[center][h2][color=crimson]Edelgard von Hresvelg[/color], [color=ea590c]Edward Portsmith[/color], & [color=Aquamarine]Midna[/color] [/h2][/center]
[center]The Dead Zone[/center]
[center]Word Count: 3196 (+4) [/center]

[color=ea590c]”I’ll admit, I’m hardly a Rogue Lord, nor particularly in tune with nature or shadows, so my experience with skulking around so close to our foes is not exactly extensive”[/color] Edward was forced to admit quietly in response to Edelgard’s more politely delivering of Juri’s crass objection to the vocal component of his plan of how to warn people of threats. He gave Sandalphon a nod of agreement to her own breakdown of the issues and then held back a sigh when Goldlewis drove it home.

[color=crimson]”Worry not, commander. The core of your plan is solid. I myself am unused to such maneuvering as well.”[/color] Edelgard consoled Edward, giving the man a nod. [color=crimson]”As long as we are careful, things ought to be alright.[/color]

[color=Aquamarine]”Seems like everyone has to get a word in, your lucky it stopped there”[/color] Minda joked a touch louder than necessary, making light of the minor humiliation, before suggesting [color=Aquamarine]”still, no reason to not stick to the other part, so let’s get that set up at least?”[/color] prompting Edward to nod, and then to swiftly seize one half of the front of the formation he’d outlined in a display of shrewd/petty political maneuvering.

As such, they were some of the first to come upon the precipice of the crater, eyes scanning silently along the amount of its circumference they could see, and get a good impression of exactly how big the explosion really had been. 

[color=Aquamarine]”It was one thing to be blinded by this place’s demise, but this… it's all gone. All of the places from my dreams, wiped away”[/color] Midna said first in a loud whisper, before deciding [color=Aquamarine]”good riddance”[/color] 

[color=ea590c]”Perhaps”[/color] Edward replied quietly and with deliberate succinctness, only for Minda to tilt her head and ask [color=Aquamarine]”What was that?”[/color] again with an unsuitable level of volume for the situation. 

Edelgard grimaced at Midna’s volume, looking over to the Twilight Princess. [color=crimson]“Midna, I must implore you to better coach your volume. It is liable to result in our detection.”[/color] She cautioned quietly, gesturing around them. [color=crimson]”In this place, we are in danger merely having a conversation.”[/color]

[color=Aquamarine]”You’ll-”[/color] the princess began to respond, quite possibly about to ask them to speak up, but caught herself before getting through any more of the sentence. Instead she simply nodded, before turning her gaze down at the way forwards- and then immediately starting to say [color=Aquamarine]”So how-”[/color] before cutting herself off again with a grunt of annoyance.

Edward glanced at Edelgard, his face one briefly showing concern for this development, before he tried to get back to business. He pointed at her, or rather her armor, then at the way forward, before pointing his hand, palm raised up, to her in question.

Edelgard simply nodded, not [i]entirely[/i] sure what the man was getting at, but surmising that he was questioning whether she was okay to continue in her armor. She mimed taking it off slowly, and then putting it back on very slowly, her mouth a semi-contrite line. It wasn’t ideal, but unless they wanted to put her armor back on before getting into any fights, it was a necessary evil. 

She instead made a circle with her finger, then pointed forward. There was no time for debate, now was the time for action.

[color=Aquamarine]”Y-”[/color] came Midna’s bitten off comment (from the sound of the little grunt of pain that ended it had been quite literally ended via bite) to this attempt at improvised hand signals. Meanwhile Edward didn’t look quite sure how they’d gotten there, but gave an affirming nod to the one for haste. 

There was, for the armored leaders, really only one logical path after all, though it was hardly an ideal one. It was to the rocks with them, Edward shifting to leading the way at just about the same time Goldlewis signaled for much the same. The resulting formation, at least, did not need to be discussed as the two BB carriers fanned out across the rocks as much as was possible with the limits of the field emitter.

