So Many Lies, You're suffocating- AoD Quest

[Talal]

Luka was just about to make the Twin Blade sick to her stomach with all of his theatrics. He was just way too happy and she knew there was something up. No ally would suddenly warp them without notice and now that she gave it some thought, that must have taken a heck of a lot of power. Either he was more than met the eye or he wasn’t working alone and neither would bode well for the Army of Darkness…it never did.

Speaking of which, it would seem that Kira was having similar thoughts when the bouncy Wavemaster ducked under her spear. The girl watched Luka as he found a brief hiding spot, or so he thought. She hadn’t really spoken much to the dark clad Long Arm and wasn’t sure how he would react to such a flamboyant character. Even at that, it surprised the young girl when Raquar reached out and grabbed Kira by the wrist. Did he want to be the next victim of beheading? The intense eye stare between them was rather interesting as well.

However, it was the Long Arm that managed to knock some sense into Luka with only a few words. Looking as if he’d been turned down for a date, but that it was a usual occurrence noted by the shrug he gave, the Wavemaster slammed his staff into the. The ground began to shutter and shake, along with the loud rumbling noise that typically came with earthquakes. This quake unfortunately, wasn’t your everyday variety of a few seconds to maybe a minute or so. No, perhaps ten or more minutes had passed before it subsided leaving the girl wondering if Luka’s intent was to give them all indigestion.

The new cliff side that was formed dropped down into a cave of sorts with a set of stairs leading the way down. His singling out of the four members of the group that were playing more than just a game wasn’t very reassuring that he didn’t have something up his sleeve. The bumbling idiot knew way too much about them. A quick glance to their newest member told her what she needed to know. He’d heard the comment to the four of them. She knew the confused look on his face well. Talal grimaced at that while she began her decent down to the stairs.

Entering the cave, it opened up into a mini temple, complete with an entry hall, glyphs and of course choices to make. She despised riddles, never being very good at them. Luka’s words were confusing to her which again, nothing unusual there either. Three paths to choose and three we must fight. So does that mean beyond the three paths there are three fights or a fight at the end of each path which technically, would mean it didn’t matter which one we choose first. Gah! I hate this kinda stuff.

Kira’s loud voice snapped her from thought, but the question was an extremely blunt, to the point good question. The answer however, said everything and nothing all at the same time and then was followed by a not so respectful comment to Sekai. Listening to their Archer/Leader speak afterwards, it was hard to tell if he got to her or not. The Twin Blade had heard the stutter before under various circumstances which made reading her at times very difficult, not to mention she had the art of being polite down to a ‘T’ as they say.

Sekai chose the blue flamed path and was basically seconded by Takua. Watorie though blurted out a different thought path and for a moment, she thought maybe he was onto something. Looking at the three path choices again, she tried to make combo colors in her mind. Originally, she thought maybe the blue and green path were dead ends at it was the purple one they needed until she realized that it wasn’t blue and green that made purple but blue and red. Blue and green make a sort of aqua or maybe a turquoise color so that didn’t lead her anywhere. She didn’t have much experience mixing purple with other colors so again, she was at a stand still for thoughts on color, leaving her to accept what was being chosen for her.

”Looking at our options, I’m going to have to agree that blue is just as good of an option as any since there is nothing here to tell us differently.”

[Magras]

Their ‘guide’ immediately filled the silence after the battle, loudmouthed buffoon that he was turning out to be. He pointed his staff in one direction, the Blademaster’s eyes warily following it with more than a hint of distaste, before he dragged Watorie a few steps in another. The short escapade between the two ended with a more than confusing gesture to the Wavemaster and a puppy-dog attempt to play off the waste of time. His head was almost forced off (to paraphrase the Queen of Hearts) by Kira’s spear, unfortunately she had missed. A couple more tries ended with Raquar and the female Long Arm staring off for a few seconds. The man chastised Luka (far, far too little a punishment ) for his behaviour before Sekai gestured to help him up. Instead, the bipolar tour guide yanked on Raquar’s arm, standing, before slamming the staff into the ground. A set of stairs formed out of the ground after massive amounts of shaking, prompting quite the profane assessment of the situation mentally, and Luka leaped down them merrily before beckoning them to follow. He then told Talal, Sekai, Raquar and Takua not to jump down, because it would do more than damage to them. His brow scrunching slightly in confusion, the boy followed the rest down the steps.

