Lemons

Iquenos: In Nomine Domini

Etoile

---

In that moment, Etoile's focus was split three ways.

One: her head was still pounding. It wasn't debilitating any longer--she pulled herself back to her feet, readying Vent de Trancheuse for combat once more. But it certainly wasn't pleasant. She was capable of using magic again--it typically didn't take her very long to recover from overuse, given that aether in the air was all around her, all the time, but if she used anything particularly strenuous she'd probably get the nails-in-her-skull pressure of magical overdraw once again, and every time, it grew more likely that it would be a death sentence. She might need to for the sake of keeping herself and everyone else alive; that didn't mean she'd need to like it.

Two: the vines. They were stymied for a moment. Their sources--the treants--had been momentarily debilitated, and the assault of the vines had slowed to a crawl. There was a chance there, with Pagonia's aid in keeping its mouth pried open for a kill-shot, to permanently shut one of the out of the fight, and out of the world. She couldn't burn it like the younger Calore brother, but a gladius ventus empowered series of rapid strikes to the core with her saber could probably accomplish roughly the same thing, and keeping those vines at bay would be critical in finishing this fight; freeing up Pagonia and especially Sparky would be instrumental in cutting off the head of the snake.

Three: the aforementioned head of the snake. The maleficarum herself had shown up. Etoile wasn't affected in the same way that Zestasia seemed to be by her presence--over the course of her career as an Inquisitor, she'd grown used to dealing with the disgusting aura that a malum maleficarum that had completely given themselves over to anger put out. Had she still been in top form, she would be in her element here, and more than likely, she would have been able to cut down the whole tree instead of just a couple branches without breaking a sweat, and be able to finish the fight right then and there; kill the maleficarum, kill the animating magic. But unfortunately, she'd been neglecting both her magical aptitude and her swordsmanship since her apostasy. She was nowhere even close to peak condition, as evidenced by how poor her magical stamina had become, and she had little doubt that if she tried to fight the maleficarum alone in her current state, she'd be summarily slaughtered.

What do I prioritize here?

Then the moment passed, and she made her choice. Zestasia would just need to fend for himself. Fighting a maleficarum was one thing; fighting a maleficarum and two treants at the same time was another. It was past time for them to go.

"Gladius ventus!"

The aura of wind around her saber returned, and she felt almost like herself again. And she tore across the forest towards Pagonia and the treant, dodging an errant vine here and there. She didn't know how long Pagonia would be able to hold it open.

But however long it would be, it wouldn't be long enough. Her leg wound was catching up to her, and she was slowing. This maleficarum wasn't stupid. She might just redirect her attention briefly at the weakened ventus-user. A bolt of malum energy in her injured leg would make it almost impossible for her to walk, and certainly, she wouldn't be able to make it to the treant in time.

So, hating how quickly these decisions needed to be made--is it so much to ask to have time to THINK?--she thrust her hand out behind her, and bellowed:

"Impulsus ventus!"

A burst of air surged out behind her and blasted her forwards, carrying her off her feet and rocketing her straight towards the treant's open mouth. All she had time for was a single swipe of her sword to sever a final vine trying to stop her flight, and a shouted "OUT OF THE WAY!" to Pagonia.

Then she struck, and she struck true. Vent de Trancheuse's ventus-empowered blade sunk deep into the treant. She twisted as she went, planting her feet against the rough bark and adding her own muscles' force into the blade's strike. She swirled the wind-assisted blade through the pulpy insides of the treant, her teeth bared in a snarl.

Then, she felt a pop of magic as her sword found the monster's magical core. A rush of staticky magic flew past her in an existential scream, and the vines went limp. She toppled from the dead treant's mouth and forced herself to her feet, flicking her saber out beside her. The nails found her head again, and her teeth clenched harder.

One down.

The Voyagers of Duonia: A Medieval Fantasy RP

---

"Sigrdrifa at the tavern, yes? That will be quite helpful. Thank you very much, Gudrik. And you as well for thinking to ask about it...um...Rhoshen, was it? I'm sorry, I'm not very good with names." She winced. She really would need to work on that.

Entyrea wasn't often intimidated by new situations. Her coddled upbringing, combined with the traveling she'd done since as a wizard, had led to her being relatively open to jumping headfirst into places she'd never been. But here--working with a group, something she hadn't often done, in a hostile territory where she had no footing and, apparently, knew nothing about how the cities and governments organized themselves--she found herself...wary.

