The wait beside Fetiss Sky Island has been long and – for the most part – boring. The Intimidator couldn't be kept there for the long haul, and several of the Lances were returned to their posts, or distributed to different hot spots. The "show of force" had been made, and now Rephidim has to get back to something resembling its usual business, rather than keeping all of its best forces concentrated on one spot where something might or might not happen.
Violet Lance – also known as Shadow Lance – has been left with one of the battleships, the Wind of Fate, as part of a long-standing "deterrent" force. So far, it hasn't seen any action … until now. And, quite frankly, no explanation seems to be forthcoming as to just how Lancer Eclipse got in this situation, since his memory seems to be as foggy as his surroundings right now.
Lancer Eclipse stands inside a corridor deep within some unknown building. Cracked timbers strain to hold up the stone block ceiling, and here and there, a block has come free from the mortar, now lying cracked on the floor. Cobwebs have grown thickly over the fallen blocks and the aged timbers, but a chill breeze cuts down the hallways, tearing thick layers of cobwebs like dusty white sheets … or perhaps like tattered flags, as they stubbornly cling to their anchors on the timbers and sway and toss in the cold wind. The wind makes a mournful howl every now and then, but when it quiets, the sounds of distant conflict echo through the corridors … of shouts, of clashing weapons, of men and women dying.
The Lancer is standing in a T intersection that, if one were to arbitrarily assign compass directions, continues on to the north, the south, and the east. To the north is the loudest din of combat, though whatever is happening is quite some distance down, and out of sight. More echoes come from the east, but, likewise, nothing can be seen. To the south, the corridor fades into darkness and silence.
He is dressed in the full armor of a Knight Templar … but his armor is dented in places, and there is a crack on the crown of his helmet. Underneath the helmet, a patch of his head-feathers is sticky and matted with blood – his own.
Eclipse rubs his head and looks around. He begins searching for his sword and starts to look around, trying to figure out what building he's in and what might be in the other directions. North seems to be the place he's most needed now to help his brethren, but there might be others trapped in the collapse or a more pressing need in the other directions.
Yes, Eclipse's gunblade is already in hand … and it's stained with blood. It looks fresh.
Some shadows can be seen cast on the walls of the corridor to the north – definitely someone moving around. Several someones. But it can't be made out just who or what in particular can be found in any given direction. But then, Eclipse's eyes don't seem to be quite as keen as they usually are.
The armored Vartan looks around for any bodies or signs of whomever it was he was battling at his feet, and then pauses to listen at the corridor to the east, trying to pick up on whether the noises he hears in that direction are noises of battle or something else.
Funny, it looks like there are no – no, there are some blood stains on the floor, after all, but no bodies. A trail of blood leads off to the north, but no such trail continues to the east or south.
To the east, the Vartan can hear the sounds of screams and what sounds like pleas for mercy (or something in that tone of voice) in … Imperial?
Nodding, the Lancer begins to make his way north… but the cries to the east jolt his attention. He quietly changes direction and makes his way down the eastern corridor… attempting to move swiftly but as stealthily as his armor and wounds will allow.
Veils of cobwebs batter against the armored Vartan as he rushes eastward, smearing the blood on his armor, but making no sound as he passes. His heartbeat seems to make more noise than his steps, pounding loudly in his ears. But at last, he reaches the termination of the corridor, as it widens into a much larger chamber, some sort of temple lined with alcoves, each one holding a statue of a noble-looking Naga in ornamental robes.
The source of the noises is soon apparent. There are several dead Nagas lying about, some of them fairly small. Children? Savanites rush about, hacking down the unarmed snakes, despite what seem to be repeated pleas for mercy. The golden fur of the cheetahs is stained with blood, and they grin widely, thoroughly enjoying themselves by all appearances.
A mother Naga (well, it's hard to tell, really) heroically throws herself in front of her child, only to be hacked down by a Savanite warrior … and the child follows in like manner in a heartbeat, so fast that the Vartan hasn't even a chance to do a thing about it.
Eclipse wipes some of the cobwebs from his visor as he searches for the source of the cries. As he sees the source he freezes momentarily, but then swiftly moves from his hiding place. "Stop this now," he scrawks, trying to move himself in the middle of the snakes and the cheetahs. He's afraid to sign, not wishing to take his hands off his weapon.
