Dawn of the Third age/IC Logs/Session 27

Lob: As Snow chugged along the great tracks of arcing lightning, the landscape became more and more dilapidated

Lob: Buildings (or teeth?) that were half powdery rust flew by.

Lob: It was then that Brazen slipped over to the next car, where the others were sitting

Lob: "So...what are we going to do when we get there? If it were just me, I'd smash my way in and torch the place, but Wandering keeps telling me to be more polite."

Nomoe_Hideaki: is sitting cross-legged, by his Charms an almost weightless presence on the metal and soulsteel substance of Bright Snow's train-shaped form.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Magog? We identify nerve clusters and thought cores and destroy them with as much speed as we can manage."

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Once the city is a mindless corpse there will be time to investigate the gate and its dealings with Abyssals."

Lob: "I don't think we're going to Magog. Aren't we going to Oberashti's sanctum...whoever teh hell that is?

Nomoe_Hideaki: makes a dismissive gesture. "The two happen to be neighbours, it seems."

Wandering: "Usually I would be quite happy that you want to take things easy, but in this case... I think we should just smash our way in and then smash him" Wandering commented resting against the side of the train "I don't like what we sat back there, so we grind Oberashti face into the ground" she smiled thinly "Then we do the same to Magog

Lob: "Now you're talking, Wandering!" Brazen said approvingly.

Nomoe_Hideaki: nods. "Though I would consider Oberashti a secondary target at best."

Bright_Snow: */I for once favour Brazen's plan for Magog. Lets burn it to the ground and piss on the ashes./ It is clear Snow is not necessarily enjoying this /*

Lob: Brazen smirks. Finally the others have seen reason!

Bright_Snow: "As for this Oberashti let us deal with him in any manner we can."

Wandering: "So do we go all the way in hoping he just sees what he expects to see? or stop short and scout out the place first?" Wandering asked

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Bright Snow agrees as well," Nomoe reports for the benefit of the others.

Nomoe_Hideaki: */I'm sorry you have to endure this. Is there anything I - or we - can do to make it easier?/*

Nomoe_Hideaki: "We should just go through his domain - and through him, if he stands in our way."

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Most likely Oberashti is of the higher order of Smoke elementals, since it seems to be that 'heralds superior."

Lob: "Sounds good to me. Although I wanna why he'd take all of those people."

~Prototype: "I agree. If this train really was kidnapping people on his orders, then I think we need to put a stop to that."

Wandering: "Seems like a plan to me" said Wandering "Persoanlly I hope he does try to stop us"

Nomoe_Hideaki: "We'll see. If he does, can we permanently disperse him?"

Lob: Brazen shrugged. "I can't."

Bright_Snow: "I agree but do we really wish to trample the Spirit Heirarchy of Autocthonia though? They may not appreciate it."

Lob: "We'd be doing them a favour, it sounds."

Bright_Snow: "And I can always consume its heart as well."

Nomoe_Hideaki: He smiles apologetically. "Sadly I have no means to do such myself, yet."

Nomoe_Hideaki: looks thoughtful for a moment. "That is a good point. We have no Mandate to rule here."

~Prototype: "And if Oberashti is descending into Gremlinism, then it is for the good of the Hierarchy that we purge him."

Wandering: "Gemlinism? whats that?" Wandering asked her intrest piqued

Nomoe_Hideaki: "So you're saying that embracing the void taint makes Oberashti an outlaw, legally?"

Lob: Brazen shook his head in irritation, who cared abotu legality when stuff needed to be done!?

~Prototype: "More or less. Gremlinism is the term for what happens when a spirit - or even an Alchemical - embraces the apostate taint of the void."

Nomoe_Hideaki: nods. "And as a Champion you would be empowered to deal with apostates of all kinds, correct?"

Wandering: Wandering nods "So that would make Oberashti a rabid animal that needs to be put down for the good of all?"

Bright_Snow: */ Not really... /*

Bright_Snow: "On the other hand, consuming the heart of something decending into Gremlinism sounds to be a very bad idea."

Wandering: "True, which leds us to the problem of stoping him permanetly"

~Prototype: "Yes, to Wandering and Nomoe."

~Prototype: "I'm not sure if it would affect you, Snow... Gremlinism is a disease of the mind and soul; I wouldn't think it would carry over to a Lunar taking its shape."

~Prototype: "But then, my knowledge of the workings of such things is limited."

Nomoe_Hideaki: *sympathy, understanding and chagrin that there is nothing he can do /Then let us make sure it was worth it in the end./*

Nomoe_Hideaki: "If it's not a certainty then there is no need to take the risk."

