Scene #2043: Aztlan: Overflow

Owner	Pose
Ainsley	-- Tunnels of Aztlan -- When our heroes last visited Aztlan, it was showing some mild improvement... to some limited degree. While it's true that whole tunnels have opened up, particularly the Western tunnel, which goes as far as the dead end, this has also presented problems. The party is encountering more and more groups of undead in various states of decay, and they are not diminishing in number. This visit has less than before, but there's still hungry dead clawing through the tunnels. The vast majority of them are blind, so avoiding them is possible, but some have to be destroyed because they pursue food relentlessly. But today something is slowing them down, a faint presence. None of the undead are particularly threatening to Elites that keep their wits about them. Ainsley is standing at the entrance to an opened doorway with stairs leading even further down into the earth, off the hub room. The door seems to have been busted open, and a fog billows out from the doorway at about ankle-height. Several undead seem to have tried to /escape/ the fog, and are so sluggish and pitiful that they can't even hurt anyone. The lizard girl frowns down into the stairway... "A survivor?" she wonders "What's doing this?" She stabs a couple of undead that reach for her while she waits for the rest of the party.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura is here! She is also -spotlessly clean- somehow. It might have something to do with the faint, shimmering yellowish barrier surrounding her body... She comes around a corner, heading over to Ainsley. "Hi Ainsley! I just kicked a zombie so hard it exploded!" she says chipperly. That's a... odd thing to say, Kinomoto.
Faruja	Faruja arrives, perhaps a bit fashionably late. Mostly due to the sounds of fire being applies to every single undead that he passes by, prayers and flame absolving the poor trapped souls. It's punctuated by gunshots, before Acolyte Strawberry and her Inquisitor arrive at the scene. Strawberry gives a cheerful little wave, and reloads her incendiary shotgun. Faruja just gives a grim nod to all involved. "Ainsley. Lady Kinomoto." Pause. Hrrmn. "Hath ye been taking up martial arts? Given the environs, it may well come in handy."
Staren	Staren's in his powered combat armor, as usual. He may be squishy and vulnerable underneath, but the armor is pretty darn good, so he's not that worried. He's not worried about the zombies' attacks at all, really. Not physically. The riskl of Filth infection is the real danger here. He's armed adequately to destroy any zombies he needs to. "Did you say a survivor?" Staren echoes as he approaches. "Hey, are the zombies /afraid/ of that mist? That's weird. I wonder what it is...?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is also here, she's in her stelth suit agian and looking more than a little on edge, as she lwonders about this place. One might have heard the odd gun shot as Kotone came in. She'd been picking off some undead on her way here, also making use of her stealth systems. She actually ends up fading into view in the middle of the group. "Wait did you say what I think you said?"
Emiya Shirou	The priest's arrival is accompanied by a more human figure in rather plain clothing, but wielding twin swords of a yin-yang motif. Shirou's been accompanying Faruja, dealing with anything that got too close for comfort. "I hope we CAN cut off this connection! All these zombies are getting ridiculous!" He's progressed to a point where it's not so much personal horror anymore... his first encounters with zombies were unpleasant, to say the least, but for better or worse he's gotten used to them.
Ainsley	Ainsley looks at Sakura with a blank look for a few seconds. Her enthusiasm jarred the lizard woman out of her thoughts, and the topic spoken was very contrasting with that energy. "That's good," she decides to say, smiling to the happy card mage. "I'm happy you came along." Faruja gets a brighter smile. The more people that show up, the more confident the lizard woman seems about all of this. Staren's remark about the mist gets her to say, "It may be generated by someone deeper in Aztlan trying to fend them off. If we find the source, perhaps we will find a survivor hidden down there." "Let's go," she urges, and then begins to walk down the steps, taking care to finish off any undead on her way down. She frowns as they progress and her Visual Field begins to waver. And then it just completely fades, and the shock makes her eyes start to bleed. She has to halt when they reach the hallway at the bottom, leading up to a pair of huge doors. The distance they traveled seems hard to measure, and the walls themselves feel like they're twisted and breathing out of the corner of one's breathing. Ainsley props herself against a wall, rubbing the droplets of blood off of her face. "This... this isn't..." She makes a sickly noise that cuts off her attempt to speak, seeming to get visibly weakened. The fog gently coils and embraces the party. It tries to coax their extra energy out of them. It won't affect everyone, particularly not Kotone, touching purely on the biological, and for good reason: It leaves a void, and flickers of memory, horrific visions and emotions to those who don't block them out. Visions of the world through hungry eyes, of famines and starvation, of the despair and the horror that comes with it and the slow decay of self and hope that comes with it. Bloodied images of particularly awful events in human history seem to make up the visions. It only lasts for a second, though, and won't affect everyone. "We shouldn't be down here," Ainsley wheezes. At the end of the hall, a black door with ivory letters labeling it. This door is called 'CONTAINMENT.' It seems to be infinitely far away, but visually it's only a few dozen feet from the stairwell's opening. There are no other doors. A faint dripping noise can be heard at the end of the hall.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura beams at Ainsley. "Why wouldn't I be here? I get to hang out with the pretty lizard lady -and- protect people I love? Totally a win-win here." People she... loves? ... Maybe she means Staren. She does seem to like him a whole lot. Why Staren (or, indeed, anyone in the party) would need protection is anyone's guess. As they head into the fog, the defensive field around Sakura glows more intensely. Sakura winces just a little bit, but continues on, still smiling. It's a bit of a forced smile, but she's keeping it up, darnit! "We can pull back if you want, Ainsley. I'm sure Staren can deploy some drones to scout ahead or something?" She is doing her best not to let her voice waver. Come on, Kinomoto, be strong!
