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[Chevaleresse]

((Just letting you know that I plan to post this weekend. I have sheets and personal projects to do, but this is on the list.))

[syvarris]

((Sorry for bumping the thread, but I made some edits since last time and learned how spoilers work since then. If this isn’t enough background tell me and I will add more))

The only particular comment I have on your sheet is that it names the city the game takes place in.  I've never actually specified a name for the city.  Though, hell, I'd totally be willing to just name it Waterbrook, why not?  Your sheet's fine and doesn't need to be changed at all.

That said, Lenglon has also said she wanted to join the game, and is probably going to get chosen instead of you if she's still interested.  And, I know I said--

That all being said, it's still exceptionally unlikely for you to get into the game, unless you're willing to wait a year or more.

--just about a year ago, but I'm even slower than I predicted.  It's just unlikely for you to get into the game.  Sorry; it'd be nice if I could just add in anyone who wants to join, but I am merely a simple human.

((Just letting you know that I plan to post this weekend. I have sheets and personal projects to do, but this is on the list.))

No worries, I won't really have the time this weekend anyway.  Thanks for sticking with the game!

[Chevaleresse]

Tooru tried to calm herself despite the situation becoming more stressful by the moment. She could practically feel her heart fluttering in her chest, and it threatened to freeze her where she stood. Have to keep moving for Taro and Papa. Have to help Pumsy too. She had to act, now, but it wasn't clear what was the right path. With how twisted the space inside labyrinths could be, she didn't know if taking her family up would help, or if she would even make it there before the archers started to move again. It could be putting them into even more danger for her to try and get them out of the current scrape.

The little girl forced herself into motion, trying not to stop and pitch a fit about how unfair the entire situation was. She looped one arm each around her father and Taro, then channeled power into her limbs; she'd seen the other girls do it, and had at least some idea of how to make herself stronger. Then, she headed downwards, trying to get her family into one of the entrances before the archers focused on her again. If the area turned out to be at least modestly safe and she had time, she'd then try to head towards Pumsy without attracting attention. 

[Devastator]

(Does Tooru have a couple of spare talismans so she can fire some manabolts should things go wrong?  I think summoning them is Secondary, so that should work along with your action.)

[syvarris]

((@Chev, I may have made a mistake describing the stadium, but there's no apparent entrances above Tooru.  The only obvious entrances are the ones down below her, at the edge of the field.  Above her is the edge of the stadium, and the archers; heading upwards will bring her towards those familiars, not away.))

_{((...Also, some minor errata, Pumsy's psychic scream came from the south area of the arena, not the west.  Tooru is on the east side.  I corrected the mistake.))}

[Chevaleresse]

((I thought I had summoned a few earlier. Anyway, I'll correct that tomorrow at some point, unless I fail to get to sleep tonight.))

[syvarris]

Drop Pumsy.  I now need to free my mouth to fight.

Change the second body to wolf-form.

Have it start howling with DwR, while attacking the familiars with both bodies.

[Bravery]

You fling Pumsy away to your right, towards the exit.  Immediately after you drop your body as low as you can, shoving the bottom of your jaw against the brick floor.  You flatten your ears back, and an instant later you feel the closer knight's halberd swing through the air just above your head.  You let out a sound halfway between a howl and growl as you launch yourself forward, snapping your jaws down on the knight's shin.  You can feel the material cracking and bending under your jaw, but it remains in one piece.  Your second body transforms just in time to pick up the howl, and as it returns to its paws you sling the captured knight around and try to throw it back towards your other body.

...But the knight is heavier than you expected, and you only manage to yank it off its feet and slide it around you, leaving it between your two bodies.  The familiar spins its glaive around in front of it, angling the blade towards your main body.  You bite the center of the haft with your second body and pull it away, growling loudly and dragging the knight's hands above its head as it stubbornly refuses to let go.  You can see the other knight behind your main body, turning back towards the entrance instead of helping its partner.  You smile internally at the mistake, and capitalize on the opportunity; you let go of the downed knight's leg and let out another brief howl as you rush towards its head while it's distracted with its weapon.  You dive down onto its upper torso, snapping your jaws down on the space between its helmet and cuirass.  More plating instead of flesh.  You bite harder, and can feel the plating start to give, but the knight still doesn't release his weapon.