She scampered up behind the half-Orc, tapping her on the shoulder before she could cover too much ground for Entyrea to comfortable catch up. "Your name was...Dular, yes? I am, as discussed, quite open to doing the talking inside, and do think it's likely the best idea for me to do so. However," she stressed the last word heavily, "I'm not a fool, and though I am capable in terms of self defense--" a spark of fire danced on her offhand--"I don't want to be doing the talking without some kind of assurance that I won't be slapped upside the head with a mace when I turn my back. Would you mind--for the duration of our time in Auonar, at least--staying near me and, well, making sure that people don't..."

She paused for a moment, plucking at her silk dress and fine cloak and waving a hand at the large jewel on her staff, "...take an unfortunate opportunity?"

Dular seemed amiable enough. She hoped there would be no offense taken for Entyrea essentially asking for her to be a bodyguard for the duration of their stay. It did seem a touch rude, but Entyrea was sick to death of constantly having to watch her back because people's eyes went starry at her changepurse. It would be quite a welcome change for someone else to watch it so she wouldn't need to risk being robbed blind and/or murdered in the street because she wasn't hiding her wealth.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

---

Alja was feeling...out of sorts.

She thought that she was used to the fatigue of casting spells, and that this was slightly worse. She thought. But it seemed like it was more than just slightly worse. She was almost on autopilot, barely even conscious. She'd need to be whole lot more careful with spellcasting from that point on, or else things would start going wrong.

By the time she was out of her fugue state, she realized that she was past the door. And of all people, Graves had carried Seele to safety. She felt bile rise in her throat at how little use she'd been throughout that entire ordeal, but rapidly discarded it. It seemed like the devs were starting to implement updates that were messing with the basic systems of the game. Under the circumstances, she could hardly be blamed for trying something that had worked countless times before.

Then, as the door slammed shut behind them--her autopiloted state slackening until she felt in control again--things only began to get worse. Alja had never used her console for magic; she didn't use it much in day-to-day Pariah life in general. Primordial magic, combined with a fairly straightforward playstyle, resulted in a pretty menu-free game. She heaved in another deep breath. "No worries, everyone. 'S probably fine. 'Member a few months back, when the menu didn't come up because of software updates screwing with it? I'm sure it's all good..."

Then her words died on her tongue; before them was the signature bright flash of light that signaled a game attendant. She heaved out a sigh of relief. No doubt, they would explain that they were rolling out some new test changes--or maybe glitches, she couldn't quite tell what they might be--but it wasn't panning out, so they would be rolling them right back in pretty shortly. They had absolute control over the game world, after all, and could modify however they chose. They were basically gods. Then, Aag's group and their own would be free to complete the dungeon without worrying about random spikes of actual pain biting into their gameplay, and she could get that goddamn soup she wanted. She was still hungry, damnit.

But as she listened to the attendant--she'd never heard one break character before--she bit of relief she felt was replaced with a coldness that radiated through her entire body, and one that had nothing to do with her ice magic. She froze up, her face written with an expression of pure shock.

"...you will die."

You will die.

You will die.

There was a strange keening sound, and it took Alja a belated moment to realize that it was her.

She looked down at her avatar. Alja. The strong backbone of the group. Someone that could be depended on, always, and no matter what. Someone that could serve every role in a party; she could pull mobs and tank them for days. She could deal heavy burst damage with her flail. She could even lockdown and provide some buffs if they needed support. In all senses, the character of Alja was made to be her, and it fit her perfectly, not even so much as a glove as skin.

But in that moment, a high, piercing ringing in her ears as she stared down at her trembling hands in shock, Alja suddenly felt far too large.

Before she knew what she was doing--before a conscious thought could even pierce through the turmoil that her head had become, the massive, heavily-armored woman had curled into herself. She pedaled her feet frantically backwards, shoving herself into the dungeon wall, as images of her friends and herself bloodied and dying on the floor flashed in front of her eyes. She lifted her hands up, clutching them around her head like they were the only things stopping her brain from leaking out of her ears and splattering bloodied onto the floor. Her throat was sore for some reason.

You will die.

You will die.

You will die.

Suddenly, the world felt far smaller than it should have, and she felt far too large. She huddled tighter into a ball, clutching her head ever harder as tears poured down her face and her open eyes stared unseeing into space..

You will die.
You will die.
You will die.
You will die.
YOU WILL DIE.

Then Alja opened her mouth.

And Kelly screamed.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

---

In that moment, Alja's thoughts mirrored Graves' words quite well: What the FUCK!?

There was no pain in Pariah; not really. There couldn't be. It was a goddamn game, after all. But c'mon, Graves wasn't that good of an actor. That was real genuine panic in the man, and he was so loath to show weakness, she could only assume that it was real.