Emiya Shirou	It's a miserable climb down the steps and through the fog. But what's the matter with Ainsley here?! "Ainsley? What's wrong with your ey--" He doesn't finish that, instead gripping his head once and shuddering. Shirou nearly doubles over in the next few minutes with a hand over his gut... waves of nausea surging through him in response to the horrible things flickering around in this fog. "Trace... on..." He manages to mutter with pained breaths. His body heats up imperceptibly from prana circulating through it. It's a simple trick, really. If your body's being invaded by foreign magics, the best and simplest defense is to flood your whole system with so much of your own power that it washes out contaminants. Though he's still breathing raggedly as he reaches a wall just like Ainsley did, rapidly shaking his head. "What was THAT?!"
Faruja	"Ainsley!" Comes Faruja as Ainsley stumbles, only to fall to his knees himself. He might even bump against Shirou as his eye goes lidden, and /memory/ assaults the rat. His FAther's passing, mother's suicide, the burning of his city and the betrayal of the High Templar...horrific things flicker over his mind as he coughs, grips his cross. He dry-heaves several times, thankfully having chosen to not eat. Berry isn't doing much better. Eventually, however, the two will manage to get to their feet. "Oh...hackcough...come now. We art here to cleanse this place. 'Tis where we /must/ be, Ainsley." Then Faruja and Berri are devouring antidotes and passing them out to the party. "Some sort of corruption nay doubt. One guess as to the source." Faruja is peering at the door. He'll offer his shoulder to Ainsley. "Kicking the door down is always mine preferred method, however..." He glances to Shirou. It's a smart plan.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa looks over to Ainzley for a moment tiling her head. "I get ya, so lets keep alert then hopefully we can help them, right?" She pauses at the fog she keeps moving, she feels a bit uneasy about it but does not effect her much she gets uneasy, there's fsome flickers of emotions that are not very nice she holds her head trying to push it back and thankfully she's able to do it but even the taste she got of it is enough to chill the young cyborg. She manages to shake it off afater a moment, it was n0ot enjoyable however everyone else seems to be more efected by her. "What the?! Hey! All of you are you all right?!" She's looking very concerned, now she's got her machine gun up and is looking very on edge. "I'll scout ahead Sakura if it's needed." She turns to Faruja and Shirou seeming very concerned at this point. "Ainsley what's your call on this?"
Staren	Staren smiles at Sakura. "Good to see you and to see you doing well, Sakura!" Then, perhaps oblivious to Ainsley's mood, he replies about the possibility of a survivor: "I wouldn't get my hopes up. It'll turn out to be some artifact doing it and we'll find evidence that people couldn't reach it in time, or it'll turn out to be a shade who set it up too late before being converted... But, it /would/ be nice to find another actual survivor." He follows them in, and then... AInsley's eyes are bleeding? "Ainsley! What's wrong?" He rushes to her side, only to get caught in the mist. He just /had/ to stop being a robot before this mission, didn't he? "Nngh... the Hunger, the Hunger..." he's collapsed against Ainsley when the vision fades, but he quickly stands up, looking around in alarm. "The Hunger! Purge it, purge it!" He turns to Faruja and gives him an urgent, expectant look. When Sakura suggests sending drones ahead he nods, sending a small, fly-sized drone down the hallway to check for anything even /more/ out of the ordinary. Suddenly, he frowns. "Why is... the Hunger is friends with the Filth now. Why are the zombies afraid of it?"
Riva Banari	Riva's been kind of bros with Faruja on the subject of Aztlan. 'Purge it with Fire' is basically becoming a byline in this situation. The question is, what do they do when they run into something that doesn't purge all that well? Ugh, this is horrible. Riva has taken to clutching that giant Ajoran mace that faruja had gifted her, keeping it slung over her back in case more things need to get pulverized. Like the undead. Undead frequently need pulverizing. "What makes you think it's a survivor down there?" Riva asks, gingerly prodding the foggy area, knowing it would be basically useless to do so. It's the SPIRIT OF THE THING. They proceed downwards into said fog regardless. Riva starts taking it slowly, testing her steps carefully. This gets considerably harder when red starts staining her sight. She blinks, and then wipes her face, making a squeaking noise when she sees it come back red. "What the /crap/." She says. "Who the hell would do this kind of thing on purpose? " She groans, before she makes a choking noise. "... This is a terrible place. Move it." She grunts as she looks up at the 'containment' room. "Hurry!" She says, an edge of desperation in her voice. She begins charging forward, heedless of potential danger in the path as she rushes for the one thing she sees might take them forward and out of this horrid, life-draining area. This might not be the best idea.
