World Where Marina Bursts Into Chunks: S3

[12:04] * Oxford changes topic to 'Tehtavasi vahvistettu: siepata ja tuhota laitteen kuljetusta'
[12:15] <@Oxford> Marupol takes the first watch, lying prone on the low hill overlooking the Novgoraadi airfield all through the short summer night. As the sun comes up, Vladko leaves to take her place, but Cille has only just begun the morning's chores when the other two burst into the small hutch. "It's time!" Vladko says, panting slightly as he comes through the door. "They're opening the hangar doors."
[12:16] * TemporalMechanic ([email protected]) has joined #WorldWarBurst
[12:20] <Cille_Lund> ...It's time! Did she ever get a moment to draw up her PENDANT FINDER? It won't change her decision, but it'll change how she prepares for it! "...Right!" Either way, she's ready to go! Magicking can be done on the fly if it must!
[12:29] <Cille_Lund> ...She did! She pulls out the drawing as she goes, transforms, and then MAGICKS IT INTO BEING! A small object that looks and acts a lot like a radar, something like a Dragon Radar, only it's not finding Dragon Balls, it finds pendants! Simplistic, yet useful!
[12:31] <Cille_Lund> It might be charged enough to just detect magical stuff in general, honestly. She put a lot into that!
[12:33] <@Oxford> The radar shows a strong signature at the center, detecting her own pendant first and foremost, but the rest of the scope is clear. She hasn't had time to play around with it and determine dection ranges and the like, so she'll be playing by ear in terms of what kind of signatures to look for.
[12:33] <Cille_Lund> More like, her own pendantS. Still got two of these things!
[12:34] <Cille_Lund> She doesn't know the effective range, though, so...hopefully it'll be large enough to not get caught in a lethal surprise!
[12:36] <Cille_Lund> Until then, time to follow the leaders!
[12:37] <@Oxford> Examining the radar, it's hard to distinguish two seperate readings at the center, probably due to their close proximity to one another. The circle is maybe a little oblong, or maybe she's just imagining that. Something to keep in mind, perhaps: tightly-packed signatures might appear as only one larger dot. This radar thing is tricky.
[12:39] <Cille_Lund> ...Hmmmm. ...It is. She'll have to learn it quickly and on the fly, though. It could be the difference between life and death soon enough!
[12:39] <Cille_Lund> ...Hey, that's just like magic is in general. So it's nothing she isn't used to!
[12:39] <@Oxford> Vladko is still out of breath, but Marupol seems to be doing fine. Maybe she's in better shape; maybe she just didn't run as hard to warn Cille. Either way, she leads the way back to their outpost at a steady jog that Cille, transformed, has no problem keeping up with. When she arrives, she can see a large transport plane taxiing onto the runway.
[12:48] <Cille_Lund> Even as she gears up to destroy the entire place, she still speaks in a quiet voice. Gotta get this shit finalized! "...The plan was to just bring the entire thing to the ground. ...Should I mosey about inside first in order to check on their...ammunition, or just start with the plane right there?"
[12:51] <@Oxford> Marupol wrinkles her brow. "Plane first," she says, pointing in case her Cimbrian isn't clear. "Building doesn't run."
[12:52] <Cille_Lund> "...Good point. Things might get messy. Everyone ready?"
[12:55] <@Oxford> "Is all you, now," the redhead replies, nodding. "Hyva metsastys."
[12:56] <Cille_Lund> "...Then, here I go."
[12:57] <Cille_Lund> Cille springs to action! SHE'S GONNA CHOP THAT PLANE IN HALF. VERTICALLY.
[12:57] <Cille_Lund> She hasn't pulled out her BARRIBLADE in a while, so she figures this is going to be a GOOD TIME FOR THAT!
[13:14] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 1 [Steppe - Foothills - Forest - Tundra (Cille) - Hangar (N2B Heavy-Lift)]'
[13:19] <@Oxford> As Cille rockets upwards, the tundra recedes beneath her, and she can see for the first time the thousand shimmering lakes that speckle the landscape, lit up in the morning sun. The transport plane's propellors turn like windmills, and it lumbers down the airstrip, lifting off with as much clumsiness as Cille has grace.
[13:21] <@Oxford> As she rises, she takes a glance at her radar, and a tiny speck that she hadn't seen earlier rotates to 12 o'clock as she turns toward the transport.