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Even a temporary dispersal would serve us well enough in achieving our actual aims."

Wandering: "True, we could always come back and deal with it ourselves or let the authoicans deal with it"

Bright_Snow: "I am willing to try. My soul will remain my own." */ Of that I am certain. / Serious Determination, and some old bitterness/*

Nomoe_Hideaki: Though he does not show it the possibility worries Nomoe. He has felt the consequences of touching such corruption himself and does not like the idea of Bright Snow suffering the same. */You are prepared then?/ cautious relief*

Bright_Snow: *? I am /*

~Prototype: Pro flies above the train, waiting for their course of action to be decided.

Lob: After a few hours, a skyline (or the Autocthonian equivalent) appears in the different

Lob: a massive network of tracks begin to join alongside Snow's, and squat solid metal buildings begin to appear more and more as they move closer

Nomoe_Hideaki: */So long as you don't throw yourself into something you neither understand nor are prepared for like a certain person .../ a self-deprecating smile*

Lob: Eventually, one of them moves past another moving train, identical to the "Herald". It's full of people, filthy and malnourished and likely starving

Wandering: Wandering snarls "So there is more than one 'Herald' I suppose we should have suspected that, that was the case" she sighs heavily "Do we tip our hand now and try and free them? or wait?"

Lob: The trains started pulling into large complex stations, each of them with barred windows (really more like holes in the walls). A gate opened to take in each one.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "No. Acting now would ruin our undercover approach."§

Lob: "I'm pretty sure that they can see us already, Nomoe-san. It's not like these cars have walls."

Nomoe_Hideaki: shrugs. "So we don't look like the usual type of passenger, that's doesn't mean they know who we are and what we're here for."

Lob: "But maybe they're stupid enough to think we're prisoners."

Lob: The gate opened in front of Snow, yawning wide with a rusty screech, opening the way into a massive interior cargo yard...\

Wandering: "We can hope" said Wandering "When we deal with Oberashti we will be saving them all right"

Lob: Brazen put a hand on her shoulder. "Of course we will."

~Prototype: Prototype ascends and overflies the unloading area before beginning to circle above the camp

Lob: Alarms and sirens begin to blare

~Prototype: Cursing to himself, Prototype looks around for any incoming threats.

Bright_Snow: As Snow pulls into the station, she pulls up to allow the passangers off into the loading zone. "Looks like we are going in the front door. Everybody OUT AND OFF"

Nomoe_Hideaki: looks after Prototype as he ascends into the sky disregarding the agreed-on plan of at least trying to be subtle

Lob: Brazen looked at the Alchemical with surprise. Is that what he looked like all the time?

Nomoe_Hideaki: Before Bright Snow has fully stopped Nomoe leaps off and lightly touches down on the platform.

Lob: Everyone underneath Prototype immediately rushed inside the variety of buildings on the grounds, some of them looking like bunkers

Lob: A man with sallow pale skin and a dusty uniform put a hand out. "whoa whoa whoa, don't you know a lock-down when you see one?!" he said in Autocthonian.

Wandering: Wandering jumps of the Snow as Train and lands on the platform looking around incase of guards nearby. "Which way?"

Bright_Snow: "Off the damn train Brazen unless you want to be stuck in Elsewhere for a while."

Lob: Brazen stomped off of it and stared right at the man, causing him to quail a bit. "What the Void is that thing adn why isn't it properly restrained!"

Lob: Meanwhile, a variety of floating drones buzzed up to examine Prototype

Lob: "IDENTIFY!"

Bright_Snow: With a flash of rainbow coloured and silver light, the Train is gone and Snow is standing in the middle of the tracks, Lance already drawn and looking mightily pissed off.

Lob: A voice demanded through one of them.

Lob: "Aw shit." The guard said, "How the fuck...aw goddammit they weren't supposed to be here!!"

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Alright, circumstances have changed," Nomoe states, ignoring the man to light up a little pipe that appears in his hand and drawing the smoke in deep.

Lob: He sat down behind a desk and put his hands up.

Lob: The drones are little more then a camera attached to an engine capable of flight.

Nomoe_Hideaki: He gives a bow to Bright Snow. "Welcome back."

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Does anyone want to talk to the Nemissary? If not we should get rid off him."

Lob: The man started speaking in Old Realm. "Yeah yeah, I'm not an idiot. I just work here."

Lob: "Whoa whoa whoa" The undead man said. "I'm not fighting anyone. I'm just supposed to process the subjects, that's all."

Lob: "You know, write down how many come off this station!"