Ainsley	Ainsley is nearly crippled by the emotions and memories that flood into her head, but the words of the others steel her against it. They offer support and they tell her why they are down here. This is something they have to fight, and she reminds herself of that. Even with blood drying against her face, she stands upright, and a crackle of electricity crawls across her body. A faint tinny taste hits the air as she forces the feeling out. Riva's advance is supported with a feeling of billowing wind. The fog is forced down and to the side with wind magic, the Quetzal woman repelling the fog away from everyone after feeling what it does to her and the others. And then she follows Riva, and presumably the others, having taken on the fury and the urgency of the party quite eagerly, latching onto it. When she reaches the doors, she holds up a hand, and roars in effort-- A gust of wind creates an explosive effect, and she blows the doors inward and off their hinges, sending them flying through a huge and well-lit cavern to land in a pool of murky liquid that makes up the majority of the cavern. When she steps into the cavern, she walks through it, looking around at the expansive natural formation with a fury in her eyes. There are stone platforms with small stone bridges connecting them, and inside of the water here and there-- That's not water. On closer inspection, the cave is filled with a lake of fresh blood. Floating in the morbid fluid are faintly shimmering crystals that seem to have been shattered to pieces. Hundreds of them glow and cast an ominous glow to the center of the room, where a stone platform sits just barely above the surface of the liquid. A figure is standing there. A pale man with black hair, whose head turns slowly to follow the party. He's only wearing a pair of tattered white cloth pants, and he appears to be malnourished, his ribcage showing and his skin showing discolorations here and there. His chin has streaks of yellow bile. The figure watches, unblinkingly. Not a single sign of black ooze can be seen here. Even his eyes seem normal, lacking the menace that all of the Shades have had to this point. Ainsley doesn't cross the last bridge to his platform. She warily watches, and the figure blankly stares back at her. The utter silence in the room is palpable, almost peaceful. There are no tentacles, no gnashing teeth, there's no horrific magic or claws... Just a seemingly human young man.
Staren	No immediate purging comes, but Ainsley /does/ blow away the mist, so that's something? Staren follows, though no way is he stepping in that water. He manifests his wings and floats away from it, as if concerned it might sprout tentacles and try to grab him. Oh it's blood. Of course it is. And there's a man. Staren's not sure what to say. He waits, a moment, for the man to speak first, but when nothing is forthcoming, he asks: "Are you the Hunger? Did you break up with your friend John?"
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura chases aftr Riva! Or, well. She chases after Ainsley chasing after Riva. Either way, she's going in that direction! She's rather impressed when Ainsley uses her wind magic. "...Ooh. I didn't know you could do that. ... Why didn't I think to do that..?" She wrinkles her nose as they enter the blood-filled room. "Ugh," she grumbles. The -smell- is the worst part of it all, honestly. That cloying, metallic scent... She can't help but shudder as they head in further. When Ainsley stops before the last paltform, Sakura just continues on. "Um... hello! Are you... are you okay? You look like you could, uh... use... something to eat..." she mumbles a bit to the strange young man!
Faruja	"Memory...the fog may well be magic, careful Lady Yamakawa." Mutters the rat slightly woozily. His teeth grit. /Very/ bad memories. Words to /not/ use when Faruja is in a state like this are the exact ones that STaren decides to use. "BURN UNCLEAN FILTH! IN FARAM'S HOLY NAME I SEND YE TO THE ABYSS!" Berri is firing off shells at the mist at random, and Faruja is casting! What spell, you ask? A Banish spell. A vortex of gravity barely away from that containment door bursts into being, gravity literally trying to suck in the mist that's throughout this tunnel. Unfortunately, it might just end up sucking in the door as well. Which might only be helped by Riva rushing the door. Seems the two are in one mind, even if he's not using literal fire right now. "NAY MERCY UPON THE UNHALLOWED! FORWARD, IN GOD'S NAME DAME BANARI!" Faruja's extra-lightable fire seems to have been lit well by Staren, and then Riva. But then Ainsley's wind magic does much of the job, and he hastily cancels the spell. Then into the caern they go! FAruja's wrath is even paused as he looks on in pure horror and silent anger. He /trembles/ with fury at the pure sight. That pale, malnourished man is set with angry eye. He points his gun warily at the man. "Ye hath three seconds to explain whom ye art, and why ye art here!" Only that lack of horrid magic or tentacles keeps him from being instantly fried by the Inquisitor. His every fur is on end, and his tail lashes as magic gathers in his free hand. Berri has her gun pointed at the man's head. "....One..." Starts the rat.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is now very concerned for Ainsley as she seems to be overwhelemd by whtever it is. She sees her get up sne is about to do somehing to help her but this doesn't seem to be needed as Riva's idea is enacted upon and the fog is pushed back. She watches the door and hits the deck making sure to rise quickllya nd follow after Ainsly she is not happy but it pales to Ainsley's. This is Ainsley's home her people have been victemized by this nightmare. She Looks the man over but lowers her weapon slightly she peers at him. "This was not expected, who are you and and how did you end up down here?"
Riva Banari	Riva doesn't look much better than Ainsley, but she's powering ahead on sheer stubbornness and desperation, perhaps. At Faruja's exhortation, she raises the Ajoran mace, preparing to batter the door down, but then something goes a little awry. The desperate explosion from Ainsley causes Riva's strike to meet nothing but air, and she suddenly tumbles head over heels, the effort landing Riva on her hands and knees in the pool. She shakes her head at the terrifying, distorted secrets that plague her, and there is a chilling flashback to another recent fight. She furrows her brow. She has to keep focused. Part of this focus brings her to realize what she's splashing around in. Her eyes widen, and she wails plainatively. "AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH! THIS IS EVEN WORSE THAN WORKING WITH HARRYYYYYYYYYYY!" She scrambles back onto the platform, trailing blood onto the platform as she stands back up. "Eww, eww, eww, eww... Ainsleeeeeeeeey, why is /everything blood here/?" She looks up, and over to the strange, emaciated man with sad and terrorized eyes. Maybe he'll offer some words of comfort like some kind of Mesoamerica Buddha figure. Or maybe he'll say something to justify taking turns setting things on fire with Faruja. She could go either way right now.
Emiya Shirou	This whole trip's been really unpleasant. A lake of BLOOD, what the hell! Shirou's not making a very happy face by the time the group reaches the strange... survivor. "How long have you been here?!" His first impulse? Concern. He goes rummaging through his pockets to see if he has ANYTHING to offer the guy... But this whole place feels weird. maybe that's a bad idea, but Shirou will be SHirou...
