instead.  She grins wickedly as a trickle of blood flows out from under his fist and across her face.
"Tell me when you get worn out so I'll know it's my turn."  she taunts.  "These hits are so weak I won't be able to tell by feel when you're hitting me and when you're not."

[Private to GM: Dena will go ahead and take the damage, using Sensuous Torment to recoup some essence.]
This message was last edited by the player at 07:42, Sat 28 Nov 2009.

"Aya-eep!"

Holy of holies so fast so fast so fast so--

The first chakram takes her in the gut; the second carves into her arm, spinning, eating, sawing its way through, and dark gouts of blood begin to streak out from the sides of the blades, meat spraying off in an unfocused arc across the floor. She has time to glance down, mouth open in surprise--

--and then Immy not-Immypops! softly into shadow, the chakrams melting past her to hit the far wall. Something giggles; "Oh, but I bet that would have hurt, wouldn't it?" and all the wasn't-her had faded into darkness, subtle trails of midnight streaming across the floor, leaving a long, long, long... wait, that certainly wasn't-- from where she was, shooting across the polished tiles, her shadow stretched ten, twenty, thirty times than what it should have been, skittering across the floor to form a seething pool of darkness at where the chakrams had come.

Wait. One?

And similar portals suddenly warp into view about the place, and from each, a sword arises, bright and gleaming. The first pauses a second, as if testing the air; and then

a blade snaps out of the shining darkness, its sunlit edge curving through the air like a hungry shark. Thin whispers of golden light stream from the dripping blade, and at once, the threads pull, and tighten; tense, and snap. Tearing loose, the weapon scythes through the air in a maddening whirl, knife-edge at once everywhere, nowhere, somewhere... are you here, Ms. Dragon? You can't just hide from me...

a blade leaps out of the seething darkness, its burning shape rending the air with a feline grace. One might just see the glimpse of a hand, throwing is forth from the deeps--but is that merely a mirage? A trick of the light upon the darker shallows? But that is of no matter; the sword is dancing, jumping, swooping in the frozen air, covering all the tracks its brother can't reach. They quarter the place; split it into eights; sixteenths; thirty-two, sixty-four, a hundred and twenty-eight bits...

a blade leaps from the mirrored darkness, its sun-bright steel thundering through the air like an avenging god. Thick streamers of golden light lash from the dripping blade, flinging themselves far and wide to touch upon the other blades. Sunlight sparks when each whip meets a hilt; and then, as the sword sears through the thickening air, it pulls the others along with in in an impossible dance, light-as-steel slashing through the air in a thousand thousand permutations, over and under, besides and beyond--a blur of motion, of flashing cuts, until the section of the corridor is left a blinding wall of light--

a blade

a blade

a

a girl emerges from the centre of the storm, the whirlwind slowing, slowing... and then there is only one sword, one blade, held in her hand, and there is no darkness save the cloaking anima about her form; the tall, gaunt woman, eyes wide, face hungry, dimming the world with her light.

[Private to GM: OOC: 1 wp for Combo, 3m for SSE, 3M to Leaping Dodge into range, 5m 1wp for Iron Whirlwind

15:01, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 8 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,6,6,7,7,1,1,7,5,3,3,8,2,6,5,9,7,1,9,7. And a 1.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,4,7,2. 1.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 15 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,7,10,7,7,7,8,4,9,7,6,7,5,7,9,3,10,8,4,1. 2.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 4 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,2,1,10. 2.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 14 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,1,5,7,7,3,5,9,3,10,3,1,7,1,8,5,7,10,10,1. 3.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,10,8,5. 3.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 8 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,9,5,8,6,3,4,9,3,5,5,8,8,4,5,2,4,10,6,1. 4.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel botched using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,2,1,5. 4.
15:02, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 9 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,2,7,8,2,4,1,2,7,8,4,7,10,4,8,1,4,9,1,6. 5.
15:03, Today: Immaculate Kestrel failed (no successes) using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,6,4,2. 5.
15:03, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 8 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,2,6,3,6,5,10,2,8,3,10,4,10,4,6,6,5,4,6,8. 6.
15:03, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,3,6,4. 6.

Ignoring the accidental reroll...

10 (+2), 19, 17, 8, 9, 10, +2 sux for the first attack. 14L, Piercing

Total Spent: 22 motes (committed) 15 motes, 3wp

Personal: 0/18 (18 committed), Peripheral: 23/42 (4 committed), WP: 6/9

EDIT: Erk, didn't calculate the motes correct.]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:27, Sat 28 Nov 2009.

When the Abyssal Shard was all but shoved into his dying heart, everything had changed.  His soul had been ripped asunder, his heart had been poisoned, and his body purified of all of its mortal sins.  His body had been flooded with the essence of undeath, his name stripped from him, and his very life extinguished in exchange for ageless immortality.  And when the Dragon Blooded made the mistake of granting him such unimaginable power, believing that he would mindlessly serve them, he happily dedicated his life to ending theirs, one deliciously painful slice at a time.  They were not stupid however, and had taken some precautions...those who had been present for his Exaltation had been important, and thus painful to lose, but those directly involved in forging him into the killing machine were not there...and so he had been left to dream of his vengeance, to remember their faces forever as he fondly imagined how they would contort under his care.  And unreachable they had remained...until now.

It was her.

Peleps Sefima.  How many times had he been stalked by her claws?  How many scars had littered his back, raked by those cruel blades while she tried to grind the immaculate lessons of fealty and conviction into him?  It was she that always scoffed at his potential, that never, ever admitted his progress, or acknowledge his skill.  Did he hate her most of all, out of all those that had tormented him?  Hardly.  But the well of anger and loathing within the Death Knight was near unfathomable, and even the smallest portion of that necrotic venom was enough to warrant the wanton slaughter of thousands.  She was only one of many, a single crop in an entire season harvesting.

She would do.

