God-Kings of Lotus: Heroes of the Unconquered Sun

[Ellas Aramond]

Watcher

Watcher smirks as he sees the damage caused by his weapon. If it was that easy to hit such a creature then he didn't foresee the Circle having much of a problem in this battle. Of course, it would take them all fighting at 100%, but he isn't worried. It was time though for him to start acting like the assassin, no, the nightbringer he was. No more charging through the light being flashy. A more subtle approach would be needed.

Watcher leaps from his perch, allowing the shadow and glittering gold plates of the warstrider to hide his fall from the approaching beasts, the only thing saving him from splattering on the ground being his catching himself in all the right places.

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Spending 3 motes on Lightning Speed.

Dex+stealth (12d10)[7][3][3][8][8][10][10][6][10][5][2][10](82)
and if I need it Dex+athletics (7d10)[7][1][6][2][6][7][4](33)

Personal: 14/21
Peripheral: 23/50
Committed: 27

Willpower: 5/6

[x] -0
[][][][][][][] -1
[][][][] -2
[] -4
[] Incapacitated

[The Demented One]

The enraged Nhogg charges across the plain, his thousand nostrils all ablaze with angry steam. His hooves trod heavy on the ground, rumbling and cracking the earth with every step, each of his countless millions of legs seeming different every time. Sometimes he pounces forward on a leopard's legs, or scuttles on a lobster's spindly red spinnerets, or stampedes on the mighty trunks of the yeddim. The black beating hooves are the only constant in the ceaseless shifting, and it is with those massive world-forging anvils of hooves that he stamps down at you. Watcher is the first to feel Nhogg's wrath, his attempt at evasion proving futile as one mighty hoof eclipses the sky above him. He halts at he runs forward, trying to catch a plate of Yomiko's warstrider for leverage–but he is too late. The hoof comes down on him hard, and it would shatter the spine of any man less than Watcher. When it comes up from him, Watcher lies still, bruised and bloodied but unbroken.

His next footfall comes down on Ivory Eyes, forcing the sorceress from her spell. She catches a glint of his reflection in her adamant hearthstone as his bloody battle-hoof descends. The quiver of her anima as it forces itself into sorcerous patterns subsides, and she jumps up toward the hoof, swinging from its cleft and into the air like an acrobat as her wings unfurl. Zephyr is beneath the same falling hoof, and he counters with his own upraised fist–a single pebble rising against the sea; a single insectile limb of opposition against all the strength and power of a behemoth. But Zephyr is chosen of Luna, and his upraised fist shines with silver light as he meets the attack head on, defying it with the indefatigable will of Luna Herself. Where the hoof hits his fist, it ceases to fall, and Nhogg staggers backwards, repelled.

The behemoth's eye searches the ground for the source of defiance, and falls on Yomiko, skipping over the miniscule mote that is Zephyr. He roars, and the wood of the mighty wyld-tree cracks and shatters, falling down in already-rotting splinters. He charges, his toothy maw snapping shut around the Invincible Maiden–but as the abundant ivory and enamel closes around her, Yomiko manages to hurl herself into a backflip, despite the Golden Titan's utter lack of agility. She lands the war machine on its feet hard, but the sound of it is overwhelmed by the massive, gnashing teeth, slamming down on nothing.


Battle Joined

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Tick 1: Yomiko, Bearhive, Thousand Miles Cat
Tick 2: Detective Piranha
Tick 3: Zephyr, The Lobster Brigade
Tick 5: Watcher, Ivory Eyes, Astra, Nhogg
Tick 6: Red Sand Gamine, Iron Megara, Silver Heron

Ivory Eyes

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

DV -2

Watcher

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8 levels of lethal damage.

DV -1

Zephyr

Spoiler

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

Yomiko

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

Tick 1: Yomiko, Bearhive, Thousand Miles Cat

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

She pants after her massive, clumsy flip and she takes her gaze from the wyld behemoth and to Ivory. "There's something inside Nhogg! A spirit!" Before she's even finished speaking, she's running toward the creature with her grand daiklave held in only one hand. She launches herself forward, kicking up hundreds of pounds of earth and soil in her wake, and the golden light of her anima continues to burst from the titan. She begins to sing again, her glorious war song with new-found touches of the Wyld to it as her massive sword plummets deep into it's flesh. She grips a clump of it's fur to keep a hold of it with one hand, and pulls the sword out with the other. She slams it in again to tear the hole bigger and does the unthinkable. She tears her way into the wound! Climbing into the abhorrent cavern as Nhogg's blood gushes out like a crimson waterfall. In only a moment, she has disappeared into it's flesh.

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I already have Infinite Melee Mastery up. Then just making three attacks with Hungry Tiger Technique for each. Also spending 1 wp so I can use my combo so I can Excellency and Dodge if need be.

Attack 1: (21d10)[4][6][6][4][9][7][2][8][7][10][5][5][2][1][4][7][8][4][4][3][9](115)
Attack 2: (20d10)[1][8][2][7][4][3][5][4][1][7][6][5][2][6][6][4][7][3][3][8](92)
Attack 3: (19d10)[9][9][5][10][9][9][4][4][4][3][8][5][4][6][7][9][7][4][7](123)

Essence
Permanent: ●●●●●
Personal: 21/21
Peripheral: 25 out of 51
Committed: 23

Willpower: 3/6

-0 [x][ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
X [ ]

[The Demented One]

Yomiko carvers her way into Nhogg's hide, her golden daiklave cleaving through bristling barbs of hair and the armored carapace that is the behemoth's skin. With one final cleaving slash, she gouges a gaping wound into the pit of the chimera's knee, and slips into the innards of the beast, clambering up ligaments and tendons. But she is not alone–the Thousand Miles Cat unwinds itself, and springs forward into the wound to pursue her. True to its name, the behemoth is a full thousand miles in length, the most of it coiled up in one massive ball of white fur. And yet save for its prodigious length, Thousand Miles Cat is no taller than any housecat! The cat struggles within Nhogg's innards for a few moments before being thrown back out by Yomiko's hand, dripping with the crimson juices of its beast-father's blood.