<AHH!  Alida!>

You glance to the side with your second body's eyes, and see the second knight raising his glaive high above his head as a pair of wide golden eyes cowers in the darkness in front of it.  Then the glaive comes down--horizontally, hitting with the flat instead of the blade.  Those two golden eyes disappear in a blink as Pumsy is crushed in an instant.

Tooru tried to calm herself despite the situation becoming more stressful by the moment. She could practically feel her heart fluttering in her chest, and it threatened to freeze her where she stood. Have to keep moving for Taro and Papa. Have to help Pumsy too. She had to act, now, but it wasn't clear what was the right path. With how twisted the space inside labyrinths could be, she didn't know if taking her family up would help, or if she would even make it there before the archers started to move again. It could be putting them into even more danger for her to try and get them out of the current scrape.

The little girl forced herself into motion, trying not to stop and pitch a fit about how unfair the entire situation was. She looped one arm each around her father and Taro, then channeled power into her limbs; she'd seen the other girls do it, and had at least some idea of how to make herself stronger. Then, she headed downwards, trying to get her family into one of the entrances before the archers focused on her again. If the area turned out to be at least modestly safe and she had time, she'd then try to head towards Pumsy without attracting attention.

You reach down and, with a grunt of effort, pull your father up into your arms, your muscles complaining even as you feel strength flowing into them.  After a few seconds of manuevering, you manage to center his weight over your left shoulder.  Then you lean down and wrap your other arm around Taro's midsection, under his armpit.  Luckily he's a lanky boy, light enough that your magic allows you to lift him even with that awkward grip.  Once you're sure that the two are secure, you start rapidly walking down the steps.  It's easier than you expect, and even though your shoulders are screaming under the weight on them, you can still take three steps at a time without risking a slip on the water flowing down with you.

After about ten steps, you start to feel confident in your footing and stop watching your feet, looking back up at the labyrinth.  The denizens of the labyrinth are no longer looking to the south, and the witch is walking again, flanked on either side by knights standing at attention.  She reaches the end of the path shortly as you near the bottom of the stairs, and she stops in place, looking around at her surroundings slowly.  You shiver as her gaze slides over you, but if she notices you among the many chained humans, she makes no indication of it.  She nods once more to herself, then leans down and plunges her fists into the mud, down to her elbows.  She sets her feet--still not sinking into the clearly soft ground--and with her entire body begins pulling something upward, out of the ground.  You can feel the strain of the effort, somehow.  Even at this distance, it feels like there's a small earthquake under your feet.

You reach the bottom of the stairs, just a short length of bare stone between the final row of seats and the field itself, forming an encircling pathway.  The field is a short drop below you, just far enough enough that you wouldn't be able to see up onto the pathway if you were standing in the field.  The water flowing off the stairs is caught in a deep trench that runs through the center of the pathway.  Tiny, regularly spaced grooves run from the trench to the edge of the wall, ensuring a small trickles of water are flowing down into the field from every part of the wall.  You crouch down and lay your family members against the stone, leaving them for just a moment as you lean over the edge.  As you guessed, there's a dark tunnel that leads down into the underbelly of the labyrinth, set into the wall just below you.  You sigh in relief, though you aren't out of the fire yet.

Then you look back up at the witch in the center of the field.  The thing she's been pulling out of the ground is just starting to surface.  A circular area about two car lengths across rises in front of her, the mud and grass flowing off of it unnaturally rapidly, to reveal an unblemished and smooth golden surface, glimmering in the bright light of this labyrinth.  The witch continues pulling upwards on the rim of the golden disk until it's just a step above the field.  Then she releases it, standing back up straight.  Now, standing much closer to her, she looks even more intimidating; even with you on top of the wall encircling the field, the witch stands taller than you, unlike the knights down there.  She's easily more than twice your height.

You turn away and begin pulling your two family members close to the edge.  You just have to drag them off, jump down, then bring them down into the interior, and they'll be safe from the archers.  You can find a safe place for them down there.

[Purity]

The light from above suddenly brightens, rapidly becoming blindingly bright over the next second, as if the labyrinth suddenly started falling into the sun.  You cover your eyes with one hand and continue pulling at your father as the light begins to become painfully hot.  The air itself feels like it's beginning to burn.  Taro starts groaning in pain, and you can hear an ominous chorus of similar pained sounds echoing all around you as the thousands of people trapped in this place suffer under the searing heat.  You grit your teeth, releasing your father for a moment to turn and look back at the witch, looking from between your fingers to help protect from the painful light.

