Goddess Quest 98

[12:39] Knight the Wanderer: YT begins to walk off as his fleshy ...zombie troops wander about and begin clearing the area around the gate house with the servitor golems assisting.
[12:43] Karen Aido has her illusion go into the bunker and follows after YT. She'll use the Eye to watch out for ambushees along the way.
[12:44] Karen Aido: ambushes*
[12:49] Knight the Wanderer: [You know I can detect you right? Your magic is useful but leaves a ripple in the world.] Yt says but doesn't stop walking forward. [Come then, view the greatest city in the world. For even in its fallen state there is some beauty here.] The Golem says while you walk through large stone halls full of rubble, or under them. Glass sometimes lays shattered and scattered about, at other places its been warped into strange looking water falls and lakes.
[12:51] Karen Aido: "The illusion isn't for you. As a former officer of the law myself, I know how important and useful details are, but most people don't, and that's who it's for."
[12:56] Knight the Wanderer: [An Officer. I guess its not strange. I do miss the laughter and busy streets. This place was so much more lively...It all failed though...The land quaked, shook and buckled. Grand towers fall to the ground, others were cut into pieces when the shield activated. It should have been higher but people had sabotaged it as well before everything went to hell.]
[13:01] Karen Aido will slither on his left and slightly behind. "My intention is to return this city to that state. Do you have a communication device? It might be better if we talked through that, so that less hypothetical people can hear us. Another question, do your sensors allow you to see through my illusion, or is it just observational data?"
[13:04] Knight the Wanderer: [Your illusion does not emit heat, when I saw that and then detected your trail behind that I realized you had illusions and magic. As for returning this city to its glory. I fear the world wasn't ready for it then, why is it ready now?]
[13:11] Karen Aido: "Because things have changed a lot, for the better. I have spent the last year or so creating an alliance of nations, and through that we make peace between warring states, peoples, and cultures. Plus, we've got an old enemy to strike at, one that's bigger than us all. As I said before, the Church of the Holy Light is no more. It's people are now mine and I'm working to make them more than just warriors, I am working to make them people. I've found a little bit of information on this place, but what happened?"
[13:14] Knight the Wanderer: "We are a better people now. Gone are the magus families that exploited you, gone the devious rulers in their eternal war. I bring an age of logic and unity, together we shall rebuild our land, and save our brothers across the sea. Together we can work together, so say I, Brakis Broquote, this fine spring day where you voted for your new leader and chose me. I am humbled, and thank you for the honor." Comes a haunting recording from YT. [You are not the first, you will not be the last.]
[13:23] Karen Aido: "In my nation leadership is given to those most well suited for it, regardless of other talents, who also understand that leadership is a service to the people. Gone will be war, once our last enemies, are subdued or subsumed. Preferably subsumed, I don't care for fighting. I think all of our energies should be spent towards exploration and the improvement of the living conditions of all."
[13:29] Knight the Wanderer: [You sound like him even more. He loved this world and its people, but he became obsessed over the other side of the world, something tried to draw him over there. And then he was gone, along with all the hopes and dreams of our people as Laputa plunged down into the frozen sea.]
[13:33] Karen Aido: "Aeons. An ancient being of incredible power and evil. With an army of dragons and horrors the likes of which the world would be a better place without, not because of what they are, but because they're assholes. One of my best friends is partially a horror, and I employ people who are partially dragon. I'm not obsessed with what's over there, if I had my way about it, I'd never have to go over there, but I have to, because Aeons will not stop until he controls this planet, and that is a pretty terrible fate considering what he does to his people."
[13:40] Knight the Wanderer: [There is another reason isn't there, you could simply build a grand city from which humanity could survive and strike him down, but there is always another reason.] YT says as the two of you approach a man made cave mouth into some forgotten monument.
[13:43] Karen Aido shrugs. "Not sure I can build a city that could do that, truth be told, but yeah, I've got a couple of other reasons. My husband recently rode a dragon over there, his subordinate is chasing around my horror friend, and because he needs to be brought to heel for his crimes against the peoples of the world. There is another thing, but I can't even talk about that. Even if I try, it's just going to come out as utter gibberish."
[13:46] Knight the Wanderer: [If you fail you will be transformed into his plaything that he will use to win the game.]
[13:47] Karen Aido: "Oh, right, that. No, I figured I'd use my power to kill myself before allowing that to happen."
[13:51] Knight the Wanderer: [And your child? What about it. Do not be surprised, with all the similarities its hard to believe you and your husband are expecting in the future.]