Pressing her lips tightly together--business time now--she passed Graves, who'd fallen back into her, off to the rest to take care of. Kazuki could probably heal him up, hopefully without any more pain. She pulled the frost of her Tundra Glass off of Graves, back to herself to replenish her magical reserves. Then, being careful not to stray off the tile she was on, she pulled Glacier Chain off of her back, giving it a few experimental swings. She looked back and forth, making sure that there was sufficient room behind her. She let herself smile a little bit, some of the tension slacking out of her; she'd pulled this trick on pressure plates a thousand times, it felt like.

Then she heaved the enormous flail over her head and slammed it into the floor with a wordless bellow.

Her conjuration shot out through the weapon, and with a sound like a pane of glass breaking, a river of ice flowed out over the floor like quicksilver, sinking into the cracks between the tiles and freezing fast, covering it in a thin layer of ice. It passed Seele's barrier, reaching the door at the end in a little less then five seconds before halting, creating a narrow path no more than two feet wide. She tentatively stepped forward, putting her weight on the tile. There was a faint crackling sound and she tensed to throw herself back, but then it settled and held. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, and then stood. Oddly shakily, actually. She was used to the concept of fatigue in Pariah--magic needed a limit, after all, and that was a pretty good-sized conjuration spell, one that she only had enough fuel for one or two of in her at any given time--but she'd never felt like this, even after a whole dungeon. She grimaced. Pain. Heat. Fatigue. Smell. This was not looking good.

Then--because of course--just as she stepped forwards, something in the floor shifted, and there was a sound of grinding gears. And in front of her eyes--just past her feet--a veritable forest of spikes lanced up through the floor, punching holes through her ice like it wasn't there and shattering it to shards of mist and magic. Every spike. Everywhere.

Jesus Fixer Christ.

She backed up out of instinct, eyes wide and mouth suddenly dry.

"Well. That...was unexpected."

Lem's Stash

-

Lem's Stash

-

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

---

As she flicked the last of the goblin blood off Glacier Chain and their cries went silent, Alja snorted in displeasure. She almost wished she were still drunk--so THAT'S what that feels like?--so the damned smell of the goblins wouldn't be as bad. But Graves' blood magic, plus the excessively hot and humid day...more so than any other she could remember experiencing in Pariah, actually, now that she thought about it...had her sobered up relatively quickly. And now that she was sober, she came to another strange realization: she'd never felt hunger in PO before. But the way her stomach was pinching up was unmistakable, and she found herself wishing even more that she'd snagged one of Seele's sandwiches back in the tavern.

The first goblins they'd encountered were...well. Low-level mooks, at best. And that bothered her too. No ambush in the approach to the dungeon, and now that they were INSIDE of the main structure...just goblins? Something about it didn't sit right with her. She almost wanted to bring it up, and maybe call the whole thing off. But, she grimaced, the group would never go for that. They were here for a raid, and they were going to get that damn raid. Without her, it would just take longer, and the less time they had to spend raiding with this weird series of glitches or features--whatever they were--the better.

A brief conversation was had regarding the murals--ah, Graves, what a charmer--before they formed up in their separate groups, ready to split, as she did, Alja called over to her friend:

"Hey, Leafy! If we beat this raid, I'll make you that steel warbow you wanted a while back, and a whole quiver of arrows for it! I've got the mats now, so count on it!"

Satisfied, she stretched, rolling her head and cracking her knuckles as she joined her raid team, just as Seele was finished up giving a cute little pep talk. "Right, I'm all specced for max damage, ready to go." Glacier Chain took on a dangerous glint as unstable Tundra Glass crystals coalesced on it, just waiting for an impact to set them free. Then, right as she felt the tension building in her stomach knot harder, Alex raised...a really, really good point, actually. And the tension began to untwist a little. "Know what, Alex? You're probs right. The sudden dungeons rising, the weird glitch-like stuff; really feels like a hidden local update, now you mention it." She sighed with a measure of relief.

"Anyway," she began, "I'll take left flank, a little closer to the front so I can buff up Rael if I need to. If you're cool with that, all?" She looked back and forth between Rael, Graves and Benkei, waiting for the go-ahead to get into position and falling back into the old stance, flail on her shoulder. I'm getting nervous over nothing. I'll clear, then I can log off and...I dunno, make some soup.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

---

"'M...fine, Raylll," Alja slurred out, surprising herself with just how indistinct her words were. Somethin's wrong. Somethin's wrong. Still, she tried not to let her concern show on her face, attempting to get up again before falling back down in a gross display of miscoordination. "'M jus'...dizzy for sum reason. Dunno why." She rubbed at her eyes aggressively, trying to will her vision back to clarity and somehow being surprised when it didn't work.

