Plotlogs
Shallow Bloom And Black Camellias Sr Ritsuka 250321
In the heart of Kyoto, a group consisting of a demonborn named Takeshi, a magical practitioner named Lynette, a supernatural entity Edith, and a companion named Raina embarked on a mission to retrieve a powerful and cursed artifact known as the Hollow Bloom. Their journey led them to navigate through a series of perilous encounters, revealing the depths of darkness and the complexities of power that lay beneath the ancient city.
Commencing their mission, the group encountered a trio of demonborn adversaries, skilled in combat and resistance. Thanks to the unique abilities of Takeshi and the strategic contributions of his companions, they overcame this challenge, delving deeper into the heart of danger. They next faced a grave showdown with a lethal ninja and his cybernetic warriors amidst risen undead, a battle that tested their limits and required the full extent of their might, strategy, and mystical prowess.
Edith, wielding dark sorcery far beyond the arcane, played a crucial role in their success, channeling the ancient and potent forces that thrived within the gloomy confines of their battlefield. Lynette's magical manipulations confused and shattered the opposition, adding layers of cunning to their strategy. Raina's precision and unwavering resolve ensured their offensive remained sharp and relentless.
At the heart of their journey lay the Hollow Bloom, a flower embodying darkness and thirst for life, surrounded by whispers of the past and guarded by unholy forces. Lynette, upon retrieving the flower, immediately felt its life-draining curse, a burden that seemed to weigh heavily on her spirit and physical vitality. Takeshi, affected by the flower's presence, cautioned distance, emphasizing the artifact's malevolent nature.
Their return was marked by a profound sense of accomplishment and contemplation of the artifact's grim verses, hinting at a destiny intertwined with sacrifice, betrayal, and retribution. Ritsuka, their leader, recognized the significance of their acquisition and proposed returning the Hollow Bloom to a place of safekeeping until its ominous purpose could be fulfilled or countered.
This story of danger, dark magic, and ancient curses highlighted the bravery, strength, and unity of an unlikely group bound by a common quest. It also foretold a looming, larger conflict, one that threatened to engulf realms in its wake, demanding sacrifices and challenging the very essence of their beings. As they prepared to leave for Haven-city, with promises of recovery and planning for future endeavors, the group pondered the enigmatic prophecy surrounding the Hollow Bloom, aware that their saga was far from over.
(Shallow Bloom and Black Camellias(SRRitsuka):SRRitsuka)
[Thu Mar 20 2025]
On Foothold in Kyoto
Tucked away in the winding backstreets of Kyoto, behind an unassuming wooden gate marked only by a single, weathered camellia crest, lies a foothold in Japan. The air is thick with the scent of incense and the cold outside, the silence broken only by the distant chime of temple bells or the occasional murmur of unseen watchers.
Beyond the entrance, the locations fits into the surroundings, traditional sliding doors conceal fortified chambers, and a garden disguises hidden pathways beneath its moss-covered stones. Paper lanterns cast flickering shadows against lacquered wood, their crimson glow reflecting in the eyes of those who may take a moment to watch.
Power flows like an unseen current beneath Kyoto's ancient streets. Only those who walk the path of along the Yokai may ever uncover this current.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
There's a serious expression on the demonborn's face today, like he's ready for war. Mao no Tsume is worn across his back from shoulder to hip, and his arms are folded over his chest, feet shoulder width apart. He's not got one liners or boasts today. Takeshi stands ready, watching Ritsuka prepare, and waiting for orders.
Lynette stares in Takeshi's direction. For some reason the serious expression on his face was unnerving. Normally Lynette didn't feel much pressure to do well these sort of situations. Her specality happens to be things working out around her after all. She does however take the moment to sweep her hair up into a ponytail looking in Ritsuka's direction.
Having conducted prepwork after finding a trapped virgin and "rescuing" her by biting her then leaving, Edith used that delicious delicious nectar to perform a few prepperations; A protection ritual, a mindwarding ritual, then began to ready for the day ahead. Edith packed up on weaponry-- Bane knives, a focus, paralytic toxins, tranquilisers and darts, taser and darts, grenades, a landmine, a deadman switch, pepperspray, a bola and more. Edith also dressed in a pretty dress today because going to Japan demands holiday clothes, even if there's a potential of it being a bloodbath. Edith rather likes those, in fact. Tools gathered, secreted away or deposited in Edith's hand bag, the last few items to be gathered are Edith's medkit and tools, sunglasses and then Edith travels to the Tsubaki foothold via path, meeting with Ritsuka, Takeshi and Lynette.
There's a serious expression on the demonborn's face today, like he's ready for war. Mao no Tsume is worn across his back from shoulder to hip, and his arms are folded over his chest, feet shoulder width apart. He's not got one liners or boasts today. Takeshi stands ready, watching Ritsuka prepare, and waiting for orders. (repost)
(repost for Raina) Having conducted prepwork after finding a trapped virgin and "rescuing" her by biting her then leaving, Edith used that delicious delicious nectar to perform a few prepperations; A protection ritual, a mindwarding ritual, then began to ready for the day ahead. Edith packed up on weaponry-- Bane knives, a focus, paralytic toxins, tranquilisers and darts, taser and darts, grenades, a landmine, a deadman switch, pepperspray, a bola and more. Edith also dressed in a pretty dress today because going to Japan demands holiday clothes, even if there's a potential of it being a bloodbath. Edith rather likes those, in fact. Tools gathered, secreted away or deposited in Edith's hand bag, the last few items to be gathered are Edith's medkit and tools, sunglasses and then Edith travels to the Tsubaki foothold via path, meeting with Ritsuka, Takeshi, Raina and Lynette.
(repost for Raina) Lynette stares in Takeshi's direction. For some reason the serious expression on his face was unnerving. Normally Lynette didn't feel much pressure to do well these sort of situations. Her specality happens to be things working out around her after all. She does however take the moment to sweep her hair up into a ponytail looking in Ritsuka's direction.
Raina has arrived she is already fully geared for the mission she also brought along her handmaiden tamamo who is carrying a bow from the group just in case they need one more extra hand, Raina is as usual still a bit nervous for missions, the task always seem rather insurmountable but she took a deep breath and steeled her nerves as she does a last minute checkup of her equipment, bow, naginata and armor.
Takeshi glances over to Raina as she's checking her weapons, then to Lynette as she puts her hair up in the ponytail. He nods Edith as she arrives, trusting her to have her equipment in order. Takeshi makes his way over to Raina, waving Lynette to sit with him too as he wordlessly picks up Raina 's bow and starts inspecting it, making sure it was strung properly, making sure there were no defects, making sure Raina was ready to fight.
"it is good enough right, tamamo san helped me out on stringing it up" Raina noticed Takeshi approached and picked up and inspect her bow, she deduced he would likely want to see if it is actually stringed up properly "i am a bit nervous...what about you onii sama?" Raina asked as she got tamamo to help her inspect the back of her armor.
As the party had already known on every previous visit to Japan, to path the way over, the naked tree branches that stretch their branches to the sky, and yet, Kyoto was starting to be in full bloom. Today is not the foothold that the party had known the last couple of times, in fact, this foothold was a new one, somewhere else in Kyoto with a few more solemn faces. It was no more grand or less than the previous one, but the secret war has its toll and demands its price and sacrifice.
Regardless, as Edith finds her way through, and Ritsuka brings Lynette, Takeshi and someone along, the party once more gathers, as today would come to the acquisition of a significantly more important artifact for the days, months to come. As ever, it is also the current Tsubaki no Tetsu leader, Ritsuka who takes the word, unpacking one of those maps again. "It is good to see you, Edith-san." She starts with that, making a little dip of her head to the woman. She had not asked or hired this time, but the vampiress was present, and that is being honored. It is only then that Ritsuka's gaze strays to the others. "I will summarize about what I mentioned yesterday. We are looking to recover an artifact called the Shallow Bloom. It will be an important key for my own ascension and for Kin'Yoko's bloom." She points to a location on the map, a green rectangle somewhat central to the northeast side of Kyoto. "There is tunnels under the Imperial Palace, ones that were not supposed to be visited and uncovered and the Hanshin Group, together with Kin'Yoko have discovered an entrance to it. Kin'Yoko had, in as much as she could, explored some of the tunnels and found the Dynasty to occupy them. Within it, she had also discovered an old shrine that contains what we are looking for, and this means that, for our own purposes, we look for the item, but the Hanshin Group asks us to root out the Dynasty as much as we can. Get rid of them, while respecting the property and making sure it does not see any destruction happen to it.
She summarizes one more time "Kill all the Dynasty freaks. Recover the Hollow Bloom. Understood?" Ah no, her look only lingers briefly on Takeshi and the others before she then goes on again "The Hollow Bloom, by the way, was once a sacred gift to one of our empresses. It contains memories of centuries in it, and you got to make sure the thing does not get damaged. There is word that it may be cursed, but I can't tell you if that is true, and Edith may prove especially helpful with uncovering and removing it, if that word proves true. Are there any questions?""
As the party had already known on every previous visit to Japan, to path the way over, the naked tree branches that stretch their branches to the sky, and yet, Kyoto was starting to be in full bloom. Today is not the foothold that the party had known the last couple of times, in fact, this foothold was a new one, somewhere else in Kyoto with a few more solemn faces. It was no more grand or less than the previous one, but the secret war has its toll and demands its price and sacrifice.
Regardless, as Edith finds her way through, and Ritsuka brings Lynette, Takeshi and Lynette along, the party once more gathers, as today would come to the acquisition of a significantly more important artifact for the days, months to come. As ever, it is also the current Tsubaki no Tetsu leader, Ritsuka who takes the word, unpacking one of those maps again. "It is good to see you, Edith-san." She starts with that, making a little dip of her head to the woman. She had not asked or hired this time, but the vampiress was present, and that is being honored. It is only then that Ritsuka's gaze strays to the others. "I will summarize about what I mentioned yesterday. We are looking to recover an artifact called the Shallow Bloom. It will be an important key for my own ascension and for Kin'Yoko's bloom." She points to a location on the map, a green rectangle somewhat central to the northeast side of Kyoto. "There is tunnels under the Imperial Palace, ones that were not supposed to be visited and uncovered and the Hanshin Group, together with Kin'Yoko have discovered an entrance to it. Kin'Yoko had, in as much as she could, explored some of the tunnels and found the Dynasty to occupy them. Within it, she had also discovered an old shrine that contains what we are looking for, and this means that, for our own purposes, we look for the item, but the Hanshin Group asks us to root out the Dynasty as much as we can. Get rid of them, while respecting the property and making sure it does not see any destruction happen to it.
She summarizes one more time "Kill all the Dynasty freaks. Recover the Hollow Bloom. Understood?" Ah no, her look only lingers briefly on Takeshi and the others before she then goes on again "The Hollow Bloom, by the way, was once a sacred gift to one of our empresses. It contains memories of centuries in it, and you got to make sure the thing does not get damaged. There is word that it may be cursed, but I can't tell you if that is true, and Edith may prove especially helpful with uncovering and removing it, if that word proves true. Are there any questions?""