But the rest of the God-Kings cannot concern themselves with the cat, no matter how long it is. As Ivory Eyes wings through the sky, Detective Piranha sets his sights on her, his trench coat flapping gallantly in the wind. He raises one fin to steady his fedora–and with the other fin, he raises up a massive gun. "Hey, boss! I smell a mystery." He pulls the trigger, somehow, sending a molten mass of hot lead flying for Ivory Eyes. She ducks out of the way, wings singed by the heat of the missile's passage. Grumbling as he watches his shot miss, Detective Piranha reaches for a hip-flask, guzzling down whatever liquor giant fish investigators guzzle down.

Zephyr finds himself faced with Bearhive, a giant bear sculpted entirely from beehives. Bumblebees buzz angrily within every hexagonal cell of his waxen flesh, pollen-dusted mandibles bright yellow with rage. The behemoth stands upright, and brings down two claws, each full of deadly, deadly bees. As the hideous hive of bee-bear monstrosity swipes at him, Zephyr's raiment suddenly transforms from simple-but-functional combat armor into an elaborate bee-keeping suit of radiant silver mesh. Zephyr swipes an armored hand through the hive-paw once, successfully ripping away a husk of wax and swatting away the swarm of deadly, deadly bees. Bearhive screams in unbearable pain, an agony beeyond beelief assailing him as Zephyr rips and tears out his delicious, honey-laden guts.


Battle Joined

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Tick 3: Zephyr, The Lobster Brigade
Tick 5: Watcher, Ivory Eyes, Astra, Nhogg
Tick 6: Yomiko, Bearhive, Red Sand Gamine, Iron Megara, Silver Heron
Tick 7: Thousand Miles Cat, Detective Piranha

Yomiko

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp
2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

Two levels of lethal damage. Thousand Miles Cat nipped ya.

DV -3

Zephyr

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp.

Tick 3: Zephyr, The Lobster Brigade

[WhiteKnight777]

Zephyr

Zephyr flexes, and once again he becomes the Silver Dragon, his form swelling to a silver titan of war-forged ferocity. Gleaming in silver radiance, Zephyr holds up one silver-clawed hand to point at the sky-spanning monstrosity that is Nhogg. His essence gathers, forming not silver claws now, but something else - a pointed cone, alternately grooved and smooth - a drill of pure, solidified silver essence. Powered by Zephyr's own wrath, it begins to spin, its exact twin appearing on Zephyr's other fist. Ignoring the lesser behemoths, Zephyr launches himself into the air, his anima streaming out behind him like a great cloak of silver flame.

"Behold, I am Zephyr Scales-of-War, Lunar-King of Lotus! I am who I am - me, myself, and I shall not be stopped by bear or cat or any terror of the wyld. I shall break you - Behold, for THESE ARE THE DRILLS THAT WILL PIERCE THE NHOGG!"

The essence-drills on his arm whine to furious life as he leaps into the gaping wound, drilling past Yomiko as an argent streak of utter destruction, tunneling through Nhogg with the strength of his burning blood. On and up he drills, seeking out the very heart of the behemoth.

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Whoo! Essence Drills a-go-go! Standard transformation sequence - Rage and wrath. Spending an extra willpower when I activate Burrowing Devil Strike to activate Consumptive Worm Hungers as well, meaning that armor does absolutely nothing.

Activating my war form with Claws of the Silver Moon and Halting the Scarlet Flow as Gift Charms (5m)

Activating Fury with Golden Tiger Stance, Burrowing Devil Strike, Impressions of Strength (Ogre's Loving Caress), and Wasp Sting Blur, and 3 activations of Unstoppable Lunar Wound (15m, 2 wp)

War Form (Claws of the Silver Moon)
Accuracy: 24 (2 Natural + 7 Dexterity + 7 Dexterity (Claws) + 5 Martial Arts +3 Specialty)
Damage: 18L (7 Strength + 7 Strength + 2 (Claws) +2 (Talons))

Attacks are at speed 4 (thanks to Wasp Sting Blur) Rate 10 (Leopard Atemi). Overwhelming 6. Piercing.

Attacks: (Notes: All 10's rolled for damage count twice thanks to Ogre's Caress. 1 Free success thanks to Fury. All attacks are ignore armor completely and are Overwhelming (6) and 3 dice of damage are automatically converted to levels of damage. Damage is Lethal.)



Attack 1: (19d10)[8][8][7][7][3][7][2][4][1][1][3][9][5][8][10][2][4][7][6](102)
Attack 2: (18d10)[1][4][10][5][6][10][5][2][5][2][3][8][2][6][4][2][2][7](84)
Attack 3: (17d10)[9][4][4][4][8][5][6][4][10][4][7][3][2][5][9][2][1](87)
Attack 4: (16d10)[10][9][5][4][4][5][8][7][8][9][3][2][4][10][8][1](97)
Attack 5: (15d10)[10][8][1][1][7][6][3][8][1][6][10][8][7][8][9](93)
Attack 6: (14d10)[8][2][7][6][8][10][2][7][7][3][3][7][2][5](77)
Attack 7: (13d10)[6][2][1][2][3][9][3][9][6][7][3][4][5](60)
Attack 8: (12d10)[3][10][10][7][6][4][7][2][2][6][10][10](77)
Attack 9: (11d10)[8][9][9][8][4][8][7][1][5][4][9](72)
Attack 10: (10d10)[3][6][7][6][3][8][7][9][2][9](60)

Defenses (All penalties reduced by 7 thanks to Golden Tiger.
Dodge DV: 7 (8): (5 (7) Dex + 3 Dodge +5 Essence) = 13(15) /2
Parry DV: 9 (10) (13): (5 (7) Dex + 5 Melee +5 Defense +3 Specialty (+5 with Form-Type)) = 12(20)/2

Soak:
Natural: 2(3)L/4(7)B
Armor: 10L/8B
Bonuses in War Form: 10L/10B
Total: 23/25B

Hardness: 2B/2L

Health:

-0 []
-1 [][][][][][][][][][]([][])
-2 [][][][][][]([][][][][][][][])
-4 []
Incapacitated []
Dying [][][][][][][][][]([][][][][][])

5(6) Dying Health Levels

Mental Defenses
Dodge MDV: 5: (7 Willpower + 1 Integrity + 2 Essence) = 10/2
Parry MDV: 4 (4 Charisma + 3 Presence) = 7/2