Almost everything is blurry and hard to make out, like it's all make from bright lights pointed directly at you.  All except the witch, and her little golden platform.  She's perfectly visible, like a stone statue placed in a featureless white room.  She stands in the middle of the platform, looking into the sky as she raises her hands joyfully.  Her right gauntlet is curled into a fist, and her left is held open beseechingly.  Her body is facing to the south, but when you look at her, her face slowly turns away from the sky to look to her left--to look at you.

The painfully bright light abates as the witch lowers her left arm to point in your direction.  Her palm is raised towards you invitingly, the gesture lazy and relaxed.

Spoiler: Alida Larsen (Devastator) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Shining light!
   ^{Form and location: Medallion, pinned to her left breast.}

Age: 14
Hair Color: Salt-stained blonde.
Health: Fine wolf!  Also fine girl.
Inventory: One club in human hammerspace, one (contested!) white glaive in mouthspace

Totem: A fishing club.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Talented~
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Amateur...
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Skilled!
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Cursed ;-;

Abilities:
   Mobility Lvl3
   Close Combat Lvl3+1
   Totem Manipulation Lvl2
   Regeneration Lvl2

   Berzerker Lvl3
   Painless Lvl2
   Effigy Lvl2 (Active; one cheap cost per turn.)

   Duet with Reality Lvl1 (Active; one minor cost per turn.) (Current Song: Wolf Howl.  +Body Coordination, +Reflex and Sensory buff)

Spoiler: Tamazaki Tooru (Chevalaresse) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Radiant light!
   ^{Form and location: Necklace, worn around her... neck...}

Age: 13
Hair Color:  Bright scarlet.
Health: Tired, but otherwise fine.
Inventory: Nothing useful!  Arguably her family, in the sense that they're right next to her.

Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Cursed ;-;
   Joy:  Talented~
   Innocence:  Skilled!
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Amateur...
   Love:  Skilled!
   
Abilities:
   Mobility III
   Mana Bolt III (+I)
   Regeneration II
   Totem Manipulation III

   Invigorating Passion II
   Outburst III
   Duet with Reality II

Spoiler: Aleksandra "Sasha" Chernov (RandomGenericUsername) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Gloriously Blazing light!
   ^{Form and location: A simple bracelet made from crude steel, worn on her right wrist.}

Age: 12
Hair Color: Black.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: Still has Alida's coat.  One fully loaded AK-47 totem.

Totem: An AK-47, virtually identical to her grandfather's.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Skilled!
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Talented~
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Amateur...
   
Abilities:
   Mobility: Level 3
   Telekinesis: Level 1
   Manabolts: Level 2 (+1)
   Close Combat: Level 1
   Totem Manipulation: Level 2
   Regeneration: Level 1

   Determination: Level 3
   Stasis: Level 1
   Teleportation: Level 1
   

1: A fully loaded AK-47 magazine.

[Devastator]

Whoops.  I'll have to apologize to Pumsy later.

Continue the DwR howling for now.

Activate CC to finish things quickly, smashing the two familiars with the greatly improved capabilities of CC3.

<Anyone else here?  It's Alida.>

[Chevaleresse]

Tooru froze in place for a moment. She backed up slowly, trying to leave her family in a place that they wouldn't suffer too much from the heat. <I-I'm here b-but the witch is looking at me. My family is with me.> Fear threatened to overwhelm her once more.  If she didn't get attacked immediately, she would set them down and start moving forward and downward again, just as slowly. Once she had a certain amount of distance, she would summon a clump of talismans in preparation for whatever the witch did next.

[Devastator]

<Your family?>

<Can you get them out?  I'll come right there!>

[Chevaleresse]

<I don't see a way out. There are so many familiars here.> Tooru attempts to convey an impression of the sheer numbers she can see via telepathy.

[Devastator]

<Well last time they were pretty dumb.  Sometimes you could be right by them and they wouldn't notice.  Maybe try that?>

<I'll try to grab their attention soon.  Just.. gotta fight my way in.  Be there soon!>

[syvarris]

Whoops.  I'll have to apologize to Pumsy later.

Continue the DwR howling for now.

