Riverside 19

[Zefir]

[Attempting to enter Riverside] - Felandria Alice Cassandra

The tanks don't really mind that the marble demons block their view. Felandria is big enougth to see from a far distance so they continue to shoot. Since the first volley did nothing they start to concentrate their attacks, without much success to sync their shots.

When the lightning gun comes out they spray out and one or two even dive into the ground. ((I'm not sure what exactly the gun does and they are still far away,like somewhere where the tanks range is.))

[DMside]

For a moment, Mia got a good part of Riverside scanned for the demons, but then the barrier comes up again and now it is different. The signals from her scanner fail as well as the cmmunication in her part of the city.

"Curse them." she says her broadcasting still up. She leaves the room and looks for her people. She can't leave them, but the fact that non of the demons has appeared here is also very annoying.

[Outside the Drill Tank]

Zefir sights as the barrier comes up again.

"I guess you couldn't tellt hat this thing goes up again?" he says

[Recaiden]

[Attempting to enter Riverside] - Felandria and Alice & Cassandra

Spoiler: Previously

Show

"...sure thing, boss." Says Cass.

She trails after the group with Felandria in it, figuring the giant-sized woman should be enough cover to enter the city under.

Alice's force fields successfully keep her from getting covered in Felandria chunks and Fel hears a *bwip bwip* coming from her side.

It's her battle suit's visor, she puts it on.

Hey, Giles, what's up?

Hello, Felandria, I have received some information from one of your VIGIL associates that might prove useful.

I may be able to use it to form a map, but I will need a few minutes.

If you require the rest of the suit, just let me know and I will send it to your location.

Thanks, Giles, if I need it, I'll give the word, let me know when you have anything else for me.

Very good, Felandria.

Felandria pulls out her Lightning Gun and starts firing at the tanks.

It should be pointed out, to both the tanks and Felandria and Alice, that while the marbles don't appear to be doing anything, they're clouding the vision of Alice & Felandria and the tanks. While it probably isn't too hard hitting Fel considering her size, Alice won't be visible to the tanks thanks to the swarm.

Similarly, it will be difficult for Felandria and Alice to aim at the tanks (but not impossible, the swarm isn't big enough to completely block out their sight.)

The other swarm is now approaching Felandria and Alice, relying on the fact that the first swarm is blocking their line of sight.

Well those swarms are proving to be somewhat of a nuisance. After watching the two Vigil members Cassandra has attached herself to try and fail to disperse them, Cassandra steps up, increasing her pace so that she's running with them instead of trailing behind them.

"Allow me," she says, raising a hand and focusing her power. A fan of what looks vaguely like red lightning sprays from her hand, arcing towards the nearest swarm, where it will spread and jump between the marbles, lancing through each of them in turn. It's not regular lightning, of course - Cass doesn't have nearly enough power to create a lightning spray capable of destroying the entire swarm. What she does have is relevant past experience, as the fan of "lightning" actually turns out to carry a disruptive energy that is attempting to directly target the psychic connection that the swarm is using to navigate and communicate, blinding and disorienting it with a burst of harmful static.

The tanks don't really mind that the marble demons block their view. Felandria is big enougth to see from a far distance so they continue to shoot. Since the first volley did nothing they start to concentrate their attacks, without much success to sync their shots.

Hmm. The mysterious newcomer didn't seem to get it. Or, one supposes, the lightning is going to do something fairly surprising.
((Post confusion! Alice is still going to say this for Fel's benefit.))
"These are decoys; push past them towards the tanks and focus on the second wave."

With the AMEN tanks scattering in response to the lightning gun, she has no trouble blocking the disorganized fire in the second volley. She notes unhappily that the barrier is back up, which brings her a whole list of error messages. Lost signal from DMside, Serromachinery in slow mode, Deep sea unavailable, Lost signal from VIGIL, Battery level decreasing... It'll be fine. She doesn't need any of that...at the moment.

Alice will run as fast as she can without leaving Felandria behind. Although the swarms are visually annoying, they aren't doing much to slow the VIGIL members down except being a distraction.

((I suspect the tanks probably can't use their full range without the city and Wildside's trees getting in the way. And the VIGIL/MERC people are getting closer and closer, admittedly at a reasonable speed.))

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker - Before the Invasion]

"I've been to my share of vaults, crypts and other places people would rather I hadn't gone," Michalson says. "If that's the job you require, I'm the cutter you're lookin' for."

"Cutter. Wonderful, wonderful. You'll have some help on the job, I wouldn't think of sending you in alone. Two dear friends of mine. Shall we all meet at Trogs to discuss the parameters of the job before we set to work?" Sticks asks, raising his eyebrows. "I can warn you somewhat of the dangers, then, but I confess my lack of knowledge regarding this vault is part of the point of the expedition. You will need to be cautious. I intend to pay you even if you should fail, for I understand your risks, but you will receive a greater reward if you can breach the redoubt effectively and extract certain items."

[Morty]

[The Toy Tinker - Before the Invasion]

Michalson is mildly surprised by Sticks' lack of reaction to his accent, but he moves on over it.

"That's a fair deal, chief," he says. "I can meet you and those friends o' yours in Trog's, no problem."

[8BitNinja]

Attempting to enter Riverside: Team Wenomir, Gary, Awen, heading to Eastside

Wenomir holds his sword tightly, looking at the swarm around him. Any ideas he's had for dealing with it have been discarded when the swarm proved immune to both conventional and magical means of attack.