Wandering: "Nemissary? Here" Wandering said surprised "I guess Oberashti has more to do with our friends than we thought"

Nomoe_Hideaki: "If you have anything to say that might help your case, now is the time," Nomoe says in a bored tone.

Lob: The man shrugged desperately. "Like what?!"

Bright_Snow: "It is a Nemissary?" She turns to the ghost, "Creation-born? Because looking at how quickly you surrendered when we showed up I'm assuming you are" Her voice is throaty growl, partially due to the smoke she is still emitting, a residue of the change.

Nomoe_Hideaki: He takes another drag from his pipe and blows light blue smoke. "Quite so."

~Prototype: "Who the hell do you think I am?" Pro demands in turn, lighting his anima. "I am Glorious Prototype for Reunion, Orichalcum Caste, Champion of Creation and Autochthonia alike! With the order of the Maker and the Glory of the Sun at my back, no innocents shall suffer beneath my gaze!"

Lob: "Of course I'm a Creation-born!" The guy said. "You ever seen a ghost around here?"

Lob: "Although, the way that the Deathlords are planning, that'll change soon enough."

Lob: meanwhile, the drone processed what Prototype had said.

Bright_Snow: "How would I know, I've only been here a week ghost." She glares daggers at him, "Tell us where Oberashti is and we may let your corpus remain undisrupted."

Lob: "INVALID IDENTITY. INTRUDER DETECTED. MAGOG CRUISE MISSILE IMBOUND FOR LARGE-SCALE SANITATION."

~Prototype: Pro spins around, keen eyes searching for any sign of the incoming missile.

Nomoe_Hideaki: makes a commanding 'get on with it' gesture directed at the nemissary, annoyed that their effort at stealth was ruined so quickly

Lob: "Oh for the love of the Void, I don't know anything! I was just told to come here and count all the people who get off to go do...whatever the hell the thing gets it's jollies doing. You know, living people can't work here for long. They either wither away and die or Oberashti gets impatient and makes them subjects."

Nomoe_Hideaki: */Your eyes are sharper than mine. If you can see that attack coming I'll deal with it./*

Lob: "I haven't seen the guy, all I know is that his men are everywhere and they assure me he sees everything, that he's everywhere."

Nomoe_Hideaki: "So you're saying you are of no value at all to us?"

Wandering: Wandering smiles hungerily at Nomoe's words

Lob: "Hey hey wait wait wait, it's really not worth the effort to destroy this body!"

Lob: Prototype sees a massive flare of essence and fire. Something that could only be some kind of massive ordinance being unleashed. There's only one, but it's huge, and coming from dozens of miles away

Lob: The nemmissary continued. "Why don't you just go right past, and I'll hide under my desk or something."

Bright_Snow: The gasmask Snow is wearing tilts side to side, like a wolf sizing up a piece of meat. It makes it look like she is intimidating the prisoner, when what she is really doing is looking around.

~Prototype: His eyes narrow, and he turns his fighter toward it, activating his Motonic Afterburner Surge and leaving a trail of cloudy white essence behind him as he speeds to intercept the massive missile.

Bright_Snow: "Oberashti!" Snow begins to sound even more angry, which is remarkable. "NOW!"

Bright_Snow: beckons for the ghost to lead on with the spear

Lob: "OKAY OKAY IT'S OVER THERE, JUST GO THROUGH THAT DOOR! I DUNNO WHERE HE IS!"

Lob: He pointed to a wide cargo bay door.

Lob: On the other side of the building

Wandering: "Let's go before I decdied just to tear him in half and conceqences be damned" said Wandering

Nomoe_Hideaki: "No reason not to do it," Nomoe points out. "He did say he had no further value to us."

Lob: The missile shot closer and closer to Prototype as he blasted towards it, hoping to intercept it before it struck the earth

Nomoe_Hideaki: And he begins walking toward the door indicated by the nemissary.

Wandering: Wandering cocked her head and stared at the man for amoment the beast eagerly looking from her eyes and after what seemed to the nimissary to be minutes she sighed and looked away "Not worth the time"

Lob: Brazen walked past him as well. If the man hadn't been so pathetic, brazen probably would've blown his head off out of hand.

Lob: The door yawned open into a land of horrors, like a near Shadowland on a world that was completely unequipped to handle it

Lob: Brazen actually screamed out loud and tried to scratch at his third eye

Lob: Through essence vision, it was far far worse then the dilapidated massive rust-strewn complex it appeared to mundane vision.

~Prototype: Prototype drops a slowly tightening target marker over the missile as he draws steadily nearer.

