[Eligor]

[Pipino]

Pipino had been high up on some cold, icy, Ishgardian wall, eyes fixed on the land below, watching and waiting for the inevitable clash that would come soon enough. She was focused enough that her eye began to play tricks on her. Little pinpricks dotting the snows that she could not tell were real or her eye simply too tired to see things properly. She pulled up her goggles and rubbed at her eye before lowering it again and resuming her watch.

It was then that she felt that unsettling tug at her entire essence, an instant that seemed an eternity form the discomfot she felt as she landed rougly onto an unpleasantly textured surface. The woman groaned as she simply lay there and tried to will herself not to give into the sickness, but she failed, vomitting the meager rations she had recently consumed.

She winced as she heard the pounding, unable to tell if it was coming from some manifestation of physical discomfort, or from some other source. Once her wave of sickness had dissipated for the moment, she pushed herself weakly to her knees and surveyed her surroundings, eye landing upon the other two who shared the space with her.

“Luna…and…and Gair..?” she asked, clutching her stomach weakly as she found she was not quite done, lurching to her side and vomiting once again. Whether Gair would recognize her when he came to was a bit of a coin toss. The blue hair was gone, replaced with a sandy blonde mane braided in a lose, long braid down her back. She was wearing goggles, a single lens opaque and blackened over her left eye. She was dressed in a battered and beaten Ishgardian Machinist's uniform, the fabric patched and repaired many times over by now and stained heavily dirt, soot, and here and there, a little bit of blood, remnants that told the story of the extent of her fighting and the state of Ishgard thus far.

The banging continued and she eyed the door that seemed to be its source, not quite feeling up to making that long journey to see what was amiss.

[Luna]

The cold Ishgardian knight lay in a heap on the cold floor, violently brought into this new place. The nausea washes over her aggressively, taking all she can to remain whole. Her once pristine and proud mail was now tattered and dirtied as threat and action had removed the resources and necessity to make it shine. Her white hair was bound up tightly as ever and perhaps a bit more frayed. Slowly does she push up from the floor after what felt like many minutes.

There is a metallic clank as she comes to a stand, her left arm now replaced by some metallic contraption resembling an arm. Skysteel and aether combined to give her back what was taken from her during the fight to survive. As she comes to a stand, she runs a warm natural hand over her face, inadvertently tracing the scars that had found their way onto her face anew. Adding to her left eye scar was another one, though they were now both blocked out by a thick black eyepatch. A slice also runs across her left cheek now as well as a small number of indescribable minor cuts. Her face is weathered and cold, the threat beheld to them having worked it's way through her psyche as much as her body.

“Miss Pipino?” she calls out as she hears the woman speak her name. She turns around, looking for Pipino for a moment before locating her. Quickly does she rush over, bending down to put her hands on the woman's shoulders. “What are you doing here?” she asks, taking a moment. “What am I doing here? Where are we?” she adds rhetorically, knowing they had no way to actually know.

[Gair]

Birthed from the aether, a haggard highlander lays on the warm floor after being expelled violently onto it. His coat soaked in the remnants of the aether that summoned him here, pooling in inky black puddles on the ground. He starts all at once and coughs up black bile, it is not a gentle rousing as he retches violently. Laboring to even come to his knees, he stares down into the combined pool of gastrointestinal fluid and aether beneath him. One might not entirely recognize him at first glance: he sports a massive bushy beard slaked with the mixture of his bodily expulsions. A veritable mane of hair long enough fall down beneath his shoulder blades, of which the top is gathered in a ponytail cinched by a blue cloth.

The nostrils of Gair's twisted nose flare to take in the scents around him, other than the scent of rust and salt that he lets off. Smelling as if he's done nothing but bathe in saltwater and blood for a few winters, betraying the rust on his plate armor. The brass burnishing on his pauldron is slaked with tarnish and grime, barely marking him with the familiar scales of a long gone city. *This has to be the afterlife if those two are here.* His expression soured with every droning pound on the door, he'd rather be dead in goddamn peace.

“We're dead,” Gair's voice is gravelly, ravaged by biting and salty winds. With a shift, he barely manages to lift his head fully and snatch what remains of a broken crook from a loop in his belt. Fingers tightening around the wood as his ire bubbles over to declare with a cold fury. “And I'm gonna kill whatever in the fuck is makin' that noise…”

[Pipino]

Pipino looked over her shoulder as Luna's worried touch supported her at her back before she shrugged away from under it, taking in Gair's more unfamiliar appearance with difficulty. Shakily rising to her feet and making her way to the wall that held the door, she leaned heavily against it.

“I do not know whether I should be flattered or insulted that you think well enough of me that I would be some herald of a heaven, or some inmate with you in a hell, Gair,” she intoned, preparing her weapon to cover whoever planned on opening that door in a bored way as if it were just another mindless creature of the horde waiting on the other side that needed to be ended for its own welfare. “Should we be dead, I should think the Lifestream would be kind enough to at least let us regain the things we lost. I think we have remained unfortunate enough to have managed to continue to live against better judgment.”

She regarded Luna. “As for where we are and why, I suppose we will not know until we open the door and discover that truth for ourselves. It cannot be much worse from where we came, I wager.”

Her voice was confident and cold, still proper, but lacking the warmth it once had, her speech pattern falling into a near monotone as if her wit had been weathered away by the grindstone that sharpened and supported her ability to fight.

[Eligor]

“Why is it you?”

The voice of a little girl broke through, now slowly cracking over with distress.`

“WHY IS IT YOU?!?”

[Luna]

The knightess stands up at hearing Pipino speak the man's name. “Gair? No…” She begins to slowly turn to look at the rough form of the man she once knew, a crack in her cold exterior breaking through. “So you yet live…. Praise be to Halone…” she speaks with a small amount of relief, her skysteel arm coming to a rest on her chest. “We have much to–” she finds herself cut off as the wailing crests through the now opened doorway. Instinctively does her right hand go for the blade at her waist, drawing and pointing it at the Lalafell figure that had intruded upon their improvised reunion. Aether flows out from the side of her metal arm and forms a bright shield emblazoned with the Ishgardian crest. She moves to put herself between her two companions and the figure, aether shield held out.

[Eligor]

The glowing eyes narrow at the drawn blade, and the room began to shake.

“Stand aside.”

[Luna]

The woman does not move or falter, her shield still held out more than her blade. She does not speak.

[Pipino]

Pipino had the decency to at least muster some type of alertness as the girl dashed into the room, wary and ready but not at the point of willing to point her weapon at her despite it being ready in her hand. She gave Luna a careful look, as they initiated their standoff.

Moving her gaze to the girl, her eye raked over form and spotted the gem, stopping at that point. Crystals meant war, death, and infection. There was no reasoning with their bearers, a tenet drilled into her mind via her training. The elderly, weak looking women, children, anyone - they were targets for elimination that needed to be freed. Halone was at their backs.

“And here I was hoping you might have an answer to that question. By all means, I have a watch to keep and a city to help through another day. If you are not satisfied, perhaps you could do us the favor of returning us.” She paused. “Or, keep us here, and I can send yet another message to your Master through your elimination. The choice is yours.”

[Gair]

The once jovial asshole just stares at Pipino, fixated on her sandy blonde locks for a moment. No confusion or surprise present in his haggard features at the shift in appearance, only a recognition in the shift of appearance. *If this is hell, it's a damn gentle thing so far. But fuck this noise.* By all means this reunion should have some more sentimentality between them, but all he can offer Luna is a cold stare and lift of his shoulders. There are more pressing matters…

He picks up on the rasping of Luna's blade from it's scabbard, ingrained instinct to follow the knightesses lead. From the opposite side of the first broken crook, Gair takes up another stick of some sort of broken hafted weapon. On closer inspection, he hasn't a single blade on him anymore. Just the pair of broken sticks he brandishes in either hand.

Why is it ever us, he can only wonder. “Because the Twelve are dead and the world is cruel, speak sense, kill yourself or leave. I don't care which.” With the door conveniently open, he is the first to advance on heavy footfalls. Staring at the Lalafelin girl, he'd rather be anywhere than purgatory to reminisce about fonder times with these two.

[Eligor]

The shaking grew more intense, and fire began to burst from the lalafell’s body. When she spoke, her voice seemed not to come from her directly, but everywhere around them, seething over with rage.

”Insignificant insects, you dare point your pathetic toys at me?”

“….I told you not to do it…”

[Pipino]

Pipino braced her stance and placed her free arm in front of her face, leaning forward as if she could avoid being swept up in the sweltering wind, failing sooner than later and letting out a cry and a gasp as her body smacked roughly against the fleshy wall, struggling against it ferociously, in an almost feral way as she made noises of frantic effort to free herself. Her teeth were bared as she strained against what held her there, every muscle in her body straining to be released.

[Luna]

The knightess finds herself pushed violently back, flying off her vigil as she careens into the oddly fleshy wall. She struggles to hold her aetheric shield up, ever careful. She grits her teeth against the oppressive heat and maintains her wall-bound defense, ready to try and break free to protect her companions if needed.

[Gair]

Gair's attentions dart around, the presence of fire forces him to hold up his broken canes in defense. As if they were hilts themselves and their threat was much longer than sight suggested. *You daft bitch, I didn't point anything at you. Yet.* Holding fast for a few moments in the face of the wind that threatens to pick him up off the ground, death it is. Hitting the wall, he thrashes against this prison like a wild animal with his companions. Ramming his jagged sticks against the wall on his imprisonment. *I'm going to add that jewel in your head to my necklace.*

[Eligor]

At Gair's thrashing movements, the wind pressure increased on the entire group, threatening to squeeze the very air from their lungs in a violent vacuum. It was not to be however, as soon a figure appeared in the entrance to the room, the sound of more metal tearing as the tall and curvy female figure made room for herself to enter.`

“Milady,” The voice called out, “Do not make her sacrifice one completely in vain. There might still be hope.”

At this declaration, the pressure ceased growing more intense.

“Look at them for yourself,” The lalafell declared, “There is no hope. They are nothing but a mockery of what should have been.”

The lalafell disappears into what appears to be a portal, and the three are suddenly dropped to the floor, leaving the three of them alone with the lone tall figure in the doorway, clothed head to toe in an almost impossibly tight body suit, her every curve acutely defined safe for her arms, which extended far behind her as long somewhat loose sleeves from (presumably) the wrist down.

