Three figures walk down the road, haunts, goblins, and other dastardly things of the otherworld fleeing from their sight. Two of their heads hanging high, the other bowed deep and low. The man with the watch dangling by a chain attached at his hip as it jostled beneath his cappa, a long black hooded cloak, thumbed a silver cross as it hung heavily from his breast, glistening through the folds of the great black cloth. Arcane and religious signatures woven in golden thread throughout the extent until its termination but inches from the ground.

He smiled grimly while his allies did not, one a heathenous bitch of Islam, the other an example of long-lost roman perfection of artform.

The woman held her scythe level to the ground, held low as though it were a burden, a wretched and crude thing that appeared to be no more capable of scratching wood, let alone the decapitation of those involved in arts to sew chaos. Yet through her power it could cut as finely as a razor. With a hood pulled over her head, you could scarcely find the full makeup of her features, a testament to her faith resting upon that, the tombstone to her ego as she wore the white shroud of death. Her breathing paced and calmed, her eyes were open now, eyes like dark chocolate to contrast her comparatively pale features.
She would use the Bishop's power to undo what has been done to this place, to return normal life to all the people that had been evacuated. To all of those that linger? Well, the end of her scythe would be a better end than what the bishop's magic can do to a person.

>>36744849
Finally, a man with a body built as though sculpted by an artisan seeking to recreate Hercules, he walks. Fully nude, the cold autumn gales sailing through the city can get nothing comparable to even a slight chill out of this man. With steely gray eyes, and short dark brown hair he smiles merrily at the thought of meeting that group from before. He had been slow to react, slow to realize their threat. He'll crush them all this time.
A hearty laugh escapes upon his breath that echoes through the silent city. They near their destination...

>>36744844
I'm realy sad that it will end this thread

Ok, guess we have to figure out how to kill them. I was thinking that we could attempt to have Tony lock down Bishop with shadows around to blind him, but I'm worried that Dervish might be able to use her soul wind thing to sweep shadows away. I really wish Tony had had some shadows up during the initial storm so that we'd know whether or not it works. And I guess there's always the possibility that even if she can't sweep them away, she can still lock his magic.

Probably going to have to burn our LIMIT on killing him, that on top of piling him with a couple other people's efforts.

>>36745090
It'd be great if we would find out what his "conditions" are.
Because having both Space and Time magic on a high rank is broken

>>36744941
What really disappoints me is that we'll never get to enjoy being a high level alchemist.

>>36745120
Going off how he was staring at his watch, I suspect that he has a certain amount of time he has to wait before he can really start to act. Probably still has his wards, purely defensive spells, and whatnot up around him, but other than that he's unable to act. It'd make sense. Not like he expects his teammates to die within the short window where he can't do as much.

Or this is entirely wrong...

>>36745174
Maybe we could try to summon a doppelgänger of him.

>>36745203
Jesus fucking Christ stop it with that already. It's not a valid tactic and you know it.

>>36745215
That wasn't me this time. Though if we have a mirror it should be possible.

>>36745120
Well targeting his watch would be a good start

>>36745259
It will cause massive burn initially just to summon it and then it will then cause more burn as the doppelganger uses Asher as a battery to attempts to bust through Bishop's wards.

Fundamentally, trying to doppelganger stun him will break down into a mana-pissing contest between Asher and Bishop. I would not want to do that even if they were both starting from 0% burn, but Asher would start at a disadvantage from summoning the doppelganger in the first place.

What if we have Saph copy Dervish to seal Bishop's magic, and then Marcus zips in to kill him?

>>36745458
That's actually a good plan. I'm not totally sure but I think Saph would need to see the spell happen before she can copy it

>>36745458
That's easily the best plan I've heard so far.

>niggas think God matters in fae-land
>niggas think they can fuck with reality in fae-land
>niggas think they hot shit
Nigga you in the wrong neighborhood. Time to right, not go wrong, IT COMMON SENSE NIIIAAAGUH

>>36744870


The sky swirls with the twenty colors and infinite hues as it has for the last two years. In fact, it'll be a full two years when December comes back around. You remember the twenty-first, your birthday. You never expected much out of that day. It'd have been the worst birthday in your life if you hadn't gone out and found that writhing pile of sex and drugs that the end of days bash was.

That woman that you had paid special attention to, you barely remember her features now with how long it'd been.

“Asher, Are you alright?” Emilia whispers to you, touching your shoulder. Your thoughts of the past, of that mystery woman displaced, you look to Emilia, and her lips soften into a porcelain smile. “You spaced out there. You know, we need to focus on now, right?”

“Yeah,” You nod your head and put your human hand around her to bring the two of you together into a chaste embrace. “I love you.” The words leave your lips and she squeezes you tighter. There's an undertone of sadness, a hushed anxiety unwilling to resolve itself. You'd seen what the Templars are capable of if they weren't content to walk to their goal, no. If your death was their goal, then...

Marcus clears his throat for attention, “Alright buttercups, we need to get to our strategy. The faeries are on watch and the Templars can't be more than half an hour away.”

“Alright.” You let Emilia go, walking back inside the museum. Camille inspects your passing, taking her eyes away from her most recent art project for the barest pause before resuming her craft. Her pointed ears twitch, obviously listening in on the others.

Saph is resting upon a broken marble column cross-legged. The only one with her from her pillar being that of Damian Ghost Cut- Wait, he looks different now. You're not sure exactly what it is. A haircut? His chin is just a little bit higher? He stares on with a new sharpness to his eyes, as though he has purpose.

Another though: We know that Bishop has a spatial distortion shield around him in order to deflect attacks away from him, but he still has to have an opening in that for air so that he doesn't suffocate. He can't have space bent around him to 100% seal him off because that would suffocate. That means that we should be able to get some poison into him, unless he has some kind of bullshit Accelerator-tier whitelist that teleports poison away when it detects its atomic signature or something.

>>36745562
>a bunch of fae all lined up infront of the templars screaming "fae tang clan ain't nuthin to fuck wit"

>>36745585
>Damian Ghost Cut- Wait, he looks different now.
Perfect

Are there any AoPHaggots in the audience? There's a spin-off on Anonkun.

>>36745676
God I hope not. A lot of those players were even worse than angry drunk anon

>>36745751
Did /pol/anon survive the /pol/-holocaust?

>>36745751
It's pretty bad. The QM is green as hell, barely half a clue what he's doing, and the players dove into maximum oversperg within the first session.

>>36745777
Yes.
I've been ignoring /pol/ waiting for people to pull their dicks out their mouths

>>36745796
It's coming back slowly. The legion of bots and shitposters has been reduced somewhat and actual political discussion threads are back

>>36745585


Hughes is back up from his wound, using a bit of Natural Bone regeneration to fix himself up, still looks pretty roughred up though, the others are as they were before, though with Gertrude dead and Echo taking her place, still a bit out of it with her injury.
Dark blue and Orange lights dance through the wound, keeping everything operating despite the damage.

“Marcus has told me what he witnessed. I am aware of the man with the watch as Bishop Thackery. He is well known as the rewinder amongst the templars. Before the awakening he and his family studied the feats of god such as when the sun did not set to bless an army with more time to fight their foes, revert the ills of the old, and other such phenomenon.
I am unaware of the others, though I understand the one with a scythe to be a Dervish, a member of an Islamic religious sect that venerate Allah through a spinning meditation. From what Tony has told me-”

“If I may speak ma'am?” Tony perks up, and Saph looks at him for a moment.