The Dreadnaught did not exactly set the swiftest pace, which given that he had an infant in a glass chamber strapped to his chest was hardly surprising. Especially so when one early slip was rectified only by a flap of wet SFE suppressed wings, looking very much like a drowned pigeon in that moment, after which he immediately slowed his advance even further.

Edelgard’s own descent was carefully measured, each step taken slowly to avoid losing her footing. However, as she made her way down, her boot dislodged a small rock, which ominously rolled down the hill, making small noises every time it hit another rock and bounced further down. Waiting with a wince to see what happened, Edelgard breathed a sigh of relief when nothing came of the minor misstep, and continued down in peace.

Midna meanwhile brought up the rear, the princess resorting to stabbing her tree spear into cracks between the stones, regardless of the damage that might do to the weapon, to compensate for the fact that she had even less grip on the surface than everyone else. Her draconic tail swayed back and forth behind her as she did so, adding at least some balance to her rather unstable act.

Fingers cold and muddy from being used to navigate, Edward and Midna’s shared fashion choice of fingerless gloves resulting in both of them making futile attempts to warm and dry their digits after the climb that felt like it had taken an age.


They set off again soon after, only for Edelgard to take a tumble and give them their first look at what being hunted by a BT looked like. Edward and Minda would have helped the stumbling women, had Midna not been unable to stop herself from cursing [color=Aquamarine]”Goddesses”[/color] at the sight of the incident, drawing their attention to her and Edward’s location.

They at least did not have to contend with getting up, and so both backed smoothly away from the site of her exclamation, before Geralt’s rock tossing drew their hunter’s attention away as well.

Both approached Edelgard after things had died down, Edward offering, under a raised wing’s shelter from the rain, a small hand towel from a pouch at his waist. They had to wait till the two BBs stopped their hunting around the rock spot anyway, so they had a moment for her to get some of the ‘egg’ off her actual face.

Edelgard graciously accepted the offered towel, wiping as much mud off her face and hands as she could, returning it soaked and soiled with an apologetic smile (it sadly proved more or less unsalvageable given the current conditions, and was silently and fusslessly disposed off as a result). As they set off again, Edelgard kept a more careful eye out for loose rocks and tripping hazards, though she had to go just a bit slower to do so. The frustration was evident on her face, though she did a commendable job at keeping a lid on it.

Edward and Midna both did a commendable job of not unduly commenting on the incident, though by the muffled sounds coming from behind Midna’s mask it seemed like doing so was very much a battle she was actively fighting, tooth vs tongue. As such, they eventually made it to the crevasse without further incident (beyond a close call with Goldlewis), and were forced to contend with the options at their disposal: crashed aircraft which Edward kept stealing glances at, vs crossing down into or over the wide obstacle. Secotnia provided a method of the latter, while Midna provided a warning of what to expect based on past memories of the burning pits of the dead zone, which contained, quite simply: [color=Aquamarine]”Demons”[/color]  

[color=crimson]”I am…reluctant…”[/color] Edelgard admitted, choosing her words carefully, before gesturing around her and to the others. If they went into the ruins, they risked alerting BTs to their presence and starting a chase in the midst of a battle. Perhaps Edward and Midna could manage it, but Edelgard was too great a liability in that regard. It was only through Geralt’s timely assistance that she was so easily able to escape before. Instead, Edelgard gestured to the rest of the group, clearly not wanting to separate from them. 

This got nods of understanding from the other two, and so they decided to stick with the generator. That did, however, involve crossing over a magical rain slicked crystal platform. Also, someone needed to make sure that they weren't going to be running straight into BTs doing this, and so Edward went ahead of the field generator itself to do just that, stepping onto it first, wings spread wide and with careful steps to avoid slipping. 

Minda followed suit, although she took the opposite approach. When crystal and decrease friction met with slippery results upon an initial test step, she backed up two more, took a run up, and then slid across the crustal as if it were an ice sheet, before stabbing her spear into the ground on the opposite side to halt her momentum

Edelgard, in her armor, grimaced at the rain-slicked platform that she was expected to jump upon and across, and took a slow, deep breath with her eyes closed. She was [i]not[/i] enjoying this, for just about every conceivable reason. Rather than the devil-may-care approach Midna took, Edelgard was very cautious and calculated in her approach, using only just enough strength to land on the platform, so that she would not have much momentum to carry her across it. She did, however, still possess momentum, and it took a moment for Edelgard to regain her footing on the crystal platform before she settled in. [color=crimson]”What a miserable affair…”[/color] she mumbled.