Ainsley	The figure responds to Faruja only with a passive look. There's nothing approaching fear. The figure doesn't even raise his arms. He does appear to be breathing lightly. When the figure listens to the others, its head turns to look at each of them. Staren's remark gets confusion on the figure's face, the first flicker of emotion to be seen on that unblinking mask in the shape of a human visage. Riva's look makes the figure look back at her. "Who /are/ you?" Ainsley asks the figure. The figure replies, in a long-dead language. The words come out slowly and throat a dry throat, around old and cracked teeth. Only Ainsley seems to understand it, and what she hears fills her with a horror unimaginable. She shouts at the figure, "Stop! STOP." The figure stops. After a moment of contemplation, it turns to regard Staren once more. He speaks English now. "I have no such name," he tells Staren, and then he addresses Sakura, "I am always hungry." He turns to look at Faruja, "You hunger for blood without understanding what you rage at." Kotone gets a look for a moment, but no respond. Then he looks to Riva, and says to her, "You smell sweet, like honey." Then to Shirou, he looks... to smile? The concern and effort to find food is a kindness the creature seems to warm to. Even Sakura gets a similar look. Then he looks back to Ainsley. He steps forward, and at once the motion seems to put him right in front of her, with his pale fingertips touching the tip of her nose. She freezes in place in shock. The figure utters Wind, and a blast of wind sends her rocketing backward with concussive force, slamming her into a cavern wall violently and sending a shockwave of air out at the rest of the party and threatening to bowl them off their footing and into the blood around them, sending ripples through the blood lake and making the crystals hum and shine a faint blue color. The very air distorts where he once stood, like he had teleported in a fraction of a second to perform this deadly attack almost effortlessly. And then he lowers his hand, and utters a cryptic phrase: "Escaped prey tastes so much better." He tries to walk past them with single-minded purpose to where Ainsley collapsed on a distant stone platform and wheezes to try to catch her breath after that awful impact.
Sakura Kinomoto	"..Oh! I can make food using- Faruja -must- you point your gun at every person we meet down here?" she grumbles at the Inquisitor while digging the Sweet card out of her pocket. She ignores what the young man says, mostly. But then when he suddenly rushes Ainsley and blows her away with that wind? Well, she's not going to stand for that. "Nope!" Card! "Become a binding chain! EARTHY!" She'd usually default to Windy, but what use would that be against someone with wind magic? The card spirit is summoned - and pillars of rock shoot up from the platform, attempting to hedge the suddenly-violent young man in on all sides and prevent him from moving.
Staren	Staren just stares as the man speaks a language he doesn't know, then tilts his head at the comment that he has no such name. Always hungry. Staren tenses. "Ainsley, get away!" he shouts as she freezes in shock, and then there's wind and he tumbles, through the air, before quickly righting himself and kicking of a wall. And as the man approaches Ainsley, Staren throws everything he can quickly grab at the... whatever this is. Twin particle beams and a dozen homing missiles (Small blast radius, so as not to explode his allies.) And before the smoke even clears, he's already thinking of more weapons to try. And at least one one-liner. "But easily captured prey keeps you alive." Maybe he's not the best at the one-liners.
Riva Banari	Riva looks at the guy and blinks. "I... I do?" she pauses, and looks over her bloodsoaked self ."Well, you do look like you could use something to eat. Look, let's just relax..." And then he blows Ainsley across the room. Compared to Ainsley's own windblast, that made her looks like a kid blowing out birthday candles. Riva tips, almost falling over into the blood pool again, but hurls herself forward onto her hands and knees on the platform with a grunt of effort. Scuffed knees are better than taking another dunk in that again. "AINSLEY!" She calls, and quickly scurries over to try to interpose herself. While others are readying weapons, Riva pulls out... A wrapped package. And a Snickers bar. "Look, there's no need to get all weird. Here. Have some food. Food's good, right?" It's a nice roast beef sandwich with lettuce, onion, and horseradish on rye. And a Snickers Bar. Surely not even he could turn down such deliciousness!
Faruja	"Lady Kinomoto, mine dear, ye cannot trust /anyone/ in places such as this. I shan't see one of us dead because of /leniency/ with those whom art corrupt or tampering with forces that lead to this." Asides the rat to Sakura as his eye never leaves the figure. Usually, he's either getting gruff from his threatenee, fear, or defiance. The pure /lack/ of it all is actually a little frightening. It does nothing to ease the rat's tension and irritation. Particularly so when those long-dead words have Ainsley seemingly so horrified. A snarl breaks from his muzzle, but before he can do anything, the creature speaks in a way they can understand. "...And ye actually believe I hath any intention of understanding one such as thineself? Fah, ye art seemingly the source of all of this, and so ye shall be punished accordingly!" Or at least interrogated. But any further actions are forestalled by that horrible burst of Wind! Faruja is tossed away like so much paper, landing on the edge of the blood pool. The rat spits out a tooth, ribs bruised and body cut by the lashing winds. "Ye shan't feast upon anyone here knave!" And then the rat is casting. For now, he starts raining Haste spells on the party.
Emiya Shirou	"AINSLEY!?" So much for hoping this stranger was some kind of survivor or a friend. Shirou looks from the fallen lizard woman back to the starving man, teeth clenching and REALIZATION dawning. "My body... is made of swords!" This dire and grim proclamation was indeed previously used to invoke a world of swords, but here it's not. Instead, a thin and far more minimalistic display of magic from Shirou's palms forms into Kanshou and Bakuya - one of the most stable copies yet. He vaults over to block the famished man's path, swords raised. "What are you doing?!"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa looks at the young man for a moment she doesn't feel anything but she sees Ainsley screaming to stop. She's now moving too raise her weapon a bit as the man talks about food. She listens more and becomes even more alarmed as things happen to Ainsley. Then she gets that Ainsley ha been pretty badly harmed. Maybe it doesn't see her as anything. After all there isn't much flesh left to Kotone, right? She does not think about it much more. Riva's attempting one last play at this ending nonviolently. She moves to get ready and her body is booted up into full combat mode. She but needs to wait to see how Riva's desperate last moment ploy plays out. She's also backing towards the fallen Ainsley even as Shirou moves to bar the way some more himself.