She sighed as the lalafell woman disappeared completely from view, her head pointed still to where the lalafell had been moments before, and where now only a tiny stump of what appeared to be hair remained.

Only it was not just a clump of hair, but seemingly the remains of a head as well. In fact, upon closer inspection and with the light flooding the room, the group could easily tell that what was on the floor now were the remains of what was once a lalafellin head, with a melted left ear and missing left eye. It was dissolved from the top row of teeth down, and if one were to look even further one could see pulsating veins extending from it. Indeed, it seems that the flesh that now seemed to cover most of the room was in one way or another connected to the remains of this head, which was now barely more than a clump of blonde hair and a blurred over lavender colored eye.

[Pipino]

Pipino fell to the ground in the midst of her own thrashing and pushed herself up to her feet, clumsily jogging over to view the remains closer, her eyes wide as she shook her head in disbelief, recognition painting her features.

“Why…. why is she here? What did she do?” she asked in a calm, but tremulous voice before she swallowed largely, looking down at what was left of the girl whose very existence she denied. She took a moment to look over her shoulder at the tall woman, calmly waiting for an answer.

[Eligor]

“She wanted to save the world.”

[Gair]

Gair slumped down from the wall, having torn himself up a bit of the flesh on the way down with his stick. Only that any blood availed from the wounds he inflicted on his prison now protrude from it, a jagged axe of frozen crimson. *More words,* he laments internally. He hacks out a rough cough as the air begins to rush back into his lungs, the sensation of being in a vacuum not at all a pleasant experience. No less ire-inducing either. He uses the sanguine weapon to push himself to a stand, which slowly begins to melt and leave a trail of blood on his advance for the door.

“They were right, there is no hope. What good could come of bringing a cripple knight, a rich girl and a dead man to this place?”

[Luna]

Luna pushes back from the wall as the aero assault ceases, eyes locked on the tall figure now present. Slowly does she approach, shield held in front of her. She regards her Lalafell companion now standing with the strange 'remains'. As the figure speaks does the Knightess's head snap towards her, listening.

A scowl breaks across Luna's face as Gair speaks of them and their lack of hope, but she does not speak. Internally, she agrees with the man to some extent. What use is there for a knight of Halone broken by the world?

[Eligor]

The tall woman is even taller than she initially appeared, dwarfing easily even some of the tallest of Roegadyn despite clearly being shaped like a toned Hyur beneath the tight outfit.

“You three were not the target, our high priest was.”

She claps her sleeves together and lifts her leg a bit.

“Hungry? Tis difficult to be hopeful on an empty stomach.”

[Gair]

“I could eat,” Gair states to nobody's surprise and loops the hook of his sundered crooks onto his belt once more. In spite of the piss, vinegar and edge he has let off since his appearance, his stomach growls something fierce. *I could strangle a man for a bite to eat about now.*

[Pipino]

Pipino looked down once more with curiousity at the remainder of the head and sighed, transfixed as she gazed upon it. She chewed at her lip a little as she processed the woman's words. It had been a long time since these other people and their strange terms had bothered her in such a direct way, the gears of her cognition oiling themselves slowly before starting back up for some inevitable riddle she would be expected to pursue an answer to.

She managed at last to free her gaze and walk away, eyes cast down and staring off into some horizon the others would not be able to find, lost in thought as she tried to piece some logic together.

“I am hungry,” she stated simply, managing to raise her gaze. “If it is food you are offering, I would be remiss to deny it.”

[Luna]

Luna remains at the ready, her sword and shield held out. She is clearly unmoved by the offer of food. “I have naught desire for sustenance proffered by someone as shadowed and suspect as you. I do not purchase your peddled pleasantry.” she says, her tone disconnected and low. She does not advance or make any action however.

[Pipino]

Pipino looked to Luna, that one visible eye looking up at her. “It would be foolish to refuse. There will likely be battles to come and you need the sustenance, regardless of how unpleasant you find the source. I personally know I lost the rations I had eaten upon our arrival,” she pointed out in an unabashed way. This Pipino had little to blush about anymore, it seemed.

[Luna]

The woman does not remove her sight from the figure. “Mayhap you have lost your steel but i have not. I would not be so quick to receive of someone so freely when the circumstances are as extenuating as they are presently.”

[Eligor]

“So two to dine then! This way please!”

The woman sucks out of the room and out of view.

[Gair]

Gair's attentions flit between Pipino and Luna bickering about food and it's source. Never mind, this is hell. In some sort of pity for Luna who was left out of the food negotiations, he fishes out a waterlogged piece of bread from his pocket. Some sort of green mold having gripped it for a day since, he holds it out to her.

“Because we were friends…you can have my good bread.”

[Luna]

Only once the woman leaves does Luna relax, stowing her blade as the shield dissipates and the remaining aether re-absorbs into her arm. She turns to Gair finally, seemingly looking down her nose at him. “I do not desire your lingering rations, Gair. Hold onto it for yourself. I am fueled by Halone.” It helped that she was not particularly hungry at the moment, having kept her figurative and literal lunch intact.

[Pipino]

“We all are, Luna, but she cannot do much to a body when it has not the fuel to continue.” She pauses and sighs, looking between the two of them. “This is the most bizarre reunion. I hardly know what I ought to say at this point. Perhaps there is naught left, or perhaps we shall find an opportunity over a meal.”

Pipino took one last moment to look over her shoulder at the macabre memorial of sorts that brought her here, expression full of some strange heaviness, before she stepped toward the light where the others had entered from.

[Eligor]

The tall woman was already quite a distance down the hall, half skipping even as she walked.

[Pipino]

It had been so long since Pipino had the luxury of being anywhere clean and bright, let alone peaceful. She gawped at her surroundings as she followed the woman, gaze casting around as her boots clicked against the floor. She felt dirty and savage in such an environment, some violent compulsion baked into her being from the old days roaring forth and chastizing her for daring to be in such a nice place in such a state.

She picked up her pace and lightly jogged a bit to close the distance with the woman. “…Where are we?”

[Eligor]

“The sanctuary.”

Her answer was simple. Matter of fact.

[Luna]

Luna follows behind the zippy Lalafell, taking in the sights herself. Even after all this time, such frivolous luxury… She frowns internally, maintaining her persona outwardly of ice and knighthood. The realm is under threat and these people are living a life of opulence. Disgusting. Just like highborns.

[Pipino]

“And where is this sanctuary?”

[Eligor]

“Where indeed? What does it matter dear?”

“You are safe here.”

[Gair]

“It figures some cultist nutjobs would have a holdfast at the end of the world,” Gair licks his fingers for any remaining morsels left on his fingers from that moldy snack, lapping up some of that delicious wall-blood that had also birthed them not a bell prior. The highlander's very presence sullies the general cleanliness of the hall, a veritable pox that is insulting to all senses, *even* the sixth.

[Pipino]

Pipino folds her arms, drumming her fingers against her upper arm in an anxious way. “I am unsettled. I am meant to be keeping watch, to protect the city. If I am not there… they might not be prepared for the next wave. I worry over the distance, and that I shall not be returned in time.”

[Eligor]

“If you speak of below, it is already too late. Rather than worry over what is lost, it is better to consider what to do next.”

The group comes to what appears to be a large cafeteria, the scent of roasted meat and spices permeating the air.

“Like deciding what you want to eat! I need to tell the cooks!”

[Gair]

“And I've more crystal blighted to slaughter, you took me from my ship,” Gair hastens to add with Pipino's reference to duties elsewhere.

[Luna]

“I am displeased with my suddenly being plucked from my vigil in Ishgard. I am needed in the city and further, I must protect Lucatiel. If aught happens to her while I am forced away, I will not hesitate to visit such a fate upon your Twelvesdamned 'sanctuary'.” Her sentence becomes more growled as she speaks.

[Eligor]

“That is more than unwise. Also quite impossible.”

She turns, bowing in a way that made her appear a bit like a scarecrow

“I am Luz by the way. Nice to meet you all. Might I have your names?”

[Luna]

The knightess growls further, “Temple Knight Luna Neaucant.”

[Gair]

“Pick a sound you make with your mouth and stick with it,” Gair's introduction is less than helpful.

“These two prefer 'Gair',” He finishes that thought.

[Pipino]

“I have no preference in the food I am served and it has been long since I have had the luxury of choice. Whatever is easiest to prepare while providing the most nutrition will do well enough.” Pipino sighed at Gair's introduction. Sure, they had all lost much but what little hope she had placed in interactions feeling like something once normal had long fled. “I am Pipino Pino.”

[Eligor]

“Ah, I remember you now. I thought I recognized that flavor. But seeing as choice seems strained…how about soup? I know our other guest just requested some, so I know there should be a pot ready. Easy on the stomach too!”

She motions towards some tables.

[Pipino]

“I believe I remember you as well, in passing,” she confessed, taking a seat where it was offered. “Unless there are many of you. It is hard to tell with the…garb you wear.” Her posture was still as polite and stiff as it always was, perhaps moreso given the unfamiliar surroundings. “Soup will do well enough.”

[Luna]

Luna remains standing near Pipino, ready to grab her blade at a moment's notice. She continues looking around, unsure of what to make of it all more than she already had. She listens to the conversation, curious but still upset.

[Eligor]

Luz turns her head towards Gair, and with a hop, skip, and a jump, she disappears away into what is presumably the kitchens, leaving the group alone for now.

[Gair]

Gair looks around the cafeteria awkwardly, he's a sore thumb here for certain.. *A meal with these two is the last thing I expected.* He shuffles over to a seat opposite of Pipino and rests his heavy gaze on her, then Luna. “Leave it to Ishgard to thrive, first Dalamud, then the cold, now this.” After a breath, he homes in on Pipino to dig into her insights. “Whose head was adorning the floor, then?”

[Pipino]

Pipino watched the woman dash away and cast her eye down to look at the table, dangling her feet idly as she soaked in the awkward silence that fell over them, until it was broken by Gair. “It was Novine,” she said simply, not looking up.

[Luna]

She looks at Gair for a moment. “Perhaps if the mainland city-states had been better prepared for such a war, they would not have fallen so hard. They were so *weak*.” she speaks scathingly.