[13:53] Karen Aido sighs "I think by that point it will be far too late." she shakes her head. "At best, everyone will evacuate, hole up somewhere, and wait for a chance to escape or strike back. I think I might be able to get them evacuated to another world if I'm careful and lucky."
[13:58] Knight the Wanderer: The tunnel leads deep into what seems to be a strange storage container. Several men wander about sorting and working on scrap, that or feasting from the dead weakly.
[18:18] Karen Aido looks around. "Where's the... terminal? That's what you said, right?"
[18:26] Knight the Wanderer: YT beckons you further towards the back, where a flickering light gently pulses. [Terminal activate.] The light grows brighter until a simple happy looking bouncy face appears. [Terminal display city map.] [Warning officer, there is some damage and possible closures along many of the cities routes for about three million eleven hundred thousand eight hundred and ninety five days. Please be sure to assist the clean up and repair crew by giving them plenty of room!] The Terminal says happily while showing a large map of what was. The thing was huge, and already you can see the entire place spelled Laputa with its main streets and largest buildings.
[18:29] Karen Aido follows YT. "He really did love her." she'll draw a sharp breath. "Is there any way I can get a copy of this?" she'll can the invisibility spell. "Then I want to look into the power grid, see where everything comes from."
[18:33] Knight the Wanderer: [Yes, I'll make sure you can have a copy. Terminal download map into my frame. Terminal second command, display power line map.] [Map sent. Negative, unit lacks permission to access power map. Permission can be granted from your local power administrator at extension eight zero eight four two two three nine nine six.]
[18:36] Karen Aido scowls at it. "Crap." she'll look at YT and call Legion "Hey, Legion, I've found a terminal that has the local power grid in it's database, but it won't tell me unless we have access to a local power administrator, and I don't believe there are any real power administrators left willing to talk to us."
[18:38] Knight the Wanderer: [The numbers to call also most likely will refuse to connect. Bring what you can back from it so that we can study it.]
[18:38] Karen Aido: "Can we disengage this while maintaining it's resources?"
[18:40] Knight the Wanderer: [Yes, each terminal has stored information in case of an emergency. Unfortunately it seems I and any survivors lack access to the system.]
[18:42] Karen Aido: "I bet there's at least one person in here who has access to it, but they won't be willing to give it up easily. Alright, let's take this with us." she'll start looking it over to determine how to remove it.
[18:44] Knight the Wanderer: Yt simply grabs the terminal at the base and yanks it up, causing the terminal to go into unconnected mode. It seems to still have some power though.
[18:45] Karen Aido: "Oh, neat." she'll take off her backpack and open it up. "I'll carry it, I want out hands free if something comes up.... unless you want to wear my backpack?"
[18:49] Knight the Wanderer: [I'll carry it, are you ready to leave this place?]
[18:51] Karen Aido nods "Yes. Let's get your people out of here. Is there a transport we can use?"
[18:54] Knight the Wanderer: [No, the roads are all blocked and all fuel for the transports has been converted to use in makeshift power stations or taken by Striker long ago.]
[18:55] Karen Aido frowns. "Crap. Okay." she'll slither out ahead of YT and wait for him, before following him.
[18:59] Knight the Wanderer: YT begins corralling the guys as you step outside. The faintest feeling of being watched quickly fades away. [We should hurry, the absence of my people might cause the other tribes to roam and seek them out.]
[19:00] Karen Aido nods and starts using the Eye again, just in case. "Okay." over the comm "We're heading back now, be ready for us."
[19:03] Knight the Wanderer: [Understood, Muna just got here-] Yt Suddenly pushes the heavy terminal into your hand and jumps up onto some wreckage. [Go, take my people and run back through the way we came.]
[19:03] Karen Aido takes it. "What? Where are you going?" she'll summon up Crusader. "Don't go, let him take care of it."
[19:07] Knight the Wanderer: Crusader is armed this time with a large blade and shield. And in an instant is taken out in one shot that showers a huge amount of quickly vanishing gore onto you and YT. [Its a rampaging war god.] He says, pointing to where a large smoke trail goes from Crusader's vanishing body to a giant lumbering golem covered with weapons and guns.
[19:10] Karen Aido frowns. "Hmm.... Damnit.... you'll reappear at your focus right?"
[19:11] Karen Aido will start slithering away, guiding the people to her base.
[19:12] Knight the Wanderer: <Crusader needs some time to rebuild, but he'll be fine.> Marcus says. Yt chuckles and waves an arm around at all the wreckage. [What focus? No, I am leashed to a self sustaining power node and thats it. But I my internal command requires I distract any threat and allow civilians to flee.]
[19:13] Karen Aido: "That's what I meant, the node. I'm obligated to help a fellow officer out." <Fucking hell.> she'll start calling up illusions and flinging them at the war god, while beating a retreat.
