Nembus felt herself suck in a sharp breath as the youma began to descend from everywhere, stalking in pursuit of the starseed that was held out by Sailor Xenia. Was she intending to die? Had she not learned what happened when that general did the same or was that the point? That seemed like either a great idea, a noble sacrifice, or a simply foolish intention -- she winced as a youma brushed by her, but she knew she had to take the opening for what it was.
Deciding that she would let the youma handle itself, she tasked herself with gathering as many scales off the ground as she could, making sure to continue scooping them up with her gloved fingers. In spite of the chaos, she yanked her backpack open and started scooping them into it.
She wasn't counting on them actually taking down any of these youma, but their mission was to collect the scales. If she had a bunch of them, perhaps she could show it to her general and they could flee.
Could they even flee with this many youma around?
This was a mistake. The Rift was a mistake.
Where the hell washer general? Maybe she'd have to locate one of the other ones he told her to report to last night--
Strickenized
mention; not like she recognizes him without half his face oops
HP: 75 Damage: 1d8 Magic: * * * Spring Water Eruption! (3/3) * * * Raging Spring Water! (1/2)
HP: 64/75 DMG: 5really doing the least over here
The crush of youma was overwhelming, the head youma's rage at being entrapped in water at least showed his power was working, and he wondered if he should have even bothered doing anything considering that meant it was hard for the youma to even approach the woman who was literally holding out a starseed. ********. This situation felt like it was going from bad to worse.
He kicked something at the youma and ran away.
He looked around for a place to bolt to and found that Sylvite had headed toward was a small group focusing on the cliffside. Maybe he could help them out, somehow--
He moved to join Lavendulan, Carnallite, and Sylvite, picking up a rock off the ground and evaluating if he should really even try.
"Y'all need help over here?"
Shanyumex
Sunshine Alouettex
stari_magax
Seiana_ZI
Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
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Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 6:48 am
Youma Aquamarine HP: 77/100 Obsessed with Jet. Can't care about anything else. What else is new?
Starseed.
Someone took out a starseed.
He was a youma, and a Senshi was flashing their starseed.
He was a youma, a monster, no longer human. His body was thin, emaciated, skin over bone, a horrifying creature of the Rift, ugly, dangerous, not fit for human life. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Was this all he could expect of life now?
Aquamarine would rather die than live the rest of his life as a monster.
“Jet,” he said again, voice rasping out of his throat. It was the only thing he could say, the only thing that stuck in his mind. “Jet...”
Jet had to be safe. Jet had to survive. Jet was here, now, putting himself at risk again, and for what?
There was a starseed. Some fool pulled out a starseed. Did they not read the information that specifically said—
There were so many youma — a stampede of them flooding the paths, trampling everything in their way to get to the <******** starseed. Aquamarine was struck here, there, jostled, nearly thrown, but he crawled up again, dragged himself toward Jet.
Everything was falling apart, but Jet was there, still. Jet was right there. Jet was in danger. He could die. Jet could die, and Aquamarine would spend eternity wandering the Rift alone.
“Jet...”
Guine
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 7:15 am
Youma Prehnite HP: 30/75 DMG: Is Plant - Wilting plant. Please take him home, and pot him in the soil under a window with low lighting. Let him photosynthesize. Water daily.
Felt something trample by, made it worse, kicked into the earth, wounded beyond comprehension. Prehnite lashed out at it instinctively; thorned vines of his arms slashing against a youma that vaguely resembled himself; saw foliage in the rush.
Missed the creature entirely in his awkward flailing of limbs. Bled earth and bile and withered under the barrage of strangeness around him. A blind of sun for seconds that ran too long. Left him dazed, dizzied, and so he crawled.
Latched onto something - a boot - a heel - cascade of red black and gold filled his vision. Senshi. He knew this one. Didn't have the words and so he clung instead. Hissed from his violet maw, snapdragon of a head whipped around at the sight of a new flash, cascade of aura that captured his senses. Saw what had drawn everyone's attention so, all the youma, what had drawn him.
A Starseed held aloft.
The mangled whine he let out almost sounded apologetic. Hissed spittle as he drooled at her feet, a manic wretched sound. He couldn't save her now. Couldn't save himself even. There was no bubble to protect them, no hope.....