Gary points his silver bayonet at the demons. He also has his finger at the trigger, but he neither fires nor thrusts.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside]: City Hall

Harley Martinez looks between Adir and the the hounds.

His orders sound reasonable enough. Obeying what he says, she nods, then ducks down behind cover.


[Attempting to enter Riverside]: Wenomir/Gary/Awen: heading to Eastside

Seeing the strange way the swarms are reacting, Awen wants to say something...but she can't. She swallows, trying to soothe her throat, but it's not enough to say anything. In fact, even breathing makes her wince.

She hopes the others noticed what the swarms are doing, too. She figures the first swarm is intangible in some form, and the second probably has some other gimmick about them. Awen's available methods of attack seem to not be working well enough, so maybe escape will be the best option.

Awen reaches into the silver protective amulet around her neck, the silver surface acting as if it's a portal to some other place. She starts to pull out her flying broom that she put in just minutes ago.

...she also tries to guess how much Wenomir and Gary weigh. Probably under 100 kilos each... Knowing that would be rather helpful; if they weigh too much she could only fly one away from the swarms at once, leaving the other to deal with them until she can come back. Or maybe she can get the two to fly away together, and then catch up with them on her own. It's too bad she can't just ask them or tell them her plan.


[Intercepting Vigil]

((Since nobody volunteered for Maria to attack their group...or, if they did, I missed it:))

Maria, as she flies through the air to intercept Vigil, sees the many groups trying to enter Riverside, and the flying swarms stalling them. Picking just one of them would be too boring, she thinks.

Then, Maria notices the shuttles they arrived in. What would be the best way to draw the Vigil people towards her? Obviously, creating a large and deafening explosion. It's the perfect idea: she starts cackling in glee.

That grey witch dives towards the ground, using a small bomb's burst to stop her just before splatting against the ground. Grabbing a larger bomb, she throws it in the direction of the nearest shuttle.

Of course, she doesn't really care if the blast actually gets near the shuttles or not. She just wants to announce her presence.

[UncleWolf]

Before the Invasion

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

The lavender lady shakes her head and sighs, leaning her head against Cessie's legs a bit more. "No, I haven't. I abhor opening up so much to most people, but even if I didn't...it would be heresy." Jezebel comments, closing her eyes with yet another sigh. "I might not be a member of the Imperium anymore and I might have turned my back to its teachings even longer than that, but speaking of humanity, the soul, and a sense of self...in more than a few areas that would just outright have you handed over to the Ecclesiarchy for punishment. I know that talking about this would be healthy, but the fear of doing so got rooted in deep for entirely too long of a time for me to just shrug it off so easily."

During The Invasion

Eastside - City Hall

Jezebel is about to comment, likely on normal invasion practices, when she's forced to grimace as lightning crackles around her head once more. She gives a growl when it is over, slamming a fist on the car in front of her out of anger. "WARP TAKE THEM!" She shouts. She's forced to use the car for support for a moment as she activates her comm implant once more. "This is Jezebel. All who are listening, start evacuation of the psykers and other warp-linked. Carry them through the tunnels. We will not be able to hold a large part of the city without them, so stand vigilant. Once they are out, start a general evacuation of the Gardens and surrounding areas. The psykers should awaken when they are outside of the area of influence, hopefully enough to stand guard." She turns off the comm with a frown, finally steady enough to let go of the car in time to see the pack of demonic hounds. "They've cut off the Warp again. Most of my forces are useless now." Jezebel explains to the others.

Jezebel readies her Melta after that, stepping around the car to get directly into the path of the hounds. Her weapon's range wasn't the greatest so she was forced to wait as Adir's storm bolter rang through the air. It fires twin streams of thumb-sized shells, each one with an explosive payload. The moment they impact flesh or terrain, the miniature grenades explode to tear great chunks out of whatever they hit. Even with Adir's great strength however he might have a little trouble controlling the recoil with one hand and it is just a matter of seconds before he runs out of ammunition in his current magazine if he isn't careful. If any of the hounds make it through his barrage, they'll be met with a ten meter lance of super-heated plasma as Jezebel's own weapon lets out a scream.

She makes a mental note to chastise Adir for his lack of fire control if he has to end up reloading. Bolt shells were expensive after all.

The Lotus Gardens - Zenon

The receptionist tilts her head in thought for a moment before simply dashing forward with blurring speed, her right hand twisted into a terrible razor-edged talon as she swipes at his abdomen. What he had said sounded quite a bit like admitting to spying upon the Gardens in a time of conflict, and that wasn't going to be taken well. However, whether to attack hits or not, afterwards she's left dizzy and disoriented as violet electricity crackles around her head when she's suddenly cut off from The Warp once more. She's not the only one either.

In the cathedral there are shouts for assistance and aid as others begin to convulse and pass out, their source of power cut off once again, but another figure begins flying up towards the hole the receptionist made in the ceiling. This one has no taste of Warp to her and is simply using a pair of wings to fly. She wouldn't arrive instantly, so Zenon still has a chance to react before the newcomer interrupts.

Eastside Border - Sarah & Co.

Sarah roars in agony as her tendrils are burned, but before they can be burned through completely she attempts to dig the talons into the demon's neck to try and sever any large blood vessels there are. They are burned through shortly after however, resulting her clutching the writhing stumps with her hand to try and stop the bleeding. Both the burning demon and the sword one however need to be cautious for it only takes a moment for Eric to brace his weapon against the ground and pull the trigger. The spray of bolter shells is wild and inaccurate, but at that range it is more than likely that both demons will be pelted with several of them as the heavy bolter roars. He isn't mobile so he's somewhat vulnerable to attacks, but anyone wanting to do so will have to get through the gunfire to do so.