[19:17] Knight the Wanderer: The large golem reacts logically, by firing everything everywhere at everything. Large powerful beams, huge heavy cannon rounds, trails of smoke.

[I like to give them a solitary target! Less collateral damage!] Yt yells as the war god continues stomping around, its top spinning in a circle while continuing to unload round after round after round.
[19:18] Karen Aido causes each illusion to explode into gore when hit. "Gah."
[19:21] Karen Aido will have the illusions start retreating away from the rest of the group.
[19:24] Knight the Wanderer: {TARGETS SIGHTED! UNLISTED AND UNKNOWN UNITS SHALL BE DESTROYED! ALL THINGS AGAINST BROQUOTE SHALL ALSO PERISH!}
[19:24] Knight the Wanderer: [Oh joy its intelligent...]
[19:26] Karen Aido: "What sensors does it have?" she'll try making Faerie fire hit it from behind and engulf it's entire body.
[20:59] Knight the Wanderer: The War god is a huge golem, engulfing the entire thing would be quite difficult. [Its got a simple track and attack with an internal antenna for correlating information from the visual to identify if a unit is friendly or enemy.]

"Very good Yt~ Now why is it up and about?" Says a female voice from above you all, casually. You can't see her, but there is a small speaker above you.
[21:02] Karen Aido looks at it. "Striker? You've programmed this thing to kill us, haven't you?" Yeah, enough of this, portal under YT and another in front of the group back to base.
[21:04] Karen Aido didn't think it was that big, hence the change in plans.
[21:16] Knight the Wanderer: The portal fizzles and fails. Shit. "No, if I wanted you dead you would already have five five shot through your chest from over eight kilometers. No, this thing is rampaging on its own, one of the many things I seek to hunt down. "
[21:17] Karen Aido uses the Eye to try to figure out why the hell the spell isn't working. "Okay, then why're you contacting us?"
[21:27] Knight the Wanderer: "I wanted to meet with Yt, I decided that I want his core now, Extinguisher needs a new blade arm as well. I figured if YT can defeat the Large golem on his own I won't kill his people as well for trying to flee our home that we worked so hard to rebuild~"
[21:31] Karen Aido: "You're not killing YT for a fucking blade arm."  Gotta find her with the Eye. <Guys, I could use some backup out here when you get the chance, got civilians in the crossfire and YT in trouble. Squaring off against what's called a War God, it oneshot my Crusader, so be careful, and Striker.>
[21:42] Knight the Wanderer: "I'm killing nothing, its a golem thats developed a personality. I am repurposing it for something better." Striker is...Laying at the top of a ruined building, many miles away from you. The war god starts stomping around, having lost its illusions to shoot at. It decides to start spraying the area with fire then to flush out any targets.
[21:48] Karen Aido: "Those are called people, moron." Does she have a rifle or something?
[21:51] Knight the Wanderer: "Yes yes, but~ He isn't willing to work for Laputa anymore. Soooo I need his core for my better minions to work." She does on her side, its large and looks very dangerous.
[21:55] Karen Aido: "How about no. He's my golem now. You can find a different one and use that." She'll shift it to the War God, to figure out how to bring it down easily enough. There's got to be a weak point on the thing, if she expects it to kill this thing with that, or it could just be really fucking powerful.
[22:00] Knight the Wanderer: The legs look.. Chickenish... That the the waist joint seems damaged somewhat. [Go, I'll deal with this, defend my tribe and get them away from here. Do not blame Striker for what she does.]
[22:01] Karen Aido: "She's doing it out of desperation, that thing's confused and lost, so yeah, let's bail while it's confused. We can come back and kill it later when we have reinforcements."
[22:08] Knight the Wanderer: [Trust me, and if you truly wish to honor me and your former profession, you'll follow my request.] Yt says while jetting out from cover, his eye beam scorching the armor slightly. The War god's focus aims for the golem, its heavy weapons missing with the smaller scoring lightly upon it.
[22:10] Karen Aido puffs up her cheeks at him. "Damnit. Fine, but only because you asked. Jerk." she'll slither to the lot "Okay, we're leaving. Go."
[22:21] Knight the Wanderer: They don't question you, instead leading you along several enclosed tunnels away from the fighting. <My Queen, we can see the fighting from the top of the watchtower. Where are you?>
[22:22] Karen Aido kinda growling <In a tunnel of regrets and frustration away from the battle. If you can put any shots into the big thing, please do so.>
[22:34] Knight the Wanderer: <Yes, Three large bolts of righteous headed its way.> Derek says as Two large greatbow bolts fly into the Golem from the side. The golem ignores them until a huge red beam slams through the base and then bisects the war god easily. <Sir Muna ask if that was enough...> And then the War god explodes.