The bladed circles thrown his way were hardly paid attention to as he began to walk toward Sefima.  His blades were already drawn as the thrown weapons swam through the air, hungrily seeking his flesh--flesh that they would not find.  As the discs came close to contact with him, both swords came up in a grand sweeping motion, crossing in front of his chest as the tips of his blades caught purchase on the inside of the circle blades.  The two discs rotated maniacally in mid-air, for those who could not see Eternal, for a moment or two, Dark purple-black energy crackling briefly before he flung the swords out to each side, sending the chakrams screaming harmlessly toward the wall.

vs Sefima

"I enjoy my work," says Sefima to Danae with a smile. She seems unperturbed as Danae's magitech blade easily interposes itself between herself and the twin claws lashing out to tear her open. She withdraws, leaping back with her claws splayed to protect her, catching Impeccable Spark between them and twisting. A sure blow becomes an uncertain one; finding purchase on the Water Aspect's flesh becomes an exercise in frustration for Danae, as if some invisible surge of water pushes back at her. [Private to Danae Adela: Have a +1 for defense, a +2 for attack, so 6m back. Sefima activates Flowing Water Defense. As per the Glories version, you now get -2 sux per attack for 4 more turns. On the other hand, you only missed by 1 success.]

For the moment she seems content to play with her prey, putting just enough effort into her next attack to rake her dragon claws toward Danae's chest, yanking her closer should they find purchase on flesh or clothing. Her second claw thrusts forward simultaneously, straight toward the Solar's neck to flay open her throat or seize it, depending on Sefima's whim. [Private to Danae Adela: 2 attack flurry: 6 sux, then 11 sux.]

Her gaze flicks only briefly toward Eternal's position as he approaches her, cloaked in ethereal shadow. "We have wondered where the wayward darkchild had gone. Join us then. Show your 'comrades' how you revel in violence. You are a monster, but you always were. We only chipped aside the parts of you that tried to deny it."

Sefima's smile intensifies as she casually pushes Danae aside, prepared to face Danae and the unseen assailant, if she must. [Private to Broken Eternal: Now you may attack! try to get it in sooner than later as you're kinda behind the tick count. :) Otherwise I'll have to make you hold action for a bit.][Private to Danae Adela: ok, timing is weird what with Sefima having Speed 3 AND starting first... She still gets a third attack before your second one but I can't write it till I know what Eternal's attack is. Though you can still post/stunt your defense for more motes.]

vs Oyuki

Two pairs of chakram are summarily dodged and blocked. The two hurtling toward Immy are engulfed in a seemingly endless shadow, dissipating when they strike the place she should have been. The other pair are caught on Eternal's blade like a deadly game of horseshoes, also fading into nothingness when they strike the wall. [Private to Broken Eternal: I'll give you a +2 for the defense, get 4m back.]

Immy still can't see who she's fighting, but her Sun-blessed senses are just too good to fool. She is a dervish of shadow with edges traced out in blazing golden light, slicing into the spot she knows the Air Dragon is waiting. She might even hear the sharp inhalation of breath as the woman (it sounds like a woman) wrenches herself away from the path of that first, ravenous strike and hurtles backward, tangible as a desperate wind howling down the corridor.

That touch of Essence may well be the stealthy woman's undoing, for it reveals her shape and presence to the combatants. She lands unharmed, well beyond the Night Caste's deadly whirlwind of blades, outlined by a cocoon of blue-white winds that scour the walls, floor and ceiling around her, leaving a thin layer of ice. She is a slim, petite woman, and like her colleagues is clean-shaven, dressed in robes marking her Immaculate station, with prayer-strip bracers wrapped around her wrists. [Private to Immaculate Kestrel: Let's see. +2 stunt for defense and a separate +2 for attack. That attack was very, very nasty post-stunt, but she was able to dodge the first one and, naturally, immediately Hopping Firecracker Evasioned it. (Glories is a LOT clearer about how the DB hopping dodge charm works.) No damage, however because she had to expend Essence she is now aglow with anima and can't hide for the rest of the battle.]

As soon as she is upright she does not hesitate to retaliate. Two more pairs of razor edged chakram appear in her hands. A single blurred gesture sends them toward Immy, propelled by a screaming, bitter cold gale that freezes the air around them, forming a spontaneous swirl of snowflakes in their wake. [Private to Immaculate Kestrel: 4 attack flurry: 7 sux, 13 sux, 7 sux, 11 sux. Oyuki is using a charm that doubles onslaught penalties, not that it matters if you PD it all, naturally! Second attack inflicts a -2 DV penalty, third inflicts a -4 penalty, fourth inflicts a -6 penalty.]

vs Firmament

Despite Dena's taunt, Firmament's attacks slam into her abdomen and face with the brutal force of a stone wall falling. She can actually feel the impacts cracking the bones in her body, bruising and possibly puncturing her both inside and out. The strike to her face is a comparatively glancing one, but still manages to split open her scalp. [Private to Tervila Dena: I understand from your post you want to take the damage from both hits? Firmament does 18L per attack, so I'll let you choose how this affects you. If you assume DV 0 on both hits, then you just took 6+4 damage and are down to -4 Wound Level. If you are using your Dodge DV on the first hit, you take 4+4 damage and are at -2. If you're using Dodge DV on both you take only 4 damage and are at -2. That -4 will definitely give Laughing Wounds an advantage but I don't want to force you to fight THAT close to death if it's not what you intended.]

Dena's allies, particularly those unused to her style of combat, might think that she's on the losing end early on. Surely she couldn't possibly take one more attack of such overwhelming power! Yet the damage done seems not to trouble the Lunar one bit. She smiles through the pain, and is strengthened by it.

"Yours is a forbidden art," says Firmament calmly, almost sympathetically, withdrawing his fists and taking on a solidly defensive stance. "Perhaps, then, we can let this end quickly.