The doll is hit by another lightning bolt when she touches the ground, blasting her against it, but she simply smiles despite the charring flesh and burned porcelain. She's damage but seems to just revel in it, so she takes another leap into the air, aiming to wound a different demon than the one she'd already struck. Her claw is aimed for the gut of the closest one as she seeks to disembowel it.

[Nova_Eclipse]

The Lotus Gardens - Zenon

Zenon blurs as the receptionist swipes at him, hopping back and to one side as the talon misses him by the slimmest of margins. He continues to grin at Annah, folding his arms over his chest as she's struck by the disorientation of losing contact with the Warp, though he makes no move to counterattack or take advantage of her sudden handicap.

"Not terribly friendly, are we? Perhaps your friend is a bit more personable," he says, with more than a hint of smugness. He eyes the floor where the newcomer is headed, and simply waits. He was told to keep things quiet, and without access to her power source in the Warp, the receptionist is most likely of little threat, at least, compared to her inbound comrade. No need to eliminate her yet, though. She could prove useful in many ways.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Attempting to Enter Riverside] - Kal, Xaviour, Anika

"Well, ladies first." Says Kal, nodding to Anika and gesturing into the river.

...

He's totally letting her go first so that he can look at her butt, isn't he.

[Attempting to Enter Riverside] - Cass, Felandria, Alice

The cloaked newcomer seems to nod as Alice identifies the incoming swarms as being illusory, preparing a counterspell of her own. Not to dismiss the illusions - now correctly identified, they're little more than distractions, and destroying them would be a wasted effort. But if there are illusions blocking their way, they must have been cast from somewhere, and Cass weaves a Trace over the nearest illusion, trying to see if she can pinpoint the source.

[Intercepting Vigil]

As Maria flies towards the shuttles, she may feel a slight chill as a decidedly spectral presence takes note of her approach, and out of the corner of her eye she might note a pair of spooky ghosts haunt her as she flies, trailing her and watching her every move. As she throws the grenade, something peculiar happens as the grenade slows and then explodes in mid-air, though the initial explosion definitely seems muted and muffled, as it comes across a misty white presence that seems to smother the grenade, dampening the blast and chasing the blooming flames back into their point of origin, pulling the explosion back in almost as if it were being played in reverse.

Her primary goal of grabbing attention seems to have bore fruit, however, as in addition to the spooky ghosts trailing her, a couple of uniformed VIGIL officers and a tall, dark-skinned lady with a long braid and a black and gold dress are all beginning to converge upon her trajectory.

[Felandria]

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice and Cassandra

Fel's shots with her Lightning Gun should be hitting at least a couple of the tanks, they being metal and all, but the effect is apparently not quite what Fel had hoped.

She holsters the gun and starts running with Alice, staying slightly behind her primarily not to accidentally smash her, once she gets close enough, she intends to make a running leap and try to smash a few of the tanks.

[Celticbear]

[Attempting to Enter Riverside] - Kal, Xaviour, Anika

"Well, ladies first." Says Kal, nodding to Anika and gesturing into the river.

...

He's totally letting her go first so that he can look at her butt, isn't he.

Xavouir's weight shifts, subtly. He takes a few steps forward, but they seem... wrong. As if he were being led by strings instead of his normal legs. A feminine voice then exudes from his mouth, and the great yellow cat's eye on Xavouir's sword pommel has gone out.

If it must be ladies first, then I will go.

Kitty takes a dive into water, silent as the grave as she does so.

[Deathkeeper]

[Intercepting Vigil]

Spako Highclaws sits on top of one of the shuttles, waiting. With a number of capable..."people" converging on the newest assailant, he bides his time, wary for a pincer attack or similar sneaky maneuver. After all, that's probably what he would do.
Sneaky kobolds.

[Shadowcaller]

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

Cessie frowns. "That's awful, even in Hestopia, where such things were considered private matters, you could still discuss such matters." She pauses. "Well, you can discuss it with me. I won't judge anything you might have to say. I understand, Jezebel. Just say anything that comes to mind, be open with me."

---

Eastside - City Hall

The hounds are struck with such force from Adir's bolter that they instantly collapse on the street as the bullets explode on impact. Their hides were tough, but not even they could resist such powerful ammunition. Jezebel's weapon have a similar effect, the hounds were simply not tough enough to withstand such force and are instantly killed before their regeneration can even kick in.
Cessie flicks her wrists again and with a gesture towards the hounds the surface underneath them is filled with magma that just spontaneously appears.

This will likely completely the destroy the street itself, but the heat also seem to melt the demons legs causing them to die like flies.
However, one of the demons that got hit by one of Adir's bolts doesn't seem to die right away as he "just" blew its legs off. Before it has to pass through the field of magma, it suddenly disappears in a black swirling cloud of orange energy.

The next moment, appearing in the same swirling cloud of energies, the hound is right among the group. It almost seem to smile as the armor its wearing triggers and the demon is consumed in a huge explosion of poisonous gases that spreads in a big cloud around it even as the demon itself collapses on the street. The gases are demonic in nature, reacting a bit like when a non-demon consumes demonic essence. Yet the effects are aggravated in this form, if the skin is exposed, it will cause it to blacken with painful scars and inhaled in it will make it impossible to breath and cause some severe damage to the throat and lungs.

It should be noted that demons are immune to this gas.