"i dont really have any...hmm do we have a picture or image of the artifact...or will we know when we see it?" Raina raised her hand and asked ritsuka about the artifact they are searching for, just incase they found it by chance.
He hands the bow back to Raina after it passes his inspection, shaking his head at her question as if she should know better than to ask it. "I'm alright. Focus on mission." Takeshi tells her before turning to Ritsuka as she begins her briefing, folding his arms over his chest and paying attention. "Search and destroy, remove Dynasty, secure object, bring home without damage." Takeshi echoes back the plan to her, allowing Ritsuka to correct him if he's gotten anything wrong.
Takeshi says "No questions"
Lynette would come and join the pair of Takeshi and someone where they sat, lifting her chin to attention. She turns her head sharply, smacking Takeshi in the face with the whip of hair from her ponytail. "Sounds pretty straight foward. Nice to have an in."
Lynette would come and join the pair of Takeshi and Raina where they sat, lifting her chin to attention. She turns her head sharply, smacking Takeshi in the face with the whip of hair from her ponytail. "Sounds pretty straight foward. Nice to have an in," she hums in thought. "So it'd be bad to destroy the property we're in? Edith better leave her grenades behind..." she mumbles narrowing her eyes at the vampire.
"This," Edith notes, addressing Ritsuka, with a secondary glance to Ritsuka, "Should be rather easy compared to before- I made certain to eat well before we came, and intend on continuing to do so throughout." It's no threat. Edith is promicing, though the apathetic smile is still there. Apparently, Edith has decided that Ritsuka and Takeshi are worthy of her attention today. Lynette and Raina, likely not. After all, Edith did prime and throw a grenade at Lynette just the other day on grounds of being unamused before the Sanctuary spell disallowed it. As Ritsuka explains the plan, Edith nods along. Takeshi gets a weighty glance at minimizing damage, Nd Edith arranges her bag, setting the more lethal ordinance to the bottom of it. "I would assume that if it is an artifact, I shall know it at a glance. Magic of such quality has a tell." the blond allows. "Decursing is well with me." to be perfectly honest, Edith came for the enjoyment of it, and the fact that Ritsuka did not employ Edith this time is beside the fact. One must honor their allies, even outreach, and the Hand has a vested interest in Hanshin and ridding the Dynasty. As Lynette speaks though, Edith's attention returns to Ritsuka. "Traps, technology, arcane protections and potential guardians?" the vampire asks. It may possibly be that Lynette has just volunteered herself for snack food along the way.
Edith likely gave a secondary glance to Takeshi, too. That would make far more sense.
His nose wrinkles as he gets hair whipped by the pony tail, Takeshi in a moment of maturity far beyond what the man was normally capable of opting to ignore it as he looks back to Ritsuka to see if she had any answers for the questions asked. "I take point, then." Takeshi would remark to Edith, figuring she would, as she always did, prefer to stand in the back unless further mentioned. "Muse-chan and Raina-chan stick near you, I walk ahead of group. I draw attention, you wipe them out when they reveal themselves." Takeshi tells them, listing out a pretty simple but efficient plan. Takeshi glances to Lynette and Raina, and the bows they were holding "Can handle?" Takeshi asks
Blue eyes do settle onto Edith and there is a slight nod. "The Dynasty has a couple of its ninjas linger around, biomancy opponents should be expected. There is some guardian robots about, and we think that the Dynasty has intentions for the artifact as well, but not discovered it yet. Scouts did report that they intend to move someone with significant power over in the next couple of days, which is why now is the time to act and not wait to give them a chance to get their heavier people in." Ritsuka answers, pausing then to give a thoughtful look, and she had arrived in her full armament as well today. "The Hollow Bloom. There is nothing mentioned on guardian spirits from what sources and documents one could find. But if it was not, in some form, protected, how could it remain untouched for as long as it did? I would guess there is a secret tunnel in the secret tunnels, and to assume there is some sort of defense. I don't know about traps, but everything up until the Dynasty has searched through should be cleared out. We are quite literally coming in to snoop up and take what they worked on acquiring."
Ritsuka's gaze draws to Takeshi, Lynette and Raina. "I will be handling the Dynasty again somewhere else today. They are trying to rile up some of the old nobility and shrines to find more footholds for themselves. In the coming weeks we will be conducting more Operations here, establish a foothold and take control over Kyoto. Make sure they are never seen again, but we will worry about that soon instead."
Raina nods as she gets handed a good amount of arrows by tamamo, seeing as she isnt going to go close quarters she hands her naginata to tamamo as well "i can handle it dont worry" Raina answers Takeshi she then turned her attention to ritsuka "then please do be careful ritsuka sama, though...i dont think i really need to say that now dont i" she slings the quiver of arrows over her shoulder and rubs her wrists to help stop them from trembling so much.
"This seems logical." Edith nods to Takeshi, talking over the figurative heads of Lynette and Raina. "Try to handle them before they reach melee range if possible, the Dynasty can be tricky. Though with me at the rear of the group, we will be unlikely to have all that much trouble. Protect the weaklings." It's a statement, though Edith still glances over to Ritsuka to see if this is indeed what shw would rather; Edith could care less for said weaklings, though they arn't Edith's pets. It is only natural. "If you need them, I have a cell of Shadows within the city." the vampire tells Ritsuka. "If you have need, inform them and make it clear to them that I instructed it."
Noting Raina's trembling, Edith sniffs; A contemptuous thing that is more annoyed that disapointed-- Edith expected it. And yet, a shaking bowman is a poor shot, so Edith stares, the air grows heavy with psychic potential and Edith forcibly changes Raina's outlook, in only the calm, friendly way that is now familiar.
"hm...oh" Raina hands stops shaking, guess the rubbing did calm her nerves, well all that is left is to focus at the task at hand, there will be a lot of enemies if the intel is correct so she has to make every shot count.
Normally Lynette would be annoyed from the obvious intentional ignoring from Edith, but in reality the less responsibility the better. She toys with the bow in her hands, tilting her head towards the group's questions. "Sure. Sitting towards the back is a better position for me anyways. I'll be sure to get some good shots in," Lynette purrs sweetly.
There's a pause as Ritsuka mentions the tunnels "Ah. Not so simple. Enemies hidden." Takeshi says, dipping his head for a moment to think. But he thinks only for a moment before he raises it back up. "It no issue. Muse-chan will stumble across hidden tunnel." Takeshi states, seeming entirely confident that this is a thing that was going to happen. Takeshi glances over at the interaction between Edith and Raina but doesn't quite seem to pick up on what Edith had done, simply seeing Raina focus herself "That it. Steady hands make steady shots." Takeshi praises Raina
"Tunnels make things better for you." Edith points out to Takeshi. "A more direct kill zone. It can cause issues at junctions; Protective barricades and problematic dead ends and rally points, though you are strong, you are growing more adept by the day, and I can send a spirit or two to scout ahead if we simply do not use your harem." Edith has no compunctions in addressing her lessers as so. She doesn't even seem to notice the implication. "If we have straight tunnels, that is better for my sorcery. I can shooting range targets."
Raina says "harem...? "
Takeshi cackles, snatching Mao no Tsume from his back for a moment, his fist gripping the sheath bellow the guard as if he could feel his body tensing up and getting ready. "If they smart they run. It more fun to cut down running enemy than fighting one." Takeshi says, testing Mao no Tsume to see if he felt like opening today, flicking open the first inch of the blade with his thumb and grinning as it does, a sharp red glow coming from the obsidian steel blade. "Mao eat well tonight."
"Sure, whatever. I'll find the tunnel," Lynette agrees, having the same overconfidence in her luck as Takeshi did."Whine all you want about it Vampire lady, You're just scared to acknowledge that I'm an asset obviously," she flicks her off her shoulder with a bit of sass, hitting Takeshi in the face with it a second time.
There's a sharp whistle and Lynette would feel the wind of something swiping through the air fast as she tries to whip Takeshi again. The hair does not hit him, and there's a click of a blade returned to it's sheath as thousands of strands of emerald slowly drift down towards the ground ...
"...haa, well with all of this said and done, i think the plan of attack should be simple and effective enough, ill do my best on picking off targets so dont worry too much about me" Raina has resolved herself to complete the mission, if she falters then that would be that "hmm...starting fights before we even start the mission is, not ideal" Raina noticed what Lynette and Takeshi is doing, she just hopes this doesnt mess up the mission overall.
doesn't even dignify Lynette or Raina with a responce; Edith simply nods to Takeshi's boastful claims. Apparently at some point Takeshi has become a resource and not an inconvenience in Edith's eyes. That then is only enforced when Lynette attempts to whip Takeshi again, rewarded with Takeshi pulling off a shonin trope move in the blink of an eye. "You should thank him." the vampire tells Lynette, addressing her for the first time today. "He gave you a trim. You saved on hair dressing bills and half a tube of hairdye."
There is no effort by Ritsuka to intervene here, to calm anyone. Here, they were not in Haven where sanctuary would typically protect from some of the worst, and it is here where ppeople can get terribly hurt. It also does not mean that the secret cold war will not escalate, though here, usually still fought in the nightmare, today that is different and today people will die, get killed, hurt, and left wounded. Blood is to be spilled, whether it is the parties or that of Dynasty agents, is up to the party.
And once everyone is ready, it does go on in to that vehicle drive. Today it is a black van, smaller than the ones in the US of A. Darkly tinted windows, no seating in the back, the driver is a Japanese woman who does not share a single word, but her collar holds the steel Camellia flower. Spring was coming again, and it shows, even here in Kyoto as the party does drive by along the river for a moment. Lights shine up along a stone wall to the early blooms of those cherry blossoms that have begun their bloom, and will still yet bloom more in two weeks time. Pink petals land on the street and float, darkly, along the van. The nightsky was covered today, clouded up, hiding the moon and the stars, and it is scenery that would linger as the party does get closer towards their intended goal, only that the trees turned from pink to green, with the first leaves growing from their branches.
The Imperial palace is largely empty at this time of day, entire courtyards finding themselves to be empty, and it shows that the building is very old, the structure looks well maintained, but it carries that old-people kind of shabby look to it. As it turned out, no one has quiet asked about where the tunnel entrance lies, but fortune favors Lynette a little bit today, as when she glances, she sees a presence pass on by in the distance. Three darkly clad people that seem to sneak by one of the outer walls, but it is something only she noticed.
Raina and her guardian may find the sight more familiar, perhaps they had once been invited here. She can tell that they are between the Jomeimon Gate and the Kenreimon Gate. There is still a way through to the right and the left, with the gates being being and in front. Edith does get the sense of something quite ancient and arcane in the air, something more divine. Sun. Old and powerful, but not what the party is looking for.
Takeshi is immediately assaulted, Lynette diving for him at the damage to her precious hair, but the girl is quickly subdued. Grumbling under his breath, she'd be carried kicking and screaming to the car and then pinned down in her seat until she calmed down, perhaps with some magical help from Edith. By the time they get to the palace, they'd be taking the formation Takeshi had mentioned, Takeshi leading up the front. He walked with his chest out, ready for confrontation, opting not for stealth today in the hopes that if anyone were to spot their party, they spot him first ... (Checked with Muse OOC)
As the vehicle comes to a stop and Edith, Takeshi and Lynette and Raina step out, Edith glances around; It's perceptive, with stupendous night vision unsurpassed by any mortal. It seeks not only the area, security systoms, magical protections and guards, but also spiritual ones, phantasms lingering and for anything unseen.