[13:23] <Cille_Lund> ...Well, this is bad. But, she might be able to make this work in her favor...maybe. Or it might be allied help? ...Unlikely, but hey! Either way, she's gotta give that transport a good cleaving!
[13:24] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 1 [Steppe - Foothills - Forest - Tundra - Hangar (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille)]'
[13:29] <Cille_Lund> Cille aims to strike...but, there's a lot of things that were breathtaking, and the very scene was overwhelming, so she...somehow missed the plane? It's not moving that fast yet! Her cred! She can't lose her cred like this!
[13:29] <Cille_Lund> ...Maybe it's just been so long that she's getting too rusty. Better unrust faster than this!
[13:33] <@Oxford> The transport pilot is good - better than she'd expect, for rear-area personnel. Perhaps he's part of a special detachment, for this secretive base. Spotting the threat, he focuses on speed before altitude, racing the cumbersome plane over the tundra at treetop height.
[13:33] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 1 [Steppe - Foothills - Forest - Tundra (N2B Heavy-Lift) - Hangar (Cille)]'
[13:38] <@Oxford> As Cille manuevers around the transport, the small blip on her radar becomes more defined. It's definitely co-located with the aircraft: as Cille approachs the speck on the screen races toward the center of the dial.
[13:40] <Cille_Lund> ...Ggh! She can keep up! She regains her composure! She's going to need to strike home this time! She's gotta put some OOMPH into it! ...Wait, is there someone IN there? ...Attacking from the outside...might not be the best idea after all, but can she, perhance, board the plane herself?
[13:44] <Cille_Lund> ...Well, obviously there's someone in there. Someone magical with...the magic/a pendant, though, wasn't entirely expected! That said...gotta get herself ON it, first! If it avoids her, she can't do much of anything!
[13:49] <Cille_Lund> Even as it swerves in ways that a transport ought not, Cille is determined to get inside! She latches onto the plane!
[13:51] <@Oxford> She comes in more slowly this time, approaching from the transport's blind underbelly. From the cockpit, the pilot shouts through the intercom for a target update, but the plane's windows are small and don't show what's beneath. He rolls left, then right, but at low altitude there's a limit to his options. Cille grabs on near the rear loading-ramp, small barrier-blades digging into the metal hull.
[13:51] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 1 [Steppe - Foothills - Forest (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille) - Tundra - Hangar]'
[13:52] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 3 [Steppe - Foothills - Forest (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille, Enemy-M) - Tundra - Hangar]'
[13:55] <Cille_Lund> Once she's on...hm. If this is where the cargo is, then it should only take a brief look to see if there's a door in a convinent place. If there isn't, she'll have to make a convinent door herself!
[13:56] <@Oxford> The transport abruptly stops turning, and instead pitches back into a climb. The ramp in the rear begins to open, giving Cille a jolt as she clings to the outside. She scrambles up until she has the edge of the ramp under her armpits, looking down into the blackness of the cargo bay. A pair of glowing red eyes stare back at her.
[13:59] <Cille_Lund> ...Oh no.
[14:00] <Cille_Lund> Well, on the bright side, it means everyone on this plane is going to die. ...Except her. Probably. Hopefully.
[14:00] <Cille_Lund> Good that things are simplified so well!
[14:00] <Cille_Lund> AVOID PANIC.
[14:07] <@Oxford> That will be difficult. Just looking at the thing inside the train, Cille can feel her stomach knot up as her heart races into overdrive. On the radar screen, the blip suddenly balloons in size as the enemy's magic activates, but Cille's eyes are clenched tight, and her feet scramble against the hull of the plane. Half of her fights to escape as the other half struggles to hang on.
[14:13] <Cille_Lund> Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit. What IS this? Panic is not being avoided! This thing is--g-gh, no, stop that! ...The plane! She can't afford to stare down this...demon! She'll fall off! ...She...she's going to have to get PAST this demon to get further inside! ...But fighting her? Directly? The very idea is ludicrous! Not like this! Attack the plane, but try not to break the ramp! She'd just fall off if she broke the ramp. ...A-after getting up, of course!
[14:20] <Cille_Lund> Just...god, when she's not directly focusing on the demon, it's a lot easier to keep cool. Cille pulls out her trusty Barriblade, and gives the plane a serious gash, starting from the edge of where the ramp met with it, and ending...a lot further away! ...She also activates Empower, giving her Calm, and thus a bonus to defense!