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice and Cassandra

As Cassandra attempts to detect the source of the illusion, she can suddenly feel a presence. However, it seems to be able to feel her as well and for a moment she can tell that something looks right at her.

Then the legion illusion suddenly disappears as whatever was creating and controlling it cuts the link. Cassandra, in the brief glimpse she got, can tell that whatever was the source of the illusion, is located in the clouds above them somewhere.
Now only one legion remains and it appears to be focusing in on Alice, the marbels are flying straight at her, attempting to pierce her shield with their own bodies, delivering energy charges every time they impact her shields.

[Attempting to Enter Riverside] - Kal, Xaviour, Anika

Anika just grins confidentially and turns to the river. Kal will get a pretty good view of her ass as she makes a run for it, that is until she jumps into it, turning into a elf-eared shark in a swirl of green energies just before landing in the river.
The shark soon emerges from the river, grinning at them, looks like she wants them to follow.

Eastside Border - Sarah & Co.

The pit soldiers continue their attempt retreat and some of them actually take off with their jet-pack-like devices to join up with the rest of the force. The ones trying to cover the retreat aren't so lucky however, seeing that the lighting bolt weapons do little, the demons are starting to switch to sword and shield. They don't quite manage before the 'doll' has managed to strike one of them in the gut however. The soldier collapses with a scream as its guts fall on the (probably magically enforced) roof it was standing on.
The causes the other to converge around the doll, if they could block it in with their shields they could make quick work of it. One of them even thrusts out with its sword, attempting to impale it.

Down below, the two remaining soldiers suffers a hail of bolter fire, causing the sword-wielding soldier to collapse and the other to grunt in pain as the bolts explode when impacting its armor. It screams out and shoots fire all around it with the flame cannon its holding. It might cause Sarah some injury, or at least keep her at bay, but it is unlikely to hit Eric.

[Attempting to enter Riverside]: Wenomir/Gary/Awen: heading to Eastside

Wenomir's attacks do not appear to be very effective, just as Gary noticed, their attacks simply appear to go right through the marbles. While they do appear to react to area of effect attacks, these attacks do not seem terribly effective either.
Yet despite their supposed invulnerability, they're not actually attacking the group even as they swarm around them. Neither Awen, Gary or Wenomir gets attacked by the marbles.
That all changes when the second swarm joins in. They're going straight for Awen, impacting her not completely unlike bullets, each impact also leaves a magic charge of energy which can have devastating effects on the body if Awen isn't protected in some way. It would seem that the entire second swarm is attacking her while the others are busy with the first swarm.

[Outside the Drill Tank]

"So the disruption field is back up? I expect to be informed about that any minute then." Itholos remarks. "You should ask Ishmat over there to keep up your communications. She could use those eyes of hers to let you communicate to your soldiers." He gestures at the ethereal overlooking the the many displays of Riverside.

They turn to Zefir and bows deeply. "That's what they pay me for, yes. So how may I be of service? I am yours to command."

Temple of Bane, North Northside

The hounds are running through the gas their fallen comrades have unleashed completely unharmed and continues towards the temple itself. The half-elf might survive as the demons are simply trampling him, they're not actually attacking him. Assuming of course that he doesn't succumbs to the gas of course.
The demons are hit with arrows, yet it should be noted that their hide is bone-like in nature and very tough so it all depends on how strong the arrows are.
Either way, the woman with the lower body of a snake suddenly slithers fourth with a scream. "LOOK AWAY!"
She will give the defenders a moment to comprehend (as usually you look in the direction of a scream) before she suddenly throws off her hood.
Anyone looking her way will quickly be petrified unless they quickly manage to turn away or are using some sort of protection against such a effect.
The hounds attacking the temple will all be petrified.

[Lotus Garden Border - Mayor]

Something strange was going on here. What had just happened?
It takes a moment for the soldiers to realize that the field was back up, that must have caused it, right?
It looked like it might have killed the creature, possibly. They couldn't be sure but it seemed incapacitated for now. Therefore, the legion returns to patrolling the skies and the pit soldiers turn their attention to the damaged infernal. It looked like it would need some repairs.

Setting it in another mode might help things, and the time for fear-tactics was over anyway. Time to be more effective...

As for the last dragon, it looks like the pit soldier that caught it is about to break its neck when it is stopped by the soldier with the fire cage on its back. It hands it over and the demon will put it in the cage where it will find itself oddly comfortable, despite being inside a cage that is literary on fire.

[Lotus Gardens Border - Omniko]

The pit soldiers don't appear to keen on following Ilpholin down into the sewers, nor are they interested in approaching an area completely cover in silver. Instead, they start to retreat.
Well, expect one of them who approaches Omiko and attempts to pull her out from the silver-covered area. If this is successful, it then attempts to remove the silver, the demons armor evidently protecting it from the metals effects. "Are you dead?" The demon asks.

[Attempting to enter Riverside] - Angels

As the angels seem contained, the remaining legions simply disperse, moving to join the other skirmishes.

[Morty]

[Attempting to enter Riverside]: Wenomir/Gary/Awen: heading to Eastside

When one of the swarms begins to actually move, Wenomir realizes what's happening.

"The first swarm is an illusion!"

In the blink of an eye, he interposes himself between the marbles and Awen, his great sword lashing out in several curved lines. The aim is to deflect the attacking marbles, the aggressive force of each parry trying to send them flying away from the party. Wenomir angles the sword so that while some marbles might simply be deflected or just bounce off the flat of the blade, others might be sent directly into others in the swarm.