---

OOC: actions
tick 3 - Sefima, Eternal
tick 4 - Oyuki
tick 5 - Dena
tick 6 - Kestrel, Firmament, Sefima
tick 7 - Danae, Oyuki
(2 more Join Battle at tick 10)
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:22, Wed 02 Dec 2009.

"I do respect your opinion." Dena suggests softly.  She flicks out the lash in a seemingly halfhearted attack and slices away the guardrail to the left of Stern Firmament, then moves to the right slightly.  As the Dragonblood moves to block the obvious maneuver to knock him off the stairwell, Dena folds herself flat, taking advantage of the fact that she's two stairs lower than him to get her 8-foot body low enough to do a high kick from almost directly below, catching him in the jaw and flinging the Immaculate into the air.
"But if you Dragonbloods didn't want us to learn to use pain. . ." she begins as she sends out her lash to coil around his neck, jerking him to a stop in midair as the smell of burning skin wafts off the crackling strands of blue and violet essence.
"You should not have GIVEN US SO MUCH!"

With a brutal jerk, Dena pulls him downward ruthlessly, having deprived him of contact to the earth and guides his helpless body into her final attack, driving a fist covered in coils of screaming essence into his kidneys while streams of blood fly from her wounds and his own alike in a gory spray.


OOC Note: The first two rolls on Flurry 3 are together, the dice roller breaks when you throw that many dice at it in one roll so I split it up.  In total Dena scored  22 successes on her final strike of 3 in the flurry.

19:48, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 5 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,7,8,10,7. rest of flurry 3 (+ con and dexcellency).
19:48, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 17 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,4,7,10,5,3,4,3,10,2,10,10,8,10,7,6,9,10,3,2. Flurry 3 +2 Stunt + (2 rolls needed).
19:45, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 6 successes using 14d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,9,2,3,5,6,10,5,1,3,5,10,5,9. Flurry 2 +2 Stunt.
19:45, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 4 successes using 15d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,5,2,5,8,1,2,7,1,7,3,6,6,9,5. Flurry 1 +2 stunt.


[Private to GM:
I didn't quite mean Dena would use no defense at all, just that I wasn't going to use any charms.  I'll take the 4L damage please.

Alas poor Stern Firmament.  I really didn't expect to roll remotely that well on so many dice.  I hope he has plenty of Ox-Bodies, he's our only recurring villain so far.
EDIT: Oh, and Dena's damage is 10L + successes so you don't have to look it up. ]
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Mon 30 Nov 2009.

"Huh, makes sense I suppose--though I doubt the Immaculate Texts finds cruelty to be a virtue"  Danae noted as Sefima prepared for her next onslaught--rather faster then she anticipated.  So this one would apparently try to wear her down through constant pressure, rather then strike overwhelming blows.  Made sense, in light of the element of Water.  It did, however, work well with Danae's style--and between hers and Eternal's attacks, they should be able to get a few clean hits off...

The first claw struck out--fast--but nowhere close to being enough to strike a clean blow on Danae--Impeccable Spark flew through the air, gently pushing the Razor Claw aside, and bringing up the wrist of her free hand once the attack had lost it's momentum, the jade razors catching on one of the Ashigaru's bracers, and digging in slightly--not enough to penetrate the armor, but hopefully, between the slight kink in the design of the claws, and the armor's rugged design, it would get her next movement to work out well

She allowed herself a slight grin though when there was a Pull on the arm in question--without allowing the claw to break free.  Kicking at one of Sefima's legs as the second claw approached, while yanking at the captured claw--the flow of the Water Stylist was disrupted--if only for an instant--and Impeccable Spark rose upwards, intersecting between the blades of the Razor Claws, and stopping the oncoming attack cold.

[Private to Gatekeeper: Spending 2m Second Melee Excellency on the second attack--with a 2 die stunt, the attack will be parried.  Though if that stunt was worth a three die, I won't be needing the excellency.]

"Awww. That looked like it'd hurt, too." There were six, five, four threetwoone one sword in her hand, burning like a forgotten star, and a bit of her insisted that she probably looked really really cool right now and she wished that the corridor had mirrors. Or anywhere had mirrors. The ones in the Earth district started off as reflective as a muddy puddle, and she was pretty sure her hair wasn't brown. Most of the time.

(She'd experimented with hair dyes a bit, but then they suddenly realized that hair dyes kinda slid off her hair. Which was kinda worrying, or, at least, until they suddenly realized that she could hide as well with pink hair as well as she could with black. Somehow. She knew pink hair was kinda rare, only she and mama and she's seen one or two others, but.... well, it was like people just didn't notice it or something. She was rather sure that they'd be looking for pink-heads or something, especially since she'd been pretty active in the 'runners.

Maybe it was just something to do with the whole Sun thing. Something. Like how she could make magic swords out of nothing.)

The chakrams keened.

"...and so does this, really, but I guess that's kinda to be expected; it wouldn't be much of a battle if nothing hurt at all, right? Although I kinda wish fighting didn't have to hurt so much; maybe it should just, I don't know, sting a little or something, and then if you got hurt enough you'd just drop dead or something." Like poof! Although that might mean people would get into fights a lot more, because all it'd really do was sting them a little, but as long as they were careful not to do anything too massive it'd still be ok, right? Besides, nobody really wants to die, and broken bones and stuff would still be really annoying even if they didn't hurt. Being stuck in bed really sucked, even if you had a good book or something. People were meant to be out there, doing stuff!

jump. the chakram gave a little; wobbled; sank; but then she wasn't there anymore, running with her head high and arms outspread, dancing across Oyuki's proffered missiles like the lilies of a lake. she'd... she'd done this before, hasn't she? yes; running across the shoulders of handsome young men, a bright ribbon trailing to echo her smile; but that wasn't here, and then wasn't now. no, no. there was steel under her feet, the kiss of steel, from the dream of steel, and they offered just enough strength, just enough lift, to let Kestrel soar forward with the wings of her namesake; a preying-bird, a hunting-bird, and as she leaps past the last she climbs to the ceiling, and hangs there for a terrible second--

The spent chakrams falter; tumble; fall, vanishing into dust and blue smoke.