Essence
Personal: 21/21
Peripheral: 8/52
Committed: 4 (2 Silken Armor/ 2 Tattoo Artifact 20 to Charms)
Willpower: 6/8

[The Demented One]

Zephyr plunges his drills deep into the flesh of Nhogg, feeling the awful churning as they liquefy flesh and carve through bone. The monster squeals with pain, flailing helplessly in a desperate, futile struggle to pull itself free of its impalement. No such luck. With one final surge of hot blood and manly fighting spirit, Zephyr forces his drill all the way into the beast's massive heart, his essence-drill surging higher and higher to meet its mark. Nhogg wails louder and louder, a sound like the thunder of drums, and then falls savagely still. There is an explosion of blood, a tsunami of scarlet that drenches every inch of the field, blossoming scarlet across the earth. Every cord of flesh and splinter of bone in Nhogg dissolves, deliquescing into blood. The beast is dead.

Even as Zephyr stands in triumph, the Lobster Brigade mobilizes to assault him, the huge clockwork lobster treading forward on spindly legs. As it moves, tiny hatches open up all across its body, out from which poke the heads of its pilots. The little girls can hardly be older than twelve years, perhaps thirteen. And yet despite their youth, they direct the massive mechanical arthropod they pilot with unstoppable malice, seeking to crush Zephyr in their barbed pincers. Still drenched in Behemoth blood, Zephyr roars in defiance at the attack of the giant lobster. His drill-hands become giant claw-crackers as he meets its attack head on, clamping down on its limbs–but for all that he struggles, Zephyr cannot hold off the crushing claws, and he feels their cruel chop cutting through his flesh.

And above you, up in the skies, a flame burns. A tongue of wildly lashing yellow flickers and sputters, brightening, growing into shape and form. The flame coils into tendons, coalesces into bones, is drawn out into skin. You see the shape of what has come, a bristling four-armed bodhisattva, its head that of a boar. The burning of its flesh cools and softens into gold, and with a thunderous crash it falls, cracking the earth with its impact. "YOU FOOLS! THAT WAS MY BEST BEHEMOTH YOU SLAUGHTERED!" it roars, plucking a strand of barbed gossamer from the air and shaping it into some huge awesome glaive. "KNEEL BEFORE NHOGG!"


Battle Joined

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Tick 5: Watcher, Ivory Eyes, Astra, Nhogg
Tick 6: Yomiko, Bearhive, Red Sand Gamine, Iron Megara, Silver Heron
Tick 7: Zephyr, Thousand Miles Cat, Detective Piranha

Zephyr

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3-die stunt, 6m or 1wp
2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

3 levels of lethal damage

DV -3

Tick 5: Watcher, Ivory Eyes, Astra, Nhogg

[GryffonDurime]

Ivory Eyes raises her Hand of the Great Maker to Nhogg as he approaches, and the many minute gears and sprockets spin to life, shedding sparks as her anima flares briefly.

"We bow before no one," she says with a shrug, bringing the hand down to her side, fingers curled inward like a talon. She brings it back up in a forceful gesture, fingers splayed. Her eyes gleam with a clarity of intent as her essence tumbles forward in a forceful spray like a wave against the shore. Where it settles, black rock outcropping arise violently, covered in gray sand and wilting scrub grass as Ivory forcibly shapes the wondrous landscape of the Wyld into tangled banality, careful only for the safety of her three circlemates. The quick jutting of rock and the geysers of sand are less artfully arranged for the faerie and his courtiers, subjecting them to the cataclysm. Most of all, Ivory defiles the great tree at the heart of the waypoint, infecting it's base with a crude verdigris that belies a truly epic infestation.

"The Doctor would be proud," she adds to the Gamine with a smile.

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Battlefield Shaping: enemies without a supernatural balance or a magical resistance to knockdown and knocked down and suffer 15 levels of Piercing, bashing damage. The land is now Resources 1 and Shaped, with a slight Malfean aesthetic. Because, you know, overkill.

Of course, this is a Speed 7, DV -5 action costing her 2 of her 4 banked successes.

Essence ●●●●●
Personal 22/22
Peripheral 31/35
Glory 10/10
Committed: 10 (Vajra), 8 (CRP)

Willpower: 7/7

Dodge DV: 5

Health:
[ ] -0
[ ][ ][ ][ ] -1
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] -2
[ ] -4
[ ] Incapacitated

Magic in effect:
Chaos Repelling Prana

[Ellas Aramond]

Watcher

Watcher dashes forward, right into the path of one of Ivory's mounds of jutting rock. Instead of dodging the hazard, however, he lets it erupt under him, placing himself in such a way that he rides it up without being hurt. And though the mound comes to a sudden stop, the nightbringer does not. Using the momentum from the stone, Watcher leaps into the air heading straight towards the new Nhogg, pulling out Genesis and two more chakrams from the folds of his cloak. With the wind blowing the mass of black behind him,his golden armor seems to gleam as he recites the oath for the small weapons. Once close enough, he stabs out with his blade three times, not dealing any damage, but Watcher's assured movements seem to say that he does not mean to. After the third stroke, he allows the weapon to remain wedged in the monster's belly, giving him a handhold as he goes about his work. Acting swiftly and still saying the oath, he inserts the now glowing chakrams into the small wounds.

"...for the Sun burns bright!" Watcher finishes, his words quickly lost in the resulting explosion, engulfing the seemingly suicidal nightbringer. But as quickly as Watcher seems to have killed, he leaps out of Zephyr's oversized shadow, sword in hand, and unharmed by the flames.

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Because I'm using the chakrams in a rather odd way, I'm just going to assume that success means he found a good spot to place them. Also, I'll spend 7 motes on both attacks to use my Thrown excellency+SSE combo.

And since I was still stealthing until now, my attacks are unexpected unless he notices me.