[Murkus]

[Eastside - City Hall]

Adir permits himself a little twinge of satisfaction as the monsters perish in droves. This was the first combat he'd seen in years, and he was lucky enough to see it against an enemy that prompted neither remorse nor hesitation. Killing things such as these was the most natural thing in the world.

The devastation the ladies wreak is truly something to behold. Jezebel was dangerous, but Cessie... the amount of power in that small frame of hers was nothing less than daunting. With his blood hot and pumping, he's almost tempted to say something like 'If I weren't married...', but thinks better of it for Cessie's sake. He settles on a fierce grin.

His arm twitching and aching, he tugs the bolter away from the killing field. Its twin barrels waft with a steady stream of greyish smoke. It is only this lull and the unnatural heightening of his senses that allows him to notice the sudden appearance of one stray hound. His ears perked, alarm bells sounding in his head, he stares at the creature for a fraction of a moment before diving over Cessie. The stag will try to haul her up and dart over a nearby car, away from the blast of toxic fumes.

[Earl of Purple]

Temple of Bane, North Northside

There's a slight enchantment on the arrows making them hit harder, so they're roughly as effective as bullets. The half-elf doesn't succumb to the gas; the clergy tries to use magic that doesn't affect themselves.

The defenders look away as bid, and avoid getting turned into stone. They'll keep looking away until told otherwise, though they'd quite like to go investigate their second-in-command and his condition, make sure he's still alive.

[Recaiden]

((Waiting on Zefir for Alice/Fel/Cass/AMEN scene))

[Lotus Garden Border - Mayor]

Something strange was going on here. What had just happened?
It takes a moment for the soldiers to realize that the field was back up, that must have caused it, right?
It looked like it might have killed the creature, possibly. They couldn't be sure but it seemed incapacitated for now. Therefore, the legion returns to patrolling the skies and the pit soldiers turn their attention to the damaged infernal. It looked like it would need some repairs.

Setting it in another mode might help things, and the time for fear-tactics was over anyway. Time to be more effective...

As for the last dragon, it looks like the pit soldier that caught it is about to break its neck when it is stopped by the soldier with the fire cage on its back. It hands it over and the demon will put it in the cage where it will find itself oddly comfortable, despite being inside a cage that is literary on fire.

The demon has captured a little dragon! It races around the cage in a fright. Even though it's comfortable, it doesn't want to be trapped!
It gives up on this activity after a couple of seconds and curls up. It's very cozy here.

[Lotus Gardens Border - Omiko]

The pit soldiers don't appear to keen on following Ilpholin down into the sewers, nor are they interested in approaching an area completely cover in silver. Instead, they start to retreat.
Well, expect one of them who approaches Omiko and attempts to pull her out from the silver-covered area. If this is successful, it then attempts to remove the silver, the demons armor evidently protecting it from the metals effects. "Are you dead?" The demon asks.

The demon shouldn't have any trouble pulling the cabon away from the sinkhole and any surrounding silver fragments. Probably he won't be able to do any better at removing the silver from her wounds than her integument is already doing. Probably he will get covered in blood. How does one normal-sized person have so much blood to lose? Still, very thoughtful o him to include her in the retreat.
One of the mouths on her remaining arm speaks up. "Not dead. Just shocked." It's a distinctly different voice from when she speaks normally.
Her flesh ripples and erupts with chitin as repairs are made. One by one the shards are removed, the punctures and tears sealed up, and the extra eyes and mouths and weaving insect legs migrate up her body to the remaining injuries.

[Attempting to enter Riverside] - Angels

As the angels seem contained, the remaining legions simply disperse, moving to join the other skirmishes.

The two escaped angels make their flight into the city, open a manhole cover, and squeeze down into the western sewers.

[Nova_Eclipse]

Attempting to enter Riverside - Northside

A blue beam streaks down out of the sky, landing a few feet from the outer effect of the barrier, materializing into an armored woman carrying a number of weapons, her blonde hair pulled back into a long braid. Electra looks around for a brief instant. The reports of demons in the area from Dipsnig caused her to break out some specialized weaponry she had been saving in case MERC ever came up against something like this. In addition to her two fusion bolt caster pistols, folded in their holstered forms on her hips, she's carrying a rather large conventional pistol in a holster strapped to the small of her back, over her armor, and she has a combat shotgun in her hands. Over one shoulder, she has a bandolier of shotgun shells. As soon as she's taken stock of the area, she blurs, firing her EAS to put all of her considerable speed to use, heading towards Northside from the north. It probably won't take her long to spot Felandria, and that's the direction she'll head, barring any resistance.

[Ashen Lilies]

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice, Cass, ...Electra?

Cassandra stumbles as the demonic presence turns its gaze towards her, tumbling to her knees as she pitches over. Anyone who takes a look back would find her leaning heavily on all fours, arms shaking and back heaving as she stares at the ground behind her mask and hood, clawed fingers tightly digging into the grass and dirt. But with the tanks and demonic swarms presenting a much more pressing threat requiring attention, probably not, though she won't be of any help against those in any case.

Attempting to enter Riverside - Anika, Xaviour, Kal

Kal shrugs, then takes a dip himself. He's a pretty strong swimmer, even in spite of the armor he's wearing, which doesn't seem to weigh him down or hamper his technique at all, but not "literally a shark" strong.

[8BitNinja]

[Attempting to enter Riverside]: Wenomir/Gary/Awen: heading to Eastside

When one of the swarms begins to actually move, Wenomir realizes what's happening.

"The first swarm is an illusion!"