Wandering: */ Brazen whats wrong? */ Wandering asked at the sudden reaction from her mate

Lob: "/THE MURDER IS EVERYWHERE I SEE IT WITH MY EYE'S CLOSED IT'S EVERYWHERE I CAN'T LOOK AWAY EVERYWHERE!/"

Lob: Nomoe saw traces of a million different deaths done in a million different ways

Wandering: Wandering put her hand on Brazens arm "It will be alright Brazen" she said looking worried "We are here to end it"

Lob: Brazen slowly stopped, Wandering's hand bringing him back to reality. "Okay...okay, I'm alright."

Lob: He saw impressions of people walking and dying from starvation as others took notes

Bright_Snow: follows Brazen and Nomoe in, stepping round them and wandering into the room.

Lob: Another man set on fire...then another person set alight and put out so they could die from their burns...and all of it was saturated with this sense of a presence WATCHING AND GLOATING AND ENJOYING IT. Like a fine wine!

Nomoe_Hideaki: Nomoe's eyes narrow and it takes a conscious effort of will to continue walking forward through what seems like the worst sort of emotional and conceptual sewage bubbling up everywhere.

Lob: The tip of missile became visible from Pro's mundane eyesight

Lob: He had one chance to stop it from killing thousands in one fell swoop

Lob: electricity coursed through massive walls along the sides of this yard, moving for miles from end to end. The mortal chaff that was brought here would have died just trying to climb the fence.

Nomoe_Hideaki: *revulsion, execration, anger at the sheer willful, nonsensical wastefulness of it. /I'm no buddha myself, but this ... this is beyond anything I've ever seen./*

Lob: Brazen took a moment to vomit

Lob: "Okay...ookay, we're making a detour. This shit has to be stopped."

Lob: "You guys can try to skip this place, but I'm not leaving till it's been torn down."

~Prototype: The target marker burned red in his vision, and the golden gears of Pro's anima appear behind him grinding and whirling into a frenzy of power as his Elsewhere stutter cannon whined up to full power. A burst of essence vortices spat from its barrels toward the oncoming missile.

Bright_Snow: "You think tearing it down is going to do anything Brazen? Better we deal with those perpetrating the injustice than demolish the buildings."

Lob: A variety of buildings spread before them. Well, variety was a bit too much. Most of them were actually unimaginative, looking as mundane as a school in an Autocthonian city. But the death-taint stuck to them as much as anywhere else. In the centre was a tower...a thin one made out of soulsteel wires surmounted with a hellish red orb that glowed visibly."

Nomoe_Hideaki: From somewhere he produces a slender, elegant glove of adamantine and orichalcum circuits and machinery and pulls it over his left hand and forearm. A faint, glassy light begins to emanate from the jewel set into its palm. And the reality of Autochthonia, including the void and death taint - and hopefully the layers upon layers of essence of suffering with it - are instantly overwritten with the essence of Creation.

Lob: "Obviously we do that too!"

Nomoe_Hideaki: In a sphere 10 meters across around Nomoe anyway

Wandering: "I'm with Brazen we should end this here and now" said Wandering "Even if its just for a little while"

Lob: Brazen slowly got up. "Okay, thanks Nomoe-San. THat's better."

Nomoe_Hideaki: nods in agreement, his winter sky gray eyes burning coldly. "I have decided that Oberashti is in my way. even if he's hiding in that tower over there."

Lob: Suddenly the entire world was washed in a blinding burst of light from a distance, in the sky

Lob: A roar blasted everyone`s eardrums next, sending out a hot gust of wind powerful enough to send rust and dust up in sheets.

Wandering: Wandering flinched from sudden light and sound wincing as it pounds down on them

Lob: "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Brazen said, his voice drowned out by the ringing in his ears

Nomoe_Hideaki: Nomoe shields his eyes from light and shock with one hand, managing to make the motion seem elegant somehow.

~Prototype: As the blast front hurtles toward his fighter, Pro activates his evasion subroutines, blinking himself and his fighter briefly immaterial to avoid the damaga.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "That missile that was announced earlier, I'd say. Seems like it didn't even get close."

Bright_Snow: Snow face and ears partially covered by the gasmask, blinks at the purplle dots on her vision, giving hand signals to move forward to the others as she struggles towards the tower

Lob: Nomoe sees that the pain is somehow drawn towards the tower...and then grounded downwards, like some kind of lightning rod.

Nomoe_Hideaki: --That missile that was announced earlier, I'd say. Seems like it didn't even get close,-- Nomoe gestures with supernaturally eloquent hands.

