Click This

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

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Éliane, had, apparently, missed a great deal in the couple of moments that she had spent inspecting and then disassembling the rotary gun outside the room. It didn’t take a genius to guess the main details of what had transpired, though, and it looked like Mizutane’s interrogation and execution had been far messier than anybody had expected.

Then, there was the matter of Ciradyl, and the reason why Éliane was crowded together with the rest of Kirin and the other Ospreyans in a safe house meeting room, holding what to all purposes was a military tribunal instead of being in the workshop fully stripping the gatling gun and getting it ready for her own purposes…

If anything, though, the Skaelan officer was understanding of the Ospreyan woman, despite the allegations and aspersions cast on her loyalty. Skaelan politics, as superior as her country was the others was a particularly nasty thing; there would have been little need or even the skills necessary for the existence of SEED had that not been the case. There were so many circumstances and strange ploys that she was familiar with not just in her brief time in the service, but simply by being exposed to Solitude politics that she would not judge until she understood the full details.

And Esben, in a truly Skaelan way, provided. He had all the documents and evidence that betrayed Ciradyl’s intent behind her actions.
She understood. Like many things when it came to high-level politics and decision making, she understood, but didn’t like it. It was part of why she had left SEED, among many other things, but at heart, Éliane was very much a pragmatist. Just as she disliked working with criminals, it was still the pragmatic thing to do, and so she did it; here, Ciradyl assassinated ostensible allies and fellow countrymen, but only to preserve what remained of the stately ship. She didn’t like it, but she understood.

So, she wouldn’t judge. There was little for her to say that wasn’t already said by the others, and she had little to do with the woman, either.

“Unfortunate, but understandable,” were her only words that she added on the matter. Perhaps she would speak to her at a later time, but with the interrogation all but over, she nodded her head and left. There were spoils to be inspected, after all, and after that mess of a mission, she would much rather have a piping hot cup of coffee and pour of the design of her new toy.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

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It was clear that the situation was more or less managed, at least from what Éliane could see. Although the mansion was starting to burn down, it was still gradual enough. With the rest of her team crowding around the criminal of the house, an extra body was not going to do anything else but to get in the way of what needed to be done in that room.

And Éliane hadn’t really wanted much to do with this mission, anyway. The fact that there was a beautiful crew-served weapon of her dreams right in front of her did much to alleviate the sour taste that remained, and she continued to scrutinize the gatling gun to see how best it could be taken with the group. She was already imagining mounting it in the wagon for Goug to use, either for fire support or for self defense that was very much overkill…

Seeing Rudolf stop briefly to take a look at the gun for himself as well, she nodded at him. “We should be able to take all of it. It’ll be very… useful…?”

She tilted her head as he was urged on, and shrugged. Still not needed, she continued to dismantle the gun. If she pulled her arms through the removed wheels and hung them on her shoulders, and then carried the rest, then maybe it could be done…

It didn’t take long, but Éliane had the thing dismantled soon enough. Someone else needed to grab the full ammunition box, but as it was now, she was carrying it. With her arms through the wheels looking like ridiculous shoulder pauldrons, a belt of ammunition across her shoulder, and the actual gun just barely held with all the rest of the bulk, she looked as ridiculous as she expected as she finally moved into the other room to see how things were going.

“…what in Artimis is happening here?”

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Skill issue ;3

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Mirie and her retinue will also be nowhere to be found after being ejected, too.

After all, why be teleported into the cold, open sea when you can instead port right back into your parlor and immediately be served a hot cup of tea?

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

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Her explosions had definitely added to the chaos, but they didn’t bring down the building, at least. The building itself probably wasn’t going to last after the fire and the rest of the fight, though.

Especially when the criminals brought out a full shielded gatling gun mount of all things, blasting away at anything that moved—and the columns of the building. Given the relatively close quarters, she could have dealt with it fairly easily. Lobbing another bombard in the gun’s direction would probably silence it. But she also wanted the gun for herself.

It was a bloody twelve-barrel whirring machine of death, after all.

In the few moments she debated how to approach taking out the gun without destroying it, her teammates moved on it instead of her.
And Miina of all people managed to slip in and shank the man with her sword. Éliane would have never expected that from the diminutive, meek girl—she’d have to complement her later on that.

With the pathway free, though, she bounded up to the gun, briefly inspecting it. “We’re taking this with us, no matter what happens,” she declared to the team, in a tone that brooked no argument. It was clear that she was going to continue to wonder over the gun until a mighty crashing noise from above caught her attention, just as an enemy samurai stumbled through the ruined door to Mizutane’s room.

Éliane raised an eyebrow as she raised up her gunblade. The man had quickly recovered, and on seeing Éliane, smirked as he began to twirl and flourish his blade.

The Skaelan tilted her head. Was he trying to show off or intimidate her?

Well, two could play at game, and she had a gun, too. She smiled back, flipped her blade around and did some classic Skaelan blade tricks, even tossing her blade in the air like a baton… before catching it again and shooting the man with her gunblade.

Right then. How was she going to bring this gun and its ammo with her?

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

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To Éliane’s greatest relief, the decision was taken from her, and from the team at large by their absolute lack of luck in infiltrating the compound. In other words, she was free to do what she did best—make lots of noise, do lots of damage, and to jump right into the fray with her gunblade. It didn’t take more than a moment after that man screamed that she already had her weapon out.