Lights flickered once they entered the cave, three pairs of torches illuminating three doors. One pair shone a brilliant blue, the others vivid images of green and purple. Their moron of a host spoke a riddle, one that had to do with the colours of the torches. The mini back-and-forth between Kira and Luka sparked a stream of muttered curses and insults from the Blademaster, albeit quietly muttered curses and insults so as not to offend their ‘honoured guest’. YOU getting screwed over? What about us? We’re screwed over by having an imbecile of a player controlling a bumbling Wavemaster just happening to be the one showing us through the Valkyrie hideout! You bumbling, totally useless piece of sh--

Speech from his commander stopped the ranting both mental and physical. People threw out their ideas after Sekai chose the blue door. Takua and Talal agreed with her, but Watorie chose to say something about a colour wheel, the sound of it making Kashi think he picked purple. “Well, as long as it’s not green,” he uttered. [color=indigo]I have a bone to pick with the crap that happened last time I went through a green dungeon. As a little aside, he said (barely audibly) ”I’d rather go through a room smeared red with Luka’s blood right now more than anything, quite honestly.”

[Sekai]

To say that tensions were running a little high was like saying that a category 5 hurricane was a mild thunderstorm.

Nervous and highly sensitive to the overall mood of the group before her, Sekai listened attentively to each suggestion and, by common vote, found it in favor of the room she'd pointed out. Meek and feeling as if she'd just been given a kick in the ribs by something impossibly large and stone-like, the young commander took charge and headed to the door first. Pale light gave her a haunted, ghost-like appearance as she appeared to read something on the door and placed her hand against it to try and push.

With little success and no apparently handle or lever, the young girl turned to speak to her fellow team members and let them know they'd need to choose a second door... when it suddenly swiveled and sent her tumbling into the shadows beyond with a single, terrified yelp.

Luka found the entire matter hysterical. The Wavemaster was on the ground, clutching his stomach and almost howling with laughter... right up until Talal gave him an “accidental” kick upside his head in her haste to try and reach the door.

Raquar, by some odd twist, beat everyone to the door, his serious expression still in place, save for a slight tightening of his jaw and the tension in his extremely tall frame. One large hand skimmed the surface of the door, searching for any trace of what trap had been triggered before he scowled, set his spear against the door and turned to threaten Luka with bodily harm if he didn't knock the immature crap off...

and nearly got hit in the ass with the revolving door that stole his spear in that instant.

A shocked silence filled the room before a very, very muffled “Ow!” came through the other side. Brows furrowing in contemplation, the tall Long Arm stood in front of the door and pushed against the side, quickly moving out of the way as it turned once and closed like nothing had happened. As fairly interesting- and slightly humorous as the muffled sound had been- the rest of the Army of Darkness- and Luka- slipped through one by one, Raquar bringing up the end of the line to keep an eye out on the suspicious Wavemaster.

Sekai was in there and appeared unharmed, save for the spot on her head she kept rubbing with a wince and Raquar's missing spear leaning against her tiny shoulder. Upon seeing that Kira still had her weapon and, with a distinctive lack of other Long Arms around, she gave a sheepish smile to the white haired man and struggled to hand it back to him.

“It's a little too big for me to hold with one hand,” Sekai began apologetically and noticed the strange way that some of the other members of the group were staring at her. Unable to restrain himself from the urge to play the high school joke, Takua found himself blurting out the inevitable rather loudly. “That's what she said!”

Sekai gave Takua an odd look, as if he'd lost his mind or something by saying such a thing and glanced over to the strange color Kira's face was turning and the way the AI refused to look at her for any reason. “Yes...” She replied slowly, missing the point entirely and probably went looking for it in the wheat fields of Kansas. “That is indeed what I said, but-”

“We're going on ahead. Move out people!” Kira managed from between clenched teeth and rushed on ahead, much to the small Archer's annoyance. Choking back laughter was a very, very difficult process; especially when the individual in question honestly had no idea whatsoever about the innuendo behind the seemingly innocent phrase.