--and then she kicks against the polished rock, and her body arches; shoots downwards, sun-blade glowing--

"...oh, but. I'm sorry. I don't think I ever asked for your name, right? I mean, everyone's talking except us, kinda, and it's always nice to know the other person's name in these things; it's probably really rude to just start killing without, y'know, talking to them a little bit. I kinda think it's nice to have a little bit of humnaity in people's last moments, even if they die immediately after--especially if they die, really. Who would really want their last words to be arggghaghgh? While, say, if they were talking about, oh, teas, maybe, or types of cookies, you get a very nice headstone with an amusing quote that could last your family for dozens of generations, and if not, well, you could at least get one more person who'd remember you when you die. Which is always nice, I guess. My name's Immy."

--and it is driven aside, last-moment, by the chill winds of the Air Aspect's power; moving with sinuous grace she ducks and weaves like a true Dragon ( a true worm), and the Sun's power lances at, towards, past her and towards the stone floor, bringing a pink-haired Solar darting behind it, but all of a sudden Kestrel was turning, turning, turning--

(the rim of her shield strikes the floor, and that is enough; she pushes, twists, and she kicks (like a mule; this is what the dance and the tightrope was for, wasn't it, mama?), her leg arcing to reach for the Dragon's neck-- there!

Kestrel pulls.

The rest of her follows; lifts, up, flips,and the blade lifts like a second (a third? a first?) sunrise, and the bride rises up behind her; tall, guant, looking oddly spectral, and her arms wide open to welcome the Dragonblood's storm. She smiles; perhaps Kestrel smiles; and the sword darts, alive in her hands, towards her captive's skull.

[Private to GM: OOC: 1 wp for Combo, 3m for SSE, 3M to Leaping Dodge into range.

11:47, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 16 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,10,1,8,10,8,2,5,5,3,1,7,7,5,1,9,8,10,7,10. Cut.
11:48, Today: Immaculate Kestrel botched using 1d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1. (Con).

16 sux, 14L, Piercing

Total Spent: 22 motes (committed) 13 motes, 4wp

Personal: 0/18 (18 committed), Peripheral: 25/42 (4 committed), WP: 5/9]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Wed 02 Dec 2009.

He did not respond to Sefima's taunts, despite the torrential downpour of thoughts that came screaming into his mind.  The curt come backs and snappy replies that he could sting her with were nearly countless, but he refused them.  His way was not to be flashy and sarcastic, but to be silent and deadly.  His actions were not to be seen, or heard, but to be felt and feared.  Parrying the chakrams had been a mistake, he should have simply avoided them...but seeing Sefima had angered him, and in that anger he had lashed out.  He still felt the anger now, burning inside of him like the heart of the wretched fire dragon so many of them worshiped, but it would not, could not own him.  Instead he turned that focus inward, forcing the raw, burning emotion into a cold, hard hate that he could manage.  That he could use.

She knew his position, and that had to change immediately before he launched an attack against her.  She was of the Water Dragon Style, he knew from his past, and though he was not a practitioner of any of the Immaculate Arts, he knew enough of it to gauge how effective a warned attack would be against her.  Swords in hand, Eternal took off at a dead run, betraying no sound at all as he erupted with the sudden burst of speed.

Yards flew by, unseen and unheard to any who would try to seek him out by mundane senses again, and to further confused them, his feet suddenly left the ground as he leaped up, and against the wall of the Control Floor.  His ran continued for but a scant few steps, running along the wall for a whisper before those powerful legs pushed off of the wall, and sent the Deadly Assassin into the air, spiraling toward Sefima.  His descent was nearly as quick as his ascent, and as he fell closer to her, a slight shift in his right hand turned the short artifact blade in his hand to an under-handed grip, preparing for the strikes to come.

They came quickly.

Falling toward her with his left side facing her, his first blow was a downward slash to her side and back, quickly followed by his right, that blade following through to sync with the exact same blade, looking to cleave her in the exact same savage line, like the precise line of a demonized surgeon.  The follow through with those strikes left him crouched, but not without defense as the blades, both held with an under-hand grip now, came up with an 'X' block over his chest--in case she lashed out at him.

He would not let her touch him again.  Never again.

vs Firmament

How Dena's Essence lash manages to sear through Stern Firmament's rock-hard sinew is a testament to her determination to turn pain into power. When she yanks him down right onto her waiting fist, her punch drills into his body with a burst of violent strength even he had not been prepared for. Chunks of marble flake off his skin, pulverizing into dust, then beyond it is soft, wet flesh split open by her knuckles, spilling warm blood down her hand and forearm. (4L damage) [Private to Tervila Dena: Firmament's DV after accounting for his last attack plus your flurry is 8. His soak is 20L due to Earth Form+Pinnacle+PKBs. If I went strictly by the stats you'd still just ping, which is silly! So for the sake of the moment I gave you a one time temporary 'piercing' effect, even though normally you can't pierce non-armor soak.]

Firmament doesn't groan, nor does he clutch the wound, its gushing finally staunched as the crust of earth and stone covering his body renews itself. Still, the remaining stoneskin is imperfect. Dena can see that she has done him enough harm to consider her seriously, though he lands on his feet and stands straight and tall, unhindered by the wound.

"The answer you may be used to is that Pasiap himself would neither complain nor revel in hardship," replies the Earth Master gravely. "But I also acknowledge that we as a race committed a sin to contain what we believe to be a greater sin. Let the Dragons themselves judge the end result to be worthy."

