[F29-EV] The Final Stand | <<Fatal Error ACT: 2>>

[Plot Master 0]

Final Total for Round 3: 154

Raid participants will receive | Reinforcements | +2 Base Damage {DPS}, +50 Mitigation {Tank}, +25 EN {Support}, +1 Disable Activation Range {Scout}
Raid participants will receive | Renewed Hope | All currently drained [Crystal of Divine Light], [Horrifying Visage] Disabled!

Sword Delivery Word Count: 9608/27000

Round 4 has begun
Players will have 72 hours to make a post
[Countdown Timer]

Edited Wednesday at 09:53 PM by Wulfrin

[Pollux 0]

#

---

-> SLAUGHTERING MOBS: 248644: LD 8 + 5 = 13 TOTAL.

Edited Thursday at 03:17 AM by Pollux

[Riardon 0]

"Sirs," A member of the scouting parties spoke up as they rushed into the command center. "The Sword has been passed off."

"Good," Riardon replied as he continued to examine the map. "Who are comprising the new group of sword carriers?"

"Jevi, Adelyte, Kyra, and Hackman."

"Understood. Continue to monitor them. We need to keep an eye on that sword. The sooner it gets back to the labyrinth boss room, the sooner the raid team can put an end to this madness."

The scout gave a salute before turning around on their back foot and disappearing into the shadows. Riardon turned his attention back to the fight unraveling around him. They were losing ground, a forseen consequence of the primary forces in Aincrad being locked in combat with a raid boss. From what Riardon could tell from this distance, the fight with Belregor at the Black was going well. The beach front was shrouded in darkness and the raid boss continued to shift between the forms of various players on the frontline. Riardon glanced down to the list of names he had been keeping. The four new names added to the sword carriers list were unfamiliar to him, so estimating their success was going to rely entirely on the information he could get from the scouting parties. The list of injured players was growing by the minute and with each additional name, the defendable perimeter shrunk. It wouldn't be long before they'd have to abandon the floor all together. Riardon cleared his throat before approaching the balcony over looking the battlefield.

"HOLD FAST!" Riardon roared with a commanding presence, his voice echoing across the entirety of the battlefield. "DON'T GIVE AN INCH! TOGETHER WE WILL PREVAIL!"

As hopeful as he tried to sound, Riardon couldn't help but notice the failing defenses. All he could do was put his faith in the frontline players and the sword carriers to bring an end to this ongoing plight.

WC: 325

* * *

Post Action: Commanding The Troops (Leadership R5 | +5 LD)
ID 248704 | LD 15+5=20

Running Total: 13+20= 33

Edited Friday at 03:21 PM by Riardon

[Astra 0]

The sound of distant pop music, unfettered chaos, and a violent struggle grew closer as he neared Miremoor. As he exited the treeline of the forest, visuals began to match the cacophony of noise. Explosions going off at a rhythmic interval, flashes from sword arts being used against beasts, and an entire battlefield in struggle. The situation was more dire than he previously thought, but Astra wasn't going to let that slow him down. It was time to put his life on the line in the same way others were doing. 

A message notification from Bliss had appeared in his vision, and the message he received had confirmed his thoughts: She was already somewhere amidst the pandemonium. A hint of worry crossed his mind and a bead of sweat formed as he continued to run. I hope I can find her quickly. 

Prior to this Astra had been on a hell of a journey on Floor 29, working with three other players to deliver the sword to the boss room. After surviving a near death experience going over a waterfall, the party had found themselves lost in the daunting forest. Thankfully, another party were able to locate them and the sword was passed off from that point on. He couldn't help but wonder if they were okay, or if they were any closer to making it. A lot was riding on this sword when it came to helping the frontlines. 

With little time to spare, Astra had made it into Miremoor - his bright white coat trailing behind him like a beacon. Wreckage from buildings and barricades littered the ground, as players and NPCs alike fought on against waves of mobs. Some players were inspiring the crowds and the frontliners with infectious music. Others were rebuilding barricades as they nearly crumbled under the weight of pressing enemies. Astra knew that the best place for him at this moment would be joining those who were fighting back against the monsters. 