The place was surprisingly more guarded than she’d thought, even with the half-assed briefing that they’d gotten just before.

Actually, with how little information they had, should Éliane really have been particularly surprised?

Fighting began to erupt around her, and Éliane didn’t hesitate to begin shooting. It was quickly turning into a gun battle –the thugs were well-armed, and in close-quarters, they were left somewhat at a disadvantage…

But Éliane was used to gunfights like this. Shooting one gun-toting thug right in the face with her gunblade, she vaulted over a table in the corridor, closing the distance. She had secured some small bombards of Ospreyan make during their time in the city, and this seemed like as good of a place as any to try them out. She lit one and tossed it under a pair of criminals that had been firing at Galahad—and a moment later, they were thrown forwards by the small explosion.

Eve’s violent shout, though, completely caught her off guard, and she dropped her second, larger bombard. Thankfully, it wasn’t activated, but it rolled backwards, down the corridor and out of sight… and theoretically safely out of mind, too…

If Eve didn’t direct a wall of flames down that same hallway, that was.

Éliane ducked under a pillar, shouting a warning as she did. “Grenade! Get down!”

Sorry, Galahad…

A moment later, it exploded.

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

And finally posted! Erode was pretty much on the money there. Nothing game changing, but Mirie's reaction to what she was already suspecting definitely would have (and will) warrant another full post.

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

Mirie Agustria of the Grand Bank,

Duchess of Caelin

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Athroyeaux Castle Throne Room\\

Mirie did not like going to Athroyeaux, or Ravenfell entirely, for that matter. Not since the king had taken himself and his entire kingdom off the mortal coil entirely. The Duchess was far from the model of a selfless leader that only existed to serve her people, but what that man had done to his people in the name of security felt like the greater sin compared to the Queen’s usurpation of Arrowfell.

Just moving through the city, its eerie, joyless, and utterly lifeless disposition seemed to suck the life out of herself and her escorts. This had once been a thriving city full of life—it was such a stark contrast to the lively mercantile atmosphere of the Grand Banks that it was enough to unsettle her. It was also no secret among her peers that she had deeply distrusted the King of Ravelfell ever since he had his people shuffled off the mortal coil, however immortal they technically were. In this, even the Queen knew. She did not like dealing with him, but she couldn’t neglect the summons given that Ravenfell still remained a power and a counterweight in the great game.

Nonetheless, the only reason she ultimately accepted was the fact that she could leave whenever she pleased, if he saw fit to arrange a betrayal in his court.

It wasn’t a surprise that the Duchess was acceptably late, then, arriving in the throne room with two armed maids as her escorts—her household knights. She noted those present—Rhinecliff was expected, as was Altina, but she was mildly surprised to see the Tearmoon Coven represented here, in addition to the Queen’s own advisor, Eirwen Blackthorne. That he was here was troubling in its implications, but their presence was less important than the immediate conversation between Rhinecliff and the king, and the sword offered to him.

If only it would be so easy.

The Ghost King was right, no doubt. The Queen herself had told her as much, but Mirie suspected that the offered sword was a poisoned chalice, too—not just for her goals of delaying a war, but for whatever the king would want of those assembled here. Spectral as he was, he was still a king, and there were precious few sovereigns that did not want for more.

To offer that sword for the Queen as is… She held on to that thought.

Laurent brought up an interesting point— Both she and the Ghost King could theoretically spirit her away. Mirie could try, but knew she would likely fail without extensive planning—and thusly, she doubted the king truly had the means either. Not when she could teleport herself, along with a small army with her. In a vacuum, it would work. They were not in a vacuum. Regardless, it was a move too bold for her, even given what was at stake.

“Well met, Duke Rhinecliff,” she greeted, Laurent’s sudden question conveniently allowing her to postpone greeting the spectral king. However, it wasn’t particularly a question she preferred to answer, even rhetorically.

“Caelin is known for its miraculous feats of logistics,” she acknowledged, “But interfering with the Wizard-Queen might be a step too far.” Laurent would get the meaning—for the two that were more aligned to the Queen, it was also a good deflection.

“What His Majesty speaks is true. What the Queen will find in my waters will change the balance of power. However, I find myself in full agreement with Duchess Altina. You cannot hope to open a mutual dialogue with us without some basis of trust.”

Did the King know that the Wizard-Queen meant to deal directly with him? Mirie had considered revealing that aspect of her conversation with her here, but she held her tongue to see how the Ghost King would react. Her wariness moved her to prod further. His motivations still felt strange.

“Your Majesty, is it merely the Queen that you desire? Or something yet more?"

ArrowFell: The Wizard Queen's Court

<Snipped quote by Click This>

Sorry, I thought I'd be alright to post a little early. ^^; Feel free to post, or I can edit to adjust for you, and then I can post again after you.

@Estylwen

What I have partially written right now is Mirie being slightly late but in-time to catch most of the conversation and answer Rhinecliff's question, but that doesn't flow very well anymore with the latest post, so I've been kind of scratching my head at how to proceed. What sounds the best here?

Normally I'd just scrap and rewrite, but I've been banging my head against how I've wanted to write it for the past several days now, haha.