Firmament is not a man of showy moves or flourishes. When he attacks, it is with straightforward and crushing force. His mountainous anima flickers, a ghostly image of the very Omphalos itself, as once again Dena feels that gravitational pull drawing her inexorably toward him. His punches pummel at her torso, a hard tap to the chest and a stronger slam toward the abdomen, driving in just below the ribcage as a soul-crushingly heavy wave of Essence pours through his fist into her war-body. His lead hand thrusts forward a second time, this time to seize Dena by the throat! [Private to Tervila Dena: 3 attack flurry of 8 sux, 14 sux, 8 sux. The second attack is augmented with Avalanche Method... so if it hits, you need to roll (Stamina+Athletics) vs diff 5 (already rolled the Str+Martial Arts-1 wound penalty). The last attack is a clinch. He expended Temperance for this flurry.]

vs Sefima

Sefima's attack is once again handily parried, her claws colliding with Danae's Spark and holding fast. Her lip curls, her muscles still straining to push those wicked claws toward the young Solar's face. "Do not presume to know the texts better than a Master," she intones, her claw tips trembling inches away from Danae's eyeballs. "Even so, I do not care. The time for moderation has long since passed. I've known the truth for a long time, you see. The truth about the Immaculate Order, and --"

"Sefima!" Firmament snaps abruptly. To stop her from speaking? Or to warn her?

Unfortunately for the Water Stylist she does not catch Eternal's whisper soft approach on the wall -- perhaps due to Danae's own calculation, distracting her enough for Eternal to strike. Or simply by a coincidence even crueler than Sefima's own proclivities.

When the twin blades dig into her side and back, Sefima grunts, teeth bared. Her eyes widen enough that Danae can see the whites all around her dark pupils. The short daiklaves, tracing the same wound, penetrate the watery force shielding her flesh and turn a shallow gash into a wider one. Blood wells from the cut, further darkening her already deep blue robes. (3L damage)

She yanks her claws away from Danae's blade, whirling toward Eternal's rough position crouched on the ground. "Oh it IS you. It MUST be you. And still you hide," she says disapprovingly, flexing her claws but not lifting them, not yet. Hers is a quiet fury, not the blasting furnace heat of a Fire Aspect, but the churning, roiling depths of a whirlpool, threatening to drown those who would defy her.  "Come, come out and play, my little misTAKE!"

With that final syllable, Sefima stretches her mouth wide, and a low, rumbling shout emerges. A deluge of Water Essence pours from her throat into the space in front of her, engulfing the invisible Abyssal. [Private to Broken Eternal: First of all +2 Stunt for your post! Then... Sefima is using Tsunami Force Shout on you. I'm using the Errata rules, so if you're looking at the DB book, the Errata treats this slightly differently. That means I am making an unblockable attack on you. You're at -3 DV from your flurry, and you can only use Dodge (this does include Dodge Charms as well!) Her attack is 8 successes (she added a WP). If she hits, this could potentially be nasty unfun damage!]

vs Oyuki

Oyuki sees Immy coming for her, stepping so lightly on fleetingly corporeal chakram, and sees that she is out of her league. Still, there is no running from what she has started. She hadn't come so far for that, hadn't been dedicated from birth for this cause in order to abandon it.

"I am Oyuki," says the Air Master simply. "I am here to test myself against the greatest combatants of all: the Solar Anathema, whose glory would sear a world unprepared for its emergence."

She doesn't remain completely still, as Immy maneuvers toward, then around her. Her body shifts, dances, twists aside. Like her chakram she becomes multiple Oyukis, to the naked eye: Oyukis of wind, of snow, of light and of mirage, splitting into multiple positions at once, all of them whirling, spinning, tumbling, light in the air as snowflakes. But the Solar is moving at a speed even swifter than the howling blizzard air that propels her along. While Oyuki steps between heartbeats, Kestrel steps between eyeblinks; she sees exactly where the young Air Master will stand, and dives straight for her, then behind, pulling herself up.

That sliver of gold -- it's too late for Oyuki to avoid. It's too soon for her to register even the glimmer of its approach. She sees only the Bride, and then a sharp, agonizing pain, her neck jerking involuntarily the only thing that keeps her head from being run through completely. (6L damage) [Private to Immaculate Kestrel: Awesome post... I gave attack a +3. Defense I'll give a separate +2! And Oyuki is at -2 now.]

Blood. Blood everywhere. Good for Oyuki that she has no hair. But it gushes from her wound, a large gap of skin opening from her skull, angled down toward her pale neck. It spills down her shoulder, down her back, staining her pale blue robes. Still she does not fall. "But should I fall," she rasps, fingers twitching, "then there are those who will learn from my failure. I can be content... with that."

Oyuki stumbles several steps away, once again widening the gap between herself and Immy. Straightening, she breathes surely, calmly, no longer shuddering, her heart beat paradoxically slowing as her anima whirls faster and faster, forming crackles of ice-blue lightning in the midst of the hurricane. When the whirling reaches a crescendo, she exhales and claps her hands, and the winds burst outward in a deafening peal of thunder...

---

OOC: I'm assuming you are all fighting within 40 yards of one another, so Oyuki's Thunderclap Kata affects all PCs. However, Danae and Eternal also act on her tick so they could potentially try to kill her before she uses the Charm. Assuming Oyuki doesn't die, everyone should also roll Stamina+Resistance vs difficulty 4. Failure on the Resistance roll means you are inactive for one action, and will take some bashing damage. [Private to Tervila Dena: This comes after defending against Firmament.][Private to Broken Eternal: This is after defending against Sefima. Though if you use your Perfect Dodge, you have to attack Sefima on tick 7, and can't stop Oyuki. Don't forget to include reestablishing surprise in your flurry!]

actions (assuming no turn loss)
tick 7 - Danae, Eternal, Oyuki
tick 9 - Kestrel, Sefima
tick 10 - Dena, ???x2 (roll JB)
tick 11 - Firmament
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:08, Thu 03 Dec 2009.