[Gair]

“Ala Mhigo couldn't even handle resting in the East Shroud, or one bad king.” Gair plants his elbow on the table and rests his chin in it, content to come to a stop for the moment. At Pipino's news that it was Novine's sacrifice, he looks out vaguely to the chamber where they had emerged before. What a waste, that bastard girl's life for the three of us. Back to the lalafelin woman, he offers a nod that goes unseen. An apology on his lips that doesn't come, there was no point now.

[Luna]

The name rings in her mind as if it meant something, but nothing of import comes to her. *Whoever she was, such a demise is awful.*

[Eligor]

“Ah, I thought I recognized those eyes. Yes, it has been a while since I have seen them. I'm almost surprised you are still alive young man.”

The voice came from behind Gair, a woman in a ratty looking hood, unlike the residents and their clean robes. Her face was obscured by a mask, but by how silently and suddenly she seems to have appeared, one might be inclined to believe she was somewhat like Luz.

[Pipino]

“The city states had no reason to expect such an attack, Luna, and Ishgard is only strong as those from the mainland states that fled to protect her, as well as the mercy of the Dravanians that Ishgard had demonized for so long. Do not act as if Halone and Ishgard alone have kept hope alive.” she pointed out, taking personal offense to the statement, that single eye looking up at Luna before her gaze was distracted by the newcomer, regarding her cautiously.

[Eligor]

“Oh~ that is certainly a well enough thought out hypothesis. I would believe it to be such were I not possessed of more intimate information.”

[Gair]

“Only in the loosest definition of the word,” Gair answers the masked woman that flanks him, turning about face to stare up into that mask with a dull glare. He was like some sort of predatory animal that had come to a rest, appeased by the promise of sustenance. “Normally I hate people who hide behind masks,” he gestures toward her vaguely. “Expound.”

[Luna]

Luna looks down at Pipino, almost with a sneer. “Coerthas alone wore the burden of war for so long. We are not unused to such circumstances. That those with enough foresight to flee to Ishgard saved themselves is not the fault of such city. Does not the scared child retreat to the embrace of a protector?”

[Gair]

Gair lets out a rueful laugh at the exchange between Luna and Pipino, throwing his own ceruleum onto the fire. “Hah! A burden well-earned by murder of Dravanians, now you hide behind their scaled skirts…Nidhogg would be beside himself with fury.”

[Eligor]

Luz returns with three bowls of soup, and the hooded woman takes one, sitting across from Gair and popping off the bottom half of her mask, swifly grabbing a spoon and slirping away at the soup which seemed to consist of some sort of bird, carrots, and thick popotos.

Luz sat some distance away in a posture that was almost robotic, staring straight ahead rather than at the group–possibly in some awkward attempt to give them privacy while they eat.

[Luna]

The woman snaps to look at Gair. “We fought an everlasting war brought on by our forefathers, and performed admirably during it! Even now, during similar times have we not been one of the sole bastions of relative safety throughout the land!?”

[Eligor]

“Now now,” chimed in the woman still calmly eating her soup,“There is no need to get so upset about why one has survived, or how. It is enough that it has happened at all, no?”

[Pipino]

Pipino accepted her bowl of soup and keeps her gaze away from Luna, getting increasingly irritated as she the woman continues on.

“Precisely. What does it matter at this point, Luna? What is there to even be proud of when there is nothing else left to be superior to? Even with all Ishgard is now, we are all quite possibly doomed. Even if we eek out a pitiful existance, it is far from what I would call an accomplishment, or something to take pride in. So much waste. So much endless slaughter.”

[Eligor]

“Frankly, I'm shocked you three were not slaughtered on the spot, considering what you cost the leader of this place. But then again, I suppose I've absolutely no room to speak either in that regard.”

[Gair]

“All that's left is the slaughter,” Gair's mirth dies utterly, the laugh little more than a memory to the room. “The question is, where to now?”

[Eligor]

“Well that depends. Do you want to fight, or do you want to live?”

[Gair]

“Fight.” Gair answers on reflex.

[Pipino]

Pipino looks pointedly at the woman after eating a good amount of her soup. “Fighting is living out there. You either fight you die, or you become one of them. It is those three fates and those three fates alone. It was also not our choice to come here, and quite frankly, not our responsibility for whatever failure was made that brought us to this place, so I daresay slaughter would be uncalled for.” She returned to the solace of her soup, her polite way of eating giving way for her delight in eating something that tasted less like dry nothingness, and pure satiation of hunger.

[Eligor]

“Even if you were to learn that your appearance was the botched final hope to turn everything about? The salvation for everyone? Would you be able to remain calm if you learn you have lost all you had left, and in return the promised reward was a lie? Would you even care?”

The woman sips more soup and smiles.

“To give all for hope, and to be repaid with only despair. Are you so resolute you can deal with having your last chance shattered before your eyes?”

[Luna]

The woman sneers back at the one speaking, cutting short a surely rage-filled diatribe. “Brought upon your twisted luxuries and fineries while the world burns, without our own consent, does not endear me to believe a word you speak. There have been many and more who spoke of a salve to soothe the darkness and restore life to our star, and they have all perished. Now you speak as if we should feel belabored sorrow at this so-called chance that was removed outside of our control? Madness.”

[Eligor]

“Is that how it sounds? I was not asking you to feel guilt, but empathy. My apologies if even that is beyond you now.”

[Gair]

“I don't care about salvation, the only thing left is to fight and die,” Gair states rather plainly.

[Pipino]

Pipino sets her bowl down, daintily placing a hand over her mouth as she finished chewing and not starting until all was swallowed.

“And what does the path to hope look like, I wonder? That girl… she had no faith in us to be able to do anything. We are supposedly a mistake, poor replacements for the 'High Priest,' as you call him. Glad I would be if something I could do could change the course, but I am afraid I have not the ability to do all that much, even should I be willing. If I saw a path of hope, I would pursue it without fail. And… I would repay Novine for that sacrifice if I were able. I would owe her that much. As I have been told throughout my life, however, I have not the currency. I fear she simply placed a losing bet.”

[Eligor]

The woman finishes her soup, dropping her spoon into her bowl with a rattle.

“Luckily, that would be where…well, at least two of you are wrong.”

The woman pointedly turns her head towards Luna.

“Not even my eyes can see what secrets have been tucked away in you, but if I am correct–and let us face it, I am–all of you are quite the beautiful little keys. The road to hope, if you will.”

“I'd say you are actually better than the intent at this rate.”

[Luna]

“There are no secrets to be found within me. I am a broken woman, and a forlorn knight. But I will do whatever it takes to see my companions safe and sound. I care not what that brings upon myself.”

[Pipino]

“….How so?”

[Eligor]

“Before I get into that, what do you know about what caused the current state of the world? How was this horror unleashed?”

[Pipino]

“I cannot say I am all that knowledgeable about it. I only know that suddenly, there were a large number of individuals infected in Mor Dhona, and have heard theories that it relates in some way to the Crystal Tower. I cannot say how the Dark One came into power though.” She returned to her soup, not really in the mood to eat it, but knowing it would foolish to let it go to waste.

[Eligor]

“I see. Anyone else hear differently? I am quite intrigued.”

[Gair]

Gair stares into his soup after having done naught but stir it around and take only a few cursory sips from his spoon. Pensive and glazed over in thought. “The red mist, the son of a bitch that made that beast with my face,” is what he offers to the discussion. Done with it, he shoves the bowl to the side and regards Luna now. “You've a good fury about you, so, what's his name?”

[Luna]

Luna turns to Gair, an eyebrow raised. “Pardon? Who are you asking after, I see no man here save for you - if you can be called that anymore.”

[Eligor]

“Hmmm…well then…if you still want to know I can shed light on the situation. But you won’t like what you hear. It’s why I’m stalling. You three seem feral.”

[Pipino]

“And how long do you think it would take to erase these last years from our bodies and minds, I wonder?” Pipino responded honestly as she pushed her bowl forward. “How many bowls of soup do you wager it would take to restore us to some level of domestication? I honestly can think of no better time than now before we waste time becoming calm only to have another peaceful day snatched away and ruined with ill portents.”

[Eligor]

“There is value in taking time to think free of stress. But I suppose I see why you would not listen to such a detached statement in these times.”

[Gair]

“Nothing,” Gair shakes his head toward Luna, unfortunately he wasn't in a mood to bring his usual levity in this discussion. Looks like the dying world made one of us better, he muses internally as his gaze sweeps from Pipino back to the hooded woman. “We we're feral before the world ended, we just disguised it in flowery words and law. Speak, your words will harm us no more than what's already come to pass.”

[Luna]

The woman sneers but chooses not to say anything about what Gair says, instead turning back to the woman to listen.

[Eligor]

At this the woman smiles, putting the bottom half of her mask back on her face.

“That is where you are wrong. But I suppose I can start at the beginning for the sake of perhaps maximizing morale later.”

“Let us see…” The woman leaned on one arm and seemed to be lost in thought for an awkward amount of time before continuing,

“There was an ongoing conflict most did not know about. It concerned a red drug that had been placed in brilliant fashion all over the east and west, and to devastating effect. Unfortunately for some, the effects were more extreme than anticipated, and some without fortune died. Most did not yet know of the drug in truth, and so there was only one organized form of opposition. I take it you three already know of whom I speak in this regard.”

She took a deep breath before continuing, “But in case you do not, I'll spell it out. A man named Eligor, and the so-called high priest of this place–tried to stop the spread of this drug, and likely would have if things had gone to plan. They did not go to plan. You see, his critical weakness was discovered and exploited. All it took was one of his children being snatched away for him to discard all reason and walk willingly into a trap. It was not the first trap that had been designed for him, but it would prove to have been his last. You see, the man was exceptionally difficult to kill. If one could describe it, it was almost as if he was fine tuned to adapt to deadly situations. So to counteract this, a new approach was devised: He would not be killed, but he would be lead into a room where his consciousness–or to some, the soul–would be temporarily snatched from his corporeal form and trapped within a prepared vessel. And it worked. For all intents and purposes, Eligor had been rendered mentally dead. Victory was now complete.”

“So with that in mind, are you sure you do not want to guess how we got here? How this is related to this eighth hell the world has become?”