Ainsley	The Emaciated Man is impacted by gunfire from Staren, which slows him down considerably. He shudders with the impact of each hit, and even Earthy seems to slow him down, until where he's standing has cracked stone and dust. When the dust clears, he is standing there, with a few bruises and scorches, but not nearly as harmed as the party may have hoped, and certainly not impeded by the harm inflicted on him beyond the brief delay the force of it put in his steps. It's not easy to hold him still, like holding down a train. He flicks a careless glance to Faruja, the foreign magic distracting him. Riva's approach also distracts him, and Shirou's place interposed between him and his target gets another passive look. He looks briefly saddened by the youth's defiance. "I do not eat that," he tells Riva, "Move." And then he tries to backhand her out of the way, moving with the same inhuman speed and trickery as when he hit Ainsley. He doesn't stop there, and utters Fire, and his swipe becomes an explosive conflagaration that boils the blood lake in a cone in front of him and sends another monstrous concussive blast. Whatever this thing is, it is several leagues above Ainsley's level of magic, the kind the party would have been familiar with until now.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura is Hasted! She watches the Emanciated Man for a brief moment as he backhands Riva - and then she vanishes with a blur of motion. She is apparently very used to fighting when sped up magically! She may have cast the Dash too. It's hard to tell. She practically appears from nowhere right behind the Emanciated Man. There's a soft 'snikt' as she reaches up, holding her left palm at right-angles from her wrist. There's a flash of metal. Hidden Blade to neck!
Riva Banari	Maybe, in retrospect, she should have brought out the Hostess Fruit Pie Riva was standing there one moment, trying to solve the problem in a peaceful way. Surely, SOMEONE IN THIS DAMN CITY WILL BE SANE AND NOT A HORRIBLE BLOOD-DRINKING MONSTROSITY, RIGHT? The next, Riva is slamming into the wall of the cave, unpleasant noises emitting from her as she cracks into the wall and falls down. The Snickers Bar and the roast beef sandwich fall into the pool of blood below ber, visible when she rebounds off and splatters into it. She stares down at the ruined food, and numbly, she looks up at the Emaciated Man as the boiling blood sears her, raising welts on her flesh as she scorches. There is a gleam there. A crack of pure, unadulterated rage. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Riva screams, speeding up as she trails orange light from the Haste spell, hurling hurself bodily back towards the Emaciated Man. "YOU WANT FIRE? YOU WANT FOOD? LET'S SEE HOW HUNGRY YOU ARE AFTER I FEED YOU THIS, YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH!" Riva screams, hoisting the Ajoran mace, the Anima circuits inlaid into it seething with red-gold. She wastes no time in slamming the weapon down with an explosion of Anima that bursts out in a radial shockwave, then twisting to smash at the being with a pommel-strike and twist into a spinning, circular strike intended to send the man flying. You see, Riva is an artist. And you know what archetype is often applied to artists?
Faruja	Faruja, for not the first time in his career, wishes he'd been a black mage. Or that his particular school of magic could have anti-magic spells. Particularly as there's that fire spell that very nearly turns him into a crispy rodent. Thankfully, he teleports away just in time to only lose some bits of his robes and have the distinct smell of burning fur around him. He takes a moment to pat out his burning arm, wincing at the scorched skin. Between Sakura going for the throat (or neck), and Riva screaming, and hoisting that mace like a proper bloody Templar at the horrible Heretic and screaming at a volume that the rat can't help but /smile/ to see, the rat takes out a time piece before floating down behind the Emaciated Man. Crunch. "Time stop." Filmy grey magic starts to eat at the world, seeking to slow and then halt the passage of time for the Hunger. It'll hopefully make him a nice target for the enraged Riva, and Sakura as well. The rat then teleports away, already casting again. Distinctive green-orange balls flow around him. Only once the pair's attacks strike does he snap his fingers, and time suddenly lurches into motion.
Emiya Shirou	A single utterance, able to create such potent magic?! Shirou gapes, but decides to drop one of his blades in favor of extending a hand. "RHO... AIAS!" There's a surge of prana from his palm, then... an enormous pinkish-white barrier forms in the air before him. The core is circular but petal-like extensions blossom every which way. Three in total of the seven Rho Aias SHOULD have. Yet that's just not enough. Shirou merely saves himself from getting engulfed and scorched to cinders. The shoddy shield's engulfed, consumed, and shattered with enough to send him tumbling back and into the blood lake!
Staren	When Staren sees the man, he knows what weapon to use instantly. He reaches to draw the Annihilator, aims-- and then is blown back by another concussive wave. His forcefield becomes visible as he smacks into the wall, it cracks slightly... but being thrown back like this isn't really an effective attack against his armor, (which locked his hand around the gun so he wouldn't drop it, by the way). He rights himself and lands as he levels the Annihilator and fires. The weapon crafted by his friend, now a god, to kill the horrors that prey upon the people of the Weird West. The stuff they've fought here seems like it'd fit right in there. Staren empties the cylinder.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa watches the Emaciated man for a moment as he's shot he doesn't stop, he seems to wonder about it for a moment. He refuses the food that Riva's offered and now her rifle comes up and she opens fire on it the XCOM issued weapon. The battle rifle chatters away as she fires a burst at them for a moment. "Your not eating my friend and I'm betting you had a hand in why the city is this way isn't it?!" She's also staring to move trying to to not end up in some of the nightmare fuel items in here like the blood. She's got the idea to try and flank this thing. "No one here is food."