Dena's spiky hand brushes the edge of the goremaul as it swings towards her, deflecting it only a few inches, exactly enough for it to skim past her shoulder as she steps in close.   "So skilled in the arts, yet so naive." she says softly as she puts her face inches from his.  "The dragonbloods acted purely to stop evil, it's just pure coincidence that they-" she lurches a moment at his second blow, a rib snaps somewhere in her chest and the jagged end bursts from her armored skin before she can draw a rattling breath and finish. "-coincidence that your coup left dragonbloods as the undisputed rulers, seizing power and privilege, wasn't it?  And where are the Dragons you say will judge?  Nowhere to be seen.  How convenient."
As Firmament's hands wrap around her neck to cut off the flow of poisoned words, ropes of muscle and tendon fight against him and Dena welcomes his crushing embrace and the pain it promises.
"Mayhap the dragons too are. . . wearing collars?  Could that be the secret the Order was willing to destroy the . . . district of water to hide?  Where are . . . are your judges Stern one?"

[Private to GM: Eh, if I get a one-die stunt bonus the first attack misses but the others are going to hurt.  Owie.  I did make the roll for resisting the Avalanche, though.]


11:20, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 7 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,9,9,5,10,10. Stam + Ath.
11:16, Today: Tervila Dena botched using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,2,1,3,6,4. Dexcellency, Attack 3.
10:48, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,6,3,2,10,5. Dexcellency, Attack 2.
10:48, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,7,4,4. Dexcellency, Attack 1.

"I suspected there was more to it" Danae noted with a grin as she repelled Sefima again--and the Water Aspect diverted her attention towards Eternal's position, gathering her strength.  This left Danae a moment to evaluate the battle at hand...

Dena seemed to be holding out alright against Firmament's onslaught--much better then she had--Danae suspected that the tough Lunar would be a better match-up against the Earth Master then herself.  Kestrel was quickly taking the advantage against her own opponent--and Eternal got a few good shots off too.

Of course, the Air Monk seemed to be starting...  Something--something at least that Danae didn't want to risk toying around with.  "Immy!"  She called out, breaking into a sprint as she tossed Impeccable Spark in the air above her, the Daiklave going into a wild spin as she unslung her firewand--not enough time to get to close combat...  But a barrage of ranged attacks...

"Trade you targets!  GO!"  She bellowed, raising the Firewand, and pulling the trigger, a bullet of searing flame erupting from the brass-and-steel tube, and covering the remaining distance between herself and the Air Monk, carrying with it all of Danae's desire to succeed in the upcoming battles--to buy her allies the time they needed to convince the Gatekeeper to side with them!

[Private to Gatekeeper: One Firewand Attack on Oyuki, spending a WP to add a success.  No Charms other then that, I need my HGD in case another monk shows up.

09:59, Today: Danae Adela rolled 6 successes using 11d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,3,5,5,5,6,10,7,2,5,10. Firewand Sniping!.

7 succs pre-stunt]

vs Firmament

Dena is able to shrug off the crushing wave of Earth Essence that Firmament pours upon her, but the actual physical force of his attacks does not let up for an instant. A few cracked ribs is nothing compared to what will happen should he manage to strike even one more solid blow on her battered body. [Private to Tervila Dena: You've taken 4L more damage, potentially. 3L from 2nd hit, 1L from clinch. However, I am willing to let you spend a WP here to break the clinch before it does damage, your DV was only 1 off after the +2 stunt I gave you for the defense. If you do that let me know, just means you can assume you get free and can attack as normal on your next turn.]

With his iron grip still threatening to snap Dena's neck, Firmament slams Dena toward the nearest wall. It's not a move to intimidate -- he knows by now the Lunar is indifferent to the pain he, or anyone could cause her. Rather, it gives him a solid surface upon which to crush her even harder, should she prove unable to get free! "What you suggest is an interesting theory, but preposterous," replies Firmament, continuing calmly despite the physical power he exerts upon her. "The collars are too weak to hold beings of such ideal standards as the Dragons themselves."

"No... Sefima's truth is a burden she carries alone. Perhaps she may tell it to you herself, when you are safely in custody again." The pity in his eyes could well be for cruel, insane Sefima as it is for the 'poor' Anathema who cannot help but be subversive by nature.

vs Oyuki

Oyuki is heavily wounded, but not completely oblivious. When the roar of flames comes surging her way from Danae's weapon, she sidesteps more by reflex than well-planned intent, as if her subconscious mind is determined to preserve herself at least long enough to buy time for her other allies to arrive. The firewand shot hurtles off-center, its path further hindered by the swift winds swirling around Oyuki's body, dispersing the gout of flame so that it sprays harmlessly away from her. [Private to Danae Adela: another +2 stunt gives you 1 more success for a total of 8. Oyuki expends more willpower to channel virtue, and rolled 3 sux. Her DV right now is therefore: 10(base)-2(wounds)-1(Thunderclap Kata)+3 = 10. I would have recommended you try a virtue channel as well but I figure you're trying to save WP for combos...]

The Air Immaculate's blizzard-wind anima flickers, momentarily disrupted by the distraction -- but not enough to stop the sonic attack that explodes from her hands, engulfing the entire section of corridor the Celestials are standing on.

---

OOC: Everyone roll Stamina+Resistance vs difficulty 4, just in case. [Private to Broken Eternal: You still need to decide what you'll do with Sefima's attack, too.]

Eternal allowed himself a satisfied smile as his blades sunk into Sefima's back, a smile which turned much more cruel when he felt her naked essence sink into those same jade blades and flow into his own being.  The transfer of energy was, like Eternal, invisible to the naked eye, but the effect on Sefima was noticeable, if only to the eyes of a killer, as she seemed to dim, ever so slightly as her lifeblood, both figuratively and literally, left her.  Not a drop of blood was dropped onto the floor, as both her robes, and his blades, absorbed every last drop.