[22:35] Karen Aido: "Yeah, that will do." She'll scan the area for YT.
[22:46] Knight the Wanderer: "Amazing! Awesome!" Striker says from multiple speakers nearby until you can actually hear and feel her as she skips from you towards the origin of the beam.
[22:48] Karen Aido: "No, leave him alone, you crazy broad!"
[22:48] Karen Aido will see if she cant summon a wad of powerful adhesive to her optics.
[22:49] Knight the Wanderer: Striker had no optics from what you saw as she dashed by, quicker then Clark. You suddenly hear her shout out in rage though once she gets close enough. Oh dear, she isn't happy now.
[22:50] Karen Aido will sprint ahead. "You guys keep moving forward, I don't expect this will take long."
[22:52] Knight the Wanderer: Yt rushes ahead, slightly damaged but managing to outpace you due to rocket thrusters on his back. The resulting crash sound isn't promising.
[22:53] Karen Aido leaps up into the bunker, sword drawn. <Marcus, what the hell is the sword's purpose? It didn't cut through IMPOSTER's armor, but my bow did.>
[23:02] Knight the Wanderer: <You need to charge it first against your chest!> Entering the bunker you can see Muna's armor has a nice slice and chunk out of the front. Yt however is missing his torso, parts of his legs, and an arm. Muna is booting back up as you arrive while a streak of red and white lightning flies off into the sky with an angry scream following it.
[23:04] Karen Aido tries to find YT firs before she fires a lightning bolt at her "Die you harpy!"
[23:05] Karen Aido may not fire that if she finds YT in an awkward position.
[23:07] Knight the Wanderer: A piece of him is here, there...A part is following Striker...
[23:09] Karen Aido throws the lightning bolt, trying to knock her out of the sky. If she knew how to manipulate gravity, that would be great, but she doesn't.
[23:27] Knight the Wanderer: The lightning bolt soars forward before a blue streak races up to take the shot before falling down in a spiral down towards the ground. <Lady Aido stop, the villain is gone.> Derek says while gently holding you back. "The Damage is done Karen, Yt is destroyed." Sleepy says surveying the damage. [She went from child to deadly maniac in a second once she saw Muna.]
[23:30] Karen Aido looks back at YT's frame. "He's not destroyed, I still sense something left in there." she'll start digging through his frame looking for a fragment of his core, a spare core, or something. She'll use the Eye to locate what bit of him is left in the frame.
[23:51] Knight the Wanderer: Part of his core is sprinkled across the gatehouse and the floor. Other parts are flying away with Striker. The head is glowing a bit still. [Forgive her, she has become Striker and is no longer the sweet girl she used to be.] Yt says weakly.
[23:54] Karen Aido starts gathering Yt up, using her magics to heal his soul, she knows she'll never be able to fix him completely without the rest of his soul, but she'll at least keep him alive, if in a weakened state until she can. "Shh, save your energy Yt, you're going to need it." <Iffrit, you're better with souls than I am, his souls been split up, I know I need the rest of it for him to survive, but how do I keep him alive until then?>
[00:08] Knight the Wanderer: [color=red]<Golems...Brakis tells me some bad news.>[/color] Iffrit adds unhappily.
[00:10] Knight the Wanderer: [Golems with fractured cores either restore their core or die. With how Yt's core is shattered it will most likely die.]
[00:12] Karen Aido: <Is there anything I can do?>
[00:16] Karen Aido: "The hell am I saying. I'm the HEALER, of course there's something I can do." she'll focus her powers, drawing Y T away from Striker, and healing his core.
[00:48] Knight the Wanderer: More then half the core is dust, and the rest is chunks that are falling apart. Though you are able to reform it. It shines brightly, with emerald and golden wire. It looks to be properly reformed. And then the gold wire starts to turn grey and unravel. The emerald turns brown then black. Yt raises a single arm to you, gently patting your shoulder. [This unit has greatly exceeded its lifetime. Weep not for this unit was able experience emotion and develop a personality even though it was never meant to have one. To the mortals I watched over for so long, I apologize for failing to make your existence as pleasurable as I was programmed to. Yankee Tango Thirteen is experiencing memory and power failure...Yankee Tango....Shutting down...Master Broquote...] Y T then goes silent and its core falls to pieces before you like mud.
[00:52] Karen Aido scowls and stares at it. She takes a gulp, her hands clench so hard that her knuckles pop, and a bit of blood drips from her hand. "You didn't fail in your duty Y T. I did." she'll sigh and begin looking it over to see what she did wrong, to figure out how she can do this better in the future. With a calm voice "Are you okay, Muna?"