Astra's eyes scanned the struggle, looking for any sign of Bliss amidst the disarray. As he neared the barricades he began to see a petite blonde wielding an oversized wrench, using her skills to repair the battered barricades. Yep, that was her. Equipping his sword to his hand, Astra dashed ahead, before leaping over the barricades. As he came down, he managed to land on the head of one of the mobs, kicking it down into the ground. As he stood up, he took a quick moment to look behind him towards Bliss. "Sorry I'm late," he said with a smile, his sword rested on his shoulder. He probably would've said a little more in a normal situation, but there wasn't much time before the mobs came at him. Doing his best to fight them off, he swung his sword with everything he had, cutting down any mobs that tried to get closer to the barricade. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

***

Post Action: Slaughtering Mobs (Straight Sword R5 | +5LD)
ID 248705 | LD: 10+5=15

Running Total: 33+15= 48

Edited Friday at 04:51 PM by Astra

[KnightinGale 0]

A flash of white surged past KnightinGale as she moved to take on another wave of shambling blobs of eldritch tendrils threatening to undo her hard work yet again. As the shower of light particles filled the area, KnightinGale was left speechless. Before her, a white haired young man in a stark white coat that stood out against the bleak battlefield around them. Eve cracked a smile, an odd thing for her when her sister wasn't around. Her hammer dropped to her side with a heavy thud as she turned back to focus on the trebuchet at hand.

"Bliss," KnightinGale questioned as her attention drifted to the array of tools between the two mechanics. "This a knight in shining armor for you?"

KnightinGale smirked as she teased her fellow mechanic. It had been far too long since she had anyone to bounce off and tease like that. With her sister being gone, she felt strangely alone, and despite the circumstances, felt more at home now. Her focus returned to her ongoing project as she began tightening bolts and reinforcing beams.

"Don't know your name swordsman," KnightinGale called out from underneath the siege weapon. "You keep those monsters off us. If you need a shield call it out and I'll be there. Now that I'm not having to fill both rolls we can probably get this up and going relatively soon. Once we do you can fire while blondie and I keep the walls from falling over."

Their project was nearing its end and now that they had a proper swordsman at their disposal, they could move that much faster. As a team of three, the prospect of finishing the siege weapon seemed far more achievable. So long as they are able to maintain their position, the monsters threatening to break through to the raid party would never break the defensive line.

WC: 311

* * *

Post Action: Rebuilding Barricades (Heavy Armor R5 | +5 LD)
ID 248729 | LD 9+5=14

Running Total: 48+14= 62

Edited Friday at 05:39 PM by Wulfrin

[Bliss 0]

Bliss was entirely focused, her blue eyes sharp, her hands steady, and her nerves on fire. Each board she hammered into place, each tendril she knocked away with her wrench, was another moment bought for the raid parties fighting further up the beach. “B-Back! G-Get b-back!” she snapped, batting away a slime-soaked, blackened tentacle that dared slither too close. The eldritch horrors that haunted this floor didn’t give players a single moment of rest. But Bliss had no plans on slowing down, not when lives were on the line.

Every time she and KnightinGale reassembled a barricade, two more seemed to collapse under the pressure of the swarming mobs. But Gale, ever the strategist, had a new idea. When Gale suggested fixing one of the busted siege weapons, Bliss lit up. “I-I am s-so d-down t-to f-fix this thing,” she chirped with a grin, her voice shaking with both nerves and excitement. Something about having a clear task with tangible results helped her center herself. She examined the trebuchet closely, fingers brushing along its battered frame as she inspected bolts, pulleys, and winches. Despite the chaos surrounding them, the repair job was straightforward. “H-Honestly? E-Easy fix,” she muttered as she worked. Her mind zeroed in on every detail, tightening the supports, rebalancing the counterweight, and making sure the firing mechanism wouldn’t jam mid-launch. After checking, double-checking, and triple-checking everything, she beamed. “P-Perfect!” She turned to Gale with pride. “S-Should be f-fully functional.” Just as she was about to begin loading the first projectile, movement caught her eye. Then she saw him, Astra.

The white-haired swordsman walked toward them, his form somehow graceful even in the midst of sand, blood, and terror. Bliss immediately fought back the utterly lovestruck grin tugging at her lips. Keep it cool, Bliss. He’s just here to help… and also looking incredibly cute. He apologized for being late, and Bliss shook her head quickly. “Y-You’re perfectly o-on time. W-We actually j-just got this u-up and running.” She gestured to the newly refurbished trebuchet proudly. Gale teased her gently, and Bliss laughed softly. “Y-You c-could say that,” she replied, cheeks pink but spirit unwavering.