She tried to stand again, and this time she managed to make it to her feet, supporting herself on the table and breathing deeply as a denizen came over, concern on her face. Alja waved her away, but removing one of her hands from her support table had the reasonably predictable outcome of her barely managing to stay on her feet. She turned to face Graves, frowning as she found it difficult to see his face clearly; it kept swimming in and out of focus. "'S gotta be...debuff or som'thin,' righ?'. 'M real dizzy..." she brought her hand up to her face, feeling the heat rushing through it as her normally fair skin was suffused a bright red by...whatever this was.

She sat down again, grunting in mild irritation as the waitress continued hovering out of something like concern. And, it occurred to Alja, there was something she could use at the moment. She waved the waitress over and, voice still slurred, asked: "C'n you get me some water?"

She nodded and scurried off, and Alja slumped back down, her eyes drawn as if magnetically to the blurry image of a tearfully happy Luci being congratulated by everyone in the bar, and Aaginim standing next to her. She looked on, the previously confused expression on her face replaced with what seemed like an almost comical melancholy. "Sh'd b'mm," she mumbled, her face lying sideways on the table and distorting her mouth to the point of incoherence.

Then--for the first time in a long time--some of her IRL self leaked into Alja, and she pivoted her head until she was looking at Graves almost piteously. And in that moment, she looked almost as small as her real-world counterpart. "'M I gonna be okay, Graves?"

Then the moment passed, and she slumped back into the table with a dizzy groan.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

---

Speaking of Aaginim's announcements...

Alja was happy for Luci. She really, really was. She'd never seen the other woman looking as joyful as she was at that exact moment, and she took a mental snapshot of it, hoping she'd be able to remember it forever. But still, it wasn't all happiness. She frowned a little bit, looking at Luci's happy face, and at Aaginim next to her. She was feeling...

And then her thoughts trailed off.

She was feeling...weird. As she moved away from Benkei and towards Luci--intent on congratulating her, and burying the little nugget of discontent that burrowed into her heart--the room spun around her. She pitched to her side with a gasped "huh?"

It was like a switch had been flipped inside her, and suddenly, she was feeling all fuzzy. And it wasn't even that severe of a feeling; it was just so...so weird and unexpected that she lurched to the side, whacking her thigh into a table with a loud bonk. She shook her head; it reminded her of when she was a little kid, and she twirled around outside until she fell down. That, combined with a little bit of a fever? She'd never felt anything quite like it, and it occurred to her that she might've been hit with a debuff of some kind. But she didn't have PvP toggled; she even opened her menu, fumbling with it like a newbie, to check.

She carefully rotated herself around the table and slouched down into a chair, staring at her hands in confusion, and all she managed was a quiet, uncoordinated "...what...?"

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

---

Aaginim's announcement came faster than she'd expected, but hey, the faster they took on the dungeon, the better, right? Still. She couldn't say she was super happy with the teams.

Keep the smile up, don't let it get to you.

Alja liked most people she met in Pariah, but she did not like Benkei. Like Luci, he was competent. Staggeringly competent (though probably not as much as Luci). But that's where the similarities ended between them. Luci was good at what she did, but she didn't look down at others worse than she was. She was, above all, professional. And she showed professional courtesy. Alja'd run exactly one raid with Benkei as a DPS, and he had strained her good-natured patience to its absolute limit, micromanaging every little thing she did, lambasting her for every decimal below the the other damage dealers she was.

More to the point, though, as far as they'd interacted--which, granted, wasn't a lot--she didn't think he was expert in conflict resolution. And with Graves, Kalie and Rael all in the same party, that was probably going to be a necessary skill. Let's hope they can keep it civil while we're in the dungeon, or else there's gonna be some problems.

She heaved a heavy sigh, exhaling the frustration. No point in fretting over it now, after all. She'd just need to make sure she did her best in the raid to keep Benkei happy, and hopefully everyone would play nice. So now the question was: what exactly would she be doing during the raid?

Right. Let's see...Rael and Benkei to tank, then Graves, Kalie and the new kid, whatshisname...Alex for DPS. Two supports. She blew up at a strand of hair that fell over her face, thinking about her role. I could go DPS, split it evenly down the middle, but there are already two melee DPS and I don't wanna step on their toes, get in their way. Hmm.

She picked up her backpack and retrieved Glacier Chain from where she'd left it by the table, then clomped up to Benkei--he seemed to be talking to the girl with the sandwiches from earlier (Alja was still sad she hadn't been able to eat one)--and tapped him on the shoulder. "Yo, Benkei. You're the boss. Should I go in expectin' to tank or DPS?" She motioned to her heavy armor. "Gotta make sure I got the right gear equipped for the job, ya dig?"

She peered over Benkei's head at the support--Seele, probably, she knew almost everyone's names now and she didn't seem like a Kazuki, and the boy near Benkei certainly didn't seem like a Seele--and gave her an apologetic glance. "Sorry to cut you off, I'd just like to know my role early. I'm Alja."