Raina looks at tamamo who is right with her carrying Raina naginata along with her own bow "stick close and help me finish off any alive targets okay..." Raina talking to her handmaiden about their own plan of attack, they were discussing something...but it is a bit inaudible as they went from talking to whispers, the place is...oddly comforting, maybe it is because of familiarity but she wouldnt mind being here at all, she pulls out a flash light, but doesnt turn it on just yet, it may be dark but revealing their location right out of the gate is not a good idea just yet.
Lynette was enraged. Her usual silver tongue faltering as she launched herself at Takeshi in a furry, unable to even bother replying to Edith. She screamed and struggled the entire way to the van, but was eerily quiet during the ride, absentmindedly touching the ends of her hair as if mourning a loss. Once the group exits, in the middle of the stuck up girl's pouting, her eyes would notice something in the distance. She huffs, slowly shifting her gaze back to the group, her voice sounding very coy in nature. "Well would you look at that. What a cute group of suspicious people gathering outside the the wall. Totally not a weird scene to be a concerned about."
"please keep your grievances until we have recovered the artifact and murder every single one of the dynasty miss muse" Raina has switched her empathy off for this one, just like she has done several times before, the enemy is just the enemy and nothing more, still they are rather obvious if not for the fact it is dark outside right now, but if the dynasty would attack now would be a great time to drive them off.
His head snaps over in the direction Lynette had alerted him to, double checking over his shoulder to make sure he couldn't spot any operatives trying to circle around behind them or go for an ambush before he swipes his hand through the air to instruct the group to follow him and sets out into a combat jog in the direction they'd seen the enemies "Get ready, we might be about make contact" Takeshi warns the group, moving Mao no Tsume no from his back to his hand
Lynette grumbles under her breath in response to Raina, "I shall not," she quietly pouts. As usual Takeshi jumped into combat mode, but she quickly places a hand on his shoulder to ease him. "Relax, I don't think it's battle time yet. I only saw three, but there could be more. Perhaps following might lead us to better conclusions that running in swords drawn," she suggested.
"Well, Barbie's first haircut." Edith demands of Lynette, "Where do we go? We have a job to do and your pathetic struggles against your supernatural better is slowing us down- A wonderful job of trying though. If I had a working heart it would be beating with the joy I feel at seeing the pep you have to bring to bare. Maybe one day you can channel that into your magic and it might just work on me." Edith is in fact very bad at pep talks "Or on anyone or thing at all, really." It doesn't matter though; Edith isn't looking for an answer. The vampire vanishes into the shadows, keeping up with Takeshi, Lynette and Raina, observable to only those with the skill to do so.
As Edith takes to look around, she can see quite a lot of spirits lingering around. Some were definitely Eidolons, their gazes watching and turning to the group. Some weaker, others stronger, and this is in addition to the spirits of the dead, the Yurei, who do not seem to do much more than to settle in for the night. None seem to mourn or be stuck on to something from life, no, it seems that they are those who have chosen to linger, and maybe it is in her knowledge that it would be considered normal in Japanese mythology to a certain degree. Most of those more powerful spirits, of the Eidolons, seem to be some type of primal eidolons, maybe a few divine and fae, too. Ghost types, too, and they seem to be far more better dressed for what must have been their time once. She could probably ask them for the route. One of those ghost spirits was a very well dressed woman, too.
The group that Lynette had pointed out to Takeshi and Raina, as well as Edith was moving along of it, to the right, which would lead to a little lake that Raina might recall to be called the Oikeniwa garden, with the Keyakibashi bridge that leads across and would lead to the Otsunegoten or the Gonaitei garden. The group of suspicious people does move quickly, and Edith would make to guess that they are either ignoring the group or have not yet detected them. By their movements, it is the later, the confidence of being unseen.
Sneaking upto the group, Edith lowers her voice to address Takeshi, Lynette and Raina. "Eidolons en mass, many spirits and the group ahead of us have not noticed us. I can ask one of the spirits for directions, or we can follow these."
"...it is sort of chilly here right now huh" Raina mutters to herself, she doenst have any sort of excellent vision or power, honestly all she got from being an angelborn is just being a slightly stronger person "the spirits huh, you can ask them, they might know something, if we follow the group ahead, they are likely as lost as we are" Raina said to Edith, spirit talking is rather useful...getting info out of people long gone is rather helpful for finding some sort of mysterious entrance or relics.
Being told they weren't yet noticed, Takeshi lowers his run to a more crouched one, tilting forwards as he grips his blade to try and restrict the metallic clacking of it as he runs. "Mission is search and destroy. We have Dynasty in front of us. We not let them escape." Takeshi tells Edith, his eyes narrowing at the group as he picks up the speed, looking to close the distance and engage with the group ...
Lynette glares at the snooty Edith, deciding that these would be slights against her would not be soon forgotten. "When we get back I'm switching out all her blood bags for ketchup," she growls after the woman vanished. Whether or not it was that Lynette didn't care that Edith could still hear her or was simply not aware she was lingering nearby was up to interpretation. By the time her voice came back, Lynette would wrinkle her nose. "No wonder my skin was crawling..." She mutters, head head whipping back and forth for the things she couldn't see. She decides to stick close to Takeshi as the group advances.
"ill take a few of them down then" Raina following Takeshi lead begins to aim her bow at one of the men she is confident one shot is enough to take one out especially since tamamo is helping to double tap anything that can still move.
" Then that is what we shall do." Edith agrees-" Takeshi has already run off ahead. "Oh well." Edith could path to the group. She could fire off a bolt of dark sorcery, but Takeshi has his blood up, and he does enjoy carnage. There's no point there fore in stepping out of the shadows, and so Edith waits, protecting Lynette and Raina from behind, tools within easy reach, a tranq gun in one hand, a poisoned knife materializing in the other."
The agents do hurry along - but the advantage lies, this once, in the party's basket. Takeshi has his blade and comes swinging, Raina has lined up a shot along with her own muscle. Arrows fly loose and hit the mark, blade rends into flesh... but the targets are not dropping. Three gazes turn and look up, Takeshi might immediately recognize their nature, because as it turns out, they were like him. Demonborn, with bodies that simply can resist more, that simply can do more to protect themselves and that increased regeneration does start to hit up. They turn to Takeshi, drawing their own weapons, that is scimitars, blades, a spear is somewhere along the line as well, and a pistol. They were not unhurt, Takeshi was stronger than each individually, but they were a group, three, the two in melee opposing him, and the one with the pistol raises it up to point it at Raina. They say something in Chinese.
Edith can feel see how the spirits turn to look and watch, some even look entirely angry when they hear the Chinese language. Perhaps a little request could make them aid the party. Through her legitimate education, she may remember that China and Japan had historically been known to be enemies to one another, with Korea technically defended against Japan by China. One Korean admiral called Yu Sun-Si once repelled a Japanese invasion of Korea in the late fifteenth century through naval warfare.
"You see that." Edith says to one ghost-- the nearest. In conversational tones, the vampire chats away as though a fight wern't breaking out. "Chinese. It might be worth rallying a defense before they can invade and take over your country. That would be a shame-" A pause then. Edith has noticed the gunman and paths over to him, a silver sphere in one hand, the pin already pulled. Edith taps him on the shoulder, smiles, hands him the neutralizing grenade by force-- Through his head, then steps back, allowing Takeshi with his blade and Raina and Lynette with their weapons to take care of the situation fully; Even neutralized, Edith is undead and pain doesn't matter to the undead.
Demons they may be, but Takeshi had something they didn't. As slamming the lacquered sheath into the back of the first's head didn't seem to do anything, Takeshi brings his hand to the handle of Mao no Tsume.
A shriek heard only in the minds would split through the heads of all present as the eye at the blade's guard bursts open full of fury. Black flames already spilling out of the scabbard as he draws, Takeshi crashes into the two demonborn with melee weapons in front of him with a violent snarl.
Sharp spurts of the same black flame are hurled out from the swirling chaos as Takeshi engages the demonborns, the black flame catching and burning at the ground around them ...
Raina clicks her tongue, of course they would be able to survive an arrow to the back "i should really get a sniper rifle next time this is just ridiculous" then Edith took out the gunman and Raina began to refocus her aim at another target, this time tamamo helps out by also taking aim, if one wont slow them down then a thousand arrows shall be their undoing "aim, steady, fire!" Raina loosened her shot and tamamo does the same aiming to the one who Takeshi is engaged in a fight with.
Lynette watches the violence with dull eyes, her heartbreak deeply rooted. Alas, she pulls her bow free, giving the string a taunt tugging before taking aim at one of the demonborn men's head, aiming between the eyes as she fires, attempting to avoid Takeshi who charged into the mess. She does take a few steps away, appalled by the use of a grenade.
Fortunately, these Dynasty agents work as a team, and this means that when the silver grenade goes off and goes BZZZTTTT and naturalizes, it also affects the other two agents. Takeshi would find little issue to knock out or kill one of them, and the pistol-man had no head anymore as the grenade was 'gently' placed inside it. Blood splatters everywhere, pieces of meat fly around and a small piece of bloody human meat lands on Lynette's cheek. The last Dynasty agent however has the time of his life. Spirits draw into him, his body first pales, and then he begins to wail and scream as if everything he was, was burnt and eroded away from inside. It was one of the Eidolons that ended up reacting, first looking at Edith and then at the foreign invader. Smoke leaves from his mouth, his skin turns black, and something burnt hangs in the air. But the three agents are overcome, dead, and done for.
"now...we should ask the spirits for questions regarding the artifact, miss edith if you may?" Raina just watched a man die in a horrific manner and reaction is rather flat, tamamo is going around picking up arrows from the dead recovering any that isnt blown up to smithereens or broken.
A hard swung upwards cut smashes the guard of one of the demonborn out of place, the second attack from Takeshi coming in horizontally before the guard can be brought back into place, the head of the dynasty warrior being cut clean off. Takeshi watches the body fall with a violent sneer before quickly looking to the other two, noticing that Edith and the spirits had them cleanly handled he flicks his blade to the side to rid it of blood and resheaths it.
"Good work. Keep move." Takeshi says, unable to see the Eidolons himself as he turns to start marching in the direction the group they'd just slaughtered had been heading "Raina-chan, put an arrow in each one's head. Make sure dead." Takeshi does pause at the mention of spirits from Raina however "Spirits? Ha?"
"Oh very nicely done." Edith congratulates the team as they deal witht he team od Dynasty agents. The cluck of the tongue though; How unfortunate. Nothing left to use. Oh well. "You are a hero today," Edith continues with the eidolon, speaking with it as though over afternoon tea. "You saved Japan."
Lynette tenses up, immediately disgusted by something wet hitting her cheek. In a slow motion, she reaches up to flick it off, not having the stomach to handle looking at whatever the soft thing was. "I want to sit in the onsen..." she whines to herself, lowering her bow as it seemed unneeded after that massacre. The smell of burnt flesh was hovering in the air around them.