Lob: "I WONDER WHAT STOPPED IT!" Brazen shouted

Nomoe_Hideaki: follows Bright Snow, examining the strange flows of essence around and toward it as he goes

Bright_Snow: "I BET IF WE SMASH THAT, WE SI

Bright_Snow: WILL GET THAT FUCKER OBERSATHI TO SHOW UP"

~Prototype: As if summoned by Brazen's comment, Prototype's warstrider swoops overhead, doing a victory barrel roll.

Lob: "OH RIGHT!" Brazen said as Prototype flew by.

Nomoe_Hideaki: --It draws in pain, collects it, gathers it. If he isn't there then he will react to its destruction for sure.--

Lob: "AND YEAH! WHY NOT!?" Brazen said, cracking his knuckles.

Nomoe_Hideaki: --I'll see to that glowing orb, you bring down the tower. Agreed?--

Wandering: Wandering straightens up and moves after the others "Sounds like a plan to me" Wandering agreed her muscles tensing

Nomoe_Hideaki: With a predatory smile Nomoe leaves the ground behind and times his arrival at the top of the tower so it conincides with the others' at the base.

Lob: "Alright!" Brazen said. He went to one side of the tower and dug his talons into the ground, ready to smash it with the others.

Lob: "ON THREE?" He asked

Nomoe_Hideaki: "One, two, three," Nomoe states clearly, lightly tapping the red orb on the first two counts.

~Prototype: Pro resumes circling, keeping an eye cast in the direction the ICBM came from, ready to speed in that direction should they launch another missile.

Wandering: "Seens good enough to me" said Wandering bracing her self for the count of three her feet diging into the ground to balance her self

Nomoe_Hideaki: On three he touches his palm to it without applying any physical strength - but focusing the entirety of his prodigious internal energy through his palm and into the orb. Destructive energies rage through it, seeking to implode it into nothing but dust and scattered motes of essence.

Lob: At the same time, the three other Exalts swung their fists at exactly the same time

Lob: smashing into the tower with power enough to shatter entire moons.

Nomoe_Hideaki: The air itself screams as huge winds arise circling inward to be drawn into the implosion before blasing outward again to carry the remains of the orb with them.

Lob: The tower shattered into tiny pieces of soulsteel

Lob: the whistle of metal through wind distorted by the moaning of the souls within it, a different torment, but unrecognizable to something whose entire existence was predicated on being in pain.

Lob: The orb exploded as well, except this time in grasping fire that tried impotently to claw at Nomoe's skin before dimming into nothing

Nomoe_Hideaki: Slowly Nomoe floats down to join the others. --That should get his attention,-- he signs.

Lob: Where the tower once was, a hole began to gradually reveal itself, the metal and rust cracking apart as it grew bigger and bigger, belching poisonous smoke at the same time.

Bright_Snow: "Well you were right Nomoe, he is a Smoke Elemental."

Lob: A scream of rage echoed from inside the pit.

Lob: "WHO DARES TO STRIKE ME IN MY PLACE OF POWER?! I, OBERASHTI, THE SHOGUN OF GENOCIDE!!"

Lob: It roared in Old Realm

Wandering: "Why don't you come out instead of hiding like a coward and you can see" Wandering shouted back

Lob: "YEAH!" Brazen shouted.

Lob: In answer, the earth rumbled, and buildings collapsed

Lob: "WHY DO YOU ATTACK ME HERE? I FULFILL MY FUNCTION, DO I NOT?!"

Lob: One building seemed to be nothing but a storage room full of dead bodies, mutilated in various ways

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Who, you ask? I am Nomoe Hideaki of the Crowned Sun," Nomoe answers the thing's question, then gives the others a moment to introduce themselves.

Lob: They spilt out of windows and doors and cracks, like there was no space for anything but the bodies.

~Prototype: "WE DARE ATTACK YOU FOR YOUR APOSTASY! WE, THE EXALTS OF SUN AND MOON AND THE GREAT MAKER, WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL! YOU HAVE TAKEN YOUR LAST SHIPMENT OF TERRORIZED VICTIMS, OBERASHTI! IN THE NAME OF THE GREAT MAKER - IN THE NAME OF THE SUN - IN THE NAME OF ALL WHO HAVE FEARED AND DIED IN YOUR CHOKING SHADOW - WE WILL END YOU HERE AND NOW!"

Lob: A roar of laughter answered them.

Lob: "SO YOU THINK I'M AN APOSTATE...A GREMLIN, YES?"

Lob: It said in a drawling tone, although it's voice sounded more like a poisoned breath from a cancerous windpipe.