Dex+thrown (12d10)[4][10][8][4][5][5][7][2][6][3][3][2](59)
Dex+thrown (11d10)[1][5][7][9][10][10][9][3][1][3][7](65)

Personal: 0/21
Peripheral: 23/50
Committed: 27

Willpower: 3/6

[x] -0
[x][x][x][x][x][x][x] -1
[x][][][] -2
[] -4
[] Incapacitated

[The Demented One]

The cosmic maelstrom bound within Ivory Eyes's hand seethes and churns with infinite possibility, an entire universe collapsed into a naked singularity of samsara. She plunges her hand deep into the most essential, most integral substrata of the Wyld, and shapes it into form, casting chaos into her ordained vision. From the glistening, dew-kissed boughs that encircle the blood-slick field comes the sound of screaming, the heart of chaos moaning in agony as Creation itself is forced into her breast. In a single moment, you stand upon the earth of a true world, of reality. A sweeping tide of chaos engulfs the reality, dragging it back into the Wyld–but it is a diminished chaos, a fractal offshoot of the true and unadulterated formlessness constrained within the Unshaped. The behemoths topple, one by one, as essence roils through the air, the dialectical struggle of order and chaos overwhelming them to the last. Nhogg falls, but his cast-on shapes flickers, vanishing into shapeless essence and then reforming, shifting into the same shape, but now standing. His minions struggle to rise.

And then Nhogg explodes. Unseen by him, Watcher has scaled his back, forcing one of his sacred weapons deep into his golden hide. The Nightbringer just dodges the golden light of the blast as it erupts from within Nhogg, the sun's radiance scorching the flesh he has shaped. The Lord of Chaos's bellowing cannot even be heard above the din, but he shouts a thousand defiances, a thousand challenges. As the first explosion subsides, the Lord of Chaos reaches deep into his own wound and flings away the second chakram, sending it scuttling to the earth. Its inner light subsides, its holy wrath once more constrained. But Nhogg has only spared himself from the deathblow–his golden hide has melted into slag and dross, burning away his flesh and scarring him down to the bone.

"ALL OF YOU WILL DIE. ALL OF YOU WILL PERISH. ALL OF YOU WILL KNELL BEFORE ME. I AM THE RIPPER, THE TEARER, THE SLASHER, THE GOUGER. I AM THE TEETH IN DARKNESS, THE WORM THAT COILS AT THE WORLD'S ROOTS, THE NEVER-ENDING SOUND OF DRUMS. I! AM! NHO–"

"Oh, shut up!" Nhogg startles, looking down at the fool who dares interrupt his ultimately bombastic villainous monologue. Astra looks right back up at him her eyes blazing rainbows. "I am Astra, Chosen of Luna, Steward of Creation, and I CAN YELL JUST AS LOUD AS YOU!" She seems to grow taller and taller, the Wyld yielding to her overriding will. She towers above the ruined stump of the shattered tree–and as she grows higher and higher, Nhogg seems to dwindle before her. "Look up, look up at Yomiko. You see her? You see how terrifying she is? You're a coward, Nhogg, and you can't stand to fight her. KNEEL BEFORE YOMIKO!


Battle Joined

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Tick 6: Yomiko, Nhogg, Bearhive, Wyld-Shapers
Tick 7: Zephyr, Thousand Miles Cat, Detective Piranha
Tick 10: Watcher, Astra
Tick 12: Ivory Eyes

Ivory Eyes

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3-die stunt, 6m or 1wp

DV -5

Watcher

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

DV -2

Tick 6: Yomiko, Nhogg, Bearhive, Wyld-Shapers

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

The warstrider is mostly caked in traumendous amounts of gore, congealed atop her in a way that only her head and most of her right arm go uncovered. Her head shifts up, blood dripping from the 'strider's massive head to look upon Astra. She is used to praise, as a God-Queen it is one of the many things she was indeed not lacking. This still seemed stronger, more meaningful. She just smiled to herself.
Suddenly, the armor burst from the gore with a bellow both beautiful and hideous. A shout of creature's roar and maiden's song in one. She held the sword in but one hand high in the air, the other also held aloft like a talon. The bloody remnants that did not burst from her in all directions slide off of her and coat her. A bloody giant stands there shrieking and unscathed.
Slamming her feet into bloody grass as she ran, the Wyld shook. Each footfall was as Autochthon's hammer slamming upon the anvil of Creation and Nhogg only heard it getting louder as she approached. She held her sword up high and stopping a few meters short of Nhogg swung her mighty blade down upon him. As the sword flew through the air her anima flared within the titan. Golden fire burst from every crack like a holy blast furnace, her eyes exploded with the same fire and cremated the sky! It was clear to all and Nhogg most especially that she was a true slayer among the gods.

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Just one attack, enhanced of course. At this point I just want to be scary, and pain is scary. 1wp for combo, full 1st Melee Excellency, Hungry Tiger. So really only 1 mote spent.

Attack: (23d10)[9][2][7][6][6][7][10][8][6][3][7][2][6][1][7][1][4][8][7][7][6][7][7](134)

Essence
Permanent: ●●●●●
Personal: 21/21
Peripheral: 24 out of 51
Committed: 23

Willpower: 2/6

-0 [x][x]
-1 [x][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
X [ ]

[The Demented One]

Yomiko's blade comes down on Nhogg with force like unto a star rupturing, and it is only for his impossible speed that it does not smite him down where he stands. Her golden daiklave cleaves cleanly through blistered molten flesh, and Nhogg squeals like a hog for the slaughter, fear roiling behind his eyes. "NO! NHOGG FALLS NOT BEFORE YOU!" He leaps, kicking off of the warstrider's blade, and hangs in the midst of the air, hovering above the battlefield. "MY MINIONS, TO ME! TAKE DOWN THE PRIESTESS! FEAST ON HER FACE!" And yet for all his boasting, all his bold defiance, his story is that of a hunted beast, the wolf cornered and crippled by fear.

He whips his glaive through the air like a lariat, and its shaft swells and bulges within his grasp, like a spider's web unspooling from its innards. With one manly heave, he shoves his great overbearing weapon at Watcher and Ivory Eyes, hoping to gut two God-Kings with one blow. Watcher neatly ducks under the barbed glaive-head, while Ivory Eyes's wings pull around her like a cloak, sending her into a downward spiral beneath the ever-surging spear. The errant blows at last hurtles towards Zephyr, and he laughs at Nhogg's bravado as he raises his silver drills against it. Brilliant silver anima meets the primal power of chaos in an explosion of light and sound–and Zephyr is sent hurtling down, a gaping wound torn through his chest by the cruel glaive of Nhogg.