“As you will.”

“How gracious,” He whispers quietly, a strange and kind of creepy grin. His eyes scan over the others quickly, “When she spun and conjured up that sandstorm I could not penetrate it with my power over the dark. I suspect that it either has to do with Mister Thackery's intervention or perhaps even that girl's meditative spin. In any case, it would seem that she uses her soul as a ward and the dust whipped up as a reagant. She reacted to Asher creating a smokescreen of sorts...” The pale man gestures to you.

“And she's capable of sealing people's magic, she did something and after that I couldn't even hear my own thoughts.” Marcus mumbles somewhat low. “We did not determine what the conditions for it are, however when she does it she places a finger to her lips.”

On the bright side, even if we die, we managed to make a pretty neat Adept/Expert-tier summon that someone in the setting will get.

Thinking about it, astral Asher summon would actually be pretty cool.
>Diverse spellset allows the summoner to do all kinds of crazy shit with only putting LIMIT into summoning
>Has summoning himself, so he could assist you with bringing out bigger stuff
>Wouldn't be bitchy about contracts
>If you know what you're doing, you could probably get him to work for you just agree to help the forests or something.
>Sweetspot of giving being just not-evil enough to not fuck you over or leave massive random body trails, but immoral enough to not complain about most things you could ask him to do.

He'd be like Morgan, except with less bullshit to deal with and a powerset better suited to both direct combat and long-term shenanigans.

>>36745957
Kinda fun to thing of it this way

>>36745924

“My magic was shut down even though I was hundreds of meters away and could barely see her. It might not even be attached to sight.” You say, adding into the pool of information. “We need to talk about that priest, Bishop Thack-whatever.”

“Thackery.” Saph corrects.

“Like I said, whatever.” You brush that to the side, “He unmade the building I stood on and he was exempt from the sandstorm. You said that he's known as the Rewinder, does that mean that he sets things backwards?”

“His power is sending things backward to a state that they once were, at least, that's how I remember it.”She answers.

“How you remember it?” You ask, scrutiny written upon your expression. “You know, I've been meaning to ask you who you are. You know too much to have just been a civilian like us, and I'd only ever heard of Templars in history books and conspiracy theories. It'd be one thing to know if they're real or not, but to know names and studies is a bit unbelievable if you ask me.” You lower your gaze, “Even if magic is real.”

Saph is silent for a moment, Marcus looks to her for her reaction, what she'll say next and you likewise watch her with the others.

“I was born into a family that had affiliation with the templars. I was an insult to my parents however as my interests laid elsewhere.”

“Like with faeries?”

“I had friends that loved them the same. They were blamed by my parents as the ones that had corrupted me and they were taken away or killed, I'd never found them again. Our faerie names were Xera Fire, Lunaria Sylpha, Evitra Luin, and Saphiriana Amaizon.” She closes her eyes again, remembering her grief.

“I hope that is satisfactory.”

“Clears things up.”

>[Your input...]

>>36746169
Welp. That explains that.

>>36746169
Saph copying the silencing ability would be a great way to eliminate the bishop. He's always using his watch so we should target that, it's likely his focus. We gotta take him out first so he doesn't rewind whatever damage we do to his teammates. Getting rid of his ward would make everything much easier as well. When the vein enlarges her soul she's leaving herself open for massive corruption so we could use that against her.

>>36746169
Well.
How do you respond to that?
Change topic and ask about whether she knows something about his space magic?

>>36746279
Her past can be ignored for now and planning prep prioritized.

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>>36746169
...every time she opens her mouth. Every time.

>>36746276
Also each of the dervishes articles of clothing symbolize something, destroying them would likely weaken her or just piss her off

>>36746334
Eh?

>>36746169
Why don't you work together with your friends again to take out the templars? I'm sure they'd like to help you out

>>36746169
>quest is ded
>update is blah blah blah saph is OC steel donut
I'm going to sleep.

>>36746371
Every time Saph opens her mouth, something horrible or depressing comes out.


>>36746380
Nigga what do you think she's doing right now?

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>>36746391
What are you even trying to say?

>>36746391
And nothing of value was lost

>>36746391
Dran likes wanking over his op characters, what YA gonna do

>>36746403
I meant the four faery sisters

>>36746169
We should mention the fact that the Bishop seems to always be fiddling with his watch. Might be a medium. Also, the fact that we are now sword-mage might be good to mention.

Maybe we can ask Saph about exploiting the Dervish expanding her soul wayy outside her body? Seems like she might have a clue as a pro-vein.

>>36746404
That I'm a dissapointed in how this thread is going. A bunch of non-important bullshit. Great way to send this glorious quest to the grave, boring monotony

>>36746279
>his space magic?
Oh, can we ask Dorothy about the limits to this kind of magic? She's fairly knowledgeable, so she might be able to give a clue about how to beat it.

>>36746169
Is Saph aware of whether or not Bishop capable of rewinding himself? Does she know if he needs a body in order to rewind a person back to life?

If we can have Tony black him out, and then kill Dervish before she manages to clear it away, then we can Break the body and scatter it into the winds and he'd have nothing to rewind. Then he could be much more easily locked down with shadows while we kill Statue, and then it's just Bishop alone.

>>36746515
Go2bed faggot

>>36746169
Well Bishop has to die before the others can be killed. How we actually manage that is a big fucking puzzle.

Potentials
>Have Saph copy Dervish to seal his magic, then someone kills him. Potential problem is that Saph might have to see Dervish do her thing first and that opens us up to a major hit.

>Have Saph and Asher try to bust through his defenses with Ignorance. Potentially have someone else run distraction efforts.

>Use Alchemy to change something incredibly dangerous into something not so bad, and then try to get it close to him in the hopes that he reverts it to the more dangerous form and gibs himself.

>Attempt to separate them somehow. I have no idea how, but if we can get them apart then it would help immensely.

>>36746571

>Saph

"There is no way to 'rewind' a person back to life. A wound can be reversed, but if the soul leaves that will not come back. It's impossible to bring the dead back merely by rewinding time.

>"What about the mummies?"

"They used ancient magics... If I had to guess, they either bound the souls of the nearly deceased and performed the ritual preparation of the body to preserve that... Or they placed a spell that fished the ether for their old soul bits to recollect them..."

"If Thackery's allies are dealt lethal wounds without him being able to restore them quickly enough they would die."

>>36746697
"Divide and conquer... Emilia could rupture the earth. If Thackery doesn't react quickly enough, we could use that as a window to part them."

>>36746733
I don't think we've ever actually seen Emilia's full extent with Geo. How big of a crack can she make?

>>36746766

>Emilia

"Well, if I dig in, I could probably split the road, maybe. I'd a moment to fix my aura afterward though.

>>36746733
Ok, so it sounds like the good-ish potential plans currently are
>Separate them by having Emilia split the earth, possibly have Tony black out Bishop so he can't react to it, and attempt to drive them apart.
or
>Try to focus down one of Bishop's allies, preferably Dervish, then black out Bishop and get rid of the body before he can rewind it.

So what's the deal with the sword? Did Asher learn how to more or less use it between last thread and this one? What can it actually do?