While Astra got situated doing his thing, Bliss fell back into rhythm, reinforcing barricades with renewed focus, her body moving on instinct. Between each round of repairs, she helped Gale load the trebuchet, launching chunks of devastation into the masses below. The rhythm of it, the teamwork, the feeling of being useful, it gave her strength.

* * *

WC: 413

* * *

Post Action: Rebuilding Barricades
ID: 248827 | LD: 20 (+Armor Skill R1) = 21
Running Total: 83
*accidentally listed the roll as KnightessCiela but linked this post

Edited Saturday at 12:07 PM by Bliss

[CosmiQueen 0]

The final chorus was building, and Ahri sang like her life depended on it, because, in some strange, messed-up way, it kind of did. Her voice soared across the battlefield, smooth and commanding, rippling through the air like a war drum dressed in velvet. The energy in her chest burned hot, but her nerves were ice. Her gaze flicked nervously across the raid lines, watching, tracking, hoping.

She watched as Team One had vanished into the darkness earlier, completely shrouded in a curtain of writhing void. For a terrifying moment, she thought they were gone for good. But then, like ghosts returning from the abyss, they reemerged, bearing a few more scars than they previously had, but they were alive. She didn’t have time to process relief before more tendrils snaked toward the stage, twisting and twitching like they had every right to be there. They didn’t. This was her stage. The first one got too close. Without so much as breaking tempo, Ahri slammed her heel down with an elegant, practiced stomp. The impact created a flash of particles before it disappeared in a glitchy shriek. Another tendril, another stomp. Always in rhythm. Don’t break rhythm. Don’t show fear. The beat dropped, and so did another eldritch horror.

Her voice didn’t waver. It couldn’t. She sang with every ounce of strength she had, proud and defiant, her words like a magical barrier that kept despair at bay. She had to be strong, not just for herself, but for everyone out there fighting monsters beyond comprehension. Then, barely cutting through the song’s final verse, she caught the tail end of a conversation nearby. An older man was delivering a message to a few raiders at the barricade. The sword had been passed again, a third handoff. She blinked, heart thudding faster. She took a breath as the music swelled.

High note coming up. Hit it. Don’t choke. Be confident. And she did. She nailed the note so flawlessly it sliced through the noise like a blade through silk, powerful, piercing, and just a little bit cocky.

* * *

Post Action: Slaughtering Mobs
ID: 248828 | LD: 3 (+Weapon Skill R1) = 4
Running Total: 87

Edited Saturday at 03:40 AM by CosmiQueen

[Lysette 0]

This was nothing new to her. The movements, the sound. Bass thumping, voices harmonizing. It felt familiar. Lydia hated being her celebrity status. But mostly she hated it because it was forced on her. In the heat of the moment, in the rising action of the performance, she had to admit she came alive. Being Lysette was easy. Effortless. She didn't have to think, there was no one to impose their will upon her on stage. She commanded attention. But she wasn't a solo act now. She had three of her friends beside her and their combined energy feed one another. It reflected, rebounded, grew and grew and grew until it all just.

Popped.

As they dove into their final chorus, fire erupted from all around them. Abellio's handiwork. It brought a smile to her face. The man really was going above and beyond to make sure that STY/L's first performance went off without a hitch. Between fighting off Shamblers and some surprisingly good pyrotechnics given what he had to work with, she was over the moon with the visual work. He really had a knack for it. So she needed to match that energy.

Lydia hadn't quite felt as alive as she did right this very moment.

Her gaze shifted between the girls on stage as they moved into formation. Practiced steps clacked against the wooden stage, each and every one of the four giving their all not just in their singing but in their moves as well. If it had been even slightly scuffed at the beginning, it certainly wasn't now - none of them missed a single note, stumbled for a single step. Which was wonderful, given that there was a growing crowd at the base of the stage watching the show from up front. It was a bit less intimidating when they were singing for a group in the distance. But mistakes now would be mortifying.

But they were locked in, each and every one.

Spoiler

Command the Troops
ID: 248852 | LD: 18
Running Total - 105

 

Edited Sunday at 02:41 AM by Oscar

[Abellio 0]

Chaos.

There was really only one way to describe it. Moments before, STY/L was performing solely for the Raid Team off in the distance. Now they had a veritable mosh pit right in front of them. Abellio had no idea where they came from, but it certainly made his security-slash-pyrotechnical-slash-hype man work that much more demanding. He zoomed around, a red and white blur across the sands. It was about now that he cursed himself for not bringing a weapon. It was so incredibly difficult to deal with the Shamblers efficiently when he was just running hands. So he did the only logical thing - he starting punting them off into the middle distance. They weren't dead but neither were they a threat.