"YES!" gloats Nhogg, calling down a rain of blood to celebrate his triumph. Bearhive struggles to his feet beneath the downpour of warm slick gore, red blood filling up and overflowing from his honeycombs. His waxen maw yawns wide, and from it pours countless buzzing millions of bumbling bees, black and yellow death given flight. The swarm mobs Yomiko, but she slides back on the soles of her warstrider's massive greaves with supernatural deftness. Blood still hangs in the air, choking the swarm of bees and sending them down to the earth. Bearhive roars in frustration, as the Invincible Maiden's face remains unfeasted-upon.


Battle Joined

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Tick 7: Zephyr, Thousand Miles Cat, Detective Piranha
Tick 10: Watcher, Astra
Tick 11: Yomiko, Nhogg, Bearhive, Wyld-Shapers
Tick 12: Ivory Eyes

Yomiko

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2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp
1-die stunt, 2m

DV -1

Ivory Eyes

Spoiler

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1-die stunt, 2m

Zephyr

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6 levels of lethal damage.

Tick 7: Zephyr, Thousand Miles Cat, Detective Piranha

[WhiteKnight777]

Zephyr

Zephyr laughs, the cloak of silver anima flaring behind him, snapping dramatically in an ephemeral breeze. The hole in his chest is already beggining to close, and he spits a gob of blood that gleams like molten silver on the grass of Nhogg's domain. He strikes a pose, pointing at Nhogg as his silvery drills flare once more into great spectral claws, and his essence flares like Luna's light.

"You're just a scared little piggy. Nhogg. I am the hero here - I reject your story, and substitute my own! I will rewrite your tale in your own blood, and my claws shall be the penstrokes! ARGENT TIGER ASSAULT!"

So screaming, Zephyr launches himself towards Nhogg, streaking through the air like an arrow, streamers of silver essence whipping through the air in his passing. He draws back his strong right arm, and launches it forward with a blow that not even a Behemoth could stop. It plows through Nhogg's defenses, melting his skin and flesh like warm butter. Zephyr looks the creature in the eye, smiling at him as Nhogg begins to glow from within with pure silver light, a moment before Zephyr's gleaming rage explodes within Nhogg, annihilating ephemeral flesh with the raw, untrammeled fury of the Chosen of Luna.

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Activating Tiger Form (6m) then an all-out assault on Nhogg.

War Form (Claws of the Silver Moon)
Accuracy: 29 (2 Natural + 7 Dexterity + 7 Dexterity (Claws) + 5 Martial Arts +3 Specialty +5 Bracers)
Damage: 28L (7 Strength + 7 Strength + 2 (Claws) +2 (Talons) +5 Bracers +5 Tiger Stance)

Attacks are at speed 4 (thanks to Wasp Sting Blur) Rate 10 (Leopard Atemi). Overwhelming 6. Piercing.

Attacks: (Notes: All 10's rolled for damage count twice thanks to Ogre's Caress. 1 Free success thanks to Fury. All attacks are ignore armor completely and are Overwhelming (6) and 3 dice of damage are automatically converted to levels of damage. Damage is Lethal.)



Attack 1: (25d10)[10][8][1][7][3][6][6][5][5][3][10][5][5][5][8][5][6][10][2][10][2][1][2][9][1](135)
Attack 2: (24d10)[8][9][9][6][10][1][10][5][9][5][1][9][8][8][7][7][10][6][5][9][4][2][7][6](161)
Attack 3: (23d10)[10][10][2][5][4][8][10][5][7][6][1][9][3][3][4][6][1][3][5][1][6][5][6](120)
Attack 4: (22d10)[2][1][9][7][4][8][3][10][9][2][3][2][2][5][8][9][8][5][1][7][8][10](123)
Attack 5: (21d10)[6][2][9][8][5][9][4][4][2][9][5][10][5][7][10][1][7][2][5][5][1](116)
Attack 6: (20d10)[6][4][5][6][8][3][3][3][8][5][10][6][7][1][4][3][10][2][9][5](108)
Attack 7: (19d10)[7][8][7][10][10][9][4][7][2][10][6][6][1][5][7][7][10][1][9](126)
Attack 8: (18d10)[7][1][2][5][4][2][1][4][3][8][6][1][4][7][8][6][7][7](83)
Attack 9: (17d10)[2][1][9][10][5][1][4][6][3][6][8][3][1][9][5][5][4](82)
Attack 10: (25d10)[4][6][9][3][5][3][7][2][2][4][3][10][9][3][8][10][1][1][3][1][9][6][3][10][5](127)

Defenses (All penalties reduced by 7 thanks to Golden Tiger.
Dodge DV: 7 (8): (5 (7) Dex + 3 Dodge +5 Essence) = 13(15) /2
Parry DV: 9 (10) (13): (5 (7) Dex + 5 Melee +5 Defense +3 Specialty (+5 with Form-Type)) = 12(20)/2

(Parry is 13 Currently)

Soak:
Natural: 2(3)L/4(7)B
Armor: 10L/8B
Bonuses in War Form: 10L/10B
Total: 23/25B

Hardness: 2B/2L

Health:

-0 [/]
-1 [/][/]/[/][/][/][/][/][][][]([][])
-2 [][][][][][]([][][][][][][][])
-4 []
Incapacitated []
Dying [][][][][][][][][]([][][][][][])

5(6) Dying Health Levels

Mental Defenses
Dodge MDV: 5: (7 Willpower + 1 Integrity + 2 Essence) = 10/2
Parry MDV: 4 (4 Charisma + 3 Presence) = 7/2

Essence
Personal: 21/21
Peripheral: 12/52
Committed: 4 (2 Silken Armor/ 2 Tattoo Artifact 20 to Charms)
Willpower: 6/8

[The Demented One]

Zephyr pounces on Nhogg with unbridled bestial rage, but the raksha proves a beast just as fierce. Every thrust is met with a sidestep or an impossible backflip, every lunge ducked under or jumped above. But Zephyr's massive drills prove themselves against even the Lord of Chaos, striking three great blows against him. The drills bore through the shaped flesh of Nhogg, and he pulls himself off of the deadly gyre only with much grunting and spilt blood. "YOU! I WILL MAKE YOU WATCH AS I ROAST YOUR MATE UPON A SPIT! AND THEN I WILL FEED HER TO MY BEHEMOTHS, AND LET THE GRISTLE OF HER BONES BE THE GREASE THAT WILL SLICK THE BLADE THAT CUTS OUT YOUR HEART! AND THEN, TORTURE! AND MORE TORTURE!" He goes on like this for a while.