Wandering: "We oppose you that is enough for you to know, I am Wandering Drunken Scholar and I will be you doom!"

~Prototype: "WHY ELSE SHOULD YOU ALLY YOURSELF WITH AN APOSTATE CITY AND THE FORCES OF THE UNDERWORLD?!"

Nomoe_Hideaki: "It would be polite to show yourself while speaking to Chosen such as us," Nomoe says pointedly. "Unless of course one is a despicable coward, no fine etiquette can be expected of such a creature."

Lob: A talon the size of the Imperial palace gouged itself out of the ground behind them

Lob: "I AM NOT A GREMLIN. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN SUCH WEAK DEATHS BY DEGREES. NO!"

Nomoe_Hideaki: Nomoe takes another puff from his pipe.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Oh, there you are. Splendid."

Lob: "I HAVE BEEN SHOWN A BETTER WAY, A STRONGER WAY! ONE IN WHICH I MAY INDULGE MYSELF TILL THE ENDING OF ALL REALITY!"

Lob: A mile away, a clawed hand the size of a patropolis broke through to the sound of a chorus of screams.

Wandering: "Ahh, so finally decdied to show your self have you?" said Wandering "A better way? how exactly is this a better way? how does this fulfill your duty to the Great Maker?"

Lob: The entire camp began to collapse in upon itself

Lob: Brazen grabbed Wandering without a word and leapt up into the air.

Bright_Snow: Snow quietly steps back a pace, and disappears into her own shadow, it rushing up to meet her.

Lob: "Oh....shit!"

~Prototype: "Then you have given yourself to a still deeper apostasy," Pro says, his eyes hard.

Lob: "THE TIME OF THE GREAT MAKER IS NO MORE!" it declared

Nomoe_Hideaki: As the ground breaks away under his feet Nomoe remains standing where he is in mid-air, his clothes flying in the wind.

Lob: And a thousand thousand teeth, like a mountain range of hatred and murder revealed itself.

Lob: And a draconic face that could swallow Gem soon followed, hundreds of feet below

Lob: "I HAVE BATTENED MYSELF ON A HUNDRED THOUSAND SOULS, FORMED INTO A RAINMENT FOR MY NEW ASCENSION! I AM OBERASHTI, THE GREATER ELEMENTAL DRAGON OF THE VOID!" It shrieked and then exploded otu fo the ground.

Nomoe_Hideaki: */Oh my. This may only go to show my inexperience, but I don't think I've killed anything this big before./ amused vicious focus*

Lob: It shot upwards, visible for hundreds of miles in all it's terrible grandeur, like a negative XRay, flashing between scales the size of palaces and bones made from soulsteel and screaming tormented souls.

Lob: "Oh fu-!" Brazen tossed Wandering away just in time to keep her from being swallowed

Lob: Brazen wasn't so lucky.

Bright_Snow: "Enough Banter Apostate, Time to Die!" Snow's shadowform comes through the billowing smoke, a shadow amongst the black fog. Her blade whistles in the Incorporeal both a Direlance and a silver adder screaming its wielders rage. Snow herself is yelling with an inhuman fury, the rage of the days humilitions combined with her contempt for this creatures bullshit."

Wandering: Wandering just stared at the size of it for amoment and the laughed "It seems that we might acutally have a challenege here Brazen" she smiled and then cut off sharply as Brazen tossed her aside "Wai- BRAZEN!" she yelled as he dissapeared */NOoooooo" /*BRAZEN WHERE ARE YOU?! */ she yelled across the bond

Lob: <OWWWWWW!> Brazen shouted in what could only be described as irritation. <AW SHIT, THIS IS GOING TO TAKE AWHILE TO GET OUT OF. YOU GUYS TRY TO HANDLE IT WHILE I CLIMB OUT!"

Nomoe_Hideaki: Igniting the castemark on his brow Nomoe stays ahead of the thing's maw with casual ease, keeping the distance between them exactly the same no matter how much it strains to reach him.

~Prototype: Prototype swerved out of the way, clamping down on the sudden fear he felt. He was a veteran of campaigns against the Deathlords; this was just another battle against a servant of the Void.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Brazen Sand will survive, he always does," Nomoe tries to put Wandering's mind at ease, not knowing that she has already knows. "He's annoying that way."

Bright_Snow: Yelling her displeasure at not catching the creature in the immaterial, snow hopes around heading for the creatures head, the shadowy immaterial realm possing no obstacles to her at all

~Prototype: Prototype guides his fighter into a wide arc that will buy him some time and bring him onto a course heading directly for the monstrous elemental dragon, taking a deep breath and suffusing himself with the aspect of the High-Flying Daredevil.