It was when their SFE carrier himself started to make the crossing that things got problematic, and the Demons Midna had mentioned made their appearance, with one large disembodied head floating up to assault them. In response to this Edward drew his new pistol and fired off a shot at it, but the flintlock proved to have terrible accuracy, the bullet lancing off at an angle despite his dead-on aim. 

It then also refused to fire a second shot.

[color=Aquamarine]”You have to hit things with the sword to reload it”[/color] Minda informed him when he asked why, something he described as [color=ea590c]”Absurd”[/color]

Ultimately, Ace himself handled the threat expertly with his own gunfire, but it was only the first of several more to come. 

A few more of the round demons where ascending, as where a compliment of magic spitting [url=https://i.imgur.com/gjOGY19.png]Gargoyles[/url] who climbed and fluttered up the sides of the crevasse, and a screaming swarm of [url=https://i.imgur.com/nDsA01c.png]lost souls[/url] which prompted a warning of [color=Aquamarine]”Those burning ones explode!”[/color] from Midna due to them sticking out particularly in her dreams it seemed. [color=crimson]”Of course they do!”[/color] Snarked Edelgard, Aymr summoned into her hand, ready to do battle as the gargoyles approached. 

The number of enemies wasn’t actually that intimidating, they’d faced far larger hordes of foes in skyworld after all, but with their magic suppressed and their gear light, it still possessed a threat.

Particularly if one of the supposedly lost souls were to detonate the crystal while others were crossing it.

For Edelgard, the threat posed by the gargoyles was not one she could casually ignore. No, because of course these demons attacked with magic, rather than with tooth and claw like the demonic beasts of her world. Even her shield could not truly protect her from the green projectiles they threw, and Edelgard found herself relying heavily on the others to defeat their foes, as her own magic, weak on its own, was suppressed heavily, as a Gargoyle just about shrugging off a Fire spell showed. This did, however, mean that unless the Gargoyles approached her directly, she could not harm them very much at all. 

The Lost Souls, on the other hand, seemed to explode with a more mundane force, and her shield and armor were more than capable of staving off the brunt of those blasts. They also were easily repelled with a single blow from Aymr, launching backwards from the impact and exploding harmlessly away from her. [color=crimson]”Please tell me none of those [i]things[/i] have heard us!”[/color] she cried out to Edward as she watched a Lost Soul explode after a swing and a hit.

[color=ea590c]”The Odradek is calm”[/color] Edward called back from where he was taking cover, more or less hiding from the fight, tapping away at a stuttering armory access circle. To be fair to him, the man did have a baby strapped to his chest, even if that baby looked like it very much wanted to get in on the action, Baby Mario sporting the most determined look an infant was capable of doing while his hands were balled into fists.

Midna meanwhile had ducked out of the fight entirely at first, or, rather, had ducked out of the SFE field, only to then duck back into it once she was done casting unsuppressed magic, returning holding a pair of square, snub nosed auto pistols, one in each hand. With her spear left embedded in the ground, she stepped into the role of dps to Edelgard’s tank, peppering their foes with small arms fire. 

Somewhat ineffective it might be said, the woman’s shots often flew of course for faults that were entirely her own, and by the string of curses and insults along the lines of [color=Aquamarine]”Stay still and die you overgrown Keese!”[/color] she was very much aware of this shortcoming. 

The best ranged support they provided as a team came rather late, as Edward finally acquired a suitable weapon via slow armory uplink. He then propped the long barreled sickly green highlighted Therian Viral Rifle between two rocks on the crevasse’s’ edge, keeping his charge and the delicate equipment attached to the BB firmly behind his cover while he started returning fire. Rather than thunderous retorts, the futuristic weapon elicited a combination of surging electrical hum and a woosh of air as it spat syringes of horrible viral toxins at the demons, toxin which seemed not to care about their victim’s otherworldly nature one bit as they left gangrenous itching wounds on the targets.