Ainsley	Time stops for the Emaciated Man... for a second. His head turns jerkily as he regards Faruja now with a more infuriated gaze, but he still can't move. The sheer arcane might fights the time spell, but it cannot be broken out of before Sakura and Riva are slamming into him. Sakura's blade digs into his neck all the way down, and yellow blood spatters down across him, hissing against the stones like acid. His body shudders as an arm tries to reach to grab her, only to be interrupted by a familiar fury. Riva's mace slams into him with bone-crushing force. The arm is actually shattered as it moves to block the mace, and he lets out a scream of pain and wrath, and the second strike comes in and hits him dead-center. But the third strike also hits him, and it doesn't knock him over. He spits up more of that yellow liquid, like rancid stomach acid. The emaciated man changes from casual to infuriated in that moment. FURY is heard in his voice, and lines of black and red pulse through his veins. He reaches to try to grab Riva by the wrist, and bodily throw her at Sakura. The effort is then punctuated with several gunshots that slam into him. Kotone's bullets do a little damage, but Staren's gunfire blows a hole right through his middle, and what can be seen there is probably more horrifying than the gore. Bones begin to pop back into place, and the wounds stitch together, leaving glowing white marks where skin used to be. Glowing white tendrils dance around the edge of the wounds, and white feathers drop against the stone platform like a dove's tail feathers getting blown off, which give off eerie whispers and cries of terror and pain. The creature turns his attention toward Staren in specific in that moment, and launches himself toward the science cat with a burning malice in his eyes and that same uncanny speed. And he tries to spike Staren into the blood lake with enough force to shake the entire cavern, his punch holding enormous strength behind it. Even swinging makes the blood lake slosh violently, but if Staren gets hit, there will be a fountain of it, spraying up and coating the man as he recovers and floats there in the air.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura dodges in a blur of motion just as Riva comes in to strike their target. "...Well. I tried," she says, as she comes to a halt several yards away. She checks to make sure her Hidden Blade isn't damaged - it was a gift! Unfortunately, this distracts her long enough to get a Riva thrown right at her. She's thrown backwards from the force. She may be incredibly resistant to magic, but phsyical force can still throw her around like a ragdoll!
Faruja	The wrath with which they're all given as the creature begins to restitch itself, and grows red and black along the veins is almost enough to give Faruja pause. Almost. Seeing Staren spiked like some kind of volleyball only urges the rat into action. And then Sakura, too, is swatted about. It seems to become a trend tonight, and not one that Faruja is liking. But at least they managed to severely wound the thing. FAruja's spell finally finishes, and an impossibly beautiful woman with butterfly wings flares into existance. Winds buffet her gently, and then she floats over to Staren. Trying to catch the poor sciencecat, she'll prove surprisingly strong should she get there in time! But most importantly, her mere touch causes powerful healing magic to flow into Staren as she works on the man! This, of course, leaves Faruja somewhat vulnerable and only able to make use of his Blaze Gun. Which he does, shooting a deep stream of fire over at the monstrous man!
Staren	'He can BLEED!' Staren growls excitedly as he sees the man injured. 'Let's ANNIHILATE him!' He sounds eager, almost hungry. The chance to END this threat is so close he can almost take it. All that's left is to finish it. Possibilities run through his mind. He takes aim with the beam cannons for a followup shot before reloading... when suddenly the man is /flying/ and in his face. Staren's eyes widen. Before he can adjust and fire, a fist digs into his armor. There's a crunch, and cracks radiate out from the dent, and Staren can only say "OOF!" as he's plunged down into the blood, to get the rest of the wind knocked out of him when he hits the lakebed. He starts the teleporter. The blood is opaque, maybe he can play dead, or at least KO'd, then come back with a surprise attack. Or maybe the Hunger will follow him into the blood. That would be a bad place to try to fight.
Riva Banari	Riva gives well enough, but he gives back just as well. Her raging becomes an 'urk' as she's grabbed and hurled towards Sakura, where they collide painfully and go down in a tangle of limbs. Riva lies there a moment, her head foggy from the repeated concussions. "Ugggggggh...." she groans, and then blinks as she sees who she's tangled up with. There is a sudden flush of her face, and she extricates herself quickly and straightens herself, forcing herself back to her feet despite the heavy damage telling her this is probably a bad plan. But she saw what the Annihilator did to the being. That's good. We need more of that. So Riva commits to another stupid plan. With a scream, she cocks the mace over one shoulder, and hurls it across the pool towards the bloodstained Man. She doesn't even wait as she pulls her guns, charging ahead to leap from platform to platform, leveling twin MP-7s. The glow with a different color, blue-green Anima surging through them as she rains a fusillade of sizzling Anima bullets across the cavern. She leaps up onto a wall, running along it at high speed and leaping off of it as she fires past him at high speed, throwing herself past him again. Just then, the mace should hit. Riva spins, grabbing the weapon and trying to use it to grapple the Emaciated Man, hanging off of him as she tries to hold him. "STAREN! FARUJA! SAKURA SHIROU!" She yells. "KEEP SHOOTING!"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa has got the thing pissed? Well it's not so much her but Sakura and Riva it looks like. She's already swapping ammo at this point the clip is pulled out and pulls out the protoabstractum rounds Staren gave her. She slams the clip in and opens fire, the rounds seem to be energy when fire, and they will transfer all energy to the thing on impact. She's really hppin they work or this could end up beiong bad for her. "So what your here to feed on this city!? Is this entire nightmare just so you can feed?!"