And it freed him up to set the charges that Waldo had placed. Neither he or the friendly neighborhood Walrus Man had thought they STY/L would attract such a crowd. So they had to do a quick course correction. Already-placed piles of wood and flotsam needed to be relocated. Abellio had wanted a wall of fire to spring up just as STY/L hit their final chorus.

That plan went out the god damn window with the crowd smack dab in front of things.

It was a mad scramble, both Abellio and Waldo moving it all to the sides and rear of the stage. But they did it. One spark lit the wood and an explosion ripped out, wreathing the back and sides with flame. It did singe his shirt though. That was fine. It was fine. They knew what to plan for and if a stellar performance came at the cost of a blackened hem, he was fine with that. Abellio and Waldo got to work, both of them rushing to where they had left those abandoned Performer Crystals to see what song STY/L could do for their next set.

Spoiler

Slaughtering Mobs
ID: 248853 | LD: 4+4
Running Total: 109

 

Edited Sunday at 02:52 AM by Oscar

[Siren 0]

Siren was always, without fail, fashionably late. Punctuality just wasn’t in her DNA. It didn’t matter how carefully she planned, her internal clock seemed permanently out of sync with the one blinking at her from her HUD. Alarms? Useless. She’d snooze them, again and again, until they became background noise to her dreams. What finally dragged her out of bed this morning wasn’t her sense of responsibility or the blaring reminders she’d set. It was the sound of Bliss frantically scrambling to get out the door, armor half-on, panicked muttering trailing behind her like a cloak.

Siren stretched, yawned, and took her sweet time getting ready. She wasn’t in a rush. She planned to make an appearance at the raid, maybe lend a hand where needed, but there was no reason to be early. Her armor wasn’t pristine, her hair wasn’t styled, and that was fine by her. When she stepped onto Floor 29, the rain immediately kissed her face, cold and soaking. Siren groaned softly, but quickly accepted her fate, pulling the hair tie from around her wrist and tugging her pink locks into a loose ponytail. Good thing I didn’t bother with eyeliner.

Her eyes scanned the battlefield, and the chaos stretched across the beach. She spotted Ciela and Wulfrin, swords flashing and movements precise. Off to the right were Jomei and Star, their team holding their own. The third team, she didn’t recognize at all. But closest to her, standing strong amid the dark, writhing tendrils, were a few of her guildmates. “Ooh, tentacles. My favorite,” she squealed enthusiastically, smiling as she stepped forward. She glanced over and noticed a stage, “Is that…? A Concert? In the middle of a raid? Huh.” She’d thought she’d seen everything so far, but nope.

She made her way over to Astra, Bliss, and Gale. “Hey, there y’all are,” she called. She waved at Gale, "We haven't met yet. I'm Siren. What's your name darlin?" Her sultry southern accent dripped like morning coffee. After the introduction she took her place beside Astra, who was engaged in fending off the inky horrors. Bliss and Gale were frantically working on the trebuchet, reinforcing barricades as fast as the tendrils and other eldritch abominations tore them down. Siren drew her rapier, smoothly joining Astra on the defensive line. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, a soft smile spreading across her face. He’d grown so much since they last were in battle together. He was stronger, faster, and more confident. He was already higher level than she was, and not too long ago, they’d been equals. The pride she felt nearly overwhelmed her. That’s my boy, she thought with fondness.

* * *

WC: 450

* * *

Post Action: Slaughtering Mobs
ID: 248855 | LD: 13 (+Weapon Skill R5) = 18
Running Total: 127

* * *

Spoiler

Siren | HP: 140/140 | EN: 32/32 | DMG: 11 | MIT:18 | EVA:1

Spoiler

"Name: Siren
True Tier: 1
Level: 7
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 140/140
EN: 32/32

Stats:
Damage: 11
Mitigation: 18
Evasion: 1

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Duelist's Rapier | T1 Perfect Rapier | DMG 3
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Crimson Raiment | T1 Perfect Light Armor | MIT II | EVA I 
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Vermillion Chastity Belt | Tierless Trinket | LD III

Combat Mastery:
  - 

Combat Shift:
  - 

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - 

Skills:
  - Light Armor R1
  - Rapier R5

Extra Skills:

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:

Mods:

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:
"                                                                                                                            

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:32 PM by Siren