[Gair]

“Didn't know I was some high priest,” Gair adds unhelpfully to the discussion. A surprising amount of clarity coming from this haggard murder hobo. “Seems like both of them were exceptionally hard to kill…as I recall Eligor slaughtered him once before. Just that death didn't seem to stick.”

[Eligor]

“He did, but the circumstances were not quite the same.”

[Luna]

Luna's eyes light up. “That foul man is no more then? Blessed be Halone that there may be some light solace to this world. Were only his influence cut short so long ago rather than revived by a foolish little girl.”

[Pipino]

Pipino tensed when she had heard that name again, her eye closing as she shook her head and listened, finding it unbelievable that after all this time, that name would somehow be in the center of her suffering yet again. She folded her arms and leaned back in the chair, opening her eye to gaze at the ceiling.

“He told a story once. One with a moral, the moral being to be less afraid of him and more afraid of his enemies, one that all his knowledge meant nothing against.”

She paused a moment.

“Shortly after, he showed me something. A vision, perhaps. An experience… a presence that inhabited my mind for but a brief flash. It has never left me, that feeling, that unshakeable instant. He said it was an enemy he must defeat. Perhaps one in the same with the one that causes us trouble now?”

[Eligor]

The woman leaned back.

“Well I can report that it was not a bluff.”

“Turns out that dear old Eligor was hiding a secret all his own. He was not the only occupant in his soul. There was some aberrant presence hiding within his own like a shadow. The moment his mind was ripped free of his body, this creature was unleashed. That creature is what you all have come to think of as the Dark One. The origin of this horror.”

“I hardly need to tell you much more beyond that, save eliminating some poisonous ideas. This creature is not some mindless spawn thoughtlessly attacking at any and everything. It is quite intelligent, and capable of communication. What little it did share of its plans were…not pleasant, to say the least. What has passed so far was hardly the beginning of what is to come. Make no mistake, we have limited time to turn this situation about if at all. Which brings us to what was the original plan.”

She pointed at Gair, Pipino, and Luna in turn before speaking. “You see, the plan was to call back Eligor's mind. Due to a little secret, he cannot be dissolved into the lifestream completely. But if he could subdue this creature, presumably it could be done again. But instead of him, you three appeared. Undoing this corruption like waving a wand is no longer possible. But that you are here at all is proof of hope of the alternative. We can simply risk everything we have left on a frontal assault. Directly on the Crystal Tower.”

The woman leans forward now and leans into her tented fingers.

[Luna]

“A desperate offensive with naught but the three of us? Surely your veiled socialites would not pick up a blade or gun, they would rather imbibe wines and fornicate. Unless mayhap they are made of sterner material than I am anticipating.”

[Eligor]

“Suppose it was just the three of you. Would you still do it?”

[Gair]

“I would,” Gair answers. “But fodder will keep us fresh for the zenith of the tower. We need meat shields.”

[Luna]

“If it meant keeping everyone safe.” She speaks quickly as if not needing to think about it. “I am no fool - there must be sacrifice. Even if it cost me my life, if it saved others…” She pauses and speaks under her breath, “Lucatiel…”

[Pipino]

Pipino leaned forward again, the news battering her. Once upon a time it would have seeped deep within her skin, disturbed her, sent her into a fit of hysterics or anger. Hyterics and anger required passion, however, which she found in short supply, so she simply soaked it in, letting out little noises of annoyance or disapproval here and there at the more damning information.

“How cruel to be trapped in a fate wrought by a man who was too proud, too comfortable in his superiority that he would not even give me a straight answer about his plight when asked for it. How many opportunities did he have to set this right, squandering them all under his shroud of mystery.”

She eyed the other two, listening to their resolve.

“Why do you think the three of us would make even a dent in that thing's armor? Sure, I have become quite an adept Machinist now with some training, but what else are you planning?”

[Eligor]

“I think there is a chance for the same reason none of us have been killed here. There is a sliver of hope in our being alive.”

She pointed at Gair first before tapping her finger on the table loudly. “Your ability to resist the corruption is why you have not been turned into a mindless puppet already, what with that little collector's hobby you seem to have. The crystals lose their power once the host dies you see, but there are still residual threats left behind. It is a physical extension of the infection after all. And you carry them around like toys. Like jewelry. If we consider resistance to the change to be something of a muscle, you've been beefing it up constantly.”

[Gair]

“Were I not resistant, I could have been spared watching all this unfold,” Gair lifts his chin to the woman, ignoring the tapping of the table. In an attempt to put two and two together, the memories of the last three years slowly jog into the deadman's head. “If this dark one is just another spirit lurking in Eligor's form, then we've a chance. He wasn't some immutable god, even I've made him bleed.”

[Eligor]

“Then consider something: Was he holding back this creature when you drew blood?”

She then pointed to Pipino. “You on the other hand, your aether is similar to that from which the drug was made from. I believe he called it the hero's blood? All things considered, you are probably all but immune to the change. Speaking strictly from a pragmatic perspective, your blood is quite the commodity. If the world knew, you'd likely have been torn apart.”

[Luna]

Luna's right arm moves to the hilt of her blade as if ready to draw just at the mention of Pipino being torn apart, but quickly does she stop herself.

[Gair]

“Then the reverse is true,” Gair pieces the slow calculus of the coming fight together. “If his shadow can hinder him enough for a stupid boy playing at hero to wound him, we need only rouse the other side of the coin to hinder the shade. We ring the bell for sleeping beauty.”

[Eligor]

“Have you not been listening? The entire reason you three are here at all is because rousing him has failed. Wherever his mind has gone, it is of no help to us now.”

[Pipino]

Pipino nodded her understanding. “I…have been told as much about my blood before. I had wondered if it might afford me some protection, but I have not been able to confirm it as such. But… torn apart for it? Is it thought my blood could act some vaccine against this wave of infection?” she asked, a slight tone of hope daring to coat her words.

[Gair]

“I have been, you failed to bring him here,” Gair makes the distinction. “You said he ain't in the lifestream, so that means he's somewhere. And if this shade has the sense to establish domain, field troops and take his fight to a myriad of fronts. Then he might have the sense to put Eligor's essence under lock and key.”

[Eligor]

“As it happens, I know for a fact that the blood can act as a vaccine of sorts. But by itself, it will hardly do anything to reverse the change, only prevent it. And that is why instead of chasing shadows and wasting more resources trying to find a dead man, we instead go the more concrete route to victory.”

“We track down the other hero.”

[Pipino]

The Lalafell tilted her head at the woman, eyebrows raising at the information. She had not expected to learn that about herself and stared in discomfort. She sat up and leaned forward, folding her gloved hands and placing them before her on the table. The small patch of her forearms that were visible were peppered with injuries, the left some minor cuts, the right the warped flesh created by a burn.

“Where do you suspect they are? And even if we find them… what then?”

[Eligor]

“I know where they are. The Black Shroud.”

[Pipino]

“So say we make it to them successfully. What then?”

[Eligor]

“Bring them back to me, and I can synthesize the blood into something of a cure. Even better, an active antibody of sorts.”

“Luckily for you all, I happen to know for sure it will work.”

[Pipino]

“How do you intend to prove that? This is a large ask you make of us.”

[Eligor]

“Prove what?”

[Pipino]

“You know for sure it will work. How can I trust that? I have clawed my way to where I am now at great peril and I have no intention on just throwing away my efforts just because someone pulls me here and says I ought to. Eligor's name has been associated with naught but chaos in my life thus far, so pardon me for wanting to know the details before I throw my life away in an attempt to fix something he had failed in preventing.”

[Eligor]

“This is why speaking with the masses is so tiresome. You do not deny the truth of what I have said before yet now is when validity is called into question. Very well.”

“It was confirmed to me directly by the dark one. In a roundabout sense of course.”

[Gair]

“You cultists are just as obtuse as he, a disdain to actually explain,” Gair chimes in, seemingly in agreement with Pipino.

[Luna]

“Spare your puzzles and conceits, and dispense what informations we require. If you are so keen to ask us to put our lives on the line, the least you could do is speak plainly and without shade.” Luna finally speaks, having grown irritant.

[Eligor]

“I have dispensed the information you require. A way forward, where you had none. I have explained everything to you in full already, save what I already know you will not understand or what is not necessary.”

“It is not my fault if despite that you still do not understand. Perhaps ask questions rather than accuse me of having neglected to be forthcoming.”

[Pipino]

“Not denying the truth does not mean accepting and trusting in it fully by any means. To be told my blood could lead to a prevention of this infection and then to immediately risk that protection on information I am being to asked to blindly trust… I think you could entertain my suspicion, surely. I was an optimist once, and if there is any hope of it, I would not throw that small sliver away idly.” *She sighed and shifted her position again.*

“How was it confirmed to you?”

[Eligor]

“Through words. I did say directly.”

[Gair]

“I've other business in the shroud, if we're to hunt a hero and take his blood,” Gair comes to a stand from his chair. For once appearing actually motivated by something other than base needs to eat and defend ones self. “Could it reverse one who has been changed?”

[Eligor]

“Hunt–by your gods, are you even listening to a single word I utter?”

“First, we need this individual ALIVE. Very alive, and not dead. This is VITAL. Secondly, yes. The theory is that with another strain of heroes blood, I can create a cure.”

[Gair]

“We're hunting, are we not? Finding a prey, regardless of intent to kill it.”

[Eligor]

“I'm more surprised at the lack of apprehension of infiltrating the Black Shroud of all places.”

[Gair]

“A lack of care for self preservation is a hell of a thing.”

[Pipino]

“I am apprehensive. Which is why I would know if is worth the risk. It is the nearest to suicide I have been, and that is saying much, given the times.” She paused, drumming her fingers on her arm a moment. “Are they in a state to come willing? The hero?”

[Eligor]

“Dunno. Never met them myself, only their aether.”

[Gair]

“Whether or not they're willing is hardly a problem…only how to find them,” Gair nods once, his palms on the table as he leans forward some. “You know their aether, you're saying. Can we use that to find them?”

[Eligor]

“I have. They are somewhere in the Black Shroud.”

“Beyond that I cannot tell you much, due to the complicated nature of the area itself.”

[Pipino]

“How much of the area are we expected to cover to reach them? With the Aethernet down, it is not as if we can simply teleport near to them and leave just as easily.”