He wondered if he could find some nice dirt after...crawl back to the cave they'd fallen into before...take up roots with the glowing gollum who'd lived there.
Carnallite had no answer for Sylvite’s question other than, “Someone would be trying to get it over here if someone else weren’t waving their starseed around and attracting every youma in the goddamn Rift.”
That Generals Jet and Aquamarine hadn’t been able to inform others of their plan didn’t come as much of a surprise to her when she considered the chaotic mess they all found themselves in. There was little, if any, coordination between agents. Agents did what they wanted, when they wanted, often without considering the consequences for themselves or others. After Sylvite came others, attacking the cliffside without any indication that they even knew what they were meant to be doing.
At this rate, it was going to crash down and kill them all, not because the plan itself failed, but because too many people took it upon themselves to help instead of receiving their own orders.
Like the super Senshi with the starseed. Carnallite was fairly certain that went against orders. No one in their right mind would tell someone to do that unless they were desperate and had no alternative, and she wasn’t under the impression that their situation had reached that point of desperation yet.
Carnallite would not argue against running. That Lavendulan grabbed a hold of her was unnecessary, but Carnallite also didn’t fight it, just as she didn’t argue against Amazonite’s decision to stay at the cliffside. With youma swarming the area now, it seemed like certain death.
They came upon another Super Senshi (Fulgurite) as they ran (not the one that pulled out their starseed, thankfully, but Carnallite was beginning to wonder if she should trust anyone with a hole in their chest to be of sound mind).
“We were told to retreat back to the main group if we ran into any issues,” she raised her voice over the sound of stampeding youma. “Someone pulling out a starseed seems like one hell of an issue. Retreat back to the youma we came here to find and complete the mission, or ask someone in charge what their orders are now.”
At this point, she didn’t care if she was barking at someone who outranked her.
With the cliffside no longer her responsibility and her boomerang still at hand, Carnallite spared a moment to throw it into RadonWhim’s face.
Youma Cymophane HP: 27/50 Damage: 6 Purr purr, but also attacking RadonWhim because why not
Head tucked against Kamacite’s chest, Cymophane purred.
So he was a youma now.
Okay.
He wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but… he could work with this. Maybe. Actually, no, it kind of sucked, but he was trying not to think about that now. They had a mission to complete — a mission that was quickly falling apart because some idiot who thought themselves a genius decided to pull out a starseed. And not just any starseed, but their own.
It was that madness with Rakovanite all over again, only worse, because this time Cymophane didn’t see any avenue of escape. Faustite was… where was Faustite? Oh, wow, was he a youma, too? (Okay, well, he’d already been part youma, so…) Cymophane’s head popped up as soon as it was safe, cat ears twitching as he glanced around. Yes, Faustite was… kind of monstrous looking, actually, and Aquamarine’s outsides matched his insides now, which left Jet and Kamacite to keep things together, only Kamacite was upset and no one listened to Jet because no one listened to anybody.
Cymophane attempted to smile at Kamacite and realized he was kneading at Kamacite’s chest with his paws.
“Sorry,” he said, when one of his claws got stuck in the fabric of Kamacite’s robe. Carefully, Cymophane detached himself, and managed to climb back onto his feet.
If he had to be a youma, at least he could still stand upright.
He took stock of things when he could. It was sort of hard with all the youma swarming everywhere, but other than a few bumps as they all tore their way toward the starseed, none of them paid Cymophane much mind.
Because he was also a youma.
Huh.
RadonWhim wasn’t really paying attention to him either. So if he took a swipe at it, would it care?
Figuring he may as well, Cymophane dug his claws into whichever part of it he could reach first.
Everything was wonderful. Triumph, utter joyous triumph as he'd torn one of the centabatipedes legs free. Claimed it like a hunters trophy. Was going to keep it, mount it on a wall, maybe take a bite out of it? After, later, show it to Faustite and see if it was edible. Show it to Nembus and get praised for doing a thing well.
Then utter bedlam had errupted. Slapped into the dirt by a stampede, blinded by an attack, the youmas screams, the screams of other youma. Cavalcade of horrors that crawled up and over and descended upon them like starved ravenous things. Wen't over him to get at whatever they were after - and Albite wasn't used to being ignored as a concept. Realized suddenly the why of it. The eerie terror of it. As he rubbed the sunspots from his eyes and caught sight of a - s t a r s e e d.