>>36746874
I think taking out the bishop first is vital. Then the dervish

>>36746900
Legna's imparted her swordsmanship to Asher so long. So long as he wields the sword he stands to be a rather decent swordsman.It's light and highly receptive to Asher's magic. As a focus, it nullifies the Rage Beast's perversions of spells.

>>36746862
What's the deal with Tony's shades? We don't really know anything about them. How many there are, what their abilities are, etc.

>The plan to go with?

>[] Split and blind them with ranged magic, push them apart...
>[] Focus down your adversaries one at a time, ensuring their death and obscuring sight of them until the deed is done.
>[] Target Bishop first, without him the other two become highly vulnerable.
>[] (Other)

Everyone feels the ground shake a little, looking around with mild curiosity from within the museum...

>>36747032
He doesn't really have access to them anymore because of the evidence locker.

>>36747062
>He doesn't really have access to them anymore because of the evidence locker.
Then what in the world was that thing he killed the Wraith with at the fashion battle thread?

>>36747062
>Everyone feels the ground shake a little, looking around with mild curiosity from within the museum...
Didn't you say when we made the trex mech that it essentially started a fae dragon mythos thing? I guess the astral one is coming through the portal?

>>36747062
>[] Target Bishop first, without him the other two become highly vulnerable.
This one.
Somehow that faggot must die

>>36747062
Does Marcus or Saph or anyone have any input on these various plans?

I'm leaning towards targeting Bishop first, but I think that killing Dervish first is a valid alternative if we can ensure that she actually stays dead.

Also, couldn't we theoretically go with trying to split them up with either of the other options? It seems like splitting them up would make every other potential plan easier.

>>36747062
>[] Split and blind them with ranged magic, push them apart...
>[] Target Bishop first, without him the other two become highly vulnerable.

So who else thinks that Marcus' secret weapon was to invoke the sun? It fits.

>Condition: must hold breath
Fits because the sun doesn't do combustion. It doesn't burn like normal fire and there's no air in space.
>Condition: cannot be seen
Don't look at the sun
>Mummy dude called him "the fury of Ra"
Pretty self explanatory.
>Strenuous as hell, even with his conditions
Well, invoking the sun would probably be really fucking hard.

>>36747062
Organize the nearby fae to help facilitate group casting

>>36747062
We need to actually plan how to take down Bishop if we go with that, because I know that "just kill him" isn't going to work.

>>36747330
Whatever we do, it cannot hinge on one person since Dervish can just disable them. If it does, we'll have to devote someone to distracting her.

>>36747330
We need to figure out how his ward deals with our ranged attacks first, all we know is that it moved Marcus away from him when he tried to approach

>>36747086
Umbramancy + a lethal blast of compressed air magic.

His shades had a better repertoire of abilities.

>>36747330
You guys work on that while I write.

Oh and you pretty much know everyone's abilities at this point with exception of Devon.

>The Gauntlet
If he meets an enemy that bears a weapon he can force them into a duelist confrontation where they must ignore all else.
Likewise, assistance from allies on both parts is restricted.

Conditions: He must not look away from the target.
He cannot be assisted- unless he calls a second. However if a second is called then the second is forced to participate, failure will break the duel.

>>36747524
One additional caveat. Ranged magic is also restricted. Melee and personal only.

>>36747524
>Umbramancy + a lethal blast of compressed air magic.

>His shades had a better repertoire of abilities.
I know he actually killed it with the air magic, but he had a shade there when he did it.

>>36747524
>>The Gauntlet
>If he meets an enemy that bears a weapon he can force them into a duelist confrontation where they must ignore all else.
>Likewise, assistance from allies on both parts is restricted.
>
>Conditions: He must not look away from the target.
>He cannot be assisted- unless he calls a second. However if a second is called then the second is forced to participate, failure will break the duel.
That... that actually sounds really fucking useful for dealing with Dervish.

Who do you guys think would be better as a second, Asher or Marcus?

>>36747544
>Devon can seal off Dervish's spell sealing just by declaring a duel and staring at her.
Wow the little asshole actually got useful.

>>36747524
>>36747544
The Gauntlet does not prevent enemies from interfering with the duel, correct?

If an enemy interferes, can they be fought back against? Can they be fought off by a non-second or are they considered part of the duel?

Is the second forced to look at the opponent?

>>36747330
Can he reverse alchemical reactions? We need to find a spell that would do damage even if it were reversed

>>36747544
How would Devon handle being empowered by pyro or break?

>>36747745
We could use an "invisible" poison.
He can't space away all the air

>>36747745
He tore apart Steel into Iron and carbon dust.

>>36747736
It dissuades an enemy from interfering through a sort of "Trick" But it could not wholly stop them.

If one of the others thought to help Dervish, then they'd be able to interfere. The duel is canceled only when Devon or his second break eye contact.

>>36747803
Pure oxygen just like the final chapter of stone ocean.

>>36747869
That could work.
We could use it to fuel an explosion but by turning it back he doesn't remove the pure oxygen

>>36747841
>eye contact.
...that's a huge problem. Dervish sorta, you know, spins.

>>36747841
Does the duel compel the enemy to maintain eye contact or could they just turn around? Are there negative consequences for the enemy if they just turn around or run?

>>36747918
If it would keep the Dervish from spinning it would be even better

>>36747841
Well that just went from awesome to useless.

>>36747966
As long as they're split up it could still be useful

>>36747945
Eye contact only needs to be held by the "Challenging party" for it to be maintained. If the other looks away, they're still under the hex.

>>36747841
Would the Dervish have to keep eye-contact too?

>>36747917
We should create an invisible barrier around him that filters out the the nitrogen and carbon dioxide and replace it with pure oxygen which slowly kills him.

>>36747986
No.

>>36747981
Ok, so if Dervish were to start spinning or look away, it would only be canceled if Devon didn't reestablish eye contact as soon as she looked back at him?

>>36748020
It's not a staring contest. He just needs to keep looking at her.

>>36748040
"Eye contact" and "just keep looking at her" are two very, very different things.

>>36748071
>>36747599
>>Conditions: He must not look away from the target

>>36748088
>>36747841
>The duel is canceled only when Devon or his second break eye contact.

>Devon is on duty with sealing Dervish.
>Marcus, Tony, Saph, and Asher are on dedicated "FUCK BISHOP" duty.
>Emilia and Hughes are to occupy Statue until Bishop is killed.

Echo I'm trying to decide between Statue and Bishop.
With Statue, she could potentially deal some damage through his armor skin because Vein soul shenanigans, and having a 3rd person could keep Emilia and Hughes in better shape.
With Bishop, she could tell us useful info to kill him faster.

What do you guys think? Another option would be to put Saph on the Statue containment group and have her copy Emilia's geomancy to control the battlefield and attempt to contain him.

>>36748156
>and attempt to contain him.
Snrk...

>>36748156
Put Echo on Bishop duty.
If necessary we have to burn his nerves out from too much rewinding

>>36748184
Well, less contain more stall and stumble with cracks and walls.

>>36748156
What about Sue?

Emilia could use the dinomech to attempt to level the field against Statue somewhat.

Bishop has to see to cast his magic, right?

Which means he has light going from in front of him, or potentially all around him because spatial shenanigans, into his eyes, right?