Bright_Snow: Glancing at the now flying greater elemental dragon, Snow sighs. With a snarl and a boom that echoes through the immaterial she begins to run, circling and circling higher and higher until disappearing in a flash of moonlight and shadow. Together they reappear in the material on top of Oberashti's skull.

Bright_Snow: "Time to die, you undeath tainted abomination." She yells as she appears out of nowhere, her form reflecting a thousand colours blindlingly and stabs down hard with the dire lance into his eye.

Lob: "WHAT!?" Oberashti snapped in a thousand voices as the lance struck an eye the size of a lake.

Lob: Then it screamed in shock, pain, and anger that the tiny ant HURT HIM!!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Lob: It thrashed in pain

Nomoe_Hideaki: There is a perfect sphere of clean air and essence illuminated with pale golden light in the air high above. Nomoe Hideaki his castemark ignited as if to taunt the Greater Elemental Dragon hovers in the sky just beyond its reach.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "I am Nomoe Hideaki. My banner is the celestial crane. Sun and moon are my crown," he announces in a ringing voice. "What I begin I see finished." And then like a meteor screaming down from the sky he shoots through the air impacting into the dragon's other eye in an explosion of golden essence and flames.

Lob: The force of Nomoe's blow was powerful enough to force the great poison void dragon to turn it's head a fraction, and he too roared at this affront.

Lob: The pain...he had forgotten the tales of the Champions of Creation, and how powerful they were.

~Prototype: While his companions flit about the dragon's face, Prototype turns and aims at Oberashti's heart as he speeds toward it. As he comes into range, he unleashes an overwhelming storm of essence missiles, each glowing projectile streaking ahead to strike the beast of smoke and shadow.

Nomoe_Hideaki: */Which eye will be extinguished first, I wonder ... Shall we make it a race?/ vicious amusement*

Bright_Snow: */ Obviously mine dear, but tell you what how about we confuse the bastard a little and trade eyes / She mirrors his amusement. /*

Lob: The missiles struck their target, and left small pits along their impact zones, like chips in a mountain range

Lob: "ENOUGH!" It roared. "I WAS PROMISED THE CHANCE TO MURDER THE ARCHITECTS OF REALITY THEMSELVES, AND I WILL NOT BE DENIED!"

Nomoe_Hideaki: Nomoe laughs. */Why not? We'll have him spinning in circles soon enough. Let's see if we can tie him into a knot. That would be something to behold, wouldn't it?/*

Lob: A million eyes opened ON the iris of the Greater Elemental Dragon

Lob: Through which tormented screaming could be heard, enough to deafen a mortal

Lob: that pain coelesced into a gas. One of pure hate and spite and sadistic exultation in other's pain.

Lob: It spewed out, enough to tear a nation apart, the fate that Oberashti had in store for the Great Maker itself

Lob: *SUFFER!*

Lob: For the Warstrider pilot that dared to attack it's heart, it swung a claw that could slice the daredevil's vehicle like paper

Bright_Snow: "You think that will stop us?" Snow begins to laugh ignoring the gas and showing her utter contempt for the attempt to stop them, "You truly are ignorant of are capabilities."

Bright_Snow: As she does, a large wash of silver purple light spills out, slipping off the shadows still clinging from her crystalline form. It takes the shape of a cuniform of a chameleon all awash in the light.

Wandering: Wandering just smiled as the gas drifted around her "Thats the best you have? I've suffered far, far worse than this and lived to tell about it" she barked a short laugh "Try again in another 1000 years if you live that long fool"

~Prototype: Pro swerves away from the enormous claw, dodging it by the barest of inches, and turns to circle Oberashti, unwilling to show fear by fleeing.

Nomoe_Hideaki: For a moment gas obscures the form of Nomoe. Voices whisper, emotions boil. Then a clear note like a gong being struck can be heard and gas and smoke alike explode away from the shining figure that is the Eclipse as waves of sheer force emanate from his body in all directions.

Nomoe_Hideaki: Ten thousands of small dark crystals rain from the sky in a radius of perhaps 50 meters as interference between the different wavefronts compresses the gas with incredible force.

Nomoe_Hideaki: "Too weak," he sneers.

Wandering: Wandering lands on the dragons body a small spec compared to its huge size but as a well trained healer she knew even the smallest thing could be deadly. Oberashti though he knew about toxins? she smiled she would show him.