[Eligor]

“I expect THEM to cover as much as is needed. I'd expect you would simply, you know…not go.”

[Luna]

The knightess listens silently, allowing her companions to handle the questions. After a while does she speak, and it is with conviction. “If the key to salvation lies buried within the veins of some vaunted hero staked out in the Shroud, then to the Shroud I will go. I will raze it to the ground ere give them shelter if needs be. I will do what must be done. It does not appear that we have much other options as it is.”

[Pipino]

“…So they will go, and what am I doing then? Staying here?”

[Eligor]

“Eating soup I assume.”

[Pipino]

“Yes… I suppose I will have time to become less feral after all. As…as tempting as it is to want to help I… the risk is too great. Even I can see as much.” Pipino looked to the two of her copatriots, swallowing a lump in her throat, wholly uncomfortable with the idea of them going on this task alone while she partakes in various comforts. Her expression was apologetic and guilty. “Is there anything that I can do here to be of some use, however?”

[Luna]

Luna looks unmoved by the lack of assistance. “it is just as well that you would not be part of the tinder whilst I burn the forest to the ground.”

[Eligor]

“Great! Perhaps we can make a secret club when we are the guests no one speaks to. Maybe we can make a laboratory?”

[Luna]

The woman raises an eyebrow curiously but does not respond.

[Eligor]

“But I daresay once I share a juicy tidbit with you, you'll be so impassioned you'll leave anyway.”

[Pipino]

“Then share it, and stop toying with me so I can make a proper decision, or keep it to yourself if you find that the better judgment.”

[Eligor]

“I find it the better judgement, I just hoped you would have figured it out by now. You'd have pieced it together later eventually either way.”

She opens her arms

“I am the one who created the drug. I am the one who dislocated Eligor's soul.”

[Pipino]

Pipino sat up straight, eyebrows knitted in confusion as she gazed searchingly at Luz, clearly seeking some sort of logic for this woman to be here. “Why…if you started it then…. why!?” Her tone grew more cross, but with so few words to speak, the momentum did not exist yet for sounding more upset.

[Eligor]

“I'm needed. Novine saw the logic in that.”

She turned her head towards Gair and Luna.

“But will you?”

[Luna]

The knightess wastes no time in answering. “I care naught. What has happened has happened. I care to shield my girl from the ongoing horror and bring back a brighter world for her and more.”

[Eligor]

“So you are fine with her staying then?”

[Gair]

Gair just stares at the robed woman, eyes glazed over in thought as he pieces together the series of events. “This cure better work, for your sake.”

[Eligor]

The woman stands, but is quickly toppled by the sudden and extremely violent shaking of the building structure, followed quickly by Luz quickly standing up, her frown apparent beneath her headpiece.

“Impossible! Castle is dead!? But how!?”

There was no answer as the shaking grew more intense, Despite Luz herself finding no trouble keeping her footing as if attached to the floor, the residents were not nearly so stout, short of holding onto something steadily fastened to the floor or wall, people were flying from surface to surface as the place shook and roared from below: Something had made its way in, and although distant, screams were already beginning to resound throughout the building. The Horde had arrived, and seemingly in no small number.

“I must defend the gate,” Luz suddenly and swiftly uttered, turning towards the robed woman before waving her arm to the group. “The savior is weak from maintaining the gate. Follow the sinner, we have maintained two airships, and she knows the way! We will repel these carriers of darkness and secure your safe passage!”

Without waiting for the group to respond, Luz walked off past the cafeteria and out of view, the shaking finally beginning to subside a bit as her tall form faded from view, followed slowly by some residents that seemed to be carrying swords and daggers, the happy appearance they gave off earlier seeming almost a lie in the face of these enraged residents.

[Luna]

Luna draws her sword instinctively, her arm humming to life as aether flows from it into a shield. She finds herself surprised to see these cultists willing to fight. “Perhaps these clouded dreamers have some bite after all. What is this sinner she speaks of? Why can she not speak plainly!” she growls out, looking toward Pipino.

[Pipino]

Pipino hopped off her chair the moment the shaking began in earnest, the Lalafell forced down to a knee as she looked about in an alert way, her head compensating for the scope of her vision she lacked in her left eye. Eventually she was able to find her feet again as Liz spoke, the cultist terminology washing over her like oil against water. She drew her firearm, a much larger weapon than she had been using three years prior and held it in a two-handed ready position.

“You act as if I have ever been given answers! I know nothing about the their beliefs, teachings and doctrine, only that they are deeply bound in their dogma.” She gestured to the hooded and masked woman, the one responsible for the state of the world at present. “I daresay she fits the bill of a sinner judging from the chaos she has wrought by my judgment,” she intoned resentfully.

[Luna]

The woman sneers back down at Pipino. “You would work so willingly with this entire madman's farce and yet you knew so little? I should have known better all those years ago.” She speaks with cutting disdain and a barbed tongue. “If this woman is the sinner then follow her I shall. My fury is to be directed for the benefit of humanity, I care naught for the method.”

[Pipino]

“It must feel so grand to sling such arrows from atop your tower based on hindsight alone, and yet you would go with this woman knowing only what she has told us after admitting she caused this entire fate to happen? How blind, how fickle your trust and how quick you are to gild yourself with hypocrisy. You know nothing, Luna, and it is time for your self-righteous arrogance to be set aside for once.”

[Luna]

“My tower, Pipino, is built upon the ashes of a thousand-fold dead Eorzeans. With the express purpose to wrest salvation and bring it upon the world once more.” she snaps back. She steps closer to Pipino for a moment. “Perhaps next time you wish to awaken some otherworldly power and then aid them for some time you shall clean up your own mess, but for now it is up to myself and Gair. I will not apologize for my righteous conviction. I am not pleased to do as this woman says, but she has put forth a much superior plan to solving our crisis than you ever have. I will do as she asks, be it hunting down a cure or calling down Dalamud once more. I wouldst not hesitate if it meant saving Eorzea and those within it.” Despite her relatively calm tone, her eyes have gone wide and she is noticeably different, unhinged perhaps.

[Gair]

With no immediate threat in this very room, Gair doesn't bother to even draw his weapon for the moment. Whilst the argument goes on around him, he slaps a blackened steel helmet in his head and draws a deep hood over it. His gaze is less seen and more felt as it passes from his former friends onto the other robed woman among them. Being the grim voice of reason, he rumbles out from his hood. “Chances are were going to be fucking dead after setting foot in the Black Shroud, perhaps we can bitch and moan in hell rather than give this conniving cult further fuel to pitch us against one another.” There is considerable vitriol directed to the robed woman, as if she were the root of all sin at this moment. “Go on, airship. Before I change my mind and take you to my crew, they could do with a woman to break in. Helps morale.”

[Eligor]

The robed woman stood up shakily, holding onto the table for support.

“One sinner as requested exit is…” She looks around before pointing opposite of where Luz went, back towards the room the group emerged from. “….This way. Come come along now, if I’m getting torn apart, I’d rather prefer pirates to those things.”

Unlike Luz, this woman has a much less stable footing, even as the shaking had subsided. After a few failed attempts at walking straight, she fumbled to a wall that had a small collection of canes, and began using it to support her left side. How did she sneak up on Gair?

[Pipino]

Pipino shook her head in response to Luna, making a noise of annoyance that made it clear she had reached a point in her life where it wasn't worth arguing over matters for very long. Letting Gair's brusque suggestion win her over, the nimble Lalafell staggering here and there but managing to follow well enough after the woman warily without another word to Luna for now.

“I take it there is a change of plan about me staying behind with this new development,” she assumed of the sinner.

[Eligor]

“Guessed that all on your own did you? But it’s strange, this isn’t the first attack, but….Luz said Castle died. That just shouldn’t be possible.”

[Pipino]

“And who is Castle?”

[Eligor]

“We are inside of Castle right now. But her heart should be in seclusion right now precisely to prevent this situation.”

Right as the words left her mouth, there was another rumbling as the wall not far from where they were heading burst open, a large highlander man wearing a monk's garb appearing as the dust and debris cleared, a large shining crystal bulging from his shoulder. It seems there had been fighting on the other side of the wall, as clutched in the monks hand the were the now splintered bone fragments of one of the residents of the sanctuary, the previously pure white robe now dyed red with chunks of flesh, blood, and protruding bone.

[Gair]

“You'll wish for them to tear you apart,” With a flourish, Gair snatches one crook from his belt at the sight of the monk with a crystalline growth sticking out of his shoulder. “Paladin, shield her.” Crystals mean death, the air around him grows cold as a long jagged spike of pure ice forms in his grasp. Stepping up, he cocks that implement of death back like any javelin. Ready to loose it into flesh.

[Pipino]

Pipino had a myriad of questions she could have asked, and opened her mouth to ask the first before the wall came crashing open, the crystalline monk charging merciless in their direction. Rather than directly engage the man, Pipino looked over her shoulder and moved to keep up the pace. She reached down and fiddled with something on the Aetherotransformer, a robotic turret coming into being and hanging in the air behind her, instantly charging within an orb of crackling aether before it sent a volley of firepower at the Monk, mainly acting as a distraction more than anything.

“Shall we keep moving? I fear lingering will attract others.” Pipino kept following the sinner for now, ready and willing to continue on.

[Eligor]

“An excellent suggestion. Factual. But we need to get past him. If someone would be so kind to do the honors?”

[Gair]

With Pipino's fire, Gair hurtles his javelin down-range. Fully intent on detonating the projectile into an inumerable fragment of shards with an authoritative snap of his fingers should it land in flesh.

[Luna]

Clearly not even needing the man's prompting, Luna moves to be between the monk and the robed sinner, shield raised high. Her battle stance as practiced as it was years ago. She waits for her companions to act, mind fully set upon pure defense.

[Eligor]

[Luna]

Luna puts her left foot down for stability, raising her aetheric shield to block the incoming strike. She pulls back her blade, preparing for a counter should she find the chance.

[Eligor]

[Gair]

Plink! The crook smacks into Gair's helmet and goes end over end into the air above him, he tracks the movement and steps up onto the table to snatch it out of the air. Bearing this stick in an icepick grip, he jumps off toward the Monk with the intent to ram the wood into it's flesh again and again on his descent. An unorthodox shiv, for certain, but a great deal more brutal.