So what about a bright flash to stun him? Hit the nig with a flashbang and then have Marcus rush in to kill him.

Or we could work with Tony to burn, alchemy, and aero all of the breathable air away from his general area to suffocate him.

>>36746169


“I say we divide and conquer. We make it so that we can pick them off one by one. The logical thing to do when they're working as a unit.”

“The Dervish wields a Scythe, right? I could force her into a challenge.” Devon speaks up, “Saph helped me develop an ability, if they have a weapon too, I can force them into a one on one match. If anyone helps me, or I look away it'll break- unless I call for a second. Then I can have someone help me, but it'll break if either one of us stops looking at them.”

“It's the sort of thing that could be used easily on a Nerve that held a gun for instance. Technically, it's a weapon and Devon's ability would shut down their ranged magic. It's risky though because an enemy could interfere. It's best done with others' support which is why we're all doing this together.” Saph adds.

“Well, I'll rally the-” The ground shakes again, the marble tyranno, Sue growls low, her glass-like feathers glistening as they shudder warily.

A faerie darts in, “It's here!”

Zeitgeist picks up, you draw Aeirth and feel Legna's skill flowing through you, adding herself you your aura, giving you some kind of peace of mind despite the imminent danger.
(What's the outlook?)

(Your demise has not yet been averted. Be careful.) She whispers to you through the hilt.

The ground rumbles again and you feel compelled to look up, a white god looks down upon the museum with pastel colors running over a marble mask in the likeness of a human.

This is a templar.

It walks, trampling over the first strips of Seelie land underfoot, shaking the land with every step. It moves slowly, yet surely as it incites fear in the fae, forcing them to scatter rather than pepper it with their magic.

You move out with the rest of Zeitgeist as it approaches, looking up at the giant.

“It must be over two hundred feet...” Emilia whispers with her hands clasped over her mouth.

>>36748353
Is this in astral sight or normal sight?

>>36748353
FUCKING BONES

>>36748353
So much for having Emilia and Hughes contain it.

Fucking hell.

>>36748353

“It's huge,” Hughes whispers.

“How the hell do we fight that thing?” Devon says through clenched teeth, his resolve wavering.

With it still some distance away Saph gathers herself, “We need to get Sue, we need to use Sue. She'll have an advantage so long as we're in Faerie land.” Saph looks to Emilia, then Echo. “Emilia has the greatest affinity, and Echo, you're still injured.”

Echo stares at Saph in disbelief, “You know... I'm scared...”

“I know and-” Saph starts.

“And you're telling me to control a magic dinosaur golem.”

“Yes and-”

“That's awesome.” Echo grins and grabs Emilia, “Come on, let's go! We're getting in the Ultrazoid!”

The Statue draws closer as they retreat back into the museum, Sue won't be large enough as is...

>[] Head inside, maybe you can do something to strengthen Sue further?
>[] Let them take care of it, you need to find Bishop, if he dies this is over.
>[] Get Devon up, the two of you are going to look for Dervish, everyone else will be on Bishop.
>[](other)

>>36748471
>[] Head inside, maybe you can do something to strengthen Sue further?
MOAR DRAGON POWER
>[] Let them take care of it, you need to find Bishop, if he dies this is over.
Focus on the main target while hoping Devon can handle the Daeva
>[] Get Devon up, the two of you are going to look for Dervish, everyone else will be on Bishop.
Contain the Daeva while hoping the others can handle the Bishop


I'll say
>[] Get Devon up, the two of you are going to look for Dervish, everyone else will be on Bishop.
And I'm out of the quest. Fucking headache

>Eshe pretty much killed herself with that transformation that turned her into a ~10ft crocodile person thing
>Statue turns into a 200ft+ tall statue like it ain't no thang.
Fucking templars.
Just for the record, is that a Master or is it Divine transformation spell? I'm thinking Divine on account of how he was described as a god.

>>36748539
Why the fuck do I write Daeva instead of Dervish?

>>36748471
>[] Head inside, maybe you can do something to strengthen Sue further?

>>36748471
>[] Head inside, maybe you can do something to strengthen Sue further?
If we don't at least hold the Statue back some, it will just reach down and rip the tree out of the ground and eat it like a fucking carrot. Then it'll fuck up everyone else.
>[] Let them take care of it, you need to find Bishop, if he dies this is over.
I can't honestly think of anything that Asher adds to the table here in terms of taking down Bishop. It's possible that not going for him might result in him living long enough to interfere with Devon's duel, but I find that the less likely than the bad things that could result from not picking the other options.
>[] Get Devon up, the two of you are going to look for Dervish, everyone else will be on Bishop.
Legna was able to hold her own with Dervish until Bishop intervened and froze her. Going to fight Dervish could potentially land us in the same fate, but not going could result in Devon falling and then Dervish is free to interfere with the rest.

>>36748555
He's on some jeebus juice.
Kidding

But really, it's a highly focused and specialized transformation with a pre-existing wonder as a source of inspiration as well as the oath of going about nude.

And yes, fucking Templars.
It's a master-class Transformation. The reason why Hughes couldn't make him move after he transformed? The small version is just the large version condensed.

>>36748471
>[] Get Devon up, the two of you are going to look for Dervish, everyone else will be on Bishop.
I get the feeling that this is totally hopeless though. Fuckin templars

>>36748471
What is everyone besides echo and Emilia going to do?

>>36748471
>[] Get Devon up, the two of you are going to look for Dervish, everyone else will be on Bishop.
I'm really, really not confident in this pick. I want to strengthen Sue. I really want to do that. But at the same time, I can't condone having anyone 1v1 a Templar.

Also, doesn't Emilia have something like 7 or 8 LIMIT saved up that she could use to supercharge Sue?

>>36748824
>The small version is just the large version condensed.
And Marcus burned through that...

That was like cutting through a 20ft stone pillar in a fraction of a second using his finger.

God damn.

Weren't really big/powerful astrals supposed to be coming out of the portal soon?

>>36744844
finale already!?> FUCK AND I JUST STARTED DIGGING INTO TEH ARCHIVES TOO!!!!

File: Wrong answer.png (299 KB, 817x813)

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>How I imagine Dran reacts to our votes.

>>36748471


Taking in a deep breath to steady your own nerves as the Statue approaches with one agonizing and thundering step at a time, you look to the fleeing faeries, to the new life you've let into this world. Defenders of the wood, they are cowardly, but they are your inspiration, your resolve. If you lead by example, they will come to the fight.

“We will find the Dervish.” You say, your eye on Dark Soul Edge.

“Good,” Marcus smiles, his mask lifted up ever so slightly, he knocks back his flask, drinking it all down as the smell of gasoline fills the air. Tossing it away, his body and clothes begin to crackle with flames as his whole body begins to transform. “At least we're doing it right.” He says as he scowls at the taste of the imbibed poison.

“What do you mean?”

His body flares up suddenly, “A nerve for a vein. Veins for the bones. Bones for the Nerve. Hughes, Henry, Tony you're with me. We're going for the Bishop. Kill him, we win.”

As Marcus darts off with the other two in tow, sprinting across the field, you look back to the only one that hasn't taken a position for mobilizing. “Saph?”

The tetras flit about her, melancholy apparently since her recollection. She seems to share this.