Meanwhile, Yomiko tangles with the Thousand Miles Cat, the two of them engaged in a sinuous dance. The overlengthy cat nips at her, sneaking past the seams of her armor and infiltrating the cockpit, catching Yomiko in its bitter adamant jaws. But before the behemoth can coils its body around the warstrider, she leaps back, leaving it to flail helplessly–and at the same instant as Detective Piranha unloads his massive handcannon at the Invincible Maiden. There is the sound of ruffled fur and outraged hissing as the behemoth only narrowly dodges the blazing silver bullet. "Who loves you, pussycat?" quips the detective, not deigning to notice the fact that he missed.


Battle Joined

Spoiler

Show

Tick 10: Watcher, Astra
Tick 11: Yomiko, Nhogg, Bearhive, Wyld-Shapers
Tick 12: Ivory Eyes, Zephyr, Detective Piranha
Tick 13: Thousand Miles Cat

Zephyr

Spoiler

Show

2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

DV -3

Yomiko

Spoiler

Show

2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

One level of lethal damage

Tick 10: Watcher, Astra

[Ellas Aramond]

Watcher

Watcher glances at Nhogg as he moves across the battlefield. It's all too obvious to him that the only way he can hurt the beast is with one of his chakrams, and he's running low on those. Alright, that first statement isn't completely correct, he still had his more powerful attacks; but using that much energy is a bad idea. Okay then, stick with the chakrams.

Seeing the minions ganging up on Yomiko, Watcher realizes he can do more then just pepper Nhogg with explosives, he could distract at least one of them. Reaching Bearhive, he leaps up, using many bees flying around as platforms, moving just quickly enough to avoid being stung. Once on it's back, he pours essence into the golden weapon attached to his arm, sending it into its usual power-up humming. Getting near enough, he leaps a short distance onto the tip of it's nose, pausing a moment to say "Hello." Leaping away once more, he sends himself twisting in the air to let off a shot of essence-infused water straight into the beast's face before dropping away.

Spoiler

Show

Spending 5 motes and 1 extra plus one willpower to use my First Thrown Excellency+Seven Shadow Evasion combo. Also, tapping the water hearthstone in my vambrace.

Dex+thrown+acc (15d10)[1][2][4][3][9][4][7][9][5][4][8][3][5][10][5](79)

Personal: 0/21
Peripheral: 12/50
Committed: 27

Willpower: 2/6

[x] -0
[x][x][x][x][x][x][x] -1
[x][][][] -2
[] -4
[] Incapacitated

[The Demented One]

Wyld Fact: Bees drown if they become waterlogged. They hate that.

Watcher isn't entirely sure why this manifests in the air before him as he blasts a bolt of pure water essence into Bearhive's face, but he's learned a valuable science lesson about...using magical bolts of pure water essence to exterminate pesky bees that are nesting inside a giant bear. Okay, maybe it's not the most generally applicable science lesson, but the Wyld really isn't the best place to be doing science at all. Bearhive is less concerned with the educational value of Watcher's attack and more concerned with the gaping hole full of drowning bees in his face. Bearhive hates that.

Astra comes to Watcher's side, leaping off the subtitle that still hovers in the air and spreading her fan wide as she falls. "And don't even know what you are, you bear-made-out-of-bees thing, but die anyways! No matter how confusing you are, you still don't get to hurt my Yomiko and come away alive!" She brings down the razor-sharp moonsilver edge of her blade down like a guillotine–but guillotines definitely aren't for executing Bearhive! Her fan doesn't even scratch his waxy hide, and even worse–it's stuck in the honey!


Battle Joined

Spoiler

Show

Tick 11: Yomiko, Nhogg, Bearhive, Wyld-Shapers
Tick 12: Ivory Eyes, Zephyr, Detective Piranha
Tick 13: Thousand Miles Cat
Tick 15: Watcher, Astra

Watcher

Spoiler

Show

2-die stunt, 4m or 1wp

DV -1

Tick 11: Yomiko, Nhogg, Bearhive, Wyld-Shapers

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

The skid of her last dodge came to it's conclusion and she locked once again on the boar-headed general of his army of the strange and wondrous. The titanic armor vaulted a short distance through the air, once again closing in on Nhogg. She was however lost in thought... My Yomiko? Huh. Well. Hitting Nhogg, that was important now.

She sees the melted and frayed Raksha before her, the essence welling up inside her. All of her experience in combat colliding together in golden bursts in her mind and soul. The blade of holy fury was held in her hand, the tremendous weight of the weapon still not offset by the tremendous strength of the armor but the skill of arms and raw essence taking shape within her made it feel weightless. She took the hilt in both hands and thrust it forward, the edge of the weapon blazing like the sun behind a hairline crack. She held doom in her hand, and she used it to strike. "With this stroke of my blade, this challenge ENDS!"

Spoiler

Show

Putting together another combo, including 1st Melee Excellency + Rising Sun Slash + Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgment + Seven Shadow Evasion + Hungry Tiger Technique for a grand total of 13 XP.
Then for a grant total of 1wp and 9m, I attack.

Attack: (23d10)[5][4][1][9][3][9][7][7][6][2][9][1][10][10][8][1][6][10][7][10][10][5][2](142)

Essence
Permanent: ●●●●●
Personal: 21/21
Peripheral: 17 out of 51
Committed: 23

Willpower: 2/6

-0 [x][x]
-1 [x][ ][ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
X [ ]

[The Demented One]

Yomiko plunges her blade deep into Nhogg's heart, pinning him on her daiklave as if he were nothing more than a butterfly. She clashes with layer after layer of crystalline essence, invincibility asserted upon the chaos–and each one cracks and shatters at her insistence. The beast-thing cannot even muster up a scream or a shout, falling silently to its knees. Blood pools beneath it–dramatically more blood than should have been inside of its body, and definitely more fluorescent than blood should be, and the kittens splashing around in the puddles are a bit ridiculous. "THUS DO I DIE...THUS, THUS, THUS!" mutters Nhogg, as the life flees him.