[Luna]

Bearing the weight of the crippled strike, she drives her blade forward with considerable force.

[Eligor]

The force of the blows both struck true, and despite his powerful stature, the combined strength of the strikes as well as Gair's weight toppled him, forcing the man to fall on the floor squirting blood as Gair continued to stab him.

Not one to miss a beat apparently, the robed woman seems to have gotten over her previous bout of weakness, tucking the cane she was using to support herself earlier and tucking it underneath her arms before running off down the hall and past the wall leading to the outside. If one were to look, they would see that they were not exactly over solid ground; the hole showed a vast expanse of sky beyond, not a battlezone. They were above the sea of clouds.

[Gair]

Before Gair joins the party's escape, he grasps the large shoulder-crystal of the monk and yanks at it to snap a fist-sized portion off of it with little regard for their former humanity. He tucks his prize away in his pocket and trails close behind.

[Luna]

Luna disengages, ripping her blade out of the man and following suit with the other two. She keeps her blade drawn, blood running down and dripping into a sort of breadcrumb trail.

[Pipino]

Pipino's turret vanished with a mechanical whirr, the Lalafell unable to hide a little grin that came to her features seeing the enemy fall, some wave of nostalgia washing over her as she tore after the robed woman swiftly. She felt something drop in her stomach upon realizing their location as they ran, that dizzying height visible from the opening enough to trigger that instinctual distaste for heights she constantly had to battle in Ishgard.

“How much farther to the airships?”

[Eligor]

“We have to move up–”

[Pipino]

Seeing that the situation was worsening and would likely worsen before Luna and Gair could make it through, Pipino took an opportunity to fire a timed explosive into the fray, aiming for the center of the turned horde. Making a quick adjustment to her firearm that caused it to steam, the air around her appearing liquid as she fired single shots into group, again attempting to aim just for the members of the horde as much as she could with precise and deadly aim. After a few moments, the projectile she had first fired exploded, and Pipino attempted to take advantage of the confusion her explosion might make to make her way through any opening she could find in pursuit of the sinner, intent on not getting bogged down in a fight here.

[Eligor]

[Pipino]

Pipino did not hesitate to spring right back into her stride, darting through the opening and continuing her pursuit of the woman up the stairs.

[Luna]

Luna followed through the violence, barely even slowing as the time bomb went off. She put her shield in front of her, intending to charge right through any bodies as she too moves to follow the mysterious robed woman.

[Gair]

Gair shuffles in behind and holds up the rear, more of a fast-walk that the man makes through the chaos.

[Eligor]

[Luna]

The knightess continues to follow through the fire and the flames, aether shield held in front of herself intent on knocking away any obstructions. *If you desire our cooperation, it would be more beneficial to stay close to us…*

[Pipino]

Pipino fell in behind Luna, finding herself a bit ill equipped to be a front-lines fighter. She adjusted her speed and allowed the knightess to lead the charge, keeping her eye on their right flank as much as possible as her vision inhibited her left.

[Gair]

Gair was right up there with the charge, never one to let Luna take the full brunt of anything. Dead man inside or no, some of that old pride only showing briefly. Full-bore sprinting for that airship, “Ain't a day I don't regret just not stealing an airship when Ul'dah fell.”

[Luna]

“You did not strike me a thief, Gair. Not then. Not even now, I feel. You were many things - An oaf, a dullard, a clod. But one who steals, I can not imagine.” she responds, a small feeling of nostalgia in her words.

[Eligor]

There was little to no direct opposition on the way into the airship, where the group would have found the robed woman fussing with the controls.

“Ugh….I dont suppose one of you knows how to use one of these things?”

[Pipino]

Pipino rushed into the airship, breath coming quickly and heart-hammering from a mix of the adrenaline and effort.

“I cannot say I do. Not quite the brand of machine I deal with,” she lamented.

[Gair]

Gair rumbles our a rueful laugh as he follows way into the airship and takes a cursory scan around the general deck. “Thief, murderer, tyrant, traitor, fratricide, take your pick.” At the query for airship operator, he perks up. “I've been shown how to fly the tiny ones forever ago, skimmers, cutters? Just don't be mad if we all crash and die.”

[Luna]

Luna follows on to the airship as well, looking around. “I am sure you are a regular Sir Garlond.” she muses, turning back towards the carnage just to be safe. Let down naught your guard lest the enemy capitalize…

[Pipino]

“Well, it seems our choices are crash and die, stay here and die, successfully arrive to our next destination and die… I would say I am at least more comfortable with the hands to which I would be dying letting you have a crack at it,” she admitted rather morbidly.

[Gair]

“Well you better hold the fuck on 'an get ready for high winds,” Gair begins his search for the controls, focusing on anything that looks rudder-like toward the aft of the ship. I wonder if airship operators have special words for up and down, like port and star. Whether it's wise or not to do so, he starts flipping switches on a panel with the rudder. The craft's engine making some sort of noise and the wings actuate to attention, he hasn't killed them, yet.

[Eligor]

[Gair]

Gair stares dully into the monitor, as if he hasn't seen Magitek in an age. *Right…fucking Allags, Triclops, Garlond.* Far more surefooted on a moving vessel than solid ground, he slams a lever forward and yanks back the rudder to bring the airship into a sharp ascent. Easily slipping into his role as helmsman and 'captain'. “IF WE GOT GUNS, BRING 'EM TO PORT! IF NOT, SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!” With a more birds-eye view of the situation, the island, people-ant-bridges, he holds up his thumb and screws an eye shut. Clearly making some sort of trajectory calculation before he rushes back to the rudder to enact whatever madness he had in mind…

Up, then down all of a sudden! The uninitiated to nautical or aerial travel may lose their lunch as he brings the vessel down at a sharp angle toward the island. Growing larger and larger from their point of view with the rushing wind that howls across the deck, only for it to suddenly turn into the worst teacup ride imagineable. A sharp rip of the rudder sends the vessel into a downward spiral. With Gair jamming his crook in there to secure it for the ride down, he does the unthinkable and steps away from the controls to make for the port side of the ship.

Unhinged and clearly fucking mad, red steam begins to waft off of Gair's body. He slams his palms together and the sound reverberates like a gunshot, his hands wreathed in flame and ready for a bombing run. He cackles maniacally and begins to just hurtle fistful after fistful of explosive fire down onto the island. The corkscrew maneuver sending them skirting the edge and chasing that ant ladder all the way down toward Abalathia's spine below. Raining hellfire on every rung as the ship just spirals and circles it like a fiery tornado.

[Luna]

Thankfully Luna thinks to grab on to the rails of the airship. Her quick choice proves to be a blessing immediately as the airship starts doing comical anime shit. Her face turns white as a sheet. Ships are torturous enough, but to make it into such a terror-filled event…. She watches the man abandon his post after jamming a stick into the controls basically. Were she not already terrified, she would look aghast.

[Eligor]

[Pipino]

Pipino held on for dear life as she feels the airship move mercilessly through the space, the Lalafell never fond of heights on even the best days, but knowing this erratically moving craft was the only thing keeping her from realizing every fear of heights she had ever had, it did nothing for her nerves. She let out a panicked cry and wrenched her eyes shut as the craft lurched about, taking the occasional peek to witness the golden conflagration before squeezing them shut again, the physics of their craft reaching her body had never been subjected to, the sensations difficult to fathom.

She looks over to Gair with slight panic in her eyes. “I take everything I said about feeling more comfortable with death at your hands back! If you could kindly place us into a less dangerous course, I for one would be glad of it!”

[Gair]

Mid-careen, Gair makes a dive for the rudder to retrieve his crook and stop the chaotic corkscrewing of the airship. All in all, he was rather spent for the moment from that barrage of fire. Half of his coat is burned away and singed from that show of thaumaturgy. Near-death being having returned some of the vigor and energy to his haggard features, he slumps against the wall. The sight at Pipino's panic brings him some relief, nostalgic even. A ghost of a smile creeps up his features as he utters. “Well, that's the most alive I've felt in years…” He trails off. “And I guess that body count is all mine, I'll round it down to, say, a hundred thousand.”

[Luna]

“Perhaps you ought to have been running the books for Luna's tavern if you have such a memory for large sums and figures,” she quipped back. “It is a count I had lost long ago.”

[Eligor]

“How about instead of either,” the robed woman piped up, “you DONT turn us towards death that is assured in favor of the death that is instead very likely. Or is it too much to ask that we proceed with purpose?”

[Luna]

The knightess remains quiet, electing to believe in her old friend that his abilities would hold out rather than dare open her mouth and risk the sick getting the better of her.

[Gair]

“See… were that truly assured death, we'd be dead,” Gair is careful to note as he tends to the rudder. His gaze flitting to the mid-afternoon sky. “Passed midday, so…” He quickly reasons out which direction south is and orients the airship with the sun on their right.

[Pipino]

Pipino took the opportunity to relax a bit at last, taking a moment to let go of the support she had been gripping to begin a new pacing regimen in the area behind the controls, working out her anxiety in a more physical way as she wrung her hands. “Yes, proceeding with purpose would indeed be the best, as would proceeding with some kind of plan in place.” She looked to the hooded woman as she continued her rounds. “Have you any other insight as to the situation we will be walking into? Otherwise this mission is as good as blind for as much as I know of it.”

[Eligor]

“Cute. Well any other burning questions while we are at it? I’m a living fount of knowledge!”

[Pipino]

“I did just ask one and it was not meant to be cute or rhetorical. Perhaps we ought to start there.”

“I have more, of course, but information leading to us not dying would take priority, I would imagine.”

[Eligor]

The woman leans forward, shaking her head.

“Not much more than what I assume would be common knowledge by now really.”

She sighs

“The Black Shroud was hit first, and whatever corruption spread could be argued to have its true foothold there. If people did not assume that life did not truly run through the wood before, they know it to be true now. The wood has taken on a more sinister form of life.”

“It ensnares and attacks those along with the animals and horde within.”

“And is just as capable of turning one as the horde.”

[Gair]

“A true foothold…and is it possible some of the original corrupted may have lingered at this epicenter?”

[Eligor]

“No clue. But there has been a theory that there might be a seat of resistance within the Shroud. It is the only logical conclusion to make really.”