[14:21] * TemporalMechanic ([email protected]) Quit (Ping timeout: 240 seconds)
[14:22] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 3 [Steppe - Foothills (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille, Enemy-M) - Forest - Tundra - Hangar]'
[14:23] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 4 [Steppe - Foothills (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille, Enemy-M) - Forest - Tundra - Hangar]'
[14:26] <@Oxford> Below them, the ground races away as the transport gains altitude. Through the gash in the hull, a gust of wind gushes in like water into a sinking ship. The demon strides forward, and for the first time Cille gets a good look at it. It is a girl her age, with pale, almost translucent skin, and deep blue armour. Her serpentine tail thrashes in anticipation.
[14:31] <@Oxford> Six needle-like shards of ice twirl in the air around her, and the enemy's red eyes flash in the darkness. A thin layer of jagged ice crystals spreads outward from her feet, clinging to the floor of the cargo bay. Tossing her white hair back over her shoulder, the demon thrusts her hand forward, and the shards spring toward Cille like lances in the hands of invisible knights.
[14:34] <Cille_Lund> She takes the time to realize exactly what is transpiring! That won't do! Not at all! She feels her movement slow...but in a burst of adrenaline crouches as she puts up a barrier! The barrier shatters on impact with all the shards, and her barrier shards shoot out wildly, piercing the plane as well as the girl!
[14:36] <@Oxford> A trickle of blood stands out on the Novgoraadi's white skin. Gritting her teeth, she wipes it away. The shards of ice reform around her, poised above her shoulders like the sting of a scorpion.
[14:37] <Cille_Lund> Cille has the presence of thought to comment, mostly to herself, in Cimbrian! Possibly to keep her sanity in check! "...A terrifying person. I can't let them get away, definitely not."
[14:37] <Cille_Lund> "But, first..."
[14:40] <Cille_Lund> She swings the sword to strike the same place she did last time...only, on the other side of the plane! Big damage! Big prizes! LAND, PLANE.
[14:45] <@Oxford> The cargo plane shudders and begins to level off. Below, the foothills are beginning to give way to wider, flatter plains. Unlike the tundra and its thousand pools, the steppe looks like a single sheet of golden brown, waving faintly in the distance.
[14:45] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 5 [Steppe (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille, Enemy-M) - Foothills - Forest - Tundra - Hangar]'
[14:47] <@Oxford> With her shards reformed, the demon renews her attack. This time she closes with Cille, keeping the shards close as she rains a flurry of lightning-fast blows down on the knight.
[14:50] * TemporalMechanic ([email protected]) has joined #WorldWarBurst
[14:51] <Cille_Lund> ...Her movements fumbled! Create a barrier to stop it early! Ain't got time for this! ...Attempt to get closer inside while she reels from her attack and the shards of the barrier that will soon indiscriminately attack everything, and EXPAND that blade to strike the center!
[14:57] <@Oxford> Cille circles around the attacker even as she presses her own attack against the transport's interior. Moving deeping into the hold, she can see the black, egg-like shapes of the same 'bombs' she found inside the hangar. Her strike cuts through the interior, and severed lines spew fuel and coolant. A stray spark sets secondary fires along the path of her blade, and smoke rushes toward the exits.
[14:59] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 6 [The Endless Plains (N2B Heavy-Lift, Cille, Enemy-M) - Steppe - Foothills - Forest - Tundra]'
[15:00] <Cille_Lund> "That should put a halt to that. Those things in there will never be used. And that is for the best, for everyone." Probably.
[15:13] <@Oxford> With her focus split between attacking the cargo and defending herself, Cille's guard slips. A pair of giant ice needles penetrate her barrier, one into her side and the other in her upper arm. Her magic absorbs most of the blow, but pain shoots through her body, along with a chill that sends the blood racing out of her extremities.
[15:16] <Cille_Lund> "Kh!" OW. COLD. BAD. The voices, previously quiet, also make noise, talking in Albaean! "Ow! Ow!" "Pain hurts! We learn new things every day."
[15:20] <Cille_Lund> Still, even as her extremities are...badly torn, this plane is still flying! This must be fixed! Be bold! Aim forward, towards all the goods, and possibly the people! Let's try to not hit the bombs though. Might be armed. That would be pretty awkward. She could at least avoid killing anyone that might be in them for some unknown reason directly, eh?