Activate CC to finish things quickly, smashing the two familiars with the greatly improved capabilities of CC3.

<Anyone else here?  It's Alida.>

Your growls get louder when you see the second knight turn towards you, no longer distracted by Pumsy.  You need to finish this quickly.  Power flows into your jaws, and you feel the downed knight's plated neck start to give way--then, suddenly, it collapses into shards.  There's nothing underneath, the knight is hollow.  Even so, its grip on its glaive relaxes, and your second body pulls the glaive away in its mouth.  You turn to stare down the second knight with both bodies, the unmoving corpse of the first knight between you.  It lowers its stance, bringing its glaive down to point at you.  You growl back, the sound almost musical between your two voices.

[Bravery]

The knight moves first, charging forwards and thrusting its glaive at your unarmed body.  You dodge back, as your other body moves forward, rushing past the knight's side... and sweeping the glaive low, the haft of the weapon connecting with the knight's shins.  The knight tumbles forward, its glaive dropping to the ground, and your first body quickly turns around and steps on the glaive's blade, pinning the weapon to the ground with its weight.  Your second body drops its own stolen glaive and turns back.

You growl as the knight rises to its knees in front of you, not letting go of its polearm with either hand.  It pulls on the weapon, but you push it firmly into the ground, and the pale monster's strength is minor compared to your strength and weight.  The familiar raises its visored face to look up at you, and you start back, into the empty black holes in the front of its helmet.  It tilts its head to the side slightly, nodding its gaze down slightly, deliberately.

You realize what it's looking at a moment too late, the knight's left arm shooting forward to grab your golden collar before you can react.  You can feel its grip on your soul gem, viscerally real and immediate.  You twist down to bite its forearm, teeth sinking into its plating, as its grip tightens.  Your other body dives onto the familiar's back, knocking it back down to the ground as its jaws find the knight's neck.  Both your bodies pull and twist as they crunch into the plating--and then it finally shatters, the arm breaking moments before its neck.  The knight falls to the ground in three pieces, lifeless.

Both of your bodies pant over the dead familiar, the rush of battle still running through your mind, a part of you feeling like that was too close, and yet too easy at the same time.  Then something odd occurs to you, and you run your tongues around your muzzles in sync, tasting the dust from the broken knight.  It's... made of bones?  It tastes delicious, whatever it is.

You step back from the body, looking at your work.  Two familiars dead already, and you've hardly taken a scratch.  Your mind settles; this was a resounding victory.

You sit back on your haunches, and raise both your muzzles towards the ceiling, letting out a victorious howl with two identical voices.

Tooru froze in place for a moment. She backed up slowly, trying to leave her family in a place that they wouldn't suffer too much from the heat. <I-I'm here b-but the witch is looking at me. My family is with me.> Fear threatened to overwhelm her once more.  If she didn't get attacked immediately, she would set them down and start moving forward and downward again, just as slowly. Once she had a certain amount of distance, she would summon a clump of talismans in preparation for whatever the witch did next.

You look away from the witch, at your brother and father.  It's hard to focus on them after being half-blinded by the light, they appear blurry even from close up.  The only place you can think to leave them that has any protection from the heat is at the foot of the flooded stairs, in the shallow stream that's pouring down.  You pull them both closer and watch as the water flows around them, their expressions of discomfort abating.  You take a deep breath, hoping against hope that they're safe there, then you turn back around to face the witch.

She's still holding her hand out to you in that lazily inviting pose.  Waiting, in the center of her golden ring.  It's hard to focus on anything aside from her; you try to look at the knights that had flanked her as she walked onto the field, but your eyes just keep slipping back to her.  The witch is impossibly clear, a perfectly crisp image set against a blurry and indistinct background.  Magic, to confuse you.  Some kind of trick.

You grimace, as you summon a few paper talismans into your hands.  It's easier now than it used to be, almost unconscious.  You grip the papers tightly, feeling the potential locked inside them, then you hop down into the field.  You instantly sink down into thick mud, almost deep enough to reach your waist.  You take a step, then stop and look down.  The mud is too thick.  Unnaturally so.  It's almost clinging to you, pulling back against any movement you make.

You look back up at the witch, now towering above you, though she's still far back in the center of the field.  Her helmeted head is expressionless, but you can sense that she's enjoying this.  She's toying with you.  You hate it.