Takeshi was of course only refering to the one the spirits killed. The one he killed no longer had his head connected to his body, and the one Edith killed no longer had a head at all
Raina walks up to the dead men and getting her naginata handed to her she cuts off their heads, that is one way to ensure that they are dead in a orderly manner.
"That was overkill." Edith mentions to Takeshi in an all too pleasant tone, as Raina sets to work and Lynette swipes off the meat splat. "I do suppose we best continue, no?"
Takeshi is only trying to continue because he can't see spirits and doesn't realize yet the Eidolons might still be a problem ...
"Say," Edith asks the eidolon that had just murdered the Dynasty warrior (pun intended). "I don't suppose that you could point us in the direction of the super secret tunnels below the palace could you? The ones we should not know about and require ridding of chinese invaders before they can steal your entire cultural history and replace it with yellow robes and paper dragons and stupid hats."
Edith adds, plumbing her memories-- she doesn't know much difference between China and Japan. To the vampire, they are all the same. "The last thing you need is crispy shredded beef and chow mein with fortune cookies for every meal." Is Edith helping? She believes so at least.
Takeshi glances over to Edith with a frown "What you talking to? We not have time to waste." Takeshi chides the woman. Takeshi was locked in today, but still a muscle head it seemed.
Lynette would move forward, glancing down at the bodies but the visuals were making her feel sick. She turns quickly to the wall, pressing her head to the cold surface. "This is so much worse than hunting in the woods..." Lynette groans.
"the spirits takeshi, edith can talk to those who have long past so we may get information regarding the artifact we are here to protect" Raina is choosing her words carefully one slip up and she may suffer a fiery fate as with the dynasty warrior (also a pun) did
"Indeed." Edith nods to Takeshi. "I am talking to this rather lovely well dressed lady of oriental descent." Well done Edith, you arn't making fun of her clothing or insulting her. "An eidolon, much like your Kin'Yoko."
A look comes over Takeshi 's face that very clearly betrays that he was trying to figure out whether or not Mao no Tsume could kill spirits. But only for a moment. The man nods his head and decides to let Raina and Edith figure this one out, moving his eyes to scan the area, make sure no threats of the lesser world were sneaking up on them ... "Muse. Pay attention" Takeshi instructs Lynette who has her head up against the wall, snatching a grip on her at the upper arm and roughly tugging her away from the wall to point out "Keep eyes open. Tell me if see anything."
The eidolon does puts its gaze onto Edith. She was foreign. Undead. An evil spirit, as far as the myth considers, and this one is quite old, not so approving of her. But it also sees Takeshi and Raina, and ignores Lynette, and sees their desire and want. It is a brief connection - this one was once one of the Daimyo of Kyushu, the image of a secluded room fills their memory for the fraction that it looked and peered into Takeshi and Raina, and the memory that they then draw up and live through again is from earlier, forcing them to recall the purpose of their visit. It is not painful, but it is something that is simply taken, and Edith words also find themselves true when it reaches the understanding that the Dynasty had come to steal, to occupy glorious Japan again. At least as far as it is concerned.
It touches now upon Edith, not a whisper, not a single shredded word, but a hunch, a feeling... A direction. There is other entrances than the one the Dynasty had wandered to, inside the palace, past the wall, in a little corner. It is a slim fit, Takeshi would probably need a little push to get in there, but it leads down to a hallway five meters below. There is no map that comes with this, but the wish for all of these Chinese enemies to be wiped out. These old grudges seem to last for centuries, it appears and a single clue towards the Hollow Bloom...
"Beneath the Shadows,"
"A rootless flower sleeps,"
"Feeding on darkness,"
"Never knowing the sun,"
"Breathing black."
Then Edith also speaks to the lady, and there is conversation between her and the Eidolon, which, of course is in Japanese to Edith's dismay. Not understood at first, but then the lady does answer Edith, and the Eidolon translates for her. This is again cryptic "The path sought is buried in silence, roots drink forgotten sorrow. Follow the scent of unseen blossoms, and the petals of the past will guide your step."
is very bad with japanese behaviours, though she's seen Takeshi trying to capitulate to Ritsuka. To that end, the vampire bows-- First to the eidolon, then to the woman. "Thank you both. We shall rid the chinese for you." she promices. Relaying the information given to Lynette Raina and Takeshi already having it, Edith begins to scent, something she can point out to the group if they have a good sense of smell. The vampire aligns herself with said scent and begins to track it. "A hidden enterence other than the one they wished; Oh and the well dressed lady used to own the Bloom we need. Thank her." Then she's headin off in the direction suggested, the clue will have to be enough.
Takeshi is shown a bunch of images, but in the end it's Edith who decodes the puzzle. He nods his head as Edith leads the way this time, keeping his hand gripped onto his blade as he follows behind. "Raina, Muse. Don't wander." Takeshi instructs the duo as they begin their journey into the underground tunnels of the compound ...
Raina felt briefly dizzy, it seems Edith is done talking to the spirits and eidolon and with tamamo in tow she began following the vampire lady "do we have a clue?" Raina asked knowing she might not get any answers, it is still best to ask anyways considering she doesnt have any sort of spirit talking ability of the sorts.
Takeshi notably did not thank the lady as Edith requested, how rude!
Raina thanks the lady as requested "ah thank you" (i should really read with more detail than skimming)
Lynette squeaks as she's dragged off the wall and held out by Takeshi as if she was some sort of metal detector on the beach. Thankfully it seemed Edith was gathering the clues for her. "Thanks invisible lady," she hums suspiciously, turning on her heel to follow Takeshi back inside. The team seemed to be tracking something Lynette was unable to detect.
"We have a clue-- A poem, a scent and other locations for us to enter to find your artifact for Miss Shimomi." Edith explains more fully to Takeshi, Lynette and Raina, repeating what she was told.
Takeshi sniffs for a moment, picking up the smell himself "We just follow smell, right?" Takeshi asks with a raised eyebrow
"a poem huh, let me..." Raina begins to recall anything she can that may help them on this particular poem, it might help them out.
Nodding to Takeshi, Edith explains, "This is why people like you and I are better than cattle like them." Moving onwards to follow that trail, Edith makes it very clear that she means Edith, Takeshi and Ritsuka, with cattle being people like Lynette and Raina.
"Calling me the cattle with tits lole that?" Lynette rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Go ahead sniffer dogs, lead the way," she purrs back with a sickly sweet smile.
The smell was only tangible for Edith, Takeshi could not smell it at all, in fact, he might find himself cursed later, depending, only time will reveal it. The smell does take to an entirely different place of the imperial palace, west-bound, to the left to the Shimmikurumayose and inside there. This time it leads directly to a wall, and there it is strongest and it only takes a few moments for Edith to find how to open it. It slides to the side and offers a ladder down down down into dark and gloomy looking tunnels. They are encapsuled in stone, but those who are quite tall will need to bow their heads, as they were made at a time when people were smaller, and asians are generalls smaller than westerners are.
The hallways goes into two directions, Edith can see perfectly fine, Takeshi can see there is two ways, but nothing in them, to him it was as black as it was for everyone else. The small leads down one way, but a distant noise would lead on the other way. Both Lynette and Edith can feel something magical here, something different from what is above. Edith recognizes it to be dark magic, just as her own is and both she and Takeshi can make out the smell of distant decay and then the sound of a struggle now from where the distant noise came from.
Raina considers the poem, but she remembers something else from one of her lessons.
Long ago, when the moon wept for the earth, reigned an empress whose beauty was as fleeting as the petals of the sakura, and whose will was as unyielding as iron. She did not rule cruelly, but with a vision that defied the order set by others. Under her reign, women stood regularly besides warriors, regularly were involved in councils, but the tale says that her defiance came with a heavy price.
The opposing lords whispered poison into the ears of the kami to turn the heavens against her, swallowing it in war. Her allies burnt to ashes, betrayal struck a knight deep into her heart and at her final hour, abandoned, bleeding upon a temple's steps, she called upon those spirits who witnessed her and vowed: "If the world refuses me in life, then I shall make death take its root. A soul that will never rest until my name is spoken without chains, until the flower of my grief blooms forever."
She spilled her last blood at the shrine, and from the then cursed soil, a single flower emerged: The Hollow Bloom. One that does not wither, nor bend to nature's wails, hidden away from the hands of those who opposed her, waiting for a day when it would bloom again in vengeance.
As the door opens, Edith stands to the side. Takeshi is allowed to descend if he wishes, and Edith brings up the rear. Once Edith, Lynette, Raina and Takeshi descend however, Edith holds up a hand. She looks both ways, then nods in the direction of the struggle. "Dark magic." she whispers. "That way-- Edith may not realise that the others are night blind. "The same magic as I. The struggle that way shows us our direction, I think.""
"...yeah that bloom is likely cursed in some manner..." Raina recalling that felt wary then some sort of sadness "still...hmm, her name is still..." Raina wants to recall the name of the empress but for the life of her nothing comes up yet "well i do think we are in the right path..." Raina said as she looks over to see the aftermath of a fight "we should head towards the direction of the noise then...root out the dynasty part of our mission can be completed especially since it seems they are fighting something quite fierce there"
Lynette takes one look down that dark ladder and the expression on her face was disgusted. Even so she'd follow along with the group, heading into the darkness below.
Lynette regretfully wore platform boots on the adventure today so she would be one in the group required to bow her head inside the tunnels. "Fuck.. I can't see a thing," Lynette groans, thinking real hard about what Ritsuka mentioned the other day. As if by instinct, the room would react to her will. A fungus would begin to grow over the stone wall, small mushrooms sprouting that emit a lovely glow in the room, lighting the space for those with less adapted vision.
Though it's likely lost in the darkness, Edith's impossibly crimson lips part in a cruel, unsettling smirk. Edith's fangs flash for the most brief of moments, and Edith's sunglasses are folded and slipped into Edith's cleavage-- That only validates Lynette's snipe earlier, most assuredly, though Edith doesn't seem to have even noticed. Edith's knife is drawn again-- palmed ready to cut, and she nods to Raina and Takeshi, waiting on them to be ready. "I can assure you..." Edith purrs, sibilant as a serpent, rasping like silk, "I am very likely the most dangerous thing down here outside of artifacts."
Takeshi follows the group mostly in silence for now, his grip tight on the sword as his eyes dart back and forth. It was good when the bioluminscent mushrooms appeared to light there path, but it also meant that if anyone was looked for them, they'd be much much easier to find. Still, perhaps that's what they wanted right now. Takeshi glances over as Edith's sunglasses are taken off "Hey." Takeshi warns her under his voice "No use eye magic on us. We on mission."
"Children." Edith sighs. "I do something to engage in your customs of dramatic eye glass removing and you think I will hypnotise you." Edith clucks her tonge-- She would though if she thought it would help. "Not now though, no. Though on them, perhapse."