[01:02] Knight the Wanderer: [Y t saved me. I underestimated Striker and thought she would not be as strong. Then she exhibited the same characteristics Clark showed when he duled Knight and then fought against the werewolves. It was nothing you or I could do.]
[01:04] Karen Aido: "She's faster than what I've seen of Clark. So was Y T, with that jet pack of his." she sighs. "I brought back this." she holds up the Terminal. "Do you need any repairs?"
[01:08] Knight the Wanderer: [I'll be fine without repairs...Well actually I'll go inspect the basement and its repair facility. Any hope we have of peace ended once Striker saw me.]
[01:12] Karen Aido: "Yeah, I didn't think she'd head over here after seeing the blast. Common sense dictates that you don't follow the horrible death beam to it's source. Not that I've been one to follow such wisdom. I'm going to go escort the civilians the rest of the way over here or take care of them if they're already here. I'll see to Y T once that's taken care of." she'll slither down to the front of the bunker and look for the people.
[01:13] Karen Aido uses the comm. "What the hell is her problem with you anyway, Muna?"
[01:15] Knight the Wanderer: [Who is the man responsible for the death of her Brother, and the one who took her sister?]
[01:17] Karen Aido: "Their own fucking hubris, if I recall correctly. I know, I just didn't think she'd recognize you so easily, nor did I think she'd hold a grudge considering they were horrible people. I guess... that kind of makes you the good seed huh?"
[01:19] Knight the Wanderer: [If not for Brakis, that Hubris would not have grown so high, and this city where she was trapped would not have existed. She hates Brakis, and any of his children. I'll look over the terminal if you wish.]
[01:21] Karen Aido: "I don't know how to get the information I want out of it, so yes, please. Could you show some of the others how to do that as well? I'll start learning once I'm done helping these people."
[01:28] Knight the Wanderer: <Relax and rest my Queen. Blood feuds like this are horrifying, but we shall end it and bring peace and understanding to this city country.> Derek says while kneeling at your side.
[01:30] Karen Aido smiles at Derek. "I can rest when Andre and his forces arrive, until then, I need to stay vigilant, and the easiest way for me to do that is to help these people. Plus, nothing else I've done today has worked, so let me have this."
[01:35] Knight the Wanderer: <Not true my Queen, you gave a man a chance to say goodbye. That and you successfully took this gate house and the surrounding area without bloodshed. It is the vile work of our enemy that lost in this day, for through the sacrifice of a great man did our enemy fail to slay sir Muna.>
[01:42] Karen Aido harumphs. "Much ado about fucking nothing, no offense. It's no where near what I tried, much less should have accomplished. When I managed to retake heaven, I thought things would become a bit easier for a while, but instead, everything's pretty much gone to shit. For every step forward there's a half dozen setbacks. I knew some of it would happen, but I expected to have at least the retired Grand Templars still. Which reminds me, Castle Aido needs a new gardener." <How does this charge thing work? How long does it take and what do I need to do aside from hold it to my chest? Focus my energy?>
[01:43] Karen Aido: "Hell, I don't even know what the hell happened to the old Black Knight."
[01:46] Knight the Wanderer: <He fell alongside the White Knight against Lord Knight. I am sure you can search the wreckage to try and to find any of their souls.>
[01:49] Karen Aido blinks. "Why would their souls be over there? Don't they usually head off to whatever afterlife they have? Presumably most of them went to mine, but I haven't had time to start figuring out who all is there, and there are living people who need my assistance now." she'll look over there with the Eye.
[01:55] Knight the Wanderer: The ruined armors lay next to each other, piled next to the dead and fallen. There is some energy amongst them...Even pieces of Knight's original armor is there. <Some souls, linger instead of passing on. Ones like the Grand Templar, beings cursed by massive death and betrayal. They might deem themselves unworthy of passing on.>
[01:57] Karen Aido draws in a deep breath. "Yeah, alright, I'll go check them out. There's bits of Knight's armor in the midst of them as well as some energy from what I can tell. Do you want to come with? We can check on proceedings out there?"
[02:25] Knight the Wanderer: <Of course my Queen. I also called Judge Mercy to investigate, if all else fails we can try and collect their souls to be properly put to rest or imbued into a weapon or armor.>
[02:27] Karen Aido calls Muna on the comms. "I'm heading over to check on something that might be important. I'm gonna set up a recall point in the main corridor, let me know if something else comes up."

[02:27] Karen Aido slithers to do that, then to the field where her husband was last seen.