As Eclipse moves into the room, he can see a stone idol representing the magnificent Emperor Potentate, a look of benevolence upon his face. But standing on the altar before him is a female cheetah in royal garb, a glowing, evil-looking eye in the center of her forehead. Her robes and hands are thick with blood, and she tosses aside a dead Naga child, holding up the ceremonial dagger with which she has murdered the innocent. She holds up her hands in a commanding gesture … and all of the Savanite warriors turn to face Eclipse, grinning in anticipation of more shed blood.
"Madness. You would not kill you own friend, much less innocent children." The Lancer opens his wings to shield the people behind him. "I refuse to believe this, but I will fight if you force me."
There is no recognition in those eyes. There's … a pupil in the third eye. It glows red. And the face is wrong.
And she's using the wrong hand. And that dagger design is … things seem a bit blurry.
"You are an impostor!" Eclipse screeches. "Does the Emperor think Rephidim is so stupid to fall for this ruse? Or are you one of Amenlichtli's?" He focuses on the false Third-Eye, trying to either will it into whatever it truly is or pick up the feeling of magic being used.
There's the distinct buzz of magic … and then a certainty hits Eclipse. This is a dream, and not one originating from his own thought processes.
With that thought in his head, Eclipse tries to wrench himself awake. He need to find Shade and wake her up… She might be able to ward this away.
Once Eclipse is aware of this, it's a simple matter to pull himself back to consciousness … and he finds that he is in the cramped little compartment that passes for a berth on the Rephidim airship he is currently stationed on.
It's dark. And Eclipse is not bleeding.
The Lancer hastily throws on his robe, lacking the time to put on his armor, and quickly heads out of his cabin, rushing towards Shade's as fast as his hoofed feet will carry him. He pounds on the doors of his fellow lancers as he rushes down the hallway as well.
As Eclipse rushes past, he finds one of the doors pushes open … the door to Silhouette's berth. And she is the sort who would never leave the door ajar like this.
The Lancer pauses, and opens her door the remainder of the way. "Silhouette? Are you in there?"
As Eclipse opens the door, he can only barely see, but enough: Silhouette is tangled up in her sheets, looking as if she's having some unpleasant dreams … and Shade is poised above her, holding a wickedly curved dagger up high.
"STOP!" Eclipse screams a second time, making a grab for Shade's arms before she can stab that knife down.
Eclipse easily intercepts the winged cheetah, who seems to be moving in slow motion, making jerky movements. She looks at Eclipse with blank eyes, and a lost expression on her face – for she is not wearing her mask outside of her quarters.
"Forgive me sister," the Lancer says softly… and then slaps Shade across the face.
Shade doesn't even try to dodge or evade, as the Vartan's hand slaps her across the face, and the dagger falls from her hand, clattering to the floor. Only then does Silhouette finally wake up, letting out a scrawk of alarm.
Eclipse winces and shakes the cheetah again, hoping to bring her out of whatever trance she's fallen under. "Silhouette, get in you robes. Bad magicks being used here and we need to wake everyone up quick."
Silhouette grabs her helmet first … then clears her head a bit and throws on her robes as well, fumbling for her gunblade. Shade still seems to be a bit under … whatever has gotten control of her mind … but she's not taking any hostile actions, at least.
From somewhere above – on the decks? – there is a shout, then a scream. Then there's what sounds like a grown man blubbering loudly.
"Check on Vague." Eclipse fumbles with a towel and clumsily ties it around the cheetah's face. "Start trying to wake people up down here, and I'll deal with what's above the decks. Be careful since the magic might make some of our men fight. Subdue if you have to, but don't kill or maim. We're being forced into this."
Silhouette scrawks, "I had a dream … the other Knights were trying to kill me… " She shakes her head, and rushes out into the hallway. "Vague!" She pounds on the door to his room. Then, there's a noise of a weapon hitting wood. "AWK!"
"This might get tricky." Again Eclipse shakes the cheetah to try and pull her back into reality. "Try to wake him up. Throw water on him if you have a basin in you room! I need to get up top before people pitch themselves over the side of the ship!"
The door to Vague's berth smashes open, as a Tiger-Sphynx falls through it, tumbling to the ground, bed sheets wrapped around his head and shoulders, and his gunblade imbedded in part of the door. "Back! Back! If I have to, I'll fight you all! Don't make me ki – " He thrashes about. "What?"
Silhouette keeps clear of Vague's reach. "Wake up, Vague! It's a dream! I had the same one! You have to snap out of it, before we all go mad!" she scrawks, reaching an eagle-cry pitch in her alarm.