Edward was, notably, not using the inbuilt digital scope to fire it due to unfamiliarity with anything beyond iron sights, somewhat hampering his accuracy, though weakened casts of his Designate Target spell helped both him and Minda’s in finding their mark. 

The rifle's healing alt-fire also went entirely unused.

[color=Aquamarine]”Also why I didn’t use that one!”[/color] Midna called out in comment as they got a close look at one of the rotting demons when it came at them with bladed arms, only for her to kick that particular specimen back into the pit. Edwad simply described it as [color=ea590c]”very goblin-esque”[/color] in a tone of grudging respect for the advanced form of blight based warfare. 

Much of the pressure from the ranged attackers off her now, Edelgard was free to batter Lost Souls to her heart’s content, though she’d have preferred not to be fighting on this strange crystal platform at the moment. When one came close, she simply lashed out with Aymr, and in due time, the tide of demons began to abate, though Edelgard found herself rather heavily wounded due to all of the magic attacks that came her way. Her coat was also somewhat damaged, with burn marks leaving access to her armor. [color=crimson]”Damn it. I will need to be careful not to come into contact with the rain directly, it seems.”[/color] Her armor would provide one final line of defense if her personal shield ran out, but that wouldn’t last nearly as long as the coat itself would have, and would have the nasty side effect of compromising her defense. [color=BFBFBF]”We should continue now before more come.”[/color] Edelgard warned, panting a bit as she used a Heal spell on herself to relieve herself of some of the damage, though it was, again, much less effective than normal.

Edward provided some magical healing of his, or rather of a feather staff striker’s, own as well, but it too was suppressed, seemingly even more than Edlegard’s own. 

[color=Aquamarine]”Well, you tried”[/color] Minda commented with a shrug, before stepping away to go ditch her pistols outside of the SFE field. However Edward was not done, saying
[color=ea590c]”Give me a moment an perhaps-”[/color] as he crouched down and started to inspect the construction of the weapon he was holding, flicking a switch which seemed to swap the partially drained viral chamber for a second still mostly full one of a much more pleasantly green fluid.

[color=ea590c]”I suppose that will do it”[/color] he concluded, reluctantly, before informing her that [color=ea590c]”If I shoot you now it will, supposedly, heal you”[/color] 

Edelgard looked at Edward with great skepticism, before turning her gaze onto the strange weapon he was wielding. [color=crimson]”If this does not work, I assure you, commander, that we [i]will[/i] be having words. Do what you will with that.”[/color] She replied, giving Edward the choice.

The man looked as if he was about to say something, then thought the better of it. Instead he raised the rifle once more, and fired the shot at the largest of Edelgard’s remaining injuries. There was an electrical hum and woosh once more, and once again a green payload splattered against the weapon’s target. Rather than sicken and rot, however, it produced a warm, soothing tingle across the burns as it smoothed them away.

The feeling and healing ended quickly, though somewhat unfortunately the goop itself did not go anywhere when it did, instead simply graying as it became inert and needing to be wiped off.

[color=Aquamarine]”I thouuuuuught you said you should never do that”[/color] Minda teased, causing Edward to start just a fraction at how she’d crept back up on him at least.

[color=ea590c]”And I’d prefer not to do so ever again, though I am now somewhat stuck carrying this about”[/color] Edward replied, referring to the lengthy returning process that the SFE or rain would both make monumentally more difficult to pull off.

Having wiped the goop from the viral rifle off after the healing ended, Edelgard was left feeling more than a little unclean. Between the rain, the mud, the hits she’d taken, and the healing slime, she was already ready to be done with this day. Still, they’d crossed the ravine and were finally ready to move on. She looked forward to the omnipresent form of the Qliphoth and nodded. [color=crimson]”Well, shall we?”[/color]