There weren't words, only cold rage, hot fear. Not for himself, never himself, but for the others. His people, Nembus, and Thorite, and Ransomite. Faustite. ******** -Firebrand. No location for them - even if he'd sensed them out - to much visual chaos to pick one from another and corral or collect. Not nearly enough time to do it quickly enough to be a help to anyone. Whined fiercely at not being able to play herding hound in such an instance.
So he turned his attention to source of the problem.
Maybe if the cliff came down and buried the starseed wielder - buried the youma as well. Took the whole of the floor and lattice worked pathways out from beneath them - dropped the lot back down into the deepest parts of the Scar below - maybe then - the others could have a chance to escape. If they survived, if they were still alive, ******** hell he hoped they were still alive...
"Binding Retribution" - cast not on any creature, but on the severed carapace hardened limb he'd torn free of the beast. Tethered it to himself. Gave himself three feet of pick tipped whip, as he turned the severed limb it into a flail - threw his way through the swarm - bled for it and sought the same target as them - more accurately the one just slightly behind the flowing cascade of black skirts and green hair. The wall of a cliff that some few others had hacked away at - watched a flash of pink and then furls of icy blue flee the spot; away from the billowing Senshi standing at the foot of it like a door prize.
Indecision was never a thing for him. Wouldn't let it take his movements, wouldn't freeze up under the not knowing of it all. Dug the creatures pickaxe like limb into the rough earth of the cliff face, dragged with all of himself across the rough hewn stone side of it. Wanted it brought down. Didn't care if he was under it - so long as the youma were as well - and that starseed.
Maybe he shouldn't have thrown his spear from where he was, he did see it graze another General, but he had to do something. But as he stood up, slowly, he offered a hand to Roselite. In his other hand his spear soon appeared, held firm and tight. For now he'd hold himself together a bit better, he had to, as he'd seen what his own wild throw had nearly done.
"Come on. Looks like we're needed." Even as the place was starting to swarm with youma...all due to someone else pulling out their starseed. Why did people do such stupid things in places filled with youma? He understood it was a great distraction but it was also a calling signal to every other youma in the area. It would call everything around them and fil lthe area with more youma than they could handle and most certainly more than the person wit hthe starseed could handle.
"We should focus on the target." Since it was distracted and could perhaps be taken down now, the issues was every other youma. This was not going to be easy but this time he was in a better posistion to aim when he threw his spear at the giant of a youma.Or maybe not...damn it. His spear instead got blocked by a different youma and clattered to the ground. "Ok, too many in the way."
Sunshine Alouette
Trying to catch up....but still a bit lame of a post.
Valeria had been happy to see her magic do something against the youma, she really wasn't sure exactly what her magic did. She knew it worked on people mentally but to what extent...that she didn't know. She'd never used it against someone she could ask, she wasn't abotu to do that either.
What she wasn't expect was to see her skin start turning gold and metalic...and her fingers lengthen and claws start to form. What was going on?! The panic was quick to set in as she didn't know what was going on and the world started to shift and twist as her vision changed as well, she didn't realize it but she could see tempatures...like a snake. Her skin was changing even more as it grew smoothe scales.
Her breathing was faster as she started to check herself over as best she could. Something was happening, she was becomign a youma, but how and why?! She tried to scream but it got caught in her throat and no sound came past her lips.
Time for her seemed to stop but soon enough she was brought back to focus, to the here and now, someone had a starseed out and she could sense it. That was what she headed towards...the starseed. On her way towards that the naga like Valeria smacked at the giant youma with her tail, which had once been legs. It had caused this - hadn't it? Made it so she couldn't talk and made legs into a tail....it didn't move the same but it did move better she supposed.
(Strick, let me know if I'm off her on health. I'm trying to keep up but also in a rush and might have missed something hp wise...or not responded to something I should have. )
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:24 pm
Lieutenant Roselite HP: 39/50 Picking up a scale and thinking...