“Saph?” You say again, and she looks at you, smiling piteously.

“I can't fight them.” She whispers, “You remember, I can't kill anyone. My power won't let me do that. I'll see to the faeries, I'll see if I can't get them rallied.”

“You never said why you hated Mythos.”

>>36749301


She looks to you, her eyes bearing slight surprise for your concern over that point, but it becomes more of a sardonic look, “I can't believe that you actually care about that. Templars are for the old world, and faeries in particular are a sore spot for me, even these four. It's just a bunch of bad memories.”

“So what made you want to become a goddess?”

Her expression shifts again, “I'll tell you when you come back, good luck Asher.” Saph walks into the museum, Camille looking out from the ruinous entrance with caution written all over her face. She turns, and you get the feeling that it's likely she'll be doing something to lend her own aid.


Switching to your Re-Reflex suits, you and Devon dash out into the field, towards the approaching giant. The others, already ahead are already eyeing the statue, making sure to stay out of its attack range, but also, “The Bishop or Dervish may be on the Statue, keep sharp! If they come out, we need to engage! When the dino gets out, we'll let them handle the statue!”

Looking up at the thing yourself, you see that its expressionless face is kind of creepy, the way it gives nothing away. No trace of humanity, just artistic perfection. Its fists, already curled into balls are ready to strike the ground with their titanic might. One hit, provided that it does indeed hit, could prove without a doubt fatal.

From here though, you could draw its ire with a spell or two. In the astral you see that its spell distortion is very slight, likely just enough to sustain itself efficiently.

>[] Nitro-Fiend to the face!
>[] Use Geo to displace its footing./Open up a giant pit for its foot.
>[] Pull water from the ground and underground piping.
>[] Turn the earth into quicksand to slow its movements.
>[] Generate lava... It'll hurt but...
>[] Detonate one of its hands.
>[] (other)

>>36749343
>[] Use Geo to displace its footing./Open up a giant pit for its foot.
and then spam fiends to its face so it won't notice the pit. Or make a smokescreen around the head of the statue

>>36749343
He's a superdense marble statue, right?

Well, acid fucks up marble really good.

Would it be possible to transmute some air into HNO3 (nitric acid) so it fucks him up or is Asher not gud enough for that?

>>36749456
Do we actually have good enough Geo to open up a pit like that? I don't think we've ever made anything much bigger than small-car-size.

>>36749343
We have Ice again because of the sword, so what if we made it slip? Draw up some water, then freeze it.

Once he stumbles, use geo to encourage the fall to go worse by making it so that there's a hole under the limb he tries to use to stabilize himself.

>>36749670
You do, Aeirth's stabilized Asher's Ice.

>>36749705
Does the inability to harm plantlife count as part of "the rage beast's perversions of Asher's spells"?

Because using grass instead of air for nitrofiend transmutation fodder should make the blast much bigger on account of the ingredients being denser.

>>36749756
Nah, he still doesn't like doing that. Could use magicked grass rope to tie down the fallen giant though if you fancy.

Feels like we're missing people. Finals are about over, aren't they? It's also the weekend.

>>36749777
I can't imagine that going well at all.

>>36749916
Voters always shrink back when shit gets dire. Even the fashion show had barely any more voters than this for the fight.

Nobody wants to feel like they're the one that got us killed.

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Alright, not waiting anymore then. By the by, there's to be a part 2 next week for the finish of the fight as well as epilogue.

>>36749343
Not right now, for a number of reasons, but I think we should keep in mind doing another big Fae-group cast spell. Maybe we can use it in conjunction with our inner rage beast when our duel with the Dervish goes south. Her silence power left us feeling like an animal, so if we use fae-power, maybe we can wreck shit as the Rage Beast.

>>36750103
> another thread before the end
fuck yeah, postpone my mild case of depression by one week

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You said that Aerith's blade is like an acute triangle. Is it more like 1 or 2?

>>36750876
1.

>>36750876
>>36750890

Though it's a a bit wider than that, the tapering point is correct.

>>36750916
Do a quick mspaint doodle? I'm really having trouble visualizing this thing.

>>36750916
Is it basically a rapier?

>>36749343


Casting Aeirth out as you let the suit do the running, “Open, Earth!” The blade shines with a verdant brown and a pit opens up underfoot of the Giant's next step, causing it to step a bit too deeply. Yet, it doesn't fall. “Close!” You call out, trapping the foot in the pit. You feel the lances of pain shoot through your body as you empower the spell and yet-

The titan braces itself and pulls the foot out, slowly but surely. As far as quick thinking, you aim for the other one to throw it off, forcing it to work harder for what could've been done with minimal effort.

“I still don't see or sense them!” Marcus roars through his flames, speaking of the targets. The Dervish and the Bishop.

“I don't see them on the statue's shoulders either!”

“Fuck it, prepare to fire, we'll worry about that shit later! Keep a lookout!” Marcus redoubles his efforts and increases his speed until he's a stream of flame traveling up the Statue, fearlessly, his flames coil around it as you increase the spray of nitroglycerin at its face as he makes his way up there. With molten grooves worked all the way up, a detonation occurs as Marcus's flames ignite the Statue, causing a terrible shockwave to rock the thing, passing through Marcus's incorporeal body.

Henry stops short to fire bodkin arrows at the thing, they fly with penetrative power that you augment with the Magic for breaking, Hughes charges, his flesh turning black once more, a long lusterous horn sprouting from his forehead as his bright yellow glow takes hold.

Tony looks around near you and Devon and begins to mumble out a long incantation, the Titan's shadow rippling about as his bright purple illumination shows out his magical work.

>>36751027


The Statue teeters back, Hughes forces a leg in with his own built up speed and force, the arrows go in deep, causing at the very least superficial damage to the statue.

Things seem to be going well, the pressure's apparently keeping it from swinging its fists around, you just need to keep it going until-

A roar blares out from the museum, and Sue runs on out, gaining mass as the earth answers Emilia's call, soil and grass wrapping about its form, its eyes shining blue and a fox-like soul bursting out to convert its features into some mad cross between a japanese styled fox and a dragon toting about three flailing tails of flame and sparking with lighting, With an open maw, a shining bolt is unleashed from its jaws, stabbing the statue right in its pectorals.

Damage is indeed being done. You note, that it's not being reversed either, where are they-

Cracking back a defiant- no, a cocky smile. The Statue's expression changes. Swinging an arm along the horizon, he lets something go as his fingers unfurl.

No one can quite see it, not at the speed that it's moving, even your supernatural eyes can't register the dynamic well enough.

“He threw them!” Henry yells out.

Shit!

>>36751057


From the Statue's clasped hand, the Dervish holds the Bishop, her eyes closed and her faith strong. She may not like the Statue, but she has a mission to fulfill for the good people of this city called Chicago. As she feels her momentum shift, she prepares herself to be cast out much like a speeding bullet of white and black spinning rapidly towards its target.

The statue saw the tree breaking through the earth, and knew it for the location of the natural power, the god-line that they seek to make this all right again. Thrown, she shifts and her soul creates the spin for her, scythe in one hand, and the bishop held in the other. So long as she could land them safely, she could consecrate the ground with mythic sand.
Being that close to the source of the corruption however, her faith must remain string to stand against it...

