15[21:02] For just a moment, the raksha advance is halted as their beasts and hordes seem to collide with a great crimson barrier. In truth, great tides of them liquefy ilm by bloody ilm as they cross the threshold of Nexus's legally ordained city limits, and enter the territory of its ancient Emissary. [21:03] 14No more time for teapots. [21:04] <@Ferrinus> 12Yeah! Yeah, fuck 'em up! 15[21:05] The spray stains the water, the docks, and runs through the streets in a bloody tide. But for all his awful power, old Balor can't stop them all. 15[21:05] Not even most. [21:07] 14The stranger who visited Heaven finishes wrapping a long length of sailors' rope around his forearm. It's tied and knotted five time around the curved handle of his parasol. He doesn't remember where he left the scarves. Needs must. [21:09] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's pulled back with the others to the inner docks, and stands at the head of the Dawn Guard. He spins a grand daiklave through a simple exercise, leaving thin trails of sliced-apart air behind the tip, then takes a deep breath and squares his stance. [21:11] 13Xia Lan twirls her paired hook swords Before and After nervously before settling into her stance. She's sticking close to Tsuka, she's mostly healed up, and she has the Sol Ring around her right wrist. This is as ready as she can be. 15[21:11] The city's chosen defenders, pulled from every corner of the Direction, flood the streets of Nexus beyond the docks as the river rolls over and rough-spun green glass spreads over the inner pool's surface like a rapid freeze. Horns sound, arrows fly, and the sky burns red and violet. [21:12] 10Jai takes a moment to gather his thoughts, and count his knives. He's got enough to open a cutlery stall. Black iron for the Fair Folk; bronze for their thralls. It'll be a mercy, really. 10Just hold them off until the Lookshyans get here in force. Easy, right? [21:12] 14He throws the parasol out and snaps it back, as his movements take on the grace of the dance. [21:13] 14He moves to unseen music. [21:13] 14...Unheard music. [21:13] 14But there's always synecdoche. [21:17] 5The sky burns above Xu Sim, and it burns within Xu Sim, showing on the extinguishing Sun on his brow as the swirling mandalas appear, bearing calamitous battlespeech in Old Realm, and other ancient tongues. [21:23] 10A brief exchange as the vanguard advances. "Shiki, hide. We'll meet up later." "Chii." "Don't worry about me, take care of yourself." 07And a dark blur scampers out of harm's way. 15[21:23] The vanguard of Cethleann's army rushes forward, a squad of thorned cavalry, backed by giant dragonflies bearing gauzy ecstatics whose eyes and gaping mouths overflow with light, all led by a bear riding another, larger bear. [21:24] 14He's swaying side to side when the wave hits. [21:36] 14As they bear down: "I believe that we will win." [21:37] 10Jai: "I'll take it up with your ghost if we don't!" [21:38] 14You don't want to do that. [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar spots the opening. "Goin' in," 12he mutters, and before anyone in the arrayed Circle can respond the Dawn Sergeant's body has already been replaced with a slanted pillar of burning orange anima. It's slanted forward rather than curving forward - somehow, instead of jumping in the usual parabolic arc, Keldar has leapt in a straight line to above the charging faerie forces [21:46] <@Ferrinus> 12before stopping dead, swinging his daiklave around so as to point it straight down, and then crashing like a meteor into the ranks of the cataphractoi. [21:48] <@Ferrinus> 12They're not actually routed, but they are devastated - easily half are dead, with a few extras too wounded to continue or fleeing as if at the touch of iron. Keldar's visible standing in a small crater, surrounded by the rest, his grand daiklave replaced with a golden sword and silver shield that both back and forth to anticipate incoming blows. [21:49] 14Killer killer killer killer [21:57] 5Xu Sim kneads his hands back and forth, and then his arms, his fingers working tiny bags and vials between his fingers, loosing bits and daubs of iron filings, agate powder, and dried nautilus shells; the swirling dust begins to take a mind of its own but does not fly forth - yet. [22:13] 10The dust swirls past Jai, and when it clears, he's nowhere to be seen. 10Not yet, not yet… 15[22:22] The bear-riding bear collides with Keldar as fae swords clash off his shield. He lands a solid impact, driving Keldar heels-first into the heart of his own crater but the solar hero stands firm, face-to-face with the bear-man's hazy violet eyes. 15[22:24] As the battle continues, the red-violet sky is stained blue-white as harpoons of pure light scream over the circle's heads, fresh reports from Lookshy's Final Word. [22:25] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's briefly rattled. Felt like he took that on the forearm rather than the shield! [22:34] 13With a twirl and a leap, Xia Lan launches herself into the fray, ducking under the various enemies which mostly seem to be focused on Keldar, dodging between them with ease, all in service of striking at the important-looking one. She swings at him once, twice, hoping to bait him into a worse position, but - practiced combatant that he must be - he doesn't fall for it. Hopefully Keldar's the focus of the rest of the army here. [22:40] 14Bear riding a bear. The big boy with two backs. Stranger eyes the distance then steps forward into the fray, throwing the parasol out and cutting the rider across the cheek with its sharp tip. Then he snaps it back and slides around between the cataphract blades, grinning. 15[22:56] The air splits open with a piercing wail you can every in every vertebra. The ground shifts, the light burns violet, and everything is awash in a haze so thick you feel like you're moving in slow motion. Blood-thickened tides crash through the streets, overrunning the river and the sewers as even the Emissary is pressed backward and the petrified river bears forth more and more soldiers. [22:57] 14Stranger frowns and starts dancing differently for a moment, before resuming. [22:59] 10Jai makes a warding mudra Oyabun taught him, but it's not up to the task.  [23:00] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar's nearly overwhelmed. All he can do is grit his teeth, raise his shield, and weather the sound til it's over. 15[23:00] In the haze of their nightmare, the earth itself seems to bear down on them, a hideous grinning face of black glass the size of a house being dragged forward by a dozen disconnected limbs that tear the paving-stones to rubble beneath them. [23:01] 13Oh, Sun. Xia Lan crosses her swords involuntarily, hoping to buy her some time to just - focus-- [23:15] 10In the wake of the riders' wail, a chill, leaden fear sinks into Jai's bones. He flits from shadow to shadow, still hidden from their baleful gaze. He's going to have to strike hard, and soon.  [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12Keldar starts as he sees his foe turn and bear (hah! not even intentional!) down on what seems to be a softer target. He yells "No you don't-" 12 and leaps forward, roughly shoving several cataphractoi out of the way in order to interpose his shield between Krawczyk's claws and Xia Lan's blades. This time, he doesn't budge as talon and steel connect - maybe Keldar's got this [23:20] <@Ferrinus> 12bastard's measure? [23:31] 5Xu Sim, eyes bloodshot, releases a flurry of his deadly black butterflies; each one has three white spots on each wing and another spot on its tiny, murderous forehead. They seek out what they can, but only dig into the flesh of the witch-riders, leaking foul-smelling unguents and leaving their debris strewn through the surging tides. [23:35] 13Xia Lan just keeps back -- something about this just feels wrong, and she can only muster so much against all this. When Keldar leaps in the way of the blow, it's a relief, but also... he can't keep this up forever. 15[23:36] A great pillar of black glass would crush Xia Lan if Keldar didn't take the brunt of the bone-shaking blow himself. [23:36] 13He really can't keep this up forever. [23:37] <@Ferrinus> 12Whoof that one was close. However, that Keldar can keep this up forever has not yet been disproven. [23:55] 14The bear riding the bear is exulting in the press against the city defenders when the parasol whacks him across the face again, harder this time, drawing blood from his lip. 15[00:01] The haze of nightmare fades away, and the circle's senses grow sharper just in time to push through the keening pain. The raksha knights look up in unison, and a wordless and foreign song filters down, seeming to still the fight for just a moment. [00:03] 4Stranger stops moving, and says aloud: "For fuck's sake." [00:03] 14Stranger stops moving, and says aloud: "For fuck's sake." [00:03] 14Then he starts grooving again. [00:12] 14Oh dancing with myself; oh dancing with myself. Well there's nothing to lose and there's nothing to prove, so I'll be dancing with myself~ [00:15] 13Xia Lan continues huddling behind Keldar - okay, he might not be able to keep it up forever, but he hasn't shown signs of so much as a scratch yet! And she's nearly unarmored! [00:17] <@Ferrinus> 12The Sergeant's holding steady at the moment! For instance, the rain of obsidian shards simply broke against and tumbled down the warrior's gleaming gold-and-silver armor like, well, like rain. [00:28] 5Xu Sim gestures wildly and the obsidian shards flung by Mata-Yadh go flying back in the opposite direction! To similarly little effect, clattering off armor plates and sailing through empty space. [00:28] 10It's then that Jai chooses his moment. He leaps high, spraying a fan of iron knives, and gestures in the slowed time—the Ten sign, to anyone observing. "Fly fast and true,"10 he whispers, as the knives split and multiply in the air. By the time they reach the raksha witch-riders, the cloud of cold iron is thick enough to blot out the sky itself. [00:29] 10The raksha's songs are silenced utterly. [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12When the cataphractoi crash in like a tidal wave, Keldar's burning and gritting his teeth, raising his shield until the sunburst burning on it is the last thing visible within the sea of faerie spears. There's a crush of motion and spray of blood, followed by a sun-and-moon arc of clashing steel that pushes the riders back for just a moment to reveal the Dawn Sergeant standing with [00:46] <@Ferrinus> 12grand daiklave in hand, roaring defiance despite the thin rivulets of crimson drawing lines down his armor. [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12Then the Sergeant's eyes flash and he darts forward, shoving several cataphractoi aside. Massive silver claws are whistling down in a deadly arc towards Stranger-Visits-Heaven, but with a crash and shower of sparks they're knocked aside by the falling blade of Terminus, which crashes into what remains of the street and sends briefly-glowing fractures crawling in every direction from [00:54] <@Ferrinus> 12its point of impact. [00:57] 14Stranger is bleeding from the mouth and shoulder when the parasol hits the bear riding the bear a third time, right in the armpit, and almost knocks him off his mount. He elbows a sword away as he grins, blood in his teeth. [00:59] 10Jai perches on a rooftop for a second to assess the situation. And frankly, it's a real fuckin mess. There's no more time for skulking around, not if he wants to help his new allies. And, it turns out, he really wants to. [01:01] 13Praise the Sun for Keldar's defense. Xia Lan hasn't been able to do much with it, but hopefully the Sol Ring is making up for it - she's its keeper, now, she has responsibilities. [01:03] <@Ferrinus> 12Having turned the bear's claws aside, Keldar turns and throws himself at the obsidian monster towering over the battlefield, but its whirling limbs make it impossible for him to reach its face - he'll leap from one to another in hopes of getting high enough to strike a telling blow, but doesn't make enough progress not to find himself back at ground level moments later. [01:03] 10And what the hell would Odette say if he just stood by while Stranger got his arm ripped off by a bear? 15[01:05] As the Circle fights for their lives, the wider battle for the fate of the Direction plays out all around them. The horde's advance is all but stymied, for the moment. 15[01:05] NEXT TIME: Beseech the Queen