In the blink of an eye, he interposes himself between the marbles and Awen, his great sword lashing out in several straight lines. The aim is to block the incoming marbles, but the force of the blows, packing all the momentum of his earlier move, is such that adjacent marbles will feel shockwaves, hopefully disrupting them. Some will no doubt hit Wenomir, but he's trusting his armour to hold for now.

Gary hits the deck as soon as he sees Wenomir slash, hoping that his helmet stops the few marbles that hit him. He keeps his rifle in hand and face down.

[Reinholdt]

Sewers

No one seemed to be following. That was good. Or the shapeshifter was following but had shifted into something particularly silent. That would be bad. If there was one disadvantage Ilpholin most worried about down here, it would be how efficient the cabon would be able to hunt. An unknown. For now, she continues deeper and deeper into the labyrinth only seeking to avoid dead ends and create distance.

But eventually she has to slow and consider what her next move has to be. What were the priorities? Kill all the demons obviously. One at a time was too slow. They'd get to run when they realized their folly. Could the entire city be turned into a death trap for everything inside? Maybe, but not the way things were now. Getting to the source and stabbing them there seemed the best bet. And she was almost certain their source was in the clouds. She needs some way to fly up there without getting shot down. To that end... Cessie? She could be anywhere by now. Malechenar might have something. As good a plan as any. Short of luring demons down here and offing them a few at a time. Which is still something she'll have to do as she works towards Northside.

Mostly she'll just be reorienting herself and figuring out her own position at the moment. Nothing terribly exciting or important.

[UncleWolf]

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

Jezebel is quiet for a few long moments, but eventually closes her eyes and reaches up to try and take Cessie's hand so she can put it on her cheek, as if to comfort her. "I...I'm not sure what I can say as it comes to mind, but I'll try. Cessie, I've...that universe where I come from...it should not exist. It should never have, but it does, and almost every soul that is born there suffers for it. The supposed good guys, the Imperium, is an expansive decayed and corrupt galaxy-wide empire that follows and worships a dead god upon a throne of gold. They sacrifice billions in his name, waging wars across entire systems of worlds, likely destroying the worlds in the process in the hopes of destroying some threat they perceive as even greater than their own demise. Thousands of souls offered up as conscripts, thousands more taken by The Black Ships to have their souls devoured by their god, knowledge and thoughts controlled, technology ritualized and kept secret...and do you know what sucks about it all?" She asks rhetorically.

"I'm not entirely sure it's the worst of evils for them or that they're entirely wrong even if I disagree about how they handle things." She adds with a sigh.

"That place is a ****ed up universe, Cessie. As bad as The Imperium's policies are, there are worse threats out there. Massive fleets of bio-ships harboring trillions of mindless instinct-driven monsters that strip worlds clean, hordes of war-hungry barbarians that drop asteroids on worlds, cults devoted to alien incubation and breeding programs that can take over an entire world, and even a race of metallic skeletal beings that wield weapons capable of atomizing people that want nothing more than to eradicate and erase all life. I've seen only a handful of those threats and they've left me...scarred. Scarred and scared and I haven't even touched upon the Ruinous Powers and The Warp yet." She explains, sighing again into Cessie's hand.

"Beyond the veil, that thin dimensional wall, so many...things wait beyond it, wanting to break in and feast and revel. The Powers are so corruptive, so tainting and excessive that even having followed one before I know that they would only serve to cleanse the universe of sensible life if but given a chance to do so. Being here in this...bridge between worlds and realities, I feel both frustrated and relieved. I feel...humbled and glad and troubled all at the same time because it is so rare that I meet anyone who...who...understands what I've had to go through. I don't want people to go through what I have, but at the same time I can't exactly talk about it either. You've seen but a small scratch upon the surface of it all, and I hate to have shown you that much. Delving any deeper...such events change people."

She pauses a moment, trying to gather her next words before finally speaking a little more. "I've seen worlds glassed and bombarded from orbit, cities razed, and entire populations burned in some vain hope that an alien threat or the Corruption of Chaos doesn't take root." She adds, shrinking a little as if defeated as she remembers things. "And the worst of it all? In that specific universe that I used to call home...having been a part of what lays beyond the veil and waits to get in...I can't claim that they were all wrong about doing so. All I can hope for is that it hasn't been in vain and that the innocents caught in it find peace." After letting it all out, she falls silent, wondering what Cessie would think of what she's said. She doesn't comment on her tears either.


During the Invasion

Eastside - City Hall

Jezebel is entirely impressed by Cessie's ability to summon magma like that, and if they weren't so hard pressed she would have even commented upon such. Instead, one of the demon hounds appears in their midst and explodes into the gas. She grimaces, flinching away as she expected to be thrown back by the explosion, but when it doesn't happen and she feels her throat beginning to burn, she almost visibly panics. Almost.

She reaches up, grasping the collar of her suit of armor, and pulls it up and out, revealing a hidden respirator that could cover a person's mouth and nose and let them breath stored air. Instead of putting it on, she tries to toss it into Cessie's hands so she can use it before Adir takes her away. At the very least the air would get any of it out of Cessie's lungs as she breathes through it. Jezebel doesn't have a second one however and slowly trudges her way out of the gas to get to the front so she can continue to hold off more demons. The burning and irritation is quite distracting and likely damaging, but she chooses to rely upon her power to fend it off or repair the damage done later. She could ill afford to take a break. For now her skin is unblemished, but it likely wouldn't stay that way for long depending on how much longer the gas stuck around. At least her eyes were protected.

Eastside - Sarah & Co.