Raquar just closed his eyes and followed after Kira. If she asked, he'd make Kira tell her. Or better yet, have Takua open his big mouth again and explain it himself; considering it was his fault and all.

...but dear God how sheltered she must have been, he thought with a shake of his head.

Sekai scowled, following the others somewhere in the middle of the group as Kira stopped suddenly and took a step back, looking rather uncomfortable with something she saw in the small doorway ahead. Concern filled in the eyes of those who knew the rather standoffish spear wielder at the sight of the slender woman taking another step away from the room that lie ahead.

She didn't turn to meet their eyes, but there was a noticeable edge that even Luka picked up on when she spoke. “It's... not good.” Strained and almost like she didn't know whether or not she wanted to laugh or start swearing vehemently, the amber eyed princess shook her head and tightened her grip on her spear.

Four IronBall Freaks were in there... or, what looked like them... if they'd been fused like siamese twins at the hip and back in addition to a pair of conjoined at the tail Cyclo Sharks and a lone Mimic.

Luka giggled, an obnoxious and disturbingly high pitched sound, as he turned to face the group. “Well well well now, dungeon crawling is part of any adventure, it's okay though. It's just this room and we'll have the real challenge for this area come hitting us from above!”

Sekai turned to her clan and gave them all a very tentative smile, bowing ever so slightly to the them as she rummaged in her inventory. “Ap Vorma!” Bestowing the magical defense blessing on each of the people fighting- including, she assumed, Luka- and glanced back into the room. “Well... how do we want to do this,” A pause as she studied their opponents.

“IronBall is... high physical attack and maybe defense based, good magic might knock them out of the way... though there are technically four of them and no chance for a sneak attack... not really, anyways.” The young girl mused, her brain already trying to churn out some sort of strategy. “Cyclo Sharks may be easiest for those with speed or magic too... and the Mimic is what we need to really be careful with; it can confuse you and make you think your friend is actually an enemy.”

“Just be careful and I suggest grabbing someone who'll compliment your strengths and cover your weaknesses in battle; yell if you need some healing or someone to come yank your ass out of a tight spot.” Kira cut in, nodding to the young Archer before heading into the room herself and going for the sharks to see if she could find a weakness or a way to split them without getting bit.

((Better late than never, right?

With the IronBall Freaks, double their HP; everything else stays the same, they only share HP. Same with the Sharks.

Have fun?))

This post has been edited by Sekai on Jun 9 2009, 05:37 AM

[Watorie]

Watorie stood back and watched as Sekai walked to the chosen blue door and tried to open it in vein. There was not a knob or handle to be seen, so given the circumstances it was obvious that she’d try to push it, though still nothing happened. Suddenly as she turned to face the clan the door swung and pulled her into the unknown area ahead. Waotrie gasped at this, and along with everyone went for the door, of course beaten downright by the rest of the clan. Talal had even taken the opportunity to kick Luka stabbed the door with his spear getting it lodged in his attempt to open it, but again the door didn’t open when wanted. When Raquar turned to go after Luka though the door swung again, taking his spear with it. From the other side came a small grunt of pain that was undoubtedly made by their leader.

Everyone in the room looked as thought they were trying to figure out how it worked, it only took moments and Raquar tested his theory by pressing on the side of the door and jumping back before it swung. A little pressure one moment will make the door turn once it’s relieved, Watorie thought to himself. Slowly everyone in the group was able to get through the door one by one, with Raquar last so that Luka was never out of sight.

They arrived in a dark room with Sekai ahead of them holding Raquars spear, it was so much bigger than her that it made her look even smaller, when Sekai made a comment about it being too big for her to hold single handed Takua made a vulgar remark any middleschooler would know, yet surprisingly it went right over her head. Kira noticed however and did her best to get the group off of the subject by commanding everyone forward. Everyone obeyed so Waotrie fallowed along assuming that Kira was Sekai’s second in command.