They hit stone in their trajectory and she turns it into dust, setting it to fly around her, a way to slow her speed, to soften her fall. She lands and releases the Bishop, as he spins in turn, till he rights his equilibrium through the slightest touch of his magic.

Opening his watch, he gives a simple command as his eyes shift from the time, to the tree, “Do it.”

And thus, she begins to spin.

>>36751078
>Statue
>statute

>>36751078
>>36751078
>remain strong to stand against it
christ.

RIP tree.

>>36751078
So is blowing up the hand the only option that would've done anything? It's kinda lame to only give us one way to succeed in a round of combat

>>36751324
The selected choice halted its advance and gave the others the opportunity needed to nail it down. The Statue's gambit however was to throw them.

Hard to feel like you win when the enemy makes a willing Martyr out of themselves, I know.

>>36751078

You turn away only to see the projectile turn its entry into dust, for a chill to run down your spine as your thoughts race to the worst. All the big guns are out here, and they just went right for home base. Turn around and the statue picks off the runners, face the statue and you lose to them.

You could blink back, but then you'd very well be alone against the Dervish and the Bishop. Camille's back there- but she can't hold them off herself.

Damnit! You need to make a choice...

>[] Blink! You need to do it now before she summons the sandstorm.
>[] Blink... Try it with someone else, with Devon for the first time.
>[] Run back as fast as you can, the others should be able to keep the statue at bay.
>[] (Other)

>>36751324
>implying we would have blown up the correct hand

>>36751394
Burn levels currently?

>>36751394
>[] Run back as fast as you can, the others should be able to keep the statue at bay.
First option is basically suicide. Second option is bad because Devon's only ranged "attack" is duel, which could seriously fuck us.

Re-Reflex mode sprint plus carry Devon if he doesn't have a suit.

>>36751514

Burn: Light(High) - nearing Moderate(Low)

>>36751533
The second option can be accomplished with a fiend to kill the both of you.
And he's wearing his suit.

>>36751394
>[] Blink! You need to do it now before she summons the sandstorm.
We get killed.
>[] Blink... Try it with someone else, with Devon for the first time.
High burn cost, probably. I think
>[] Run back as fast as you can, the others should be able to keep the statue at bay.
Camille and a bunch of fae die, Saph potentially dies, tree gets fucked up.

>>36751560
If we have Devon group cast this with us, it will lower the cost significantly compared to just trying to wing it, right?

>>36751394
>[] Blink! You need to do it now before she summons the sandstorm.
Get down there quick, engage knight cantrip and spam fiend on both of them to buy Devon some time to come back us up. Get pissed off that they're threatening our sacred tree and our whole method of protecting the trees.

>>36751394
>[] Blink... Try it with someone else, with Devon for the first time.
Frankly it's the second to last thread so I'm not that worried about fucking it up and killing Devon.

>>36751394
>[] Blink... Try it with someone else, with Devon for the first time.
Group cast it with Devon, use a brief incantation. I'll try to think of something really quick.

>>36751601
>Group cast.

That's actually a really good idea for how to make a blink with more than one person work.

>>36751663
Well then let's do it.

>>36751636
>>36751634
Do we know Devon enough to make a copy of him because I thought that's how blinking works? Your copy kills you and the copy becomes the original.

>>36751674
He's right next to us and, presumably, actually wants to do it. Group cast it to ignore most, or all, of the difficulty.

>>36751674
If he group casts with us his own concept of self could be used. Hopefully.

>>36751674
>>36751663
Well never mind then let's do it. I guess if Devon makes his own mental copy of himself it will probably go a lot better. My bad

>>36751560
>a fiend to kill the both of you
Holy fuck is that risky. If we can't actually make a shade of him, he just straight up dies.

Can we verify that a clone of him was made before we off the original? If so, I'm all on board.

The real problem is what the fuck to do about Bishop.

Are we just going to have to get ALL of the fae to group cast with us to supercharge up an Ignorance to bore through his defenses and then cut his fucking head off?

>>36751663
I feel bad for having never thought of this before now. It would have been awesome to have done before.

>>36751754
Hopefully the others can deal with him. We can't do shit against bones, especially not the 200 ft tall variety

>>36751856
Bishop is the Nerve.

>>36751866
Hahaha fuck. Misread that somehow. I have no excuse

>>36751754
Hopefully Marcus and Camille can handle him. I'm not sure how Duel works, but I'm going to be so salty if we wreck Dervish only to have Bishop heal her at the last minute.

>>36751927
>Hopefully Marcus and Camille can handle him.
What? Marcus isn't at the museum, he's currently standing on the Statue.

>>36752012
Marcus is supposed to handle the Bishop along with Tony. I know he's far away, but he's fast enough (I hope) to get to the Bishop in time.

>>36752068
There's still going to be a window of time where it's just Asher and Devon against Dervish and Bishop. Blink is way faster than Marcus.

>>36751606
If we do use the knight cantrip use both pyromancy and floramancy. Maybe use one of the seeds of the portal tree

>>36752120
Aerith negates the negative interference on our spells from the RB, so we could use Ice again for it.

Not sure if it'd be tougher than flora, but I'm 100% certain that it'd be less burn to make.

>>36751663
Does Devon have the asshole dagger still or did he get something more duel-y and less murder-y?

>>36752208
Saph fixed it.

>>36752208
Maybe he got Saph to help him with it. If it's a KILL KILL KILL dagger when soaked in evil karma, it'd make sense for it to be a duelist's dagger when purified.

>>36751394

You know what you need to do, you need to blink. But you can't do it alone, you need Devon to come with or you won't be able to stop the Dervish's rampage let alone deal with Bishop.
You turn to him, as he stares back at the museum, “Devon! I need you to take my hand and imagine yourself at the museum!”

“What?”

You reach out, and grab him by the arm, “Just do it!”

As Tony finishes his incantation, he takes a knee out of fatigue, the shadow of the statue wobbling into a glorious existence towering equal and opposite to the one clad in white. It rises, its marble regenerating slowly as it's peppered and harassed by the other overs.

“Shit, Tony...” You say with a sneer, the man of pale complexion and dark hair bleeds from his wrist, evidence of a bloody sacrifice as his nerves throb with his persistent burn.

“Go, I may not like you, but these people need to die and they've nearly gotten your goal. Go.” He speaks low and ragged, fighting back the pain of his creation. The entity swings a black fist, moving the cheek of the white giant. Smiling, it returns the blow in turn, only to have it pass on through the manifested darkness.

“You focused?” You ask Devon, and he nods.

“Yeah.”

>>36752348

You tap into your power and feel his image flowing through you, and then bringing it through the Ether at the museum, the Sandstorm just begins to pick up as you perform the summoning and shout, “Blink!”

With a snap, flames engluf you both, and you snap back into reality at the museum, Devon screaming until you give him a hard smack across the face, “Shake it off, we're going in.”

The wind howls as it picks up, the mystic sand torn from marble appearing as a gallery, no, a blizzard. A shadow appears at the epicenter, peering out from the consecrated territory like a spectre of white death.

Thankful for the protective goggles set in yours and Devons mask, you walk into the abrasive storm.

“You do not pass.” A feminine voice whispers through the white winds, creeping through the ether, a sound crawling into your very soul.

“I challenge you!” Devon shouts. “With The Ash as my second!”