“After all, why in the world would the Shroud have not expanded far more quickly? Over these years, it has clearly shown the ability to do so, and if it can in theory subsume life through the vegetation, would that not have been the metaphorical end of the game?”

“And yet it has spread ever so slowly. Lends some hope that our hero might be a part of it no?”

[Pipino]

“It does, I suppose but… Well, if you can feel this Hero's aether so readily, could you not similarly feel aether that is not so corrupted and perhaps lead us to a safer starting point to our journey? That there are more that have not yet been turned?”

[Eligor]

“On the contrary. I've only felt the hero there. I'm not omnipotent.”

[Gair]

“Let's hope he's not the one keeping it all from spreading, cause we're takin' them from there one way or another for that cure,” After a pause. “And I'll be stayin' to find a Miqo'te in a haystack.”

[Eligor]

“Miqo–what are going on about now?”

[Pipino]

“Well, if they turn, and we are successful, we could just cure them so I am less concerned about that but…” She turns back to the robed woman. “You may not be omnipotent, yet you have done some seemingly extraordinary things, such as creating this mess in the first place. I cannot say you have earned my trust yet. I am only coming because it seems like we have very little hope left at this point and this is the only option I have seen.” She paused and folded her arms, looking to her. “Why did you feel the need to go and…do whatever it is you even did to Eligor. I cannot say I follow exactly what happened. You seem quite proud about it.”

[Eligor]

“Proud of what? Victory?”

[Pipino]

“And what selfish victory did you win?”

[Pipino]

“I hardly think what we are living right now is much to be triumphant about.”

[Eligor]

“Oh, so you are saying I was supposed to know a man was hiding a world devouring horror inside of his body? Or that I should not have wanted to fight a man in the first place who stole my work from me?”

“Go back to cursing him, that sounded far more pleasant to my ears.”

[Pipino]

Pipino sighed and resumed her pacing. “Well, if you did not know, at least it is more palatable. I still bear the man no love, you can be assured of that. But…why even start this work in the first place? What were you hoping to do with that awful drug?”

[Eligor]

“Have you ever tried explaining to a chocobo where it's greens come from? The concept applies here.”

[Pipino]

“Such a fount of knowledge. Too bad this fount seems to be broken. I ask a question, I receive a non-answer.”

[Eligor]

“Because the container is faulty.”

“Besides, these questions are not relevant to our task at hand. It is to satisfy your petty inner judgement. What interest would I have in that? Were you not just spouting how little you trust my word beyond circumstance?”

[Pipino]

“I would say most people that meet each other for the first time do not trust one another. They talk and make connections and value judgments and then trust sometimes can blossom as a result. I was attempting to ask the big questions so that I could try and hasten that process and at least feel as if I am participating in something laudable and not just being placed into some trap.”

“But very well, suppose it does not matter. Do you know what strength this Hero possesses that may aid us?”

[Eligor]

“Fair enough, I'll make the attempt in the bare minimum then.”

“The problem with life as we know it today is that it is not strictly life. And I do not mean that in the sense of just simply today either, but that this perspective easily applies to what existence was like for us oh…three years or more ago as well. We do not so much exist as we do…how do I put it in a manner a chocobo might understand? We are seeds.”

“Eligor knew this even longer than I, and he did what I considered nothing. Our little conflict was a discussion of sorts. A clashing of wills and perspectives. A difference of solution to the same problem. Existence is was my goal, and the drug as you so crassly put it, was my method by which I might water the seeds and prune the weeds. Pure genius. And as it turns out, I was right! Even today, those with the potential to endure this mixture remain, while the rest have either joined the horde or died. No need to thank me.”

The woman nods towards Gair.

“He might even be pleased to know that his little revenant was just as prone to suicidal nonsense as his originator, but I suspect that is more due to my flaws than his. I had yet to work out the kinks in the separation process you see.”

“As for the hero….I've NEVER met them. I cannot stress this enough. I used their aether as the basis for my mixture so I know their potential sure, but…it was different from the others. Even the other heroes if I am to be truthful. Their blood was mixed with what I suspected to be a portion of the lesser moon. But to a degree that is such I might even dare to call it a complete fusion. It was miraculous! A treasure!”

[Pipino]

Pipino looked to Gair and raises her eyebrows. “It seems that I was not the only who was not fully communicating all of what I was experiencing in my experiences with Eligor. I hardly understand what she is referring to in regards to you.” She stopped a moment and tapped her fingertips against her arm, processing all that was said. “And why would I thank you for something you did not know would come to be? It is not as if you knew this all would happen, as you stated yourself, so for what grand trial were you preparing those who ingest it and manage to endure it?”

[Eligor]

“The preparation was admittedly for a trial much worse.”

“But also far more voluntary in a sense.”

“I'm just saying that without me, we might be in this situation anyway eventually, but without me we certainly would have far less options than we do now. But yes yes hold your gratitude. I'm not blind to the idea that as an exchange, all of you must have faced some personal nightmare. Just keep in mind that I was not somehow magically exempt.”

[Pipino]

“If only knowing those around you have suffered as well could provide some kind of balm, but alas, it does absolutely nothing.” She took a moment to have a seat on the floor, leaning up against one of the walls of the craft. “Eligor's cult - I never was fully informed as to their purpose, but clearly they were prepared and ready for something. What have they to do with all of this?”

[Luna]

Luna just listens, half filled with fury to hear about Eligor and his cult in detail, half filled with a churning stomach. Her expression conceals her feelings, though her pallor does not.

[Eligor]

“I was brought there to be punished after my encounter with the dark one actually, so its not like I have some clear idea of exactly what the Sanctuary's purpose was. In fact, I was only vaguely aware that it existed during our battles. Even more to the point, they could not actually fight back then either. Far as I know, those that you saw are the ones that are left. The voluntary guardians of something called the gate. I've no idea what that is of course, but I can guess. Then again, so could we all.”

[Gair]

“We we're too busy quibbling over who was having stew with whom, as I recall,” Gair rumbles out and passes his gaze over Pipino. Only finally speaking when the sinner and Pipino both address him passingly. “I've a skeleton worth of bones to pick with you, but you're the only chance my niece has. We manage that cure, and I'll bury the axe for good.”

[Eligor]

“Sense at the end of the world. More miracles.”

[Pipino]

She regarded Gair's point with a conciliatory bob of her head, willing to take some of the blame. “If we manage the cure I daresay it will not be worth holding any of my lingering grudges.” She eyed the hooded woman. “Do we get to know your name at the end of the world? Perhaps see your face? I know, not practical, but I have never enjoyed dealing with masked individuals should I be able to help it.”

[Eligor]

The woman laughed a bittter, hateful laugh.

“Names at the end of the world? People shed names like skins girl. I've forgotten mine long ago. I suppose if I must have one to suit your needs, Sinner will do. It's been working quite well these past few years. As for my mask…”

She fingers the rim of her mask, chuckling a bit.

“That is more for the benefit of others than myself. Especially you girl, if I dare say so myself. Do not forget that despite everything you have been through, I have seen it's source. Metaphorically, I have been to the abyss you see. One does not return without paying the price.”

[Pipino]

“Then I suppose that will have to do. ” She said the words with a sigh and rested her head heavily against the wall, closing her eyes. “When you had your encounter with the Dark One, what did you learn of it?”

[Eligor]

“So you want the story, is that it?”

“I suppose if the pilot can find the time to nearly kill us all for his vanity I can regale you all with my encounter.”

[Pipino]

“I would. Through it all, I have only heard the results of the encounter and never the origin.”

[Eligor]

“Very well then.”

“It was evening when I decided I succeeded at my greatest triumph.”

“I told you that the hero was a particularly special case yes? Somehow, she had interacted with a fragment of Dalamud and even managed to fuse with the aether within. Miraculous I called it. But she was not the only one. There was another you see, and I found her first. A little hyuran child, whom had been…how to put it…she had not fused with the lesser moon's aether, no…she had somehow been consumed by it. Like aether sickness if it were an infection. It robbed her of her five senses and left her with severe burns–likely from being present at the fragment's uh…impact.”

“I was fascinated by this child, and through her, decided to test a number of experiments. Interestingly, her encounter with the lesser moon made her body quite malleable, and so I tried to make the ultimate being. I forcefully fused man and beast with the girl's flesh, imbuing her with great power. Yes…great power indeed. She was my crowning achievement. My proudest source of study….Until that man came along and tore my lab to pieces, and interrupted my final tests. To make matters worse, he stole her, and had the nerve to keep her as a pet, claiming her as a daughter. It was the greatest insult, and one which I do not expect you to fully appreciate.”

“But that is only important in the sense that I finally found her and took her. He hid her well, but that unmistakable mark of the lesser moon is quite distinct you see, especially in a living body. When he came to take her, confident as he usually was, I had my own trap prepared for him.”

“Again I do not expect you three to appreciate the true beauty of what I crafted, so let us just call it the boomy boomy soul sucky machine. I ripped his soul free of his flesh and that was that. Victory.”

“Only his flesh did not stay inert as it was meant to.” The woman leans forward now, her voice almost becoming a raspy growl, “No, he started to fly. My first thought was that I had somehow failed. He had somehow anticipated my move, but no…no, it was far worse than that. I do not quite know how exactly to explain just what occurred here. It is not that it defies explanation or something so mundane as that, but simply that it defies belief.”

“My facility was under water you see. Deep underneath the waves, and far from civilization. I could not risk having the alliance send another fool my way.”

“But when the dark one appeared…” The Sinner went silent, as if getting lost in the moment all over again, “I could see the sky. The ceiling, the water–they were all swept aside as if one were breathing. I do not know how to explain this form of fear to you because it was not something that was felt. It was not this blinding terror or a need to flee. It was an understanding that it did not matter. Like looking into the emptiness of the night sky and trying to comprehend the vastness of the blackness that was there.”

“It immediately tried to turn us. But due to the heroes blood, something got in the way. Something just barely stopped that thing from creeping into us.” She clutched the sides of her head now, rocking back and forth. “He thought my experiment was the source of the blood. Like I said, the mark the lesser moon leaves on aether is very distinct, you see. He popped her as easily as one might squeeze a rotten fruit. It was only after my prize experiment was burst into a mess everywhere that it turned to me. Eligor's eyes used to do this thing that made them appear like angry little candles, and I'm not sure if you've seen it. But this thing turned that trait into something like staring at wisps trapped in a cage. White, and without life.”