The clan was once again on the move, all going deeper and deeper into this unknown dungeon. Watorie stayed at the back of the group thinking, he wasn’t able to help at all with the last part of this area, he barely did anything outside other than run frightened and scramble to stay alive… he was practically useless… His chain of thought was cut short when the group headed by Kira with commander Sekai in the center of the party stopped short before the next room ahead of them. Kira had halted them, taking a step back from the next room. “It's... not good,” Kira said shortly. Watorie peeked around to see what was going on, the next room was filled with more powerful monsters, seeing this he gulped harshly.

“Well well well now, dungeon crawling is part of any adventure, it's okay though. It's just this room and we'll have the real challenge for this area come hitting us from above!” Luka had said, Watorie got worried by this, from the sound of it he imagined that it was a trap and as soon as the monsters were dead the ceiling would collapse on them.

“Ap Vorma!” called out Sekai, as she enchanted all the members of the party. She started to ponder what was the best way to take care of the monsters. She started speaking facts about the monsters and ways to try and defeat them, looking in the door Watorie knew that the only thing he’d be good for is healing, nothing else. He targeted the monsters and wasn’t surprised when the Cyclo Shark came up as water but was when the IronBall Freaks showed up as thunder and not earth. The only spell he had that would damage one would be his fire magic against the shark but Takua was probably better at that, though the stronger IronBall would probably take all his effort. As he was thinking this Kira launched herself in after the Shark. If he would be able to do anything it would be support her.

Walking slowly through the door he aimed at the shark, “Vak Don!” When the meteor hit the beast it did a small amount of elemental damage, but more than that it diverted it’s attentions from everything but the little wavemaster, leaving it completely open to an attack.

((OOC: I’ll re-write that for you if you’d like Seki-seki. But I figured that this would be the best way for Watorie to help other than constant REPTH REPTH REPTH! And he doesn’t know enough about Kira to know if making the opening she was looking for would piss her off or not… ))

[Takua]

Takua wasn't too surprised that they ended up going into the door that Sekai had recommended. After all, she was their Commander, and it's a fairly good idea to at least consider, heavily, what said person says. Sure, they could disagree and pick a new path, but the Wavemaster hadn't any more of a clue of where to go than she did. That said, he could say, with absolute assurance, that he couldn't trust Luka for as far as he could throw the other Wavemaster. Which wasn't very far, considering that his physical strength was about zero. Between what the man, or boy, had said and how he was acting, Takua saw no real reason how his natural paranoia was wrong. There was something...strange about how he acted. Happy and giggly one moment without a care in the world, cruel and calculating the next. Not something that he could bring himself to ignore, and as much as he didn't want to listen to the whispers in his head, he couldn't just throw them away out of hand either.

And so he watched the other Wavemaster carefully, even through the antics of the door. Of course, he just couldn't bring himself to ignore what Sekai said though. It was right there...so blatant that he couldn't help but say the joke. He had half expected to get smacked by Kira, but instead the AI was trying not to laugh, as, possibly, were a few other people. Sekai didn't get it though...and that killed that amusement as quickly as it had come. He had known that she had been somewhat sheltered, but not to that degree. That was...a little disturbing. He'd come to know her far more than he had thought possible in such a short time, and still he knew almost nothing about her. That was because of the situation forced upon the Freedom Fighters...but still. He could have, should have, asked for more information about who she was outside of The World.

But so far, he hadn't. Mostly because there hadn't really been all that much opportunity to do so, especially since he'd been seeing...well, way too much of them. He didn't really want to be there so much that they got tired of him and told him to go somewhere else. Which might not be something that Sekai would say, but it's something Kira could. And might speak for both of them, although Sekai wouldn't say it unless prompted. Ah well...here he was wandering again. Probably a way to get his mind off of the sight of one of the newer people, he couldn't remember his name right now, jabbing a sword at him. One that he couldn't believe was real, and was so happy and relieved when the blade cut into him...and then vanished, the boy back to where he had been before.

But still, he was sweating. He'd be revived, but in the middle of a fight would never be good. Especially since the next room disgorged four fused Ironball Freaks, a pair of Cyclo Sharks that were put together in the same way, and a single mimic. Leaving the lower level monsters for the newer players, he went straight after the Ironball Freaks. He wasn't really sure how their stats were affected by becoming...in essence, a single monster with eight arms and eight ways to hit you. Not the best thing for a Wavemaster, who didn't want to be hit and didn't want to feel the pain of a crushing blow. That was the hardest part of fighting for him, although his...training with Kira had helped to some degree.