Emiya Shirou	OWWWWWWWWW! Getting thrown into a pool of boiling blood isn't pretty. Shirou is a bit slow in getting out, but he does it in the most mundane way imaginable. Just sort of hauls himself back up onto the dry ground, staggers up to his feet. "... a shell of steel with fire blood. I have created... over a thousand blades!" He DOES know what's going on, because he stretches a hand out again. That's when COLOSSAL SWORDS, each easily ten feet long and all jagged shaped... rain from the heavens all around the Emaciated Man. They plow hard into the ground, forming a cage. More swords come in from sideways directions, wedging themselves between the others at weird angles to reinforce the 'structure.'
Ainsley	Fire slams into the Emaciated Man from Faruja's direction, igniting and torching the blood that's soaking the figure. Those hungry eyes, now burning white puts on a burning silhouette, turn to look at Faruja. The figure's body distorts and limbs elongate, bones crackling and fire getting snuffed out by sprays of yellow liquid-- when all of the gunfire slams into it, thanks to Riva holding it still, she gets a look at the twisted and vaguely bestial face of the creature she just grabbed, its face twisted and mouth drooling more yellow bile. The swords slam down and pin it down within the lake of blood, not quite slicing him to pieces. The creature howls in anger, writhing in the burning blood and thrashing against the swords, more yellow 'blood' spraying out into the lake. And it lets out a horrific screech that overshadows its previous fury by a wide margin. The hungry monster cries Blood and something very dangerous happens throughout the entire cavern. Anyone near the lake of blood at all will find spikes of rusted iron BURSTING out of the bloody lake by the hundreds and trying to skewer them, spraying more boiling blood all over the cavern in the process, the creature desperately trying to destroy the adventurers with its most abundant resource by turning it into a weapon!
Faruja	Staren's reaction...is a bit worrying. Faruja looks to the man. He even frowns a moment, but there's little else he can do while making sure Faery can get the man healed. Hopefully. The Esper is soon even plunging into the lake after Staren to do just that, pausing and healing the man. But when Staren speaks over the radio, the Esper dissappears, and the rat focuses on the creature as Riva goes for her grapple! He calls out over the radio, as he draws the weapon made from Beli's seraphic fire. But before he can use it, the creature yells out, and those rusty spikes of blood pierce straight through the rat! He gets it in the sides and arms, barely teleporting away from them in time to avoid one in the neck. He collapses to a knee, bleeding and coughing. It's about then that he concentrates, and seeks to let loose with a very, very small Banish spell. He aims right for the heart, seeking to devour the Emaciated Man from the inside by a shoving a black hole into his heart.
Sakura Kinomoto	"Fly!" Sakura swoops up into the air (after disentangling herself from Riva)! She holds one hand out. "Kero!" A door appears, floating in mid air. It is VIOLENTLY pink. "Yue!" THe door opens - and two streaks of motion pour out, one gold and one silver. Sakura's familiars flank her on either side. Her magic circle appears under her feet (still in mid air) as she raises her wand up. "O Guardians of the Sun and Moon! Grant your power to this Key! RELEASE!" The magic circle's size increases by about three times, as Keroberos and Yue's forms melt down into coloured energy - which flows into Sakura's wand. The wand itself then grows in a brilliant display of magical light, Sakura's magical aura also increasing in intensity dramatically. And she already practically glows like a star to magical sight! "WATERY!" Sakura raises the elemental card up into the air. Her Celestial Wand - more a staff than anything now - is raised with both hands to meet it. The card glows brilliantly, the spirit rearing up into the air. The Watery raises both hands, and wrenches the blood out of the lake and upwards... before slamming it back down in a concentrated burst, right at the Emanciated Man. He may begin to regret those spikes.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone is fast, very fast but she's not as fast as she's like to be someday. She moves, she shifts but the spikes of iron are coming out of the blody lake. Some catch her impaling though her leg there's something akin to blood but it's not actually blood save fo the red colour. To those who can smell it's very much off. She lets out a cry and foceabley rips the thing free and tries to keep moving, and shooting at it with her rifle. Still again more of them comes again impaleing her several more times the cyborg soon finds her self pinned to the ground by these things and she's truggling to get free of them. She's since dropped her rifle and is gong to need some help here.
Staren	Faery heals Staren's armor. It's magic, Faruja ain't gotta explain shit. The teleporter starts powering up... and is interrupted as Staren is lifted up on a bed of spikes. The good news is, iron's not particularly effective against high-tech alloys. Staren's lifted out of the lake. No time to futz around with cleaning his gun or anything... he'll just have to hope it will fire after being soaked in blood. And that the Emaciated Man won't interrupt his reloading. Staren's wings manifest and he raises up off the spikes. With a jerk of his hand, the cylinder swings out. Staren shakes the gun, then yanks out stubborn casings with telekinesis while his left hand reaches across his body into his bag. Fortunately, the magic bag always put whatever he's looking for under his hand, so he doesn't have to root around in such an awkward position. He pulls out a speedloader, applies it, pulls it away, closes the cylinder with another jerk of his hand and resumes firing. It works perfectly. Almost as if Morg expected it to be used while covered in viscera. "You're not going to be hungry anymore."