It was time for the party to penetrate the depths and with plan in mind, the group started to make their way in. As it turns out, the group was actually quite close to the desired shrine already... as they enter into a chamber that opens up. Within laid the corpses of a dozen agents - some unliving, raised, zombified, all women as they claw and bite at some sort of humanoid machine. Up, holding on to the surface is one of those ninjas, dangerous, with a katana in hand and Takeshi's concern proved to be quite right. They knew the group was there.
In detail, the deceased could probably raise, and there might be even more hidden away somewhere in this chamber. Through a doorway in the back, Edith, Takeshi, Lynette and Raina can see the shrine, and Edith and Lynette can both feel an arcane presence flooding from there, similar to that of a gate. An anchor perhaps, or an actual gate that empowers the shrine and the magic here. They will know there will be no constraints to her magic here, in this space and area at the least. Takeshi feels something tug at his mind, like when he is in the presence of Castiel or Kah, something was feeding on him.
the Dynasty has four mechanized humanoids. They have their own blatant, obvious weaknesses if you consider electronics, but they are entirely mechanical, and with the secret cybernetic technology, they may be somewhere between as strong as Takeshi to Edith. Probably not just as her, but they are are threat. Seeing as dark magic inhibits this space, it is probably no surprise that the Dynasty is using expensive robots to work through here. The Ninja by the ceiling keeps his eyes on Takeshi - those who may have the chance to gaze into the Nightmare find that it is too thick here, there was no way to escape to it.
The ground was solid stone, the walls were, as is the ceiling. There were no barriers, some furniture, mainly shelves, stands in this space at every wall, locked up and made from metal.
Lynette stares at the glowing wall curiously, shrugging at the convince of it being down here. "Oh good, I thought I was going to have to use magic," she sighs, eyeing Edith. "Well good then. If you're the most dangerous thing then I'll have nothing to worry about," she purrs sweetly.
Four cybernetics, and a ninja that seemingly controlled them. Takeshi frowns to himself. The situation seemed like it might be simple, but it wasn't so much so. If he charged the ninja, the cybernetic soldiers would charge Lynette, Raina, and someone who were at the back line, and they would lose. If he stayed to keep the front line, they'd be stuck in a war of attrition against a force greater than their own, and they would lose. They needed some kind of plan. "V-sama." Takeshi addresses Edith, keeping his eyes locked onto their enemies as he takes a defensive formation in front of the group "If you ended up alone with the ninja, could you kill him fast?"
Four cybernetics, and a ninja that seemingly controlled them. Takeshi frowns to himself. The situation seemed like it might be simple, but it wasn't so much so. If he charged the ninja, the cybernetic soldiers would charge Lynette, Raina, and Edith who were at the back line, and they would lose. If he stayed to keep the front line, they'd be stuck in a war of attrition against a force greater than their own, and they would lose. They needed some kind of plan. "V-sama." Takeshi addresses Edith, keeping his eyes locked onto their enemies as he takes a defensive formation in front of the group "If you ended up alone with the ninja, could you kill him fast?"
As Lynette, Edith, Takeshi and Raina spot the machines, Edith grins-- Lynette and Edith feel the arcane power, and Edith very much notes the dark magic. Dark magic and a gate means that here, Edith is stronger. So much in fact that she decides to give Lynette a lesson in the arcane. "Magic is empowered by gates." the vampire explains calmly. "The gate resonates with a type of magic. And if that magic is stronger, every source of it is also empowered." A smirk. "I am not an arcanist however." Edith isn't. Edith is something more, and dark magic has a deeper darker level. "The ancients have access to a power greater than the arcane focuses that many know. This is sorcery; A greater, more ancient power that dwarfs the magic that most mortals learn." There are no words-- No samatic motions, no arcane prep work-- Just Edith and a focus. The ninja is granted a look at a power beyond the arcane. The ninja finds himself impacted by a short, sharp blast of not the arcane dark magic that Edith is mistress of, but that ancient force. He is speared with a blast of dark sorcery. "Yes." she says after that first spear of dark sorcery is fired.
Within Haven, dark sorcery is 104. Beside a dark magic gate, dark sorcery is 166, outside gate proximity, it is 83, so the party and SR get where Edith is going with this.
Raina notched an arrow to her bow, she is getting ready to loose an arrow in case some straggler survive what Edith did to them...but she doubts they will survive.
Lynette gets chills from this sort of, old magic filling the air around them. If she had more sense perhaps she'd run away. "A gate?" She repeats, taking the explanation from Edith willingly. Sure she can sense it, but recognizing what she's sensing is an entirely different game. Listening to Takeshi as well, Lynette bites her thumb, before raising the hand her ring was sitting upon. Takeshi seemed nervous, perhaps a little fae fun was required to help. Lynette watches as Takeshi charges in towards the Ninja, sword drawn ready to attack, leaving both Lynette and Raina vulnerable. What an irresistible opportunity the cybernetics would be unable to resist to take out the back lines. Lynette raises her bow in defense, as if ready to fight her own battles.
It wouldn't be until the robo creatures moved to close in that the trickery would be revealed. The form of a charging Takeshi would fade away into Edith, meaning that that true Takeshi had never left at all, giving him the element of surprise against the charging cybernetics, splitting up their initial formation and giving our team a needed advantage.
Takeshi had indeed not been the one to charge! If they were going to win this, they needed to deal with that ninja, but if Edith had gone on her own, the cybernetic soldiers might have just ignored the slower Takeshi Raina and Lynette to all jump on Edith for a 1vs5. But, with the tank of the team diving past and leaving the backline vulnerable, the obvious course of action would (HOPEFULLY!) be for the cybernetics to take advantage of the vulnerability to push towards the back line ...
If all goes well, the cybernetic soldiers would already be committed to the charge before the trickery is revealed and Takeshi is revealed to still be protecting Raina and Lynette, Edith having been safely delivered into a 1vs1 versus the ninja!
Four freaks and a ninja-- Oh goody! Edith can finally cut loose. It's not beautiful. It's not elegant it is violent and brutal-- Inhuman and beguilingly haunting. One moment nothing. In the next, it is not Takeshi running at the ninja, but Edith directly before him, fangs extended, skin bone white, jaw distended and eyes as black as the sorcery Edith is mistress of. A hiss, the swipe of a knife with undead strength. The exsanguinating strength of a vampire in the grip of full, cruel, undieing mortuum. Lynette's illusion vanishing as the monster-- the true monster manifests in bloodlight and the chill of the grave. That paralytic poisoned dagger moves for flesh, and Edith begins to recite not a spell's incantation, but a hymnel, her dark magic-- Necromancy healing, controlling and puppeting the undead to full strength, directed towards the Dynasty agents. "Dance free, where ever you may be." she begins, free hand motioning in a dance macabre "I am the lord of the dance said he. And I'll follow you where ever you mayn be- I'll lead you all in the dance said he."
Something that makes Edith's attack even worse is the fact that it is quite dark here. The ninja is about to respond, evades, but that thing is not just anything. It is raw magic in its most potent form, it adjusts, accounts. If it was anywhere else, other than here, no dice, a miss, but here - it smacks into him, draws into his very essence. His covered up body grows cold and pale, and then... he just drops. Deceased and done for. There was absolutely nothing he could have hoped to do.
The cybernetic bodies, one of them crashes and rips apart one of the defending undead, and goes on to use a sharp blade-like shape to slice at another. They were still in combat. It turns that the machines split, two remain to fight the remaining undead, the other two turn to face the new opposition. One prepares to meet Takeshi in a fight, while the other starts to move forward, arrows fall and pellet from Lynette and Raina and her guardian, making a loud CLINK sound as they clack into the metal, leaving little dents in its armor, as it now moves to engage - and then actually comes to face Takeshi instead.
The other two machines, engaged with the undead, do withdraw from them, and start to rush at the party as well, after mister ninja did drop and was gone and done for, and this means that the two are who end up engaging onto Edith. The posion proves fruitless against the machinery, and she takes control over the undead who now, for sure side with her and the party now, that means she gets the advantage she is looking for. One of the machines, not two. Two may had overcome her, one is busy now. The third was caught in an illusion and sensors realign, one is fighting Takeshi being aided by Lynette and Raina.
Takeshi draws his blade and heads in to fight the cybernetics! He does his best to try and keep Lynette and Raina protected! He wasn't a match for the cyber soldiers, but he'd hopefully be able to hold his own for at least a while. He would be focusing on defense, trying to hold the line to prevent the soldiers from reaching Lynette and Raina for as long as possible, using demonic regeneration and stubbornness to stay on his feet for as long as he can!
Lynette would defend Takeshi from the back. Her arrows aimed towards the joints of the soldiers, considering if she couldn't knock them down outright she would at least slow them enough to make them easier targets for Takeshi to wipeout.
Raina keeps pelting the cybernetics with arrows along with tamamo, there isnt much they can do here, she doesnt have any sort of powers or abilities that cn help them with slowing the hunks of scrap metal down, aiming at the eyes of the cybernetic she tries to see if that will blind them.
The ninja is down and someone, Takeshi and Lynette are holding their own. Still, Edith with a few undead... That's not good enough odds for Edith, and to even those, the vampire places two fingers to her lips. A whistle and a large black mastiff begins to materialise. "Kill." Edith tells the potent minion. Then-- with the undead and spectral hound handling this cyborg for now, Edith turns her attention upon the others, firing dark sorcerous blasts at the three moving in on Takeshi, Lynette and someone. Powerful Edith might be, though she is only one person, and she cant easily divide her attention when there are so many threats at hand; Edith's attention is split between firing dark sorcery, ducking, dodging and being more mobile than the machine upon Edith and empowering the undead.
The ninja is down and someone, Takeshi and Lynette are holding their own. Still, Edith with a few undead... That's not good enough odds for Edith, and to even those, the vampire places two fingers to her lips. A whistle and a large black mastiff begins to materialise. "Kill." Edith tells the potent minion. Then-- with the undead and spectral hound handling this cyborg for now, Edith turns her attention upon the others, firing dark sorcerous blasts at the three moving in on Takeshi, and Lynette. Powerful Edith might be, though she is only one person, and she cant easily divide her attention when there are so many threats at hand; Edith's attention is split between firing dark sorcery, ducking, dodging and being more mobile than the machine upon Edith and empowering the undead.
The ninja is down and Takeshi and Lynette are holding their own. Still, Edith with a few undead... That's not good enough odds for Edith, and to even those, the vampire places two fingers to her lips. A whistle and a large black mastiff begins to materialise. "Kill." Edith tells the potent minion. Then-- with the undead and spectral hound handling this cyborg for now, Edith turns her attention upon the others, firing dark sorcerous blasts at the three moving in on Takeshi, and Lynette. Powerful Edith might be, though she is only one person, and she cant easily divide her attention when there are so many threats at hand; Edith's attention is split between firing dark sorcery, ducking, dodging and being more mobile than the machine upon Edith and empowering the undead.
Just as the undead leave the control of whatever controls them, so do more rise. It is a chaos, unpleasant groans fill the air, screeching of metal, sorcery splashing onto something and Edith's little minion joining the fight, too. There is even a moment where Takeshi's sister is almost taken out, but something bright suddenly settles around her and a moment later she is being dragged out by her handmaid. She would later be back in Haven, fine, unhurt and alive.