Roselite curled into a full-body wince. He half expected General Aquamarine to march over, spitting and snarling with rage, but then… nothing happened. General Aquamarine didn’t even finish shouting. In fact, when Roselite looked toward the last place he’d actually seen General Aquamarine, he saw what was clearly a youma.
But… that didn’t make any sense. How could General Aquamarine be a youma? (Was that General Aquamarine?)
Though he took the offered hand from General Benitoite, Roselite could neither nod in agreement nor focus on the target, at least not the way Benitoite was, throwing his spear with more accuracy this time, at least until another youma got in the way. Roselite was too focused on observing the scene around them. There were people destabilizing the cliffside, people attacking the youma that was previously a bat, one person holding a starseed aloft (ohgodwhatweretheydoing????), and a veritable tsunami of youma. Roselite curled into another full-bodied wince, said, “Eee!” and struggled not to have a panic attack himself.
Calm down, he told himself, even as a couple of stampeding youma ran into him. It’s okay, they’re going after the starseed. Calm down and think.
Captain Bloodstone’s voice came through his communicator.
Quote:
“We need the youma to attack us to collect the scales Axinite wants. The ones we pulled off it turned dull.”
Okay. Okay, he could do that.
Well, he didn’t feel great about getting the youma to attack them, but he could definitely collect some scales when he had the chance.
“C-Copy that,” he answered Bloodstone.
To Benitoite, he relayed the information, “Sir, Captain Bloodstone said removing the youma’s scales ourselves hasn’t worked and that we should provoke it into attacking, because…”
Because it would release its own scales. He watched it happen when General Benitoite’s spear struck General Aquamarine. There was a shower of scales. Some of their agents were struck by them. Even now, there were agents collecting them. The good scales. The scales they’d come here for in the first place. The ones they needed so they could leave, preferably before they were all crushed by rocks or stampeding youma (or both).
Roselite still had his communicator at hand. He couldn't immediately see Faustite through the chaos, or Kamacite, either, but he thought he saw Jet by the youmafied Aquamarine.
"Um... General Jet," he began, taking a breath in an attempt to not stumble over his words. "General, I don't know if Captain Bloodstone or anyone else told you, but I don't think we'll have any luck removing the scales ourselves. Captain Bloodstone said they turn dull. But the youma released some in self defense, and..." Avoiding another collision with several youma on their way to the starseed, Roselite found a scale and picked it up. He stared at it, noted its sheen, its warmth. "... I think these ones are okay. Whatever properties they have seem intact."
Roselite looked up, searched through the madness for anyone familiar, caught sight of the youma that was once General Aquamarine, looked back down at the scale…
She knew that they were going to need some kind of lure, but that didn't mean that Sylvite was happy when she saw another person waving around a starseed.
It was a senshi who she was pretty sure had been up in the caves with them when Rakovanite had done it, too, which meant it was extra stupid. Like, it wasn't going to end any differently down here than it had before, when the whole team had almost died.
For a second, Sylvite's face twisted. Both hands clenched so hard that the knuckles went white. Everything awful that had happened over the last few hours was coming out in a moment of sudden rage so intense it made her head spin.
It was good that the half-youma captain pulled her away before she could do something stupid.
Although nobody else seemed happy about it, either, especially as another flood of every youma except for the one they wanted started swarming the area around the cliff. They probably wouldn't have been that mad if she'd punched the girl.
"I'm like ninety percent sure I saw Faustite end up as a flaming pile of goo which might explain why the chain of command's breaking down." All of the frustration and all of the general awful was still clear in her strained voice as she looked over to the lieutenant next to her.
There were a couple of different seconds in command, so that could get complicated.
If there was something here she was supposed to be doing other than grabbing scales and fighting the youma, she wouldn't know because she'd kinda been in a gross tiny cave the whole time.
She sucked in a breath as she looked between the Captain, the Lieutenant, and Fulgurite, as he came over. Oh. She was the highest ranking one in this little group.
"I guess we stick with the group and keep fighting? I don't think this thing's just gonna let us run off with its scales," she said.
She pulled free from the Captain's grip enough to slash at a nearby centipede leg.