[15:25] <@Oxford> Cille takes another slash, this time upward and towards the cockpit at the front of the plane. A key piece of airframe gives way, and the damaged cargo plane can no longer support itself against the intense forces of thrust and drag. With a horrible screech, it begins to rip itself apart, chunks of hull peeling away like the skin of an orange.
[15:26] * Oxford changes topic to 'Turn 7 [The Endless Plains (Cille, Enemy-M) - Steppe - Foothills - Forest - Tundra]'
[15:27] <Cille_Lund> MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. There's still a hostile bearing down on her, though. A terrifying hostile.
[15:27] <@Oxford> The stricken plane falls from the sky. Cille feels herself thrown against the wall as the fuselage begins to tumble randomly. Whatever else happens, she knows she doesn't want to be inside when it hits the ground. The only thing between her and the exit is the red-eyed demon.
[15:36] <Cille_Lund> "Say, Cille. What if she was OK with this because she was suicidal?" "And what if taking you down with her was obviously the best course of action?" Um. Um. ...She expresses a desire to GET OUT. If there's actually anyone in those bombs, she is very, very sorry that she had forgotten to disarm the bombs before actually crashing the plane, even if it was because there's a DEMON in here making that kind of impossible to easily do.
[15:43] <Cille_Lund> And so, she opts to make her way OUT of this plane! Get a hold of her position, see the ramp opening, account for the direction that the plane is going, and TAKE FLIGHT in the opposite direction of where the plane is going for a very quick exit! The demon doesn't let her escape quite that easily, with some defiant shards of her own...but, her barriers react with a focused fire, destroying a fair amount of it as well as stinging her back, and extra barriers helped cushion the rest of the blow.
[15:44] <Cille_Lund> On the off chance that was armed, she's going to continue going in the exact opposite direction. You know, to avoid being blown into pieces.
[15:47] <@Oxford> Cille shoots upward as the fuselage, now missing both of its wings, plummets toward the ground. A ring of fire and smoke wreaths the open cargo bay door, obscuring it in darkness for a moment, and then she explodes through into the light. The open skies around her are a blue and clear for miles in every direction, and the hellish confines of the cargo plane disappear below her like a bad dream.
[15:48] <Cille_Lund> ...But unlike a bad dream, that felt very real. It is not sweat that coats her, she's far too cold for that.
[15:50] <@Oxford> From a hover, Cille looks back down at the plane. A trail of smoke traces its path through the air, and terminates in a fiery black smear in the endless fields of grass. What's left of the cargo plane is in pieces, with the largest crushed like a can under a boot.
[15:56] <Cille_Lund> ...Whew. Either they were empty, or they failed to go off. ...Does she want to go back to see the results, hoping that the demon didn't survive the ordeal entirely? ...Against her better judgment, she figures to scour the wreckage.
[15:56] <Cille_Lund> She DOES have a job to do, and that job is far away, so she's going to be very quick about this!
[15:57] <Cille_Lund> And if she sees that demon alive and well, she is so gone to do what she was originally doing. The demon can batter on her side, that's probably the only way she'd be able to hit it anyway.
[16:00] <@Oxford> Cille sinks to the ground, stopping perhaps ten metres above the waving grass. The wreckage is still on fire, and thick plumes of black smoke rise upwards as the unspent fuel burns. The heat is too intense to go inside, and it's hard to imagine anything, demon or not, could survive in there.
[16:03] <Cille_Lund> "...That's that, then." "You're not good at this fighting thing, you thought to yourself. But it's OK!" "They'll get worn out trying to beat you, and with enough persistence..." "That DID hurt, but honestly, this has been the most exciting thing you've done since we've met you. You've got a base to crash. Hop to it." ...Sure, but let's check the radar anyway, before getting out of there. Just to be sure.
[16:07] <@Oxford> Inspecting the sorcerous radar, Cille can see that her own signal at the center of the display has grown. Instead of the steady, circular pattern, it is now pulsing and warping strangely. Looking outward, the rest of the display looks blank, though every now and then a speck or two will appear at random directions and ranges. There is nothing resembling the demon's signature.
[16:08] <Cille_Lund> "...Hmmm. Perhaps that signifies magical exertion. I should be careful. That said, it seems like she's gone, then...eh? ...It might also be malfunctioning a bit. Hard to tell. Probably gone, though."
[16:09] <Cille_Lund> She breathes a sigh of relief! ...And then attempts to finish what she started! BACK TO BASE.
[16:09] <Cille_Lund> To tear it down!
[16:11] <@Oxford> /session