Some.

Taking out his Ocean's Rod, he quickly cast an OrRue Rom on the giant before anyone else could charge to greet it. Although he could have used Ani on the things to get elemental criticals, there was a little Archer there who he did not want to freak out at the moment, and that certainly would do so. In a really bad, bad way. So instead of dark spider legs from the earth, a roaring torrent of water and ice tore into the combined monster, shredding its health and dropping it rather nicely for a single spell. Oh, sure, it was also ten levels or so under him, which meant that this was a cakewalk.

Or was, until every figure in the room blurred. Blades whipped at him, an Ironball Freak loomed in the distance, charging at him from eight different directions, and Ondine's screams for him to...do something suddenly became very distant. A single thought hammered in his mind, pounded in his blood, and fear gripped him. Defend himself before he was killed. The quicker that he killed everything, the more likely he was to live. Eyes wide and hyperventilating, he turned to find the closest one of the Ironballs, only a few yards from him. His voice broke from forced fear and panic, but the words still got out even as he changed staves to end this quickly.

“Merrows Ch.”

((Yes yes, Takua got confused by the Mimic. One person currently has a second level summon boosted by several accessories flying at them. Have fun~

Oh, and nobody actually attacked him. Hallucinations are hard to write in a way that makes sure everyone knows they are, at least from my perspective >.>))

[Magras]

Kashi watched quietly, stopping his approach. Within moments, a disgruntled sound echoed mutely from the other side of the door. With only a vague idea of what could have happened, the Blademaster waited, slightly worried, as Raquar experimented with the door. He found that the door swivelled open quickly after something touched it. Watorie proceeded through the door, and Kashi followed suit, looking back at Luka with an annoyed expression.

The next room housed their small first-in-command, rubbing a spot on her head and holding Raquar’s spear against her shoulder. Relieved that the only damage done to the Archer was probably a bit of blunt, Kashi watched her hand the spear back to the Long Arm, commenting about the size of the weapon. Takua instantly let loose a redundant comment, something about what “she” said. Kashi felt a sort of mood take a few of the members. Assuming it to be some sort of school joke (which he would have missed, not having gone to such a building for many years), Kashi simply observed where the conversation went. Sekai’s response was along the lines of what his would have been, and he could tell that Kira and Raquar had some sort of opinion on the matter. They quickly moved on, into the next room. Almost. Kira doubled back, ahead of the group. She said something, but Kashi didn’t catch the words so much as he caught the tone. Great, already we’re getting bullshit here?

The next room housed two absolutely mammoth pairs of ball-and-chain-wearing monsters the Blademaster hadn’t seen before. Something seemed slightly wrong with them, but since he hadn’t fought that kind of monster before, he couldn’t tell what it was. What he could discern, however, was that there should NOT have been such a brand of Cyclo Shark in existence. Their red tails were fused together, making them look like more of a blue boomerang-esque shape than two rabid marine hunters. Almost going by unnoticed, the treasure chest with a freakish maw stood slightly behind the Sharks and freaks. Sekai sized up the foes quickly and Kira gave a general strategy for the group before dashing off towards the Sharks. Kashi knew that two of their foes were within his level grasp, he just had to make sure that he didn’t get flattened like a pancake by the freaks of nature. Watorie unleashed a Vak Don, dealing chip damage to the Cyclo Sharks and focussing their attention on him. Kashi looked at the Wavemaster for a moment. Are you nuts? Let us distract them before you go provoking to avoid getting shredded, he mentally ordered while swapping his Noble Cloak for the Ring Mail. It looked like the boy would have to go for the Mimic, he didn’t remember what the thing’s spells were, but treasure chest enemies in games were always annoying one way or another.

He twirled his Souleater in one hand, watching the gigantic pair of watery tornadoes crash down upon the Ironball Freaks. The spell dealt great damage, and Kashi looked over to the one who cast the spell. Well, we know whose way I’m going to have to stay out of. Something looked weird about Takua, though. A giggle from the Mimic coincided with a pulse of red from the Wavemaster. He then aimed his wand at the group. What?!? A blue shine emanated from the rod, signalling a spell. Kashi wasn’t waiting to catch which one it would be. He targeted the Mimic, naming one of the skills on the Souleater.