Nhogg's corpse lies still and stony-silent. The behemoths flee, desperately scampering for the far edges of the chaos, though Bearhive finds his flight hindered by the very angry Lunar still clinging to him, pummeling him one bee at a time. Victory. As you come together over Nhogg's slain form...it speaks. "NOW I AM DEAD, NOW I AM FLED. MY SOUL IS IN THE SKY. TONGUE, LOSE THY LIGHT; MOON, TAKE THY FLIGHT. NOW DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE!" he wails melodramatically, before falling dead once more. You get the feeling that he isn't taking this whole being dead thing seriously.

[WhiteKnight777]

Zephyr

Zephyr arches a brow as he stands over Nhogg. "Yes, we can see you're quite dead. So very, very dead. Now, dead-thing, direct us to the next challenge we must conquer. We have little time to waste."

[Ellas Aramond]

Watcher

"Yes, the next challenge." Watcher says, still irked that Nhogg had been able to spot him during the battle. That had been happening more and more lately. If the trend continued, then he wouldn't even be able to hide from Yomiko. "The third challenge...out of four. Why does there have to be four of them?"

He stops to pick up the dropped chakram, placing it next to its last brother on his belt. Only two left. He would have to make them last until they got back to Lotus. "Astra, we have appear to have beaten these creatures. You can let it leave now. I doubt it will trouble us any longer."

[The Demented One]

"OH, NO, DON'T MIND ME. I'M TOO BUSY BEING DEAD, BECAUSE YOU WENT AND KILLED ME." complains Nhogg's corpse, most upset. "IT DOES GET IN THE WAY OF MY JOB, YOU KNOW. SO MANY THINGS TO DO, SO FEW THE EONS IN WHICH TO DO THEM, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYWAY BECAUSE I'M DEAD. INCONSIDERATE, REALLY. AND YOU JUST COME UP TO ME AND BOSS ME AROUND, DON'T EVEN TAKE MY....SNIFF...FEELINGS INTO ACCOUNT." There is something truly pathetic at the spectacle of a dead Unshaped attempting to choke back its tears, and Nhogg's heaven-rumbling sniffles are a sight to behold.

As the ex-Nhogg eventually calms down, and realizes how little his slayers care for his posthumous feelings, he acquiesces. "YOU KNOW, I WOULD STOP YOU, BUT I REALLY CAN'T. SOME PEOPLE DON'T PARTICULARLY CARE FOR BEING DRAGGED INTO CREATION AND EXPERIMENTED ON, BUT NO ONE LISTEN TO NHOGG, BECAUSE HE'S DEAD. FINE. I IMAGINE YOU'LL WANT TO MEET SOME OTHER EMANATION NOW, AND PROBABLY KILL THEM TOO. THE LEFT-HAND PATH WILL TAKE YOU TO JUBAL THE HUNTER, AND HE'D PRACTICALLY FALL OVER IF YOU SO MUCH AS SAY THE WORD 'DIE.' THE RIGHT PATH WILL TAKE YOU TO SHAPER OF THE EVER-CHANGING. OR YOU COULD STAY HERE, YOU KNOW, AND SHOW SOME PITY FOR ME. 'OH, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO POOR OLD NHOGG, HE ALWAYS WAS A FINE FELLOW.' YOU KNOW? SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Yomiko's armor began to collapse upon itself once again, the Invincible Maiden now in her smaller but equally as impressive power-armor. She looked sympathetic, but a smile was upon her face, or at least at one of the two corners of it. She walked over and sat down in the grass, somehow avoiding the blood directly beneath her but still capable of petting the kittens that frolicked about. "I really do feel bad about this. Though were you in my place what would you do? 'O' but there is the mightiness of Nhogg, surely there is no option left for me save throwing myself into the glorious fray before his infinitesimal splendor and glorious bloodshed!'" She sighed and pet his mane as one would a favored family dog. "We will hold a funeral for you once we return to Lotus, and we will even tell everyone how wonderful you have been. M'kay? Good. I have now basted you in but a tiny portion of my compassion, but I am afraid time is of the essence. You have an entire afterlifetime for pity from others and we may even one day return." She gives him a peck between the eyes and stands up.

[The Demented One]

"AWW. THANKS. YOU KNOW, OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO'VE EVER KILLED ME, I LIKE YOU THE BEST." says the remains of Nhogg, mildly infatuated. But there is no time for comical romances with dead faeries. You venture into the chaos, leaving Nhogg, who would remind you that he is dead, behind. Yomiko quickly retrieves Astra, whose mouth is now full of honeycomb. The hunting grounds of Nhogg seem to fade away into the background now that their role in the story has come to its end–in their stead, two broad paths stretch out before you. The way to Jubal the Hunter's domain is a flat and rocky path that ventures out across the suggestion of hulls in the distance, while the Shaper of the Ever-Changing's road is nestled between two rows of luminous trees, heavy with bouncing miraculous fruit that are probably full of knives or some such horrors. That's the Wyld for you.

[Ellas Aramond]

Watcher

"So there are two we have left to face, a hunter and a shaper." Watcher says. "I believe we can get this done faster if we split up. Yomiko and Ivory can take this Shaper. Zephyr and I can face Jubal. Astra and the Wyld-shapers can decide for themselves where they want to go."

[WhiteKnight777]

Zephyr

The full moon nodded in agreement. His blood was still up from the kill, and he grinned fiercely as his anima lit the chaotic scenery with shifting silver shadows. "Sounds like a plan to me. The sooner we tame this beast, the quicker we can drag it back to creation and make use of it."

[GryffonDurime]

"Agreed. The less time I have to spend inhabiting this madness, however tangentially, the more time I may have to fabricate something of use from it. Like a craggy pit. Or a new shade of red. Or perhaps both, if we're feeling ostentatious." Ivory gives a small, forced smile and marches on towards the Shaper's domain.

[WhiteKnight777]

Zephyr

Zephyr laughs "Useful? Ah, but this place is a wonder! Such change, such flux, such beauty and majesty and untrammeled potential - still, we must needs tame it, for the good of creation."