Takeshi does his best to try and slice and Lynette has her own magic, too, which helps and confuses. Takeshi feels himself be more and more drained, something the machines do not appear to be impacted by at all, but eventually, the four bots are scrap machinery, lying broken and damaged around a number of former Dynasty agent corpses and the only undead that yet linger for the moment were Edith's. Stirring, groaning in the middle of it all. One does something that is definitely irrational, kneels down, bends over another body and BITES right into the flesh with a disgusting sound of flesh ripped apart.
Now there was only the shrine ahead that was left. Takeshi would, again, be affected the most there, the closer he gets, the more he feels himself be drained and at the passageway on, even Edith and Lynette would feel the pull, the tug.
It is a place untouched by the sun. Walls are lined with carvings of faceless women in prayer, a winding stone descent finds itself with the slow creep of roots. The entire room would be dark, besides for Lynette's light-filled mushrooms. A black torii gate stands at the shrine's heart, its wood cracked. Beyond it, the shrine is built of lacquered ebony with delicate golden inlays, floral motifs twisted into unfamiliar shapes, made to look like blooming and withering at the same time. Weathered paper talismans cling to the beams, ink faded. Everything here, is now silent, beyond the noise the party makes.
In the center of the shrine, atop an obsidian altar, rests the Hollow Bloom. A single black flower, petals that look unfathomably deep, black as the night. It holds no wilt, it does not sway, but it seems more than only alive. Lynette and Edith will easily tell that this flower feeds off of the life of those around it.
His wounds were closing up slower than they should, and Takeshi would notice. His mouth hanging open with heavy breathing, his limbs hanging limply slumped in front of him by the time the fight is done, Takeshi looks over himself, his mouth curling to a snarl. He was too spiritually ignorant to have noticed the effects until now, but after a fight during the period of taking inventory he would now begin to figure it out.
"Ha, a flower of Amaterasu" Takeshi cackles as he, with lethargic movements and almost missing the sheath opening a few times, resheathes his sword. "It hates men." Takeshi notes before nodding to Lynette "You'll carry it" Takeshi informs her.
"Oh isn't that interesting...." Stepping up, Edith doesn't touch the flower; To the contrary, for now, she simply inspects it, mentioning to Lynette and Takeshi, "You should most certainly pick this up." What a bitch, the vampire isn't alive. Edith has deduced that the undead are here to protect the flower that eats life and she is curious what happens if one were to touch it. "A curious ability, no? It feeds on life force. I wonder what happens if one were to touch it directly." Edith suspects, though she's not Tsubaki. Ritsuka leads and Lynette and Takeshi are members. Is this indeed something Edith has any right in picking up? Should Edith leave it to someone' or should she wait to see if it kills Lynette. Takeshi would be a shame, but Lynette is barely even a person to the vampire.
"Oh isn't that interesting...." Stepping up, Edith doesn't touch the flower; To the contrary, for now, she simply inspects it, mentioning to Lynette and Takeshi, "You should most certainly pick this up." What a bitch, the vampire isn't alive. Edith has deduced that the undead are here to protect the flower that eats life and she is curious what happens if one were to touch it. "A curious ability, no? It feeds on life force. I wonder what happens if one were to touch it directly." Edith suspects, though she's not Tsubaki. Ritsuka leads and Lynette and Takeshi are members. Is this indeed something Edith has any right in picking up? Should Edith leave it to Kin'Yoko, or should she wait to see if it kills Lynette. Takeshi would be a shame, but Lynette is barely even a person to the vampire.
Lynette kicks the strap robots, looking horrified at the idea of facing an army of walking corpses. Lynette scoots past them, towards the room, with each steps she takes the wall fungus grows to reach her, illuminating her every step with gentle light. She approaches the gate, letting herself be drawn in by its pull ehile barely noticing Takeshi's desire to do the opposite. It seemed all this odd energy was conguested around... a flower? "Gross," she'd mutter instinctively. It was sucking the life around it like a bottomless pit. "You want me to collect that? Is something bad going to happy if i pluck it?" she asks first, mistrust laced in her voice.
Lynette happen if I pluck it?
"Nothing bad will happen at all." Edith assures Lynette. Stepping back, Edith simply waits to see what will happen-- Edith's phone is in Edith's hand. Is she really so disinterested that she's texting, or is she taking notes.... It's the latter. Edith has notepad open and is very much looking forward to recording what Lynette finds.
Lynette stares at Edith and then shrugs, reaching down to hold the flower, pucking it free from the earth.
Standing with folded arms and a stern look on his face, Takeshi also raises an eyebrow to Lynette as if to ask her why she hadn't picked up the flower already "Come on, we not have all day"
As Lynette examines the flower, both she and Edith can tell that it is a void that drinks the light. A bloom sculpted from nothingness. Almost eldritch. Not quite eldritch, it was from here, earth, but its attributes come closer to that. The magic is dark, but it was full of it, it definitely has something from the Other, too. It pulses faintly, as if breathing, but there was no wind here that would disturb its petals. Each single petal carries a little Kanji that is only visible to Edith. She cannot read the language, but she can determine the magic that is imbued. Sorrow. Binding grief. Duty.
The faintest whisper reaches both Edith and Lynette, fragments of a buried lament. Voices of the past coil around the Hollow Bloom, like old prayers and ridden with loss. There is the presence of the dead empress, who's spirit was above at the palace.
The more Edith watches it, the more she comes to a few conclusions: It hungers. It is not just an artifact, or something of the past. It waits. It seeks. It was never fated to remain untouched, a power that is raw and primordial, ancient.
Then Lynette picks the item up. It is close to weightless, tender, and feels entirely freezing to her hand. To grasp it, was to take up its weight, and Lynette can feel herself grow a touch more tired. Enough to keep her living and moving and functioning, but effectively drained just to that limit of barely above functioning.
The demon nods his head in satisfaction as he sees Lynette pick up the flower. He can tell it's affecting her, but his response to that is to simply try and get it to the extraction as soon as possible so that she may once again put it down. "Alright. Let's go." Takeshi barks as he turns for the exit, swiping his hand through the air to instruct Lynette to follow along behind him, trusting Edith had reached the same conclusion he had and was on the way out himself. Sadly, all the details regarding the continued will of the dead empress would go above the head of the spiritually ignorant soldier ...
As she notices it, Edith shares the spell forms with Lynette Loss, sorrow and more. The issue here is, though she records the canji she sees, she doesn't share it with Takeshi for him to translate until well after Lynette picks it up. One must let the canary into the mine first, after all. Still, the flower is taken from atop the altar and it is in Lynette's hands now, and the chinese are dead. The objective is technically achieved, but what will the outcome be?
Lynette yawns tiredly, her body becoming a little more slack as if she was suddently exhausted. Holding the flower between her palms was a heavy feeling, but semi-manageable. "It's like a parasite," she mutters, slowly heading after Takeshi. She could walk. It was like the flower needed her to be able to walk, but the poor girl felt a bit like a zombie doing it. "If I get... bags under my eyes from this... Ritsuka will owe me a new dress," she mutters, ready to get this over with.
"The entire supernatural world is parasitic." Edith shares with Lynette. "The natural order; You feed on those weaker than you-- The lesser cattle. Takeshi feeds on you. I feed on those like Takeshi and Miss Shimomi, and those like Kah and Castiel feed on me. Above even that, the eidolons and the demipowers feed, the demons prey on the demidemons and the gods and the fae feed on all below. It is the circle of life." Edith loves the Lion King, and as she notes Lynette's responces to holding the flower and she steps up beside Takeshi ready to rejoin Ritsuka, the vampire begins to hum I just cant wait to be king under her breath.
This time, the way back finds itself to be... quiet. Back through the hallways, lighted up by Lynette's glowing shroomies. The path down is easy to seal up again - and the spirit of the dead empress, only visible to Edith, begins to possess Lynette, though without making the girl do anything, she only inhibits her. Watches. Follows. There is the three corpses that will, tomorrow, likely be reported as a murder case. Someone will need to do a clean up before another day dawns, preferably within the next couple of hours, but the Hanshin Group and the Tsubaki no Tetsu will likely find something out, and all they need. The driver back does not look all too happy with the artifact, aware enough to feel that thing drain at her, but the trip back still makes its way just fine.
Takeshi feels like he entirely wants to be REALLY far away from Lynette right now. It keeps draining at him.
Back at the foothold, Ritsuka is already present, cleaning her armor and blade, the midnight black one with the thermal edge, not the one that Takeshi had seen her wield a few days prior and the Japanese woman sets it all aside when the group returns and moves to take the flower from Lynette, careful with it and if Lynette passes it over, the spirit settles into Ritsuka instead, whom does not seem as affected by it. Thanks to being quiet villainous. "Tell me about the whole of it? What did you see? What happened? I did handle what I had to handle... but I think that it is only going to escalate from here on with the Dynasty."
"Hello." Edith greets the spirit again, as though Edith and her were old friends-- Edith likely doesn't care there's a language barrier. "The spirit of this emperess is inside your haircut Barbie." the vampire explains to Takeshi. On the trip back, Edith speaks into her ear piece. The Hand cleanup crew is summoned and Edith arranges for the three outside to have been chinese terrorists who decided to in-fight, thus drawing the attention of the Japanese authorities. Takeshi and Lynette are allowed to explain the situation in full, with Edith only interjecting when points need be clarified, or where something is unknown by the others. Indeed, even though the party is two people down; Raina and her aid, Edith doesn't seem to have even noticedthe absence-- Maybe she died early on. Who knows, really... Except for Ritsuka, Lynette and Takeshi who will likely see her before Edith does.
Takeshi makes sure to stand on the other side of the room to Lynette as she holds the relic, to the point of pressing himself up against the wall a bit. "We found enemy. We wipe them out. Two groups, first was trio of demonborn. Second was single ninja, four cybernetic warriors, and undead." Takeshi reports to Ritsuka "After second group fell, we found flower. Muse-chan take flower, and we bring to you."
Lynette was quiet on the way back, too tired to even make a snarky comment to Edith. There was nothing but relief by the time she was able to pass the flower on to Ritsuka. She shivers, as if she could feel the spirit leaving her body for another. "I feel so... violated right now," she groans, sitting right into the floor with her head between her knees. "I need a minute," she groans tiredtly.
makes a couple of nods still, taking the flower. She is a lot more careful with it - and like Edith, she can see the kanji and she does read them out to Edith, Lynette and Takeshi.
"The Night weeps. A darkness shall rise when the flower blooms. Unseen and unheard. Drowning the land in silence before the storm. Bloodline. A crimson debt must be paid, only a daughter of fate ma ywalk the path and bear the weight of the past. The mourning bloom. The sky shall know grief, veiling the moon, as the wold world shudders beneath. The sealed oath. A name once spoken in devotion will be carved anew in betrayal, and the past shall call for retribution. The Hollow Bloom. That which flowers without rooths thirsts eternally. To grasp is to surrender; to reject is to be pursued. The path to the netherworld. One step forward, the world shatters. One step back, the soul is lost. There is no road untouched by shadow. The sacrifice. To open the gate, the price must be paid. Blood upon stone, name upon wind, and the Hollow Bloom shall awaken."