...The witch turns her head slightly to the south, as a howling sound rises through the air.  A wolf's howl, long and proud.

Spoiler: Alida Larsen (Devastator) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Shining light!
   ^{Form and location: Medallion, pinned to her left breast.}

Age: 14
Hair Color: Salt-stained blonde.
Health: Double dog fine!
Inventory: One club in human hammerspace!

Totem: A fishing club.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Talented~
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Amateur...
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Skilled!
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Cursed ;-;

Abilities:
   Mobility Lvl3
   Close Combat Lvl3+1
   Totem Manipulation Lvl2
   Regeneration Lvl2

   Berzerker Lvl3
   Painless Lvl2
   Effigy Lvl2 (Active; one cheap cost per turn.)

   Duet with Reality Lvl1 (Active; one minor cost per turn.) (Current Song: Wolf Howl.  +Body Coordination, +Reflex and Sensory buff)

Spoiler: Tamazaki Tooru (Chevalaresse) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Radiant light!
   ^{Form and location: Necklace, worn around her... neck...}

Age: 13
Hair Color:  Bright scarlet.
Health: Tired, and the witch is the only clearly visible thing she can see...
Inventory: Totems!

Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Cursed ;-;
   Joy:  Talented~
   Innocence:  Skilled!
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Amateur...
   Love:  Skilled!
   
Abilities:
   Mobility III
   Mana Bolt III (+I)
   Regeneration II
   Totem Manipulation III

   Invigorating Passion II
   Outburst III
   Duet with Reality II

Spoiler: Aleksandra "Sasha" Chernov (RandomGenericUsername) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Gloriously Blazing light!
   ^{Form and location: A simple bracelet made from crude steel, worn on her right wrist.}

Age: 12
Hair Color: Black.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: Still has Alida's coat.  One fully loaded AK-47 totem.

Totem: An AK-47, virtually identical to her grandfather's.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Skilled!
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Talented~
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Amateur...
   
Abilities:
   Mobility: Level 3
   Telekinesis: Level 1
   Manabolts: Level 2 (+1)
   Close Combat: Level 1
   Totem Manipulation: Level 2
   Regeneration: Level 1

   Determination: Level 3
   Stasis: Level 1
   Teleportation: Level 1
   

1: A fully loaded AK-47 magazine.

[Egan_BW]

((Accuracy not guaranteed.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Equanimity:
Every action has a reaction. Soul simply serves its purpose. Happiness and love create mending, rage and hate create destruction. There can be no judgement here, no true path. Use the tool most suited to you, and to your problem.

Bravery:
To live is to fight. To breathe is to fight. She knows that existence is battle, and to give up is to forfeit your life. So she will not give up. She will not question. Until death, and beyond.

Joy:
All the world is a stage, and all its men and women, merely actors. For her, she sees what a game it all is, and she is good at playing it! Joy and mirth are not to be missed, and she will seek them out, even if she must brave the lion's den of failure and misery.

Innocence:
Where others see magic and fancy, she sees reality. Magic IS reality. What seems real is real, and what seems outside of real is real too. The soul, people, magic? All just mechanisms, ticking away in the biggest of machines. And she is the master of that machine.

Purity:
Above all else, be true to yourself. The soul holds the deepest truths, the greatest existence, and only the individual can find that within herself. Victory, authority, power, she finds these pleasing. But even those things come after the Self. She cannot be certain of anything else, but herself.

Mercy:
She values her comrades before anything. Why not? This world is full of beautiful, resplendent souls. She would sacrifice, even her own soul, her own life, for the good of another. Because she is determined to be a Good Person.

Creativity:
When you look at a painted wall, what you see is paint. Just the thinnest of layers of white substance stands between you and the brick behind, but your perception is Limited. All you see is whiteness, yet there is hardly any there. When you look at her, what you see is a human. But she knows what she is.

Love:
What the world is really made of is connections. Tethers between souls, linking all together in a great web. The material world is, truely, anything but material in the face of the links formed between people. She can see this. She knows how to manipulate those links, how to make them strong, and how to snap them and send links of chain tumbling into the lightless abyss.

[Chevaleresse]

((Does anyone have any reasons why I shouldn't just riddle her with manabolts? I've been trying to think of a useful Duet, but nothing comes to mind. . .))