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

She tilts her head slightly toward Zephyr with a smile on her face, "Yes I must admit there is a great charm to this place. It makes me feel like a young girl again." She then turns to Astra, "Would you care to follow Ivory and myself down this path?" She asks while slowly following the Solar sorceress.

[Ellas Aramond]

Watcher

"We can worry about taming this land later." Wacher says to Zephyr, his mind ever on the task at hand. "Come, we have a hunter to best."

[The Demented One]

After what seems like a week of deliberation, you set out down the twin paths before you. Astra takes up behind Ivory Eyes and Yomiko, following behind the Invincible Maiden as if strung along on a leash as they pursue the wooded paths that lead to the Shaper of the Ever-Changing. Silver Heron insists on accompanying Watcher, and the other amalga acquiesce, casting up a pattern of reality to protect Zephyr and Watcher as they pursue Jubal. As you leave, the distant voice of Nhogg can be heard on the winds. He really doesn't seem to get this whole "dead" thing. "OH, UM. GOODBYE, THEN. I REALLY DIDN'T MEAN IT ABOUT FEASTING ON YOUR FACE, OR ROASTING THE SORCERESS ALIVE, OR THE TORTURE. YOU COULD COME BACK LATER, YOU KNOW. WE COULD HAVE TEA! CAN YOU HEAR ME? OH. I GUESS NOT."

The two roads diverge almost as soon as you have set foot upon them, and within seconds the parties can no longer see the least sign of each other. The pathway to Jubal winds through a sun-beat savanna, an infinite expanse of scrub-land and desert punctuated abruptly with crags of jagged rock, embedded with the petrified skeletons of a thousand impossible beasts, each one a marvel of life to make the Catastrophic Explosion Squid of Gem look like a mere pedestrian pigeon. The forested path coils through the midst of trees ever stranger and stranger, with trunks of brick and boughs of smoke and fruit that look suggestively plump. If a tree does not have wriggling roots adorned with babies' faces and bark trellised over with a latticework doily pattern, it is only because it is home to a nest of philosophy finches or a clutch of squirrels drinking absinthe from acorn-shells.

Jubal the Hunter
The Conquest Blade

These words hang above a valley pressed into the face of the savanna, a deep gorge sunk deep into the earth. Watcher finds the steep and pathless walls of the canyon an easy climb, while Zephyr shifts into a the shape of a giant hawk to bring down the wyld-shapers. As you wander the sunlit canyon, the only shadow that of the title that hangs above you in the air, a bolero of percussive menace whips up from all sides, as the footfalls of some vast distant titan...or else the rushing madness of a stampede. And indeed, a vast herd of wyld things descends on you, running down the impassable cliffs. They have no teeth or talons, no quills or stingers–like some wondrous concoction of gazelle and elephant, llama and wildebeest, it is only their panic and their beating hooves that threaten you.

Or only seem to threaten, perhaps. As the stampeding herd charges headlong into the chaos-repelling pattern cast up by the amalga, they are revealed for their true nature. Their muscle and fur and scales all slough away, leaving only a flight of shimmering butterflies, plucked of their glamour. The panicked herd seems to throw itself into the bubble of Creation, peeling back the fantasy and leaving only a corona of fluttering wings. "Oh, come on now, you've spoiled my fun. I was going to bolt out from nowhere, and save you from the horrible stampede, but you've gone and rescued yourselves." complain a new voice, lusty and hale.

He saunters out from the shadow of his title, a dusky youth stripped bare of all save a tattered loincloth and a leather sling, riveted with bolts of polished bone punched through the rough leather straps. "I've seen you, of course. Taught Nhogg quite the lesson didn't you? That's what I love about you Creation-Born! So strange, so different, so real. Look at you, you beautiful man!" he says, casting a hand towards Watcher as if worshipping at the altar of the sun. "You could run a length of iron through my heart, and I would die! Forever, and ever! I couldn't come back! Do you know how odd that is? Love it. And if I'm going to have to be killed by someone, I wouldn't mind it being you, if you know what I mean. So, what's it going to be, real people? What do you want from me? A kill, a kiss, a conquest?"

Shaper of the Ever-Changing
Oaths Sworn Upon the Staff

These words appear before you, shadows cast upon the mist that chokes the lush glades of Semiramis. Forest gives way to form, mere abstract shapes that drift through the conceptual Ginnungagap of the Wyld. The path you walk is the idea of a path, the verdant oaks and haughty pines mere notions and whimsies given shape only by your perception of them. And after a journey that can be no more than seconds, no less than centuries, and other inconveniently paradoxical distortions of time, you arrive at the summit of your seeking, the final waypoint of your quest. It is a place vast beyond vastness, deep beyond depth, wondrous beyond wonder, and you begin to feel that this particular chapter of your quest could do with a bit less pretentious description. At the center of the waypoint stands the Shaper of the Ever-Changing, for such you know it must be. It is not a shape human or bestial, but a lantern, a golden lamp that stands upon an altar hewn from raw possibility.

As you gaze at the shining lamp, desires and dreams unthought-of appear within its polished face, your every fantasy given realization in that mirror of things desired and feared. Yomiko sees herself clad in radiance, a golden spear clasped in one hand and a shining shield upheld in the other. Konoko and Astra both sit beside her, throned upon gold and silver, and another woman, all but Yomiko's reflection in appearance, embraces her. A man lies dead at her feet.

Ivory Eyes sees the unreal shadows of a man dead and a child unborn, the ghost of Iulus clad once more in life, and holding a child whose brow blazes with the gold of the Unconquered Sun, and the blackness of the Ebon Dragon. She sees herself, too. There is nothing human in her.

The lantern sits, unmoved and unmoving. You want so very much to touch it.

[GryffonDurime]

Ivory motions as if to touch the lamp briefly and from afar, not trusting herself to stray closer.

"Shaper of the Ever-Changing," she says in a voice even softer than normal. "Are you a thinking thing? Can you answer me when I ask you to help us, to draw your Unshaped master nearer to Creation? Will you help us?" she asks, and what she doesn't ask hurts her: can you bring him back? Do you reflect what I want, or what I can make come true? Hollow promises from the Wyld, she tries to tell herself.