Riva Banari	Riva holds on as long as she can to open up attacks for the others. It's about when the swords slam down to pin the Beast down that Riva is forced to let go. She's crazy, not suicidal! Unfortunately, this means she's in the middle of the blood pool when he summons up the spikes. Riva looks down, just in time to feel a hot pain shoot through her torso. She gurgles as she is impaled and hoisted upwards, the Templar trembling as she tries to cling to life despite the grievous wounds. This is proving to be more and more difficult as hwe own blood begins to join the pool. She needs that stuff. Well, maybe in a couple minutes she won't.
Emiya Shirou	"HHHHGHKH?!" Unfortunately Shirou hadn't gotten away in time from the pool. he's not supernaturally quick either so this catches him utterly by surprise. Over a dozen spikes spear through his arms and legs when he least expects it, leaving him screaming briefly. But after the those few are in, the rest that are heading towards his vital organs... CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG! Many of them encounter serious resistance, snapping. Only a few pierce him and none of them manage to hit anything too vital. It looks worse than it is! But it still has him spitting out blood... And struggling away with a few detached spikes stuck all through his back! Shirou staggers, stumbles down to his knees... Sometimes, it's best to remember - the guy's not some kind of supernatural powerhouse. He just has a few weird magical tricks.
Ainsley	That awful creature has nowhere to go, despite struggling and almost breaking free. It thrashes and tries to get out, and Faruja's banish spell hits it and stops it almost instantly. The creature lets out a squealing, gurgling noise as it starts to drown in its own blood as well as the lake of blood. The sound of more gunfire from Staren overpowers the howl of terror and pain from the creature. The weapon blasts big holes in it over and over, and keeps it pinned and near-helpless in the blood, unable to form anymore words, despite visibly trying to shapeshift itself to deal with the Banish spell's effects. The blood lake rises, and all of the excess spikes fall down upon the creature at once. There's a cacophonous ten or fifteen seconds of iron spikes spearing and shattering in a storm on a single spot. The creature absolutely cannot escape from this attack now that it has been slowed down. It is utterly torn to shreds with the consequences of its own spell, and that is what decides the end of this battle. When the creature dies, the party knows it. A strange feeling washes over the room as if an immense pressure has dissipated. The fog bursts from that point where it died as the beast dissolves into the blood, and the blood begins to drain away, fading in a similar white mist, revealing that the lake bed was a massive storehouse full of stone crates, and the crates were full of strange white crystals. All of the crystals were shattered at some point. The room seems to be designed to be covered in wards, which were keeping that creature inside. The room goes quiet, except for the noise caused by the party, and the painful coughing and whimpering from Ainsley, who is still reeling from the initial attack over there. She's not having a fun time trying to stand after that, she got bloodied up pretty bad.
Sakura Kinomoto	Sakura swoops in to land on one of the stone platforms, supporting herself with her staff. "Well... I'm going to have nightmares about this."
Staren	Staren reloads again. Just in case. As he's about to aim again, though, the creature's dissolving. He watches, keeping the revolver trained on it until it is gone, and the blood begins to drain. What's revealed in the aftermath piques his curiousity though. "What /are/ these?" He lands to look more closely at the crystals. "Did they... create him somehow? Ainsley, how long ago was--" he turns towards her and /then/ sees the state she's in. "Ainsley!" he rushes over with his wings. "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the medbay?" He puts away the Annihilator and helps Ainsley up.
Faruja	When the creature ends in its death-throes, Faruja slowly lets out a breath. Despite his battered state, the Inquisitor peers at those crystals. They'll need to get a sample and study them. Indeed, this man might have been the culprit. But it's strange: could one man have been the source of so much corruption here? Such thoughts are dashed at Staren's voice and Ainsley's coughing. In a flash, the nezumi is over, Faery reappearing. Cue similar healing magic upon his love, before he eyes the next most wounded: Shirou. Faery's going to have quite a time of things here, and he's already setting out potions. Soon enough, Faery will be trying to patch up Shirou when she can get to it.
Riva Banari	Riva, luckily, doesn't have to wait for long for something to go her way. The blood spikes crash down, and Riva falls to the ground, the only blood remaining in the lake simply that she is losing. She gasps shallowly with the damage wrought to her, but she's still alive. As the beast dissolves, Riva relaxes, the Anima flow through her body shifting as her own wounds begin to close, painfully slowly. "Let's never do that again." She whispers.
Kotone Yamakawa	:has been pinned thankfuklly the others are able to well? Deal with the beast, the spikes fall down and soon she's able to pull her self free of them she's clearly hurt but she's managed to turn off her pain receptions, as she does her bets to keep her self from leaking vital fulids for her body's function from coming out. She looks over to Ainsley and teis tto get up. "Ugg. Is everyone ... alive? I ... need a med bay trip I think..."
Emiya Shirou	"Gggggghhhhhk..." Through sheer grit and determination, Shirou somehow gets to his feet and starts wrenching the blood spikes from his body if they didn't somehow dissolve. First his arms then his legs... but he doesn't manage to get this done before Faruja's helper gets to him. That makes everything much more manageable! "Should've... seen that coming... sorry. How's Ainsley?"
Staren	Then Staren notices what seem to be more serious injuries, that he can maybe actually do something about. He looks at Shirou but Faruja's got her. He turns to Kotone, then hurries over. Now he's in his element. "If I may..." he says, pulling off his gauntlets and setting them aside. The silvery bands around his wrists suddenly sprout all manner of small tools, not unlike the sort of implant a cyborg surgeon or electrical engineer might be expected to have on Kotone's world. If she gives any sign of agreement, he gets to work patching her up, moving his hands near problem sites and controlling the wrist-tools to fix them. Obviously he can't do large repairs, but reconnecting severed wires, closing off or patching leaking tubes? He can do that much, at least.