The robed head with monument tombstone weighing down upon her image shakes with a slow refusal.
“You do not pass. I will not be letting you. Good people lose life and home. We fix this. Try stop, make me kill.” Her tongue is rough and unpracticed. Barely passable but still understandable.

You lean over to Devon. “Did it work?” You whisper, your eye still on her.

“It did. She just doesn't realize yet.”

>[] Talk to the Dervish, stall her. Camille should be taking some kind of action.
>[] Radio Marcus, he's fast enough to escape the statue and lend assistance.
>[] Call out for Camille or Saph.
>[] Close in and attack her, you have no time, and the duel begins now!
>[] (Other)

>>36752558
That only applies to the target. You can talk to someone else while looking at her.

>>36752373
Casting ignorance while we're inside her soul radius would fuck her up right? I say we maintain an ignorance ward while we try out our new sword skills. Legna seemed capable of fending her off. Are we really free to attack her at this point in the duel though?

>>36752373
If she's already done / is doing something to the tree, then stalling her will mean our death as it's removed and our fae allies are weakened.

If we radio Marcus, then the Statue has a good deal of pressure taken off of it, though Tony's colossus should buy us a good bit of time.

Calling out for Camille or Saph could blow their cover. Dervish probably already knows about them, but Bishop might not.

Closing in and attacking her immediately could get us wrecked by Bishop, but waiting could also give him more time to realize that he needs to help Dervish and that could also get us wrecked.

>>36752601
>He still doesn't know how Ignorance works.
No, anon. It wouldn't fuck her up.

>>36752373
We have to locate the bishop. He should be in here somewhere right?

>>36752631
We can't. Devon already declared us as his second. If we take our eyes off Dervish, she can use her magic sealing again.

>>36752373
>[] Talk to the Dervish, stall her. Camille should be taking some kind of action.
We've got to trust in our allies. Also, Asher bullshitting time.

"We are returning this city to it's natural state. To a time, before it was blighted by the arrogance of the men who settled it. Why do you not hunt the unseelie who infect the innocents and cause chaos? Do you wish for the greater of the two evils to take the city?"

I know there is no chance to convince her of anything, but I feel like zealots love to explain how righteous they are, so it's a great stall tactic.

>>36752614
Her ranged attacks should be disabled now, so I think the tree is safe from her sandstorm. Unless I'm completely wrong about how Duel works...

>>36752667
>but I feel like zealots love to explain how righteous they are
You do know you're talking about the chick who barely speaks english and has silence as one of her major themes, right?

>>36752373
So the duel is preventing us from using any ranged magic?

>>36752373
>[] Radio Marcus, he's fast enough to escape the statue and lend assistance.


>>36752667
>Do you wish for the greater of the two evils to take the city?
>Calling the seelie evil
anon pls.

Also it's hilarious that you think the elite mage hunters are going to suddenly start monologueing at us if we toss a tiny bit of bait at them.

>>36752614
Dran said on his ask page that using ignorance directly on someone's soul would cause a lot of corruption

>>36752373
>[] Close in and attack her, you have no time, and the duel begins now!

Maybe work on scythe interference with Geo and Flora? Devon only has a knife he can't really do that.

>>36752715
Personal-ranged and melee-range still works. Knight or a kamikaze-styled Nitrofiend could also work.

>>36752739
>Implying I don't like writing Monologues.

>>36752702
>“You do not pass. I will not be letting you. Good people lose life and home. We fix this. Try stop, make me kill.”

Maybe, but the fact that she tells us all this without trying to murder us means that she sees herself as someone who is trying to do good.

>>36752739
She would say that they are evil, so might as go with it. If she doesn't realize what's happening (disabled sandstorm), talking to her will keep her distracted until we can regroup. She doesn't need to monologue, she just needs to not view us as big threats until Bishop is pinned down.

>>36752741
I know what ask you're referring to, and that was Dran continuing the answer to the question before it.

He was saying that a Vein would not let us apply Ignorance to their attacks because it would max out corruption.

>>36752889
I don't see why we couldn't use that offensively though

>>36752919
I think it's a cool idea, but I also think that Dervish doesn't give a fuck about corruption. I don't think it would hurt to try, though, if we are going to just attack her now.

>>36752815
I've already voted for closing in and attacking, I want to add using a flora+pyro knight with a seed from the great tree. Just use our plant manipulation to bring a seed right to us without taking our eyes off of the dervish

>>36753033
Can't. Do. Ranged. Magic.

>>36753008
Well since it was mentioned earlier that she was risking corruption by coming down and attacking the tree I think it must affect her a bit

>>36753055
I thought we just couldn't attack her with ranged magic. Grabbing a seed is not attacking.

>>36752919
Because it's a stupid idea. It's like trying to piss down a wall. Ignorance cannot absorb a soul. It will not do anything to stop her attacks. If it has any effect at all, it will be negligible and come at the cost of preventing us from using any other magic.

The only benefit to using ignorance is that it will stop Bishop from interfering, but that's not using it to attack Dervish.

>>36753065
>risking corruption
It actually says that her faith must remain strong to stand against it. It still isn't 100% clear how she manages to do her magic without the usual vein limits. The closest we have from the ask:
>Did she really seem "there" to you?

I'm guessing she's just insane, and so the corruption doesn't have a huge effect. Maybe with enough, her soul will eventually be destroyed, but I have no idea what the limits are for that.

>>36752667
Literally every time anyone has ever tried to do that in a Dran quest, it's backfired.

>>36753114
I don't know how you're so sure it won't work, we've never actually used ignorance in combat before

I'm seeing 1 for talk. 1 for radio. 2 for attack. I'm counting correctly, right?

>>36753303
Because trying to mess with souls is ridiculously difficult unless the target is either willing or asleep. Dervish is neither of those and has a ridiculously strong and corruption resistant soul.

And why do you think Ignorance would do anything at all? It absorbs mana. Mechanically, what do you think is going to happen if we try to apply it to her soul?

>>36753343
I think it's 1 each. The first anon to vote Attack deleted his post. A lot of people posted without picking one of the prompts, so I'm not sure...

>>36753343
Would it be possible to quickly radio Marcus to say to get over here and then attack?

>>36753343
I honestly can't tell what people are voting for

>>36753413
Yes. It can be applied to either Talk or attack.

>>36753423
Most of the posts aren't even votes, they're just people trying to figure out which option is going to kill us.

>>36753423

>Radio Marcus and...

>[] Cut the bitch.
>[] Bide your time by talking.

>>36753449
>[] Bide your time by talking.
Got to have that sweet Asher monologue action. One last time...

>>36753449
>[] Cut the bitch.

>>36753449
>[] Cut the bitch

>>36753449
>[] Bide your time by talking.

>>36753527
Going to have to trust Marcus and Camille. Dervish wasn't thrown with Bishop just to soften his landing.

>>36753449
Do we know what will actually happen to the sword if we use Ignorance with it? Will it just become a piece of glass that can't do anything and will shatter upon being hit? Will it absorb the magic and put it towards the sword's own natural enchantments?

>>36753449
>[] Bide your time by talking.

>>36753578
No idea.

>>36753449
Just talk then, fine. Only because you're being super obvious about fighting being a bad end.

>>36753654
...how? It looks more like talking is the badend to me.