"Wake up! They're using magic on us. We need to get everyone awake before we kill each other." Eclipse tries to get in between the Sphynx and his weapon.
Vague uses both his claws to tear the bed sheets off of his head, giving him a rather odd drape about the shoulders. "Silhouette? Eclipse? What's going – " He stops short at another shout, looking down the hallway.
Silhouette rushes down the corridor for the stairs to the deck.
"Keep calm, Silhouette." Eclipse swallows. "Get dressed, and quickly. I need someone to wake up Shade to see if she can ward away these dreams. And we need to make sure that no one else is killing themselves. It doesn't sound good up top."
The Lancer throws Shade over his shoulder and heads after Silhouette. "Vague, hurry!" He pounds on more cabin doors as he follows after the Lancer.
Shade bounces around on Eclipse's shoulder. She seems to be down for the count … though by the time he gets up on deck, her wings move a bit. She doesn't (of course), say anything or groan, so it's hard to tell if she might be waking up just yet.
On the deck, Silhouette faces a Jupani squire – a young man – kneeling on the deck, a bloodied knife before him. He blubbers, "Kill me! Strike me down!" as he holds up blood-soaked hands.
Eclipse gives Shade another shake, to jolt her out if she's falling under another trance and to bring her out more if she's waking up. "Get the knife!" He looks around for the victim of the blade, and any others that happen to be up on deck.
The air mage at the fore end of the ship – a lady Khatta – lies sprawled on the deck, her wounds making it quite clear that she is beyond all hope of healing, and most certainly dead. A couple of other mages – a chaos mage and a seer – lie dead on the deck as well.
There are also two Jupani guards that are slumped down. There's no way that the squire could have possibly overpowered them. But they look as if they might have fallen asleep at their posts.
Silhouette kicks the knife away with one hoof, then knocks the squire over, pinning him to the deck, standing on his back.
Both of the guards have wounds to the gut. It's not evident at a glance whether they're dead or alive, but they don't look like they'd be doing very well in either case.
Eclipse's "magic sense" is still buzzing. Something is still active in the air. And it's strong.
The Lancer carefully lies Shade down and draws out his weapon, looking around for the source of the magic. "There might be more. Shade … you awakes?"
Shade shakes her head, then slowly tries to rise from the deck, her hands shaking as she looks at them. She looks up to Eclipse, and moves her fingers, but they're too shaky to sign anything.
"You had a nightmare, I knows. But you gots to pull youself together right now. Can you cast a ward? We under attack by a spell… feel it?" Eclipse scans the skies through his visor.
A flare catches Eclipse's eye … an airship's envelope has caught aflame, though it's barely seen through … fog. Yes, it's foggy out here, not just an after-effect of that dream.
Shade nods. She clasps her hands together, then shakily signs, "Many Spheres. But Dream … on this ship." She looks in alarm in the direction of the flaming airship envelope.
"Where on this ship?" Eclipse growls and rushes to the side of the airship, scanning for the attacker. "Vague!!! Anyone else alive down there?"
The Tiger-Sphynx stumbles up on the deck, clutching a lightly wounded arm. "Eclipse … we're all going mad!"
Silhouette spins about, looking past the cabin to the aft end of the deck. "There!" she scrawks. "Who's that on deck?" She points to where a dim silhouette can be seen of a Naga in the middle of an arcane circle, rimmed with low-burning candles.
"We're being murdered," Eclipse hisses. "Go get our armor. They'll probably pick off our ship soon enough and we need all the protection we can manage." He squints at the shadowy serpent and shakes his head. "Silhouette, go with Vague to get the armor; you need to get him safe, and try to wake up anyone down there that you can find. I'll do what I can up here in case we're attacked." He closes his eyes and focuses, trying to pick up the true source of the spell.
Silhouette points in the direction of the silhouette snake. "But – " she scrawks, and then she looks again. She clamps her beak tight, and rushes with Vague back belowdecks.
A new sensation strikes Eclipse. Down. Below. Below the airship.
"Shade. Start your ward. Quickly. If anything happen then run to join Vague and Silhouette. Staying alive is priority right now, remember that if you see danger." Eclipse grips his weapon and hops over the edge of the ship, trying to silently float down towards the source of the magic.