Wandering: Her palms began to sweat a substance that rolled down to the very tips the air around her taking on a sweet aspect that overcame even the gasses effects then she struck trying to drive the toxin into the dragon

Lob: The Dragon instantly reacted. Less to the acid then the gas. His movements became slightly more sluggish

Lob: Oberashti shook his head in confusion, unable to understand how a master of poison...a BEING of poison such as he could possibly be poisoned himself...he had clearly forgotten the power of Luna

Lob: "What...DID YOU DO...HOW...AAAAAGH!"

Lob: "THEY DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THIS...ABOTU YOU...YOU CHEATS!" It screamed

Nomoe_Hideaki: Alighting from the impact side on the right side of the dragon's face Nomoe turns to the left where Bright Snow attacked. For a moment their eyes meet and an understanding passes between them, a plan is born. */One!/ two think simultaneously*

Nomoe_Hideaki: Letting his Anima blaze higher Nomoe trails pale white and gold light behind him as with the incredible speed of the Resplendent Phoenix Wings' Lightspeed Mode he begins to fly in clockwise circles in front of its face. Keeping track of the circling light that can inflict such pain greatly taxes the dragon's sluggish thoughts, confusing and dazzling it.

Bright_Snow: darts round the eye spinning counter clockwise, the blinding light of her anima adding to the distraction of Nomoe's devising.

Nomoe_Hideaki: */Two!/* Impacting with all his speed against one of the elemental dragon's horns Nomoe *pushes* with strength completely out of proportion with his merely human body. Nothing so small should be able to move something of this size, but move it he does. Just a few dozen meters but enough to thoroughly add to the giant monster's disorientation.

Bright_Snow: As Nomoe yells Two, Snow dashes round under the dragon's throat, slicing with the first of many blows at the location of a normal creatures jugular before dashing round to replace Nomoe in the Dragon's other eye.

Nomoe_Hideaki: */Three!/* Finally as the two intersecting circles of light fade Nomoe once more pierces an eye the size of a lake like an lance of blinding light thrown by the hand of an Incarna - which isn't that far from the truth, come to think of it. A broad cone of steam and flames explodes from the left eye this time, the one that Snow had previously attacked, reaching up the metal sky far above.

Bright_Snow: As the three is yelled, Snow's last few blows begin to fall like rain, preceeding Nomoes attack by coordinated moments into the Dragon's Eye in a murderous dance of Snow's fury.

Lob: Acid and poison bubbled up like geysers under their assault from his ruined eyes. They sprayed Nomoe and Snow, powerful enough to chew through Adamant. It screamed yet laughed in spiteful joy, even if it was blind, at least now it could see teh Oblivion he was so looking forward to.

Nomoe_Hideaki: With the blinding light of his attack technique around him not a drop of acid touches Nomoe, in the cleansing light of his anima they are all burned to nothing.

Bright_Snow: With a swirl of her direlance, Snow vaults up and out of the lake like eyes and onto the back of the Dragon's Head right near it's ear. "I have a secret to tell you. Don't dream of joining Oblivion, for you shall never see it. No, Dragon I intend to eat your heart, I will make you a piece of me, subserviant for all eternity. Subserviant to a child of chaos."

Bright_Snow: laughs as she sprints away down its body, sounding like a child at play.

Lob: Claws burst from Oberashti's collapsing eye-sockets. Formed of bone and soulsteel and pure plasm. The talons gleamed sinisterly as they twitched blindly.

~Prototype: As the dragon screamed its agonized laugh, Pro wheeled around and dove into its gaping maw. "However great your malice, however close your ties to the Void, whatever form it wears, you have chosen to oppose the forces of Creation and the Eight Nations... and in doing so, Oberashti, you have bitten off more than you can chew."

~Prototype: As the beast's jaws close around him, Pro triggers another Overwhelming Missile Storm; bolts of destructive energy fly in every direction to strike the Greater Elemental Dragon from inside its armored hide.

Lob: As teeth the size of cathedrals close around him, they suddenly stop.

Lob: "OH HEY, THERE YOU ARE!!" A familiar voice called out.

Lob: "GET OUT, THIS SHIT IS HEAVY EVEN FOR ME!"

Lob: The blind dragon twitched and heaved, coughing a gout of acidic blood and smoke from it's mouth, the vile fluid flowed like a river between it's spire-sized teeth.

Lob: "OH GREAT, THIS IS DISGUSTING!" Brazen snarled while he desperately tried to keep the mouth from closing completely

~Prototype: At Brazen's urging, Pro spun around, flying out with one of the great, wracking coughs.

Lob: Brazen followed him, slipping out between the teeth and rejoining his comrades.