His silence was no doubt infuriating, as well as his near perfect stealth.  Even so close to her, could she truly see her prey?  Despite the essence that guided her attack, that assured her victory, did it spurn her that he was so well trained, so utterly designed for what he did, that he shamed his old trainer?  Perhaps she was right--perhaps he had always been a monster, even at such a young age, and perhaps all she had done was simply find a way to polish away the imperfections and leave naught but a savage killing machine in its place...but that was her crop, and the time had come for her to reap the harvest of her labors.

When the scream of water essence left her mouth, Eternal flickered into sight, for only the barest of instants.  He was standing in front of her now, his hands down, his blades still in their reversed grip, and in that lone instant his red gaze was sharper than any blade.  In that lone instant, Sefina would know that the attack was useless and futile, and that no matter how much she had trained for this day, for this moment, for this purpose, that it was not enough.  That it was never enough, and would never be enough to stop something as destructive as him.  The Immaculate Order had performed many miracles on Eternal, before his name was stripped of him.  They had managed to turn a scared little boy into one of the most ruthless murderers in all of creation...and then they had the gall to slice his throat and throw him into the Monstrous Portion.  It was their folly to think that his mind had been just as well trained as his body.  This mistake to assume his loyalty was to them.  And their regret that he would never rest until each and every one of them was dead.

In those stark, glowing red eyes, Sefima would see her death.

And then the fleeting moment was over as Eternal completely vanished from sight, not due to slipping out of reality, but due to simply refusing to exist in the path of her attack.  The water essence passed harmlessly through the space he once occupied, leaving most to wonder where the Abyssal had gone, before there was a slight blur, again, behind Sefima.  Dark Abyssal essence crackled around Eternal, again only visible for an instant as he surged with power, narrowing those red eyes at the woman whose soul purpose had been to break him.  That she would dare take credit for the majesty in which he had become, to the sheer glory of destruction and oblivion that had replaced his old, broken shell...hers was a deserved fate, he decided as darkness welled around and inside of him.  Though it was not needed for him to deserve slaughtering her, and everyone she had ever loved, it was enough to cause a small, sadistic smirk to spring on his face.  Like a fox, cornering a rather rebellious rabbit who had forgotten its place.

Again, the very fabric of reality was sundered without mercy as he again vanished to the naked eye, the whisper of a shadow as he charged toward her.  With dark essence practically dripping from his blade, he would charge through her, bringing both blades in front of him in a scissoring slice, trying to slice the offending monk in half.  He would appear in front of her, a fleeting image as he would again slip through the cracks of reality, the last sight of him readjusting his blades in a sweeping motion before the would pass through her again, sliding between oblivion and creation as he moved with unearthly speed, this time bringing his blades in a high 'X' strike, to cleave her from both sides of her shoulders, through her chest, to her waist.  Again Eternal would appear, dark energy crackling around his image as he would vanish a final time, running Sefima with his dark glaives once more, this time bringing both of the blades from above his head in a straight line down, to sever the woman completely, and utterly, in two.  In a span of mere moments, hardly seconds, he assaulted her three times in the blink of an eye, each blow heavy with dark essence, and each lick of his blades draining more precious essence from his prey.

"Then why have the Dragons vanished?  Even if my collar wouldn't hold one. . ." Dena pauses for breath as she tries to knee Stern Firmament in the groin.  He manages to avoid that fate by interposing a rock-coated thigh in her way but the shift in his balance ins enough to Dena to wriggle free.  "Someone may have made a stronger collar.  Since the dragons are either Captive or have abandoned you entirely, either way you can't possible claim authority from them."

20:14, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 4 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,1,6,8,4,7,8,7,5,4. Stamina + Resistance.
20:12, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,6,1,3. Valor.

"Awww. Your name's pretty." The blade burns as it touches the floor, leaving a trail of smoke and blood as she flips away from the freezing Dragon; she wondered, vaguely, for a moment, what standing in that was like. Did she feel cold? The wind? Or just nothing at all? It was kinda like a miniature blizzard, standing there, so close, so near, but she didn't seem to feel it at all. Kinda like how she couldn't see her own shadows, then; people always told her she got... kinda black and fuzzy when her anima was flaring, and it'd be probably very silly if she could see that too, because then she'd be totally blind in every fight. And all the other Solars would be light-blind as well; but then again, these were Dragons, right? Maybe they were kinda different, even if this stuff looked the same-- um. But it was probably kinda inappropriate to ask if she was wearing thermal underwear. People would misunderstand it every which way.

Besides, then all the Water-types would drown, right?

"Nice to meet you, Oyuki.  My name's Kestrel. Immy Kestrel, Immaculate Kestrel; have I mentioned it already? It's one of those long, long, two-name thingies, because my parents thought a circus girl should always have more than one name; Papa always said one was my show face, and the other was my real one." She giggled. "Not that it worked, really; everybody decided that Immaculate Kestrel sounded a lot more impressive than either half of me, so they kinda just chucked my full name into my stage name and my real name turned into Immy instead. I always kinda wondered if that meant I've been eaten by my role, but then later everything happened and then, well, it didn't really matter anymore, did it? And now it's the last bit of me that I have, so I might as well keep with it until I can find somet--"

"Immy! Trade you targets! GO!"