”Crack Beat!”

His character rose quite highly into the air, head forced around to watch his target. He heard something from behind him, but couldn’t twist his neck to see what it was. Coming down from the peak of the jump, the boy’s sword smashed into the lid of the Mimic. Small splinters of wood showed the less than preferable amount of damage done by the skill. Something chewing into his side knocked the Blademaster’s health down by a chunk, and he turned to the attacker, one of the two Cyclo Sharks. Switching to his Komura, the boy wound himself up slightly for the basic skill on the weapon.

”Revolver!”

The boy hopped up into the air slightly, spinning like a top. His sword smashed into the face and lid of the Shark and Mimic six times each, knocking the two monsters away from him. He snapped out at the Shark, sword clanking off of its teeth. Skipping to the left, he sidestepped a head butt from the Cyclo Shark, smacking it down with the flat of his blade. Something came hurtling into him from behind, and he found himself flat on the ground, the Mimic hopping up and down on him. When the bugger finally bounced off of him and he looked over his shoulder, he found himself staring up at two spiked weapons of one of the Ironball Freaks. It was all he could do to try knocking a couple of monsters down some with spells before death.

”Rai Rom! Juk Kruz!”

The tornado of electricity crackled out around the Mimic as branches and foliage formed a giant cluster around the treasure chest. The Juk Kruz hit at the same time that the Blademaster’s body was turned into semi-pureed blood ‘n bone pudding. by the twin spiky weapons of death His ghost rose from the ground, an annoyed and frustrated frown glaring up at the Ironball Freak. ”Pick on someone your own size, dammit!”

[Raquar]

Blue candles, blue portal, it always seemed to be blue when it came to him and the AoD. They moved through the passageway and the door with social incidents but nothing extremely detrimental to anybody’s health . . . yet. It could get there but it wasn’t quite over the top. What greeted them in the next room however drove all other thoughts from his mind. It looked like somebody had been playing with mix and match dolls with the grotesque fusions that greeted them. The boy waited as others sprang into action trying to analyze and think about what the best course of action was. That idea soon went to hell as Kashi went down, Watorie did whatever Watorie did and Takua managed to get himself confused. He muttered a grunt about idiocy or stupidity or something along those lines before he dove headfirst into a boosted Merrows Ch. Apart from their leading archer he had the best chance of surviving the summon so he did what would hopefully have protected the lower leveled members. Kashi made part of it a moot point by already being dead but there was time to worry about that later.

The pressure was crushing and his body threatened to collapse under the weight of the water, but it was only for an instant and then he was freed from his watery prison. A La Repth helped alleviate some of the damage done and would hopefully help any teammates in a near enough vicinity. The immediately necessary things having been taken care of he turned his attention to the annoying box. A Dek Anid followed up immediately with a Wryneck slowed the creature down enough so that a pair of slashes from the Archspear reduced it splinters. That took care of the most important threat in his opinion and left him free to pursue other options. Switching the Archspear out for the Berserk spear he moved toward the freak shark.

His spear went alight with flames and heat as he whipped into the shark, small flaming crags opening up on the thing’s body. It howled at him and managed to beat him a couple times with its tail before he lit into it again. This second skill netted him an elemental critical and it was enough to make one of the shark’s heads go limp. The thing looked even weirder now with half of it limp and dead but theoretically it should be a little weaker now. His diverted attention was ill-fated as he took a giant metal wrecking ball to the ribs. He heard the crunch before he felt it as he staggered sideways coughing up blood. This was going to take a while, hopefully Luka would pitch in a bit.

[Talal]

The roundabout decision in the end was unanimous; they were taking the blue door. With no apparent handle, Sekai turned back to the group only to be swallowed through the door like some horror movie. Talal instantly bolted for the Archer hoping to catch a flailing arm or hand before she disappeared. Luka’s laughter did nothing but cause instant anger in the small framed girl and she gave him a boot to the head on her way by faking a few unbalanced movements to make it look like she hadn’t seen him and tripped. It only felt good for a brief moment but then she was disgusted with herself for allowing her anger to get the best of her.