Seiana_ZI
Shanyume
Sunshine Alouette
Shanyume rolled 1 8-sided dice:
7Total: 7 (1-8)
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:00 pm
Captain Lavendulan HP: 75 Dice: 1d8+3(tracking team) +5(half youma captain) Damage to the cliff side: 12 (round 1) + 12 (round 2) Damage to Radon/Whim:15 (round 3)
Both the General and Lieutenant pulled free from her hold which was not unexpected; her reaction was by General Jets command and the need to protect the ones soon to be caught up in the swarming chaos that converged on the exposed starseed.
Another Corrupt (Fulgurite) approached but before Lavendulan could speak, Carnallite was already giving orders and relaying commands they had both been given. The pink-haired General only reconfirmed the Lieutenant's statements leaving her with not much else to add other than; "Keep an eye on that cliffside. Don't get caught beneath it when it falls." She warned, "I'm going to pull back and try to protect the officers that are collecting the scales. " That, after all, was why they were here.
Once more Lavendulan's form shifted into a watery state and she ran at a pace equivalent to that of a General. She dodged legs, scales, and flying weapons as best she could. Her hand swung out to the side and instead of a water orb-like before, there was a whip of water, the end of which curled around her feet. Laven's arm swung wide as she snapped it at one of Whim's legs.
"I got your back, keep grabbing scales if you can." Lavendulan took a defensive stance between the youma and Lopezite. For the number of times he had protected her in the past, this was her chance to return the favor. Fear gnawed at her heels but the need to survive kept her in motion.
stari_maga
Sunshine Alouette
Seiana_ZI
Guine
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Shanyume
Anxious Friend
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Shanyume
Anxious Friend
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Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:06 pm
Corrupt Super Sailor Meridiana HP: 65/75 Dice: 1d8 (x10 if senshi magic) Damage:6 (round 1) + 80 (round 2)
Fear itself was rather interesting in how many ways a person can express the emotion.
There was scared stiff, where someone becomes so still that one is left to wonder if they had turned into a statue; don't move and they'll forget you're there. Then there was scared shitless, jumping out of one's seat, prompted to run haphazardly or drunkenly away with arms flailing like a mad person. Then there was scared to the point of fainting; play dead or be dead, it was all the same.
Certainly the spectrum of fear was much broader but those three seemed to touch on the main ones which is why it shouldn't have come to anyone's surprise which category Meridiana would fall in when a youma reached out and clung to her leg unexpectantly.
Oceanic blue eyes went wide in horror just before she unleashed an ear-piercing screamed.
Good lord did she ever scream. Had there been a glass cup nearby surely the thing would have shattered. The youma held fast; hissing and drooling as it tried to speak but its face was like those flowers from Alice in Wonderland and didn't appear to have lips with which to speak. Never again would she be able to watch the movie the same way again.
Meridiana tried to scramble away. A feeble attempt to flee that only rewarded her with the painful sensation of small pebbles bitting in the palms of both hand.
Shiningamisgirl
Sorry Prehnite - small edit to the last sentence.
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:10 pm
Corrupt Sailor Taenite HP: 39/50 Damage: 2 + LOL ALL OUT OF MAGIC (for now??) Messing with his scale... for science!
Once again, Taenite tried attacking the youma and... Okay so their attacks were doing practically nothing.
People were getting desperate and being reckless. They had hoards of youma crowding the already small pathways, going after the second genius to pull out a starseed in the Rift. And he was out of magic.
Almost.
The scale he held in his hand seemed to pulse with a strange magic, but holding it was doing nothing to make the magic do anything.
He’d seen what the scales seemed to have done to the others. They were all turned into youma. Well. He didn’t want to turn into a youma. Not really. But he also didn’t want to die a miserable, horrible death.
Carefully, Taenite backed himself to the wall, hopefully out of the way of curious youma who might be feeling too lazy to go after the exposed starseed and just go after his starseed instead.
“Alright, how do you work?” he wondered, turning the scale over in his fingers. Curiously, he rubbed the scale, like to polish the surface to a shine. He thought about sticking it in his mouth, just because why not, but that was probably super unsanitary and while he could probably afford to be cured of whatever disease he ended up getting, he didn’t want to have to deal with it in the first place.
But there was magic in there. He could feel it.
Curiously, Taenite used his own abilities he would have used on a civilian and tried pulling the energy out from the scale. If he could just get a little more magic, then maybe he wouldn’t be so useless against the youma.