"Aw, but I'm not done yet!" And, besides, she was in the middle of a perfectly good conversation! Running off right now would be really rude, wouldn't it? It was probably worse than not talking, really, because that could be kinda because you were trying to kill each other, but cutting it off just halfway seemed like a really horrible snub. It was like, she didn't know, inviting someone to a party just so you could not give them a seat at dinner. Something like that. Unless it was one of those parties where you didn't have proper seatings, and everyone just kinda stood around and talked and laughed and screamed, and you kinda got pretty nervous about the screaming because it wasn't that sort of screaming and you weren't quite sure it was people have fun or having fun and people were giggling about it and you kinda wanted you check but you also didn't because you weren't really old enough yet except Crystal had been gone for quite a while, hasn't she, and that kinda sounded like her but if you interrupt now she might be kinda mad at you and--

the ground shook

no. that wasn't it. the air shook. dust and dirt and stone and grime, falling in little pieces from the ceiling, and when she looked up Oyuki was standing there her hands together and the world in front of her was blurring to bits, warping to bits, and she was

falling apart, a cloud of smoke and darkness, her eyes wide as saucers and fading like midnight stars. The roof was shaking walls were shaking ground was shaking everything was trembling and she was very, very sure something bad was coming right here right now and she had to go somewhere but there was nowhere to go but she took a step back and a step back and suddenly she was nowhere at all

n't there as the world shook around her, a madness of sound and fury and thunder, carving rocks from roof and wall as its furious power tore coherence from the world

because everywhere somewhere had suddenly opened up (was she falling she wasn't falling no the darkness was rising up all about her) and she was somewhere nowhere in-between watching the world through a pane of black glass seeing it from everywhere at once and she knew where she was, she was there, right there, because it's where she had to be when she emerged and the twisting shadows tore and spun, shifted and writhed as the frenzied air set upon them, ripping her apart into tatters of glowing thread

"Wow." Pause. "Why didn't you do that before?"

half-gold, half-shadow, spinning in orbit about the Dragonblooded girl. "I guess I have to kill you now, then. Sorry, Oyuki." And, one by one, they stepped from the spinning ring; brides one, brides all, dressed in white and silver, stepping in a slow, ghostly waltz about the hapless Immaculate. "It was nice talking to you." And the first one steps up, raising her sword in salute; bows; and then, in a single, swift motion, she sweeps across the floor like a diving falcon, sword raised in one bone-white hand, and carves a smooth line up the monk's back to wedge against her rib cage from behind.

"I mean, um. Aside from the fighting and all that, I guess, but that can't be helped, can it? Unless you were willing to just let us go and up and out and all, and take everybody that wanted to with us, but we kind figured that was impossible so we didn't really ask because it never really works." The second; a third, drawing lines of blood and ashes up her weakening legs, severing fat and muscle, hamstring and bone. "But the fighting was also kinda fun, now that I think about it; you're really fast, you know? I think I'd better train a little more if everyone's going to be as hard as you now. Armies of Oyuki are going to be a pain." A foruth, and a fifth; and the latter's aim was almost off, the blade angled not-quite right, and it almost-not-quite sawed through her dangling wrist as the blade sped up her arm, coming together with the other with a loud clang! at her centre of mass. She dangled there for a moment, a gory mess held at upon a fulcrum of blades--

"Hope you have a happy afterlife, k?" And the last one fell from above, sword held tight in both hands as she drove it hard into her centre, the other brides gracefully sweeping away to let her fall, fanning out like the petals of an impossible flower--

crunch.

And there was nothing but a single, glowing sword left pinning her to the ground, a broken butterfly on a shimmering, golden pin.

[Private to GM: I took the liberty of writing her dead first, because it was the only way it could sound pretty in my head. Will revise if she isn't!

Total Spent: 22 motes (committed) 15 motes, 5wp

Personal: 0/18 (18 committed), Peripheral: 23/42 (4 committed), WP: 4/9

16:09, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 2 successes using 1d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. Ah, there we go.
16:09, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 6 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,1,2,3,7,2,4,4,6,5,8,8,1,9,4,2,9,9,6,1. Holy Crap, I Forgot, I Have One More.
16:05, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 1 success using 3d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,3,9. 1 each for the last three.
16:05, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 13 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,7,2,4,10,10,5,3,9,10,7,9,3,2,5,5,8,6,10,3. Five Attack Spam. Oh, well.
16:05, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 9 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,3,2,4,10,2,10,1,1,1,6,8,7,2,7,9,4,6,5,9. Why didn't I roll like this for my FIRST.
16:05, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 17 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,8,3,9,7,8,7,6,10,7,7,3,9,10,10,2,9,10,2,5. I'll probably run out of x agains.
16:04, Today: Immaculate Kestrel botched using 1d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1. That 1.
16:04, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 15 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,3,10,8,7,8,10,10,7,5,1,3,4,2,6,6,1,8,10,9. That again.
16:04, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 2 successes using 1d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. +1.
16:03, Today: Immaculate Kestrel rolled 14 successes using 20d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,8,8,6,10,1,10,10,2,5,4,3,2,3,10,1,7,4,7,2. And again.

16, 15, 17, 9, 14, 8. I am the goddess of the overkill. I hope. 14L Piercing, as always.
]

Danae spat out a few curses under her breath when her shot went as wide as it did--admittedly, against any normal opponent, it would have likely been a lethal shot...  But she supposed trying to take on an expert immaculate martial artist with a firewand, without backing it with any more advanced Charms would be considered a bad idea.  It was especially unpleasant when she began to bring her hands together--given what she knew of Air Aspects...  "Sonic Attack probably, not sure if it'll hurt or just stun me...  But neither are acceptable outcomes..."

So, something exceedingly clever, worked out very quickly to make it a non issue.  She had a few ideas--and only time to exploit one of them.  She tossed her Firewand to the side, and reached for her firedust pouch, pulling out a handful of the flammable particulates, and threw it in the air in front of her--catching Impeccable Spark as it descended from her earlier toss--and striking downwards, igniting the blade--and by extension, the patch of firedust still floating in the air in front of her, the puff of flame immediately giving way as the sonic attack impacted against it.  But it wasn't meant to be a defense in and of itself.

Shifting Impeccable Spark to both hands, and re-angling it so the flat was all that remained--Danae Pushed the blade forward, igniting it in a glow of golden light--slamming it against the leading edge of the sonic attack, revealed by the puff of flame, and aimed to part it to each side of her.  It should work--at least in theory.

[Private to Gatekeeper: Heavenly Guardian Defense on oyuki's sonic attack--I hope that stunt is enough to justify it :)]