>>36753675
I doubt either one is a bad end. I'm guessing that n the worst case scenario:
Talking- We lose initiative. Dervish figures out Duel's effect.
Attacking- Bishop notices something wrong and interferes with our duel.

Honestly, it's up to how Dran wants to write it.

Is this the part where Bishop sneaks up on us and rewinds Asher's head so it's like a baby head and then jams his thumb in the soft spot?

>>36752373


Staring at the figure carefully in the whitestorm, you tap your mask to open the comm and inform Marcus that the Bishop and the Dervish are in the museum.

You don't get a response besides grunting, but you're sure that you heard him as the ground shakes from the titans and overs doing battle outside.

The white winds howl, blowing past you and scraping against an exposed part on your neck, it feels like grating sandpaper, peeling away at your flash with its cold bite. A woman of wind and sand... You stare at her flickering visage, keen on keeping the duel up, to prevent her from being able to turn away from you.

You hold your blade forward and Devon draws his knife, a silver edge gleaming from the tip of the blade, it shimmers with the light of his aura, an actual soul edge... Fucking christ.

Moving in immediately gives the two of you pause, no, the sheer pressure of her soul weighs down upon the two of you, the bloody and icey touch of the sand burning its way not only through your flesh, but preying upon the resolve within your soul. You start to feel ill, ill in the same way Jackie had made you feel when you faced off against her. With allies, at a distance, that fear was kept at bay. But here, in her storm. It's omnipresent.

Swallowing down your tepid fear, you call for Devon to wait, the Dervish merely watching the two of you, her body glistening with her sandy goldenrod aura.
“You said you're here to stop the corruption, right? Why would you choose to attack the Seelie then? The Unseelie are the ones that have twisted and killed the past couple days, the faeries here have done no such thing.”

>>36754153


The ominous woman stares out quietly as she slowly comprehends your words. Her shoulders are lowered and relaxed. She's not the least bit scared of the two of you. Not an ounce of tension, “Twist the land. Break the world. They challenge order. I come from war of Followers to stop. People want peace.”

“We are returning the city to its natural state before it was touched by the arrogance of the men that settled it. Do you not see that this is wrong? Did you not see the people out there- in here that were happy before you came?”

Her words come slow, not fast once again, “I saw them. They may not live, also a part of this. Like you. A sower of mad...ness. Please. Do not try. To stop. This evil. You must know. We fix. We go. People return to their lives. It is good.”

You feel something in your wavering, like a flickering flame. At this point, it'd be easy to just submit. To let them do what they came to do. To be let to live in peace. She doesn't even care about killing you, let alone capturing you. Like this, you could return to a normal life. That's the offer right. The sand burns, and you're forced to cover your neck. With a gloved hand to protect against the persistent grinding.

“Will not stop. Leave, if hurts.”

>[] “I'm not backing down. I will not abandon the faeries or the natural world!”(Get mad)
>[] “You're right... I'll just surrender then.” (Lie and attack)
>[] “It's pointless...” (Surrender.)
>[] (Other)

>>36754135
>Implying Bishop's regression magic regresses age like that.

I'm sorry... It's actually far more brutal than that.

>>36754170
>[] “I'm not backing down. I will not abandon the faeries or the natural world!”(Get mad)

>>36754170
>[] “I'm not backing down. I will not abandon the faeries or the natural world!”(Get mad)

>>36754170
>[] “I'm not backing down. I will not abandon the faeries or the natural world!”(Get mad)

>>36754170
>[] “I'm not backing down. I will not abandon the faeries or the natural world!”(Get mad)
Fuck this chick and her magical dust.

>>36754170
Wasn't camille gonna do something if we stalled her?

>>36754281
She cant do anything to Dervish even if she was preparing something. Duels are honorable and shit. Or something.

>>36754292
I thought the only reason to talk was to give camille time to act. I mean obviously we weren't gonna convince the dervish to stop by talking to her

>>36754317
I'm hoping she's doing something to distract Bishop and/or protect the tree. We might not be able to see her with all the dust flying around.

>>36754170


Like hell. You seethe under your breath, you fear giving way to rage.
Like hell. That flickering flame gives way to a conflagration of anger.
Like hell. Your wooden arm burns with fire shifting into reds, blues, greens, and even white.

“I will not. Give up on the faeries. This is our place now. You will leave our tree alone. You will go to whatever warfront you came from.” You say as your wooden arm's fire transfers to Legna, the daylight glass burning in turn.

Devon relaxes, takes a shuddering breath through his own mask.

The Dervish silently releases her Staff, the thing spinning in place like a wind pane as it stands by itself. Crossing her arms over her breast, she rests her hands upon opposite shoulders and gives you a stiff bow, no more words. She understands.

You and Devon charge in from opposing sides to flank her, a common reaction that would have given most combatants pause. In one movement, fluid as damascus silk, she flicks her scythe up into her hands and immediately half-turns to meet Devon, the scythe's blade seeking out flesh as it sweeps in from the side. With a parry, he finds himself partially flung from his silver blade until he shortens it out of reach.
You go for a slice, only to be suddenly blocked and forced away by the centrifugal force of the blunt end, her spinning movement ever persistent. The scythe comes back around with white dust forming around the edge, extending the blade. As your eyes catch it, you find yourself reflexively darting back, the alabaster sand cutting right through the upper breast of your suit, a sudden cold sting relaying that she found blood. You fight your fear with anger. She stands against you, she's protecting the one that's to destroy everything you've worked for.

>>36754556


Overhead, you see the dull glow of something passing, a flaming streak. Marcus, good. Now if Camille would only do something...

You hear a primal yell originating from within the museum shortly after the streak of flame. Something about it makes the color drain from your face...

>End Thread

>Part 2 is next week! Date TBA.

>>36754576
Oh shit. It's getting 2intense4me. Good thread! I look forward to the next part.

>>36754576
>You hear a primal yell originating from within the museum shortly after the streak of flame. Something about it makes the color drain from your face...
Oh boy.

Bishop killed Saph, didn't he. And Marcus found it.

>>36754556
Looks like fighting with a sword is about as useful as I expected...

>>36754716
Anyone who suddenly thought we were going to kick Dervish's ass because sword is a moron.

>>36754635
I really hope Dran didn't decide to smash the Marcus freakout into the templar battle just because he decided to end the quest earlier than expected.

>>36754635
Or it could be something big that came through the portal.

>>36754811
>>36754844
Probably Marcus. We know that Dran was really hype about that shit. No way he didn't try to cram it in here.

>>36754576
So are we by the tree right now or are we at the entrance to the museum or somewhere else in there or what?

>>36754980
Near the entrance main hall. The Tree's closer to the rear where Sue once stood.

>>36754576
>You hear a primal yell originating from within the museum shortly after the streak of flame. Something about it makes the color drain from your face...
Please tell me that that's the thing Camille was working on and the "color drain" was a clever hint and/or a literal effect of her paint magic. Please be a badass summon and not Marcus losing his shit.

>>36755005
Fuck only catched up now because I had to go to bed with a horrible headache.
Intense thread

File: Marcus.jpg (1.87 MB, 937x1036)

1.87 MB JPG

>>36755192
>Please be a badass summon and not Marcus losing his shit.
I don't want to fight "Devouring Flame" mode Marcus.