She shrugs, and then, almost far too idly says "Shall we head back to Haven-city then? I will leave this with Kin'Yoko. She will know where to keep it so it does not drain on us until the ttime for it has come."
"Onsen, please. I want the scent of death off me," Lynette whines softly, listening along with the kanji but too exhausted to take much from it.
"Just wait until the demon gets you home." It's Edith's turn to snark now, and Edith quips to Lynette just so. "So Takeshi's sister of haircut Barbie?" Edith asks in responce to the blood sacrifice comment. Then a nod to Ritsuka. "Haven."
Commencing their mission, the group encountered a trio of demonborn adversaries, skilled in combat and resistance. Thanks to the unique abilities of Takeshi and the strategic contributions of his companions, they overcame this challenge, delving deeper into the heart of danger. They next faced a grave showdown with a lethal ninja and his cybernetic warriors amidst risen undead, a battle that tested their limits and required the full extent of their might, strategy, and mystical prowess.
Edith, wielding dark sorcery far beyond the arcane, played a crucial role in their success, channeling the ancient and potent forces that thrived within the gloomy confines of their battlefield. Lynette's magical manipulations confused and shattered the opposition, adding layers of cunning to their strategy. Raina's precision and unwavering resolve ensured their offensive remained sharp and relentless.
At the heart of their journey lay the Hollow Bloom, a flower embodying darkness and thirst for life, surrounded by whispers of the past and guarded by unholy forces. Lynette, upon retrieving the flower, immediately felt its life-draining curse, a burden that seemed to weigh heavily on her spirit and physical vitality. Takeshi, affected by the flower's presence, cautioned distance, emphasizing the artifact's malevolent nature.
Their return was marked by a profound sense of accomplishment and contemplation of the artifact's grim verses, hinting at a destiny intertwined with sacrifice, betrayal, and retribution. Ritsuka, their leader, recognized the significance of their acquisition and proposed returning the Hollow Bloom to a place of safekeeping until its ominous purpose could be fulfilled or countered.
This story of danger, dark magic, and ancient curses highlighted the bravery, strength, and unity of an unlikely group bound by a common quest. It also foretold a looming, larger conflict, one that threatened to engulf realms in its wake, demanding sacrifices and challenging the very essence of their beings. As they prepared to leave for Haven-city, with promises of recovery and planning for future endeavors, the group pondered the enigmatic prophecy surrounding the Hollow Bloom, aware that their saga was far from over.
(Shallow Bloom and Black Camellias(SRRitsuka):SRRitsuka)
[Thu Mar 20 2025]
On Foothold in Kyoto
Tucked away in the winding backstreets of Kyoto, behind an unassuming wooden gate marked only by a single, weathered camellia crest, lies a foothold in Japan. The air is thick with the scent of incense and the cold outside, the silence broken only by the distant chime of temple bells or the occasional murmur of unseen watchers.
Beyond the entrance, the locations fits into the surroundings, traditional sliding doors conceal fortified chambers, and a garden disguises hidden pathways beneath its moss-covered stones. Paper lanterns cast flickering shadows against lacquered wood, their crimson glow reflecting in the eyes of those who may take a moment to watch.
Power flows like an unseen current beneath Kyoto's ancient streets. Only those who walk the path of along the Yokai may ever uncover this current.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
There's a serious expression on the demonborn's face today, like he's ready for war. Mao no Tsume is worn across his back from shoulder to hip, and his arms are folded over his chest, feet shoulder width apart. He's not got one liners or boasts today. Takeshi stands ready, watching Ritsuka prepare, and waiting for orders.
Lynette stares in Takeshi's direction. For some reason the serious expression on his face was unnerving. Normally Lynette didn't feel much pressure to do well these sort of situations. Her specality happens to be things working out around her after all. She does however take the moment to sweep her hair up into a ponytail looking in Ritsuka's direction.
Having conducted prepwork after finding a trapped virgin and "rescuing" her by biting her then leaving, Edith used that delicious delicious nectar to perform a few prepperations; A protection ritual, a mindwarding ritual, then began to ready for the day ahead. Edith packed up on weaponry-- Bane knives, a focus, paralytic toxins, tranquilisers and darts, taser and darts, grenades, a landmine, a deadman switch, pepperspray, a bola and more. Edith also dressed in a pretty dress today because going to Japan demands holiday clothes, even if there's a potential of it being a bloodbath. Edith rather likes those, in fact. Tools gathered, secreted away or deposited in Edith's hand bag, the last few items to be gathered are Edith's medkit and tools, sunglasses and then Edith travels to the Tsubaki foothold via path, meeting with Ritsuka, Takeshi and Lynette.
There's a serious expression on the demonborn's face today, like he's ready for war. Mao no Tsume is worn across his back from shoulder to hip, and his arms are folded over his chest, feet shoulder width apart. He's not got one liners or boasts today. Takeshi stands ready, watching Ritsuka prepare, and waiting for orders. (repost)
(repost for Raina) Having conducted prepwork after finding a trapped virgin and "rescuing" her by biting her then leaving, Edith used that delicious delicious nectar to perform a few prepperations; A protection ritual, a mindwarding ritual, then began to ready for the day ahead. Edith packed up on weaponry-- Bane knives, a focus, paralytic toxins, tranquilisers and darts, taser and darts, grenades, a landmine, a deadman switch, pepperspray, a bola and more. Edith also dressed in a pretty dress today because going to Japan demands holiday clothes, even if there's a potential of it being a bloodbath. Edith rather likes those, in fact. Tools gathered, secreted away or deposited in Edith's hand bag, the last few items to be gathered are Edith's medkit and tools, sunglasses and then Edith travels to the Tsubaki foothold via path, meeting with Ritsuka, Takeshi, Raina and Lynette.
(repost for Raina) Lynette stares in Takeshi's direction. For some reason the serious expression on his face was unnerving. Normally Lynette didn't feel much pressure to do well these sort of situations. Her specality happens to be things working out around her after all. She does however take the moment to sweep her hair up into a ponytail looking in Ritsuka's direction.
Raina has arrived she is already fully geared for the mission she also brought along her handmaiden tamamo who is carrying a bow from the group just in case they need one more extra hand, Raina is as usual still a bit nervous for missions, the task always seem rather insurmountable but she took a deep breath and steeled her nerves as she does a last minute checkup of her equipment, bow, naginata and armor.
Takeshi glances over to Raina as she's checking her weapons, then to Lynette as she puts her hair up in the ponytail. He nods Edith as she arrives, trusting her to have her equipment in order. Takeshi makes his way over to Raina, waving Lynette to sit with him too as he wordlessly picks up Raina 's bow and starts inspecting it, making sure it was strung properly, making sure there were no defects, making sure Raina was ready to fight.
"it is good enough right, tamamo san helped me out on stringing it up" Raina noticed Takeshi approached and picked up and inspect her bow, she deduced he would likely want to see if it is actually stringed up properly "i am a bit nervous...what about you onii sama?" Raina asked as she got tamamo to help her inspect the back of her armor.
As the party had already known on every previous visit to Japan, to path the way over, the naked tree branches that stretch their branches to the sky, and yet, Kyoto was starting to be in full bloom. Today is not the foothold that the party had known the last couple of times, in fact, this foothold was a new one, somewhere else in Kyoto with a few more solemn faces. It was no more grand or less than the previous one, but the secret war has its toll and demands its price and sacrifice.
Regardless, as Edith finds her way through, and Ritsuka brings Lynette, Takeshi and someone along, the party once more gathers, as today would come to the acquisition of a significantly more important artifact for the days, months to come. As ever, it is also the current Tsubaki no Tetsu leader, Ritsuka who takes the word, unpacking one of those maps again. "It is good to see you, Edith-san." She starts with that, making a little dip of her head to the woman. She had not asked or hired this time, but the vampiress was present, and that is being honored. It is only then that Ritsuka's gaze strays to the others. "I will summarize about what I mentioned yesterday. We are looking to recover an artifact called the Shallow Bloom. It will be an important key for my own ascension and for Kin'Yoko's bloom." She points to a location on the map, a green rectangle somewhat central to the northeast side of Kyoto. "There is tunnels under the Imperial Palace, ones that were not supposed to be visited and uncovered and the Hanshin Group, together with Kin'Yoko have discovered an entrance to it. Kin'Yoko had, in as much as she could, explored some of the tunnels and found the Dynasty to occupy them. Within it, she had also discovered an old shrine that contains what we are looking for, and this means that, for our own purposes, we look for the item, but the Hanshin Group asks us to root out the Dynasty as much as we can. Get rid of them, while respecting the property and making sure it does not see any destruction happen to it.
She summarizes one more time "Kill all the Dynasty freaks. Recover the Hollow Bloom. Understood?" Ah no, her look only lingers briefly on Takeshi and the others before she then goes on again "The Hollow Bloom, by the way, was once a sacred gift to one of our empresses. It contains memories of centuries in it, and you got to make sure the thing does not get damaged. There is word that it may be cursed, but I can't tell you if that is true, and Edith may prove especially helpful with uncovering and removing it, if that word proves true. Are there any questions?""
As the party had already known on every previous visit to Japan, to path the way over, the naked tree branches that stretch their branches to the sky, and yet, Kyoto was starting to be in full bloom. Today is not the foothold that the party had known the last couple of times, in fact, this foothold was a new one, somewhere else in Kyoto with a few more solemn faces. It was no more grand or less than the previous one, but the secret war has its toll and demands its price and sacrifice.
Regardless, as Edith finds her way through, and Ritsuka brings Lynette, Takeshi and Lynette along, the party once more gathers, as today would come to the acquisition of a significantly more important artifact for the days, months to come. As ever, it is also the current Tsubaki no Tetsu leader, Ritsuka who takes the word, unpacking one of those maps again. "It is good to see you, Edith-san." She starts with that, making a little dip of her head to the woman. She had not asked or hired this time, but the vampiress was present, and that is being honored. It is only then that Ritsuka's gaze strays to the others. "I will summarize about what I mentioned yesterday. We are looking to recover an artifact called the Shallow Bloom. It will be an important key for my own ascension and for Kin'Yoko's bloom." She points to a location on the map, a green rectangle somewhat central to the northeast side of Kyoto. "There is tunnels under the Imperial Palace, ones that were not supposed to be visited and uncovered and the Hanshin Group, together with Kin'Yoko have discovered an entrance to it. Kin'Yoko had, in as much as she could, explored some of the tunnels and found the Dynasty to occupy them. Within it, she had also discovered an old shrine that contains what we are looking for, and this means that, for our own purposes, we look for the item, but the Hanshin Group asks us to root out the Dynasty as much as we can. Get rid of them, while respecting the property and making sure it does not see any destruction happen to it.
She summarizes one more time "Kill all the Dynasty freaks. Recover the Hollow Bloom. Understood?" Ah no, her look only lingers briefly on Takeshi and the others before she then goes on again "The Hollow Bloom, by the way, was once a sacred gift to one of our empresses. It contains memories of centuries in it, and you got to make sure the thing does not get damaged. There is word that it may be cursed, but I can't tell you if that is true, and Edith may prove especially helpful with uncovering and removing it, if that word proves true. Are there any questions?""