Sarah's skin blisters in places from simple proximity to the flames. She lets out a horrible scream as she tries to crawl away until Eric shouts at her to head back to the Gardens. She flails about with her remaining arm for a moment until she regains purchase and gets to her feet. She doesn't run right back to the Gardens and instead takes a few minutes to clamber up a fire escape to where she left the remains of Alexia, hoping that there'd at least be something to take home.

After shouting, Eric takes a moment to breath and watch the demons he'd shot, hoping that they stay down before finally getting to his feet if they are both dead or dying.

Above, the doll is surrounded and trapped by the shields, but she is by no means defenseless or easy to hit. She squirms out of the way of some of the weapons while being hit by others, all while returning blows. She revels in the dance of death, even as one blade cracks open her chest piece and another is impaled right through her. There's signs of grievous damage being done, especially when her un-taloned hand is lopped off at the elbow, but the daemon inside the doll is burning a lot of its power to keep going. It is going to be "killed" by the end of it, but the question remains as to how many of the demons it takes out before the final blow is dealt.

The Lotus Gardens - Zenon

The newcomer zips out of the hole in the roof with ease before landing gingerly a short distance away. The khaki woman stands tall and strong, mostly covered in light brown draconic scaling. She's just shy of seven feet in height with a mixture of elven, draconic, and likely demonic features and forms to her body and face. Her clothing, a suit complete with dull burgundy tie, barely hides her heavily muscled and powerful form however. She appears unarmed, but it lasts for just a moment as she twists her left wrist and causes a crystalline saber to form out of no-where. There's a touch of arcane magic when she does it, but it is either an incredibly efficient spell or was just a command as there's not enough to form a sword on its own.

Her other hand however holds a small metal sphere. Without a word, she casts a glance around and squeezes the sphere, activating it. Half a second later, the powerful concussion grenade goes off. She doesn't seem at all fazed by the effect, but it causes the woman on the floor to curl up in a ball and should be more than enough to dizzy and disorient Zenon.

[Nova_Eclipse]

The Lotus Gardens - Zenon

A strange thing happens as the grenade goes off. Zenon himself is hidden for a moment, as a massive maw filled with rows of sharp, triangular teeth seems to suddenly appear in front of him. The concussive shockwave never reaches him, instead flowing into the maw, which snaps shut after eating the shockwave, revealing itself to be a rather large black sphere with solid, flaming eyes a rusty, sickly orange color. The mouth reverts to a predatory grin a moment later, before seeming to melt into empty space in a manner that makes one's eyes hurt, as if reality itself is stabbing the onlooker in the brain for a moment. Zenon sounds rather pleased with himself as he speaks to the newcomer.

"Ah, I must thank you for a wonderful hors d'oeuvre," he says, bowing slightly, before his amused grin returns, "Though your colleague seems as though she might like to object..."

[Zefir]

Spoiler: Previously

Show

[Attempting to enter Riverside] - Felandria and Alice & Cassandra

Hmm. The mysterious newcomer didn't seem to get it. Or, one supposes, the lightning is going to do something fairly surprising.
((Post confusion! Alice is still going to say this for Fel's benefit.))
"These are decoys; push past them towards the tanks and focus on the second wave."

With the AMEN tanks scattering in response to the lightning gun, she has no trouble blocking the disorganized fire in the second volley. She notes unhappily that the barrier is back up, which brings her a whole list of error messages. Lost signal from DMside, Serromachinery in slow mode, Deep sea unavailable, Lost signal from VIGIL, Battery level decreasing... It'll be fine. She doesn't need any of that...at the moment.

Alice will run as fast as she can without leaving Felandria behind. Although the swarms are visually annoying, they aren't doing much to slow the VIGIL members down except being a distraction.

((I suspect the tanks probably can't use their full range without the city and Wildside's trees getting in the way. And the VIGIL/MERC people are getting closer and closer, admittedly at a reasonable speed.))

[Attempting to Enter Riverside] - Cass, Felandria, Alice

The cloaked newcomer seems to nod as Alice identifies the incoming swarms as being illusory, preparing a counterspell of her own. Not to dismiss the illusions - now correctly identified, they're little more than distractions, and destroying them would be a wasted effort. But if there are illusions blocking their way, they must have been cast from somewhere, and Cass weaves a Trace over the nearest illusion, trying to see if she can pinpoint the source.

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice and Cassandra

Fel's shots with her Lightning Gun should be hitting at least a couple of the tanks, they being metal and all, but the effect is apparently not quite what Fel had hoped.

She holsters the gun and starts running with Alice, staying slightly behind her primarily not to accidentally smash her, once she gets close enough, she intends to make a running leap and try to smash a few of the tanks.

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice and Cassandra

As Cassandra attempts to detect the source of the illusion, she can suddenly feel a presence. However, it seems to be able to feel her as well and for a moment she can tell that something looks right at her.

Then the legion illusion suddenly disappears as whatever was creating and controlling it cuts the link. Cassandra, in the brief glimpse she got, can tell that whatever was the source of the illusion, is located in the clouds above them somewhere.
Now only one legion remains and it appears to be focusing in on Alice, the marbels are flying straight at her, attempting to pierce her shield with their own bodies, delivering energy charges every time they impact her shields.

[Outside the Drill Tank]

"So the disruption field is back up? I expect to be informed about that any minute then." Itholos remarks. "You should ask Ishmat over there to keep up your communications. She could use those eyes of hers to let you communicate to your soldiers." He gestures at the ethereal overlooking the the many displays of Riverside.