Raquar beat her to the door but even he was too late to reach Sekai before the door closed. The search for a trigger started again and failed which was when the dark clad Long Arm’s frustrations with Mr. Rolly Polly took a more threatening turn, which made the girl smile a little on the inside but didn’t dare let it show. Another test of the door and the trick was found allowing the group to meander through one at a time.

She followed Kashi through the door and watched the brief comical tort unfold at Sekai’s expense which warranted the slap on Takua’s shoulder with the back of the Twin Blade’s hand followed with a half scowl half smirk. On the move, Kira was the first to see what lay ahead and from the moment that she backed away from the door, the Twin Blade knew it wasn’t good. After the Juk prison, Talal couldn’t honestly imagine what could possibly be bad enough to cause such a reaction. Luka’s cackle didn’t help matters either, making the girl wished she would have tripped a little harder and perhaps knocked they guy unconscious.

It was to say the least, odd to hear Sekai speaking allowed of the monsters characteristics and trying to formulate perhaps some sort of plan. Maybe she was doing it for the newer member’s benefit. Either way, the Twin Blade didn’t really mind as it was rather informative and she didn’t have to figure it out on her own. The additional magical defense would come in handy as well, sending a polite thankful nod back to the small Archer.

Watorie followed Kira into battle. He looked anxious to help and do his part which Talal understood rather well. She could remember feeling that way a lot when she first started questing with Takua, even if the help she was trying to provide was more of a friendship style mental support than anything. Still, being so anxious made her make some wrong decisions along the way. She watched while he cast a Vak Don at the shark which diverted all of the creature’s attention on him. Not exactly something he should have done considering his level and low physical defense but then again, diversion wasn’t a bad thing for the group either. How did that saying go? ‘Three parts brave, one part fool’ or maybe it was the other way around.

Getting her bearings on the best way to jump into the fray, the girl noticed Takua didn’t look quite right. His eyes looked like they were straining to focus or perhaps it was more of a confused look. Good God, if that’s what she looked like when she was confused, she’d better learn to hide her expressions. Kashi took on the Mimic; yet another brave soul in the midst of chaos. Sadly for the Blademaster, he became the center of attention and was in deep trouble. That was it; Talal knew where she needed to head first. She popped a Speed Charm and charged into the room. Even with the added speed, Raquar was still beating her to the punch. It said something for experience she supposed. When Takua cast the Merrows, she dove for cover. There was definitely something up with that boy.

When the flames and smoke cleared, Kashi was a ghost and Raquar was in some serious need of healing as well as a certain Wavemaster needing to be put back in his place and she knew just how to do it. Still with the Ap Do effects in place, Talal took off first towards the dark clad Long Arm and casting a Repth as she went by. Next up was the Wavemaster who looked like he was getting ready to cast another nasty gram and since she was the closest to him now, guess who the target was. The girl decided to attempt at making him dizzy and ran circles around him a couple of times. Perhaps it’d throw off his targeting as well. On the last circling she tossed a Restorative at him and hoped he wouldn’t manage to knock it away.

Last but not least was Kashi but he’d have to wait while she did what she could in her speed round to the enemy. First was a Gan Don sent at a pair of the Ironball’s that had grouped up. Talal wasn’t sure it’d do any damage and didn’t stick around to find out. If anything it would hopefully serve as a distraction long enough for the others to coordinate an attack against it. Once that was done, the Twin Blade quickly switched out her armor and sent a Vak Kruz at the Mimic. Finally, she sped by the fallen Blademaster and tossed him a Resurrect.

There that should get us back into fighting mode and…

YIPES!

The dark haired girl had completely forgotten about the half limp headed Cyclo Sharks who thought it apparently would be fun to sweep a girl off of her feet in the literal sense. Using their conjoined tail, the sharks swept it at the Twin Blade’s legs like a jump rope only she forgot to jump and got knocked down landing on her back with the same said tail coming in for a body slam of sorts. She tried rolling out of the way but got tagged at the very last moment in the legs and could already feel the bruise starting to form.

That’s gonna smart later on.

Front flipping back to a standing position, Talal regained her stance and prepared for round two!