"i dont really have any...hmm do we have a picture or image of the artifact...or will we know when we see it?" Raina raised her hand and asked ritsuka about the artifact they are searching for, just incase they found it by chance.
He hands the bow back to Raina after it passes his inspection, shaking his head at her question as if she should know better than to ask it. "I'm alright. Focus on mission." Takeshi tells her before turning to Ritsuka as she begins her briefing, folding his arms over his chest and paying attention. "Search and destroy, remove Dynasty, secure object, bring home without damage." Takeshi echoes back the plan to her, allowing Ritsuka to correct him if he's gotten anything wrong.
Takeshi says "No questions"
Lynette would come and join the pair of Takeshi and someone where they sat, lifting her chin to attention. She turns her head sharply, smacking Takeshi in the face with the whip of hair from her ponytail. "Sounds pretty straight foward. Nice to have an in."
Lynette would come and join the pair of Takeshi and Raina where they sat, lifting her chin to attention. She turns her head sharply, smacking Takeshi in the face with the whip of hair from her ponytail. "Sounds pretty straight foward. Nice to have an in," she hums in thought. "So it'd be bad to destroy the property we're in? Edith better leave her grenades behind..." she mumbles narrowing her eyes at the vampire.
"This," Edith notes, addressing Ritsuka, with a secondary glance to Ritsuka, "Should be rather easy compared to before- I made certain to eat well before we came, and intend on continuing to do so throughout." It's no threat. Edith is promicing, though the apathetic smile is still there. Apparently, Edith has decided that Ritsuka and Takeshi are worthy of her attention today. Lynette and Raina, likely not. After all, Edith did prime and throw a grenade at Lynette just the other day on grounds of being unamused before the Sanctuary spell disallowed it. As Ritsuka explains the plan, Edith nods along. Takeshi gets a weighty glance at minimizing damage, Nd Edith arranges her bag, setting the more lethal ordinance to the bottom of it. "I would assume that if it is an artifact, I shall know it at a glance. Magic of such quality has a tell." the blond allows. "Decursing is well with me." to be perfectly honest, Edith came for the enjoyment of it, and the fact that Ritsuka did not employ Edith this time is beside the fact. One must honor their allies, even outreach, and the Hand has a vested interest in Hanshin and ridding the Dynasty. As Lynette speaks though, Edith's attention returns to Ritsuka. "Traps, technology, arcane protections and potential guardians?" the vampire asks. It may possibly be that Lynette has just volunteered herself for snack food along the way.
Edith likely gave a secondary glance to Takeshi, too. That would make far more sense.
His nose wrinkles as he gets hair whipped by the pony tail, Takeshi in a moment of maturity far beyond what the man was normally capable of opting to ignore it as he looks back to Ritsuka to see if she had any answers for the questions asked. "I take point, then." Takeshi would remark to Edith, figuring she would, as she always did, prefer to stand in the back unless further mentioned. "Muse-chan and Raina-chan stick near you, I walk ahead of group. I draw attention, you wipe them out when they reveal themselves." Takeshi tells them, listing out a pretty simple but efficient plan. Takeshi glances to Lynette and Raina, and the bows they were holding "Can handle?" Takeshi asks
Blue eyes do settle onto Edith and there is a slight nod. "The Dynasty has a couple of its ninjas linger around, biomancy opponents should be expected. There is some guardian robots about, and we think that the Dynasty has intentions for the artifact as well, but not discovered it yet. Scouts did report that they intend to move someone with significant power over in the next couple of days, which is why now is the time to act and not wait to give them a chance to get their heavier people in." Ritsuka answers, pausing then to give a thoughtful look, and she had arrived in her full armament as well today. "The Hollow Bloom. There is nothing mentioned on guardian spirits from what sources and documents one could find. But if it was not, in some form, protected, how could it remain untouched for as long as it did? I would guess there is a secret tunnel in the secret tunnels, and to assume there is some sort of defense. I don't know about traps, but everything up until the Dynasty has searched through should be cleared out. We are quite literally coming in to snoop up and take what they worked on acquiring."
Ritsuka's gaze draws to Takeshi, Lynette and Raina. "I will be handling the Dynasty again somewhere else today. They are trying to rile up some of the old nobility and shrines to find more footholds for themselves. In the coming weeks we will be conducting more Operations here, establish a foothold and take control over Kyoto. Make sure they are never seen again, but we will worry about that soon instead."
Raina nods as she gets handed a good amount of arrows by tamamo, seeing as she isnt going to go close quarters she hands her naginata to tamamo as well "i can handle it dont worry" Raina answers Takeshi she then turned her attention to ritsuka "then please do be careful ritsuka sama, though...i dont think i really need to say that now dont i" she slings the quiver of arrows over her shoulder and rubs her wrists to help stop them from trembling so much.
"This seems logical." Edith nods to Takeshi, talking over the figurative heads of Lynette and Raina. "Try to handle them before they reach melee range if possible, the Dynasty can be tricky. Though with me at the rear of the group, we will be unlikely to have all that much trouble. Protect the weaklings." It's a statement, though Edith still glances over to Ritsuka to see if this is indeed what shw would rather; Edith could care less for said weaklings, though they arn't Edith's pets. It is only natural. "If you need them, I have a cell of Shadows within the city." the vampire tells Ritsuka. "If you have need, inform them and make it clear to them that I instructed it."
Noting Raina's trembling, Edith sniffs; A contemptuous thing that is more annoyed that disapointed-- Edith expected it. And yet, a shaking bowman is a poor shot, so Edith stares, the air grows heavy with psychic potential and Edith forcibly changes Raina's outlook, in only the calm, friendly way that is now familiar.
"hm...oh" Raina hands stops shaking, guess the rubbing did calm her nerves, well all that is left is to focus at the task at hand, there will be a lot of enemies if the intel is correct so she has to make every shot count.
Normally Lynette would be annoyed from the obvious intentional ignoring from Edith, but in reality the less responsibility the better. She toys with the bow in her hands, tilting her head towards the group's questions. "Sure. Sitting towards the back is a better position for me anyways. I'll be sure to get some good shots in," Lynette purrs sweetly.
There's a pause as Ritsuka mentions the tunnels "Ah. Not so simple. Enemies hidden." Takeshi says, dipping his head for a moment to think. But he thinks only for a moment before he raises it back up. "It no issue. Muse-chan will stumble across hidden tunnel." Takeshi states, seeming entirely confident that this is a thing that was going to happen. Takeshi glances over at the interaction between Edith and Raina but doesn't quite seem to pick up on what Edith had done, simply seeing Raina focus herself "That it. Steady hands make steady shots." Takeshi praises Raina
"Tunnels make things better for you." Edith points out to Takeshi. "A more direct kill zone. It can cause issues at junctions; Protective barricades and problematic dead ends and rally points, though you are strong, you are growing more adept by the day, and I can send a spirit or two to scout ahead if we simply do not use your harem." Edith has no compunctions in addressing her lessers as so. She doesn't even seem to notice the implication. "If we have straight tunnels, that is better for my sorcery. I can shooting range targets."
Raina says "harem...? "
Takeshi cackles, snatching Mao no Tsume from his back for a moment, his fist gripping the sheath bellow the guard as if he could feel his body tensing up and getting ready. "If they smart they run. It more fun to cut down running enemy than fighting one." Takeshi says, testing Mao no Tsume to see if he felt like opening today, flicking open the first inch of the blade with his thumb and grinning as it does, a sharp red glow coming from the obsidian steel blade. "Mao eat well tonight."
"Sure, whatever. I'll find the tunnel," Lynette agrees, having the same overconfidence in her luck as Takeshi did."Whine all you want about it Vampire lady, You're just scared to acknowledge that I'm an asset obviously," she flicks her off her shoulder with a bit of sass, hitting Takeshi in the face with it a second time.
There's a sharp whistle and Lynette would feel the wind of something swiping through the air fast as she tries to whip Takeshi again. The hair does not hit him, and there's a click of a blade returned to it's sheath as thousands of strands of emerald slowly drift down towards the ground ...
"...haa, well with all of this said and done, i think the plan of attack should be simple and effective enough, ill do my best on picking off targets so dont worry too much about me" Raina has resolved herself to complete the mission, if she falters then that would be that "hmm...starting fights before we even start the mission is, not ideal" Raina noticed what Lynette and Takeshi is doing, she just hopes this doesnt mess up the mission overall.
doesn't even dignify Lynette or Raina with a responce; Edith simply nods to Takeshi's boastful claims. Apparently at some point Takeshi has become a resource and not an inconvenience in Edith's eyes. That then is only enforced when Lynette attempts to whip Takeshi again, rewarded with Takeshi pulling off a shonin trope move in the blink of an eye. "You should thank him." the vampire tells Lynette, addressing her for the first time today. "He gave you a trim. You saved on hair dressing bills and half a tube of hairdye."
There is no effort by Ritsuka to intervene here, to calm anyone. Here, they were not in Haven where sanctuary would typically protect from some of the worst, and it is here where ppeople can get terribly hurt. It also does not mean that the secret cold war will not escalate, though here, usually still fought in the nightmare, today that is different and today people will die, get killed, hurt, and left wounded. Blood is to be spilled, whether it is the parties or that of Dynasty agents, is up to the party.
And once everyone is ready, it does go on in to that vehicle drive. Today it is a black van, smaller than the ones in the US of A. Darkly tinted windows, no seating in the back, the driver is a Japanese woman who does not share a single word, but her collar holds the steel Camellia flower. Spring was coming again, and it shows, even here in Kyoto as the party does drive by along the river for a moment. Lights shine up along a stone wall to the early blooms of those cherry blossoms that have begun their bloom, and will still yet bloom more in two weeks time. Pink petals land on the street and float, darkly, along the van. The nightsky was covered today, clouded up, hiding the moon and the stars, and it is scenery that would linger as the party does get closer towards their intended goal, only that the trees turned from pink to green, with the first leaves growing from their branches.
The Imperial palace is largely empty at this time of day, entire courtyards finding themselves to be empty, and it shows that the building is very old, the structure looks well maintained, but it carries that old-people kind of shabby look to it. As it turned out, no one has quiet asked about where the tunnel entrance lies, but fortune favors Lynette a little bit today, as when she glances, she sees a presence pass on by in the distance. Three darkly clad people that seem to sneak by one of the outer walls, but it is something only she noticed.
Raina and her guardian may find the sight more familiar, perhaps they had once been invited here. She can tell that they are between the Jomeimon Gate and the Kenreimon Gate. There is still a way through to the right and the left, with the gates being being and in front. Edith does get the sense of something quite ancient and arcane in the air, something more divine. Sun. Old and powerful, but not what the party is looking for.
Takeshi is immediately assaulted, Lynette diving for him at the damage to her precious hair, but the girl is quickly subdued. Grumbling under his breath, she'd be carried kicking and screaming to the car and then pinned down in her seat until she calmed down, perhaps with some magical help from Edith. By the