Shade scratches marks on the deck itself with a fallen blade, as Eclipse plunges over the side. Rakhtor cries reach his ears, and it looks like warriors are airborne from one of the other ships, though they can't be seen through the fog. As Eclipse descends, he spies a shape hanging to the underside of the ship. It looks at first like a Naga … but it has wings like a bat. A winged Shiga. Or, no, a Rokuga – for he also has legs – is clinging to the underside of the ship. It looks like he has inscribed a magical circle on the bottom of the ship's undercarriage, and is seated there, in the middle of a ritual, upside-down.
( He'll be onto Shade's magic soon enough, and that might draw him out of his ritual. No time for a subtle touch. ) Eclipse draws out his weapon and hastens his wing-beats, aiming to cut the Rokuga in two before he knows what hits him.
With a deft swing of his blade, the Lancer slices the winged Rokuga's head off at the neck. The mage's eyes open, then roll backtheir sockets as the head plummets. The arms and wings flop downward, though the leg-claws cling to the wood in some sort of muscle reflex. The buzzing in Eclipse's head relents suddenly.
The Lancer hovers in the air for a moment, inspecting the body for any sign of whom it might have served. He takes a moment to glance at his surroundings as well, looking for more potential attackers.
There seems to be nothing on the body, save for a sealable pouch to hold some pieces of chalk used to inscribe the circle on the underside of the ship. Otherwise, there seems to be no sign of nationality, other than the fact that the caster happens to be of the Rokugai.
Through the fog, Eclipse catches sight of a rider on a Rakhtor, and he can hear a bellowing cry. "HEY! YOU SEE ANYTHING?" "NO! I SEE NOTHING!" Sounds like Titanians. Must be the Cobalt Lance.
Eclipse snatches the pouch anyway; maybe the leather or the type of chalk might give a clue or two… and if the ship makes it back, the design of the circle could be another clue. He's fairly certain who this is the work of, but also knows that when dealing with snakes, any bit of proof to wave in their faces might be useful. He flaps his wings and makes for the deck. "Sound! Here! Is Eclipse."
"WHAT?!" barks the Champion. "WHO GO THERE? OH! ECLIPSE! YOU SEEN ANY SNAKEYS? I'M GONNA BASH HEADS!"
"A mage on bottom of our ship, cause nightmares that make us almost kill each other. Our air mage is dead… mights be slow going out of here. You okay? What abouts everyone else?" He tucks away the pouch for now.
"WE LOSE SHIP! I GOTS A FEW ON MY RAKHTOR. OTHER COBALTS CARRYING MORE. BUT SHIP GO BOOM. WE IN DEEP HURTING!"
"You rescue you air mage? We need fog cleared! Give me moment to get back up on ship and gets in armor; Violet Lance will join you," Eclipse scrawks, flapping upwards.
Back up on the deck, Shade is in the middle of a ritual, and a lot more guards and crew are up on deck. Some bodies have been laid out on the deck … including some wolves of Crimson Lance. The bloodied squire from earlier is trussed up in ropes, unable to move. A priest tends to the wounds of some of the stabbed guards.
The Vartan Lancer carefully lands on the deck. "There was mage on our underside," he scrawks. "No doubt source of nightmares. Keep wary, though. There more mages around." He cranes his neck, feeling the air to confirm his statement.
Yes, there's still the buzz of active magic … but it's weaker now. It feels as though it's dying down.
There's a scream from somewhere in the fog … and then the "buzzing" drops entirely. There are several wolf howls.
Shade's efforts don't seem to register much of anything. But then, in actuality, not much time has passed since she started, and she hasn't started a dance yet – since she can't very well chant.
Eclipse looks down at the pouch from the mage. ( I never thought the Nagai would strike first. ) "Armor… Vague, Silhouette? You alrights?"
Vague has his robes and most of his armor on now – the same for Silhouette. It looks like someone has been nice enough to drape something over Shade so she doesn't catch cold on the deck.
Silhouette scrawks, "We stopped one of the squires from torching the envelope."
Vague says, "I'm mostly all right. I startled one of the guards … " He hisses, clutching his arm. "We're all shook up. We got hit bad … and our mages are all dead. Except Shade."
Eclipse starts to put on his own armor. "Cobalt's ship went up, but they manage to escape with few people. Probably good idea to get story of what happen from him, and hopefully they air mage was rescued. If no, we just wear extra blankets tonight."
Vague and Silhouette nod solemnly, and they get back to the business of tending to the wounded, guarding against further attacks … and preparing for just what might come next.