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“It spoke to me.” She reared her head back now as if trying to fight the memory, clearly bothered despite her earlier sarcasm. “You've brought about the end, but it was unwillingly. You are my greatest acolyte; change will come to this world. Glorious and prosperous will be my rule. But the potential of the new can only be brought forth from the blood and bones of the old. Your failed world must become the soil for what is to come. Sparing you to see it will be my mercy.”

She began shaking her head wildly before calming down, taking several deep breaths. “Annnd then I woke up in La Noscea. I tried to warn the leadership there of what was to come but until things started to get bad….well, naturally no one believed.”

She shrugged.

“Satisfied?”

[Pipino]

Pipino nodded silently, having eventually watched the woman's story with rapt attention, fixation. Her whole body seemed like it was waiting for some extremely specific piece of information that never seemed to come.

“I…yes. That will do,” she said simply at first with a little clearing of her throat as she digested the details. “The fact he kept it hidden for so long… when something might have been done about it. When you might have been warned… It infuriates me even still.”

“Does it still speak to you?” she asked quietly and calmly.

[Eligor]

“What a funny question.”

“But no would be the fast answer.”

She shifted in her seat. It seems she left out some chunks in her story, but did not seem keen on actually divulging those details for whatever reason.

[Pipino]

“You do realize that makes me wish to know the slow answer, yes?”

[Eligor]

“Then I'd have to direct the same question towards you wouldn't I?”

She chuckles and turns towards the room. “None of you hear the call?”

[Luna]

Luna finally finds the vigor to speak, if briefly. “I hear no 'call', Sinner, save for the triumphant heralding of Halone.” Quickly does she clasp her hand over her mouth once finished.

[Eligor]

“And are you sure that this so called heralding is not the Dark One disguising itself?”

“Consider those that are turned? Are they not still the people they were before, but fundamentally turned? Loyal to this alien thing that we do not understand? What is it about the corruption that drives everyone, even lovers and family, to rip one another to shreds without so much as a thought?”

[Luna]

She swallows her sickness for a moment, glaring at the woman. “Those who are turned are lost. Halone would not corrupt suchly. Anyone who is turned is a threat to those under my ward. They will be cleansed in holy light.” She quickly re-clasps her hand.

[Pipino]

Pipino watched the exchange carefully and then waved a dismissive hand. “Well, I suppose we shall skip the slow answer. I am afraid to hear the answer lest it be the one that has Luna cleanse the one person who knows how to fix things in holy light.”

[Luna]

A quick release of the hand-seal. “If this 'hero' is the key to salvation, I shall hold back the divine judgment upon them.”

[Eligor]

“Speaking of, how close are we? I'd hate to learn we are there by being swatted out of the sky.”

[Gair]

Gair looks up from the rudder, having gone into something of a sailing trance himself. Gently making adjustments here and there to right their course for the Black Shroud. “Luna,” he starts, staring right at her. “You will not touch a single hair on A'thasri's head if we find her corrupted form. If she perishes at your hand before we can attempt a cure, you have my word that I would do everything in my power to slaughter the three of you, then the hero, then take this airship to Ishgard. I will burn and rape every last soul in your city, do you understand?”

[Luna]

The woman locks eyes with Gair coldly. “I will not allow these corrupted souls to harm those of us yet unturned. Rest assured if A'Thasri has been blighted, her pain shall be ended swiftly. I will protect the realm. At any cost.”

[Gair]

A bit of a hard negotiator now, Gair claps the rudder and bites back. “Then you can walk to the shroud, paladin. I can arrange a *very* swift descent over the port side.” With a lock of the throttle, he keeps the ship on a more or less an autonomous flight path forward as he steps away from the controls. “They're all dead Luna, except for her. You wont rob me of this chance.”

[Eligor]

“Out of all the souls in the realm Novine has to call these three bumbling lump-heads.”

“Instead of arguing, I'll instead give facts. Mmk?”

“This corruption is called such not because that is what it IS but instead because of what it means for us who have not yet experienced it. Now I know that anything I say will just fly through those empty heads so instead I'll put it this way. The people that have been turned are not truly monsters, they have been improved. Even today the feats that were pulled proved they are evolving. Would you think a society of separate individuals capable of such before? No? Of course you would not. This CURE is not so much reverting them to what they were as it is disconnecting them from the dark one, and ridding them of troublesome loyalty whilst retaining their very useful improvements. I do believe you've a bloody necklace of the proof.”

“Secondly, if any of the Twelve gave the slightest of damns they would have come down already and smited the dark one from the first. They have not. They do not care, or they do not exist. Pick one, I do not care–but do not disturb the peace of the already insane driver before we get to our damned destination!”

“And lastly, the realm is not protected. It has failed. It is gone. That you would call ONE city the realm is pitiful. Lets focus on things that matter. Like not dying, and not arguing with each other over whom is right, because time will prove the only one whom is right is ME.”

[Luna]

Luna turns to the robed woman, frowning. “I do not remember asking for your foolish nonsense. We are dispatching to cultivate the cure to the sickness gripping the realm - Ishgard alone or no. I will perform that which is needed, but that does not mean I will entertain all of your shade-bent fantasies. Save your mad talk - it falls upon unwilling ears.” SHe speaks, disdain dripping. After a moment, she adds, “I can not speak for them.”

[Eligor]

“Very well, eject her from the ship. Her stupidity will kill us all.”

[Gair]

“Paladin, I demand you stay your blade from only one, give me your word.” Gair's hands rest on his belt now, thumbing a crook rather pointedly. “What'll it be, old friend? Are we to kill one another here?”

[Luna]

Her eyes dart back to Gair, but she takes a moment of thought. “Very well. I will leave her to you should we encounter her.”

[Eligor]

The Sinner claps

“So, about that destination…” As if scripted, the entire ship is suddenly smashed by a sudden onslaught of turbulence. Only it was clearly cannon fire, and from the ship's port just out of view thanks to a certain someone NOT manning the pilot's seat.

The Sinner falls over onto the floor in messy fashion and in an apparent tantrum just decides to outright stay there, facedown on the floor as the ship continues to get shot at.

[Gair]

With the sudden rumbling of the ship, Gair rushes back for the pilot's seat to assess the damage and get eyes on the source of the fire. “Son of a…bitch!”

[Luna]

The knightess stumbles against the wall, bracing herself against it and re-clutching her mouth.

[Pipino]

Pipino finds her body jolted to the side from her sitting position, the Lalafell laying prone for the time being and deciding to stay on the floor until the ship's motion calmed. “Is the ship still flightworthy, Gair!?”

[Eligor]

The damage to the party ship for the moment was minimal as nothing critical had been hit, but one of the wings responsible for more precise movement had already been hit and the enemy ship appeared to be aiming for the engines.

[Gair]

“Hey, Sinner, did this dumb cult ever put guns on this fucking thing?!” Gair barks over the gunfire.

[Eligor]

“What part of my being a prisoner was unclear? Did you think I received tours and battle plans? But I'm going to guess no all things considered.”

She crawled up a bit, coughing and still very clearly upset

[Gair]

“They're tryin' to ground us, the bastards!” Gair barks out, his gaze flitting to Pipino to give her the status report. “They got the drop on us so the slip ain't exactly possible! If this thing has an anchor or tether for landin', we might be able to board.” He laments aloud, clearly trying to bob and weave with the main engine of their vessel in an attempt to get into any potential blindspots of their assailant's firing line to draw closer.

[Pipino]

“Boarding!? Are you joking? How does one even attempt to board such a ship? Surely we are traveling at a high enough speed that the wind alone would knock us to the ground below!” Pipino has become stricken with a little hysterical moment of fear, that fear of heights kicking in at full force.

[Eligor]

There did not seem to be a way to avoid the shots, but all the same it seems the pilot of the enemy ship was feeling whatever adrenaline high Gair was currently experiencing, as it quickly closed the distance as if in response only turning sharply before impact with the assistance of rockets jutting out of the side. Anchors shot and pierced into the side of the airship now, tethering both ships together.

[Gair]

Perfect, Gair thought as the hull of his vessel was perforated by anchors. “They hooked us, we can either submit 'an chat with them on the ground. Or we can make them regret anchorin' to us and ride a gunship into the Shroud in style, what are you feelin'?!”

[Eligor]

“Whichever route does not include dying.”

“How is this even a question!?”

[Pipino]

“I agree! I do not much fancy the idea of trying to take control of that ship while we both are still in the air, but whatever we are doing, I suppose we ought to do it sooner than later! Not dying is still my priority!”

[Gair]

“Game of chicken it is, we ride deep into the Shroud and dare these fuckers to keep tryin' to keep connected at the hip,” Gair tells the group the course of action, far more moderate than a daring boarding and slaughter of the enemy crew he had in mind. I really wanted that gunship. He fiddles with a few of the switches on the panel, some speakers crackling to life as he speaks into some sort of receptacle. “Testing- testing.” His voice rings out on nearby speakers, with a few twists of the knobs his voice can be heard transmitted outside now. “Testing! Hello! YOU FUCKERS IN THE GUNSHIP, PISS OFF OR I'LL CLIMB OVER THOSE ANCHORS AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH EM.”

[Eligor]

[Pipino]

Pipino stares up into the sky, head darting around as if searching for the source of the device as if it were some great mystery, unaccustomed to travel in such vessels and being a bit alarmed by it.

“Could we not provoke them, Gair!?” she protests, rolling her eyes and pushing herself to her feet, readying herself for whatever nonsense they were involved in now. She looks to Luna.

“So then, will you be leading the way? Or shall we make Gair lead the way since he prodded the hornets' nest?” she asks in a resigned voice, clearly unamused at their predicament.

[Luna]

The hand covering her mouth drops once more, simply tired of having to repeatedly unclasp. “I know naught what you wish me to do in such a situation. I do not possess the flight required to whisk over to the other ship and slay them where they stand.”

[Eligor]

---

Home –> Roleplay Scene Index –> Discord Roleplays

Home –> Character Index –> Pipino — Luna — Gair — Aerina — Raziel — Veldi — Wisteria — Eligor