They turn to Zefir and bows deeply. "That's what they pay me for, yes. So how may I be of service? I am yours to command."

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice, Cass, ...Electra?

Cassandra stumbles as the demonic presence turns its gaze towards her, tumbling to her knees as she pitches over. Anyone who takes a look back would find her leaning heavily on all fours, arms shaking and back heaving as she stares at the ground behind her mask and hood, clawed fingers tightly digging into the grass and dirt. But with the tanks and demonic swarms presenting a much more pressing threat requiring attention, probably not, though she won't be of any help against those in any case.

Attempting to enter Riverside - Felandria, Alice, Cass

((Currently I'm not sure where we are. I thought we are in the newly freed area between old Northside and Wildside. So there are less or no buildings/Objects?
As for the 'Lightning Gun' I ask again. What does it do? I don't think I can react in the way you want because I understand that weapon differently.
The tanks have a maximum range of 3-4 km, I say they have around 1-2 kmat that moment. I just want everyone to have the same information.))

A tank is smashed by Felandria as it appears they aren't causing them to slow down. They have after all scattered far enougth from each other to prevent Felandria from hitting more then one. Most of the tanks move away from the city, for obviouse reasons. A giant lady can move faster through a city and their weapons work best on range. But since they jumped into the tank squad around half of them can fire, but now they attack from all around Felandria. (1 down 2 underground 4 need to move, 5 can shoot)

[Outside the Drill Tank]

Zefir goes to the eteral beeing looking a bit mad.

"Show me all of the AMEN members, especially the tank unit I sended north. Would they be able to speak to us as well through the eye?"

[Dmside]

Without having any connection to the outside world, two robots will approch from DMside heading to eastside unless they got stoped by anything.

[UncleWolf]

The Lotus Gardens - Zenon

Zenon will find that the time for talk is over, for while Zenon's defense is fading, the woman dashes forward even quicker than her fallen comrade had. The crystalline sword flickers out, hard to keep an eye on due to its mostly transparent nature as she tries to deliver a shallow cut to his upper thigh. The sword is easily capable of cutting through steel, so flesh and cloth shouldn't be an issue. The cut might even be painless given how clean it would likely be, nor will it go into the muscle if it connects.

Her wings stay folded behind her, making sure she remains streamlined and to avoid giving Zenon any real place to target. Meanwhile, her other hand begins to trickle arcane power. The purpose is unclear, but she seemed to be preparing for something.

[Murkus]

[Westside Hospital]

As Valente requested, he's able to see the wounded girl as soon as she's well enough to talk. In a couple of hours he'll probably find himself in her dull, dim little hospital room, surrounded by soft pastel colors and amenities meant to make a patient feel comfortable without spending a great deal of money. The woman looks tiny, almost emaciated without her extravagant dress on. She's got heavy bandages around her middle and lies half beneath a blanket, surrounded by monitors producing a steady string of presumably positive sounds.

Her hair is stringy, swept back from her face as two dark curtains. Her eyes are haunted and dull, but they seem to gleam with attentiveness when Valente appears. Her eyelids fall halfway as she watches him, no expression at all on her tightly drawn face.

"Thank you for getting me out of that place," she says, suddenly, very softly.

[Shadowcaller]

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

Cessie puts her arms around Jezebel's neck and gives her a light hug. "You survived, Jezebel. Both with your body and mind intact. Even with all those terrible memories, here we are talking about them as something you overcame. They changed you, but they didn't break you. That's why you're here today." She says in a soothing voice. "Life can be terrible, regardless from which world we are from, its the people in them that bend or break under that. It doesn't take much to completely ruin some people, yet again, here we are, despite all that."

[Nova_Eclipse]

The Lotus Gardens - Zenon

Zenon expected that this person might not be inclined to talk, and her speed and weapon intrigue him enough to simply allow her to attempt to cut him. She'll find, however, that doing so is difficult, for while he looks mostly flesh and blood, even before he became the Devourer, he is far from human. Her blade, keen as it is, might be capable of cutting the highly advanced armor weave over his thighs, but actually slicing what would be his flesh is considerably more difficult. She might still manage it, but this is compounded by the dark miasma that has begun to flow over his body, barely noticeable, like smoke from a cigarette. As soon as her blade cuts even the armor weave, it begins to knit itself back together as the miasma concentrates slightly in the area. For his part, Zenon simply watches her. Her speed is impressive, yes, but nothing he hasn't seen or matched before. The magic she's preparing is much more interesting, and potentially tastier, a more meaty morsel that might perhaps make the Devourer's hunger a tad more manageable for a few moments. He licks his lips in anticipation, but makes no aggressive moves towards her. Yet, anyways.

[UncleWolf]

The Lotus Gardens - Sleepover

Jezebel reaches up, gently squeezing the arms around her neck before giving a shudder and a small choked laugh. "Damn it, Cessie. Why do you have to be so reasonable and understanding? Now I can't wallow in self-pity for a while." She remarks before wiping her eyes on the back of her other hand. "But...you're right. I've escaped, I have a family, a friend...at the very least I can say that I'm recovering. That's what matters." She admits, agreeing with Cessie. After a bit she sighs and leans back, obviously quite comfortable and comforted in Cessie's embrace.

"Thank you, Cessie. Truly."

[Celticbear]

Under the Water Anika, Kal, Xavouir

Xavouir doesn't seem to breathe, and he seems to keep pace with the fish. The weave of his green robes appears to be blocking off the water around him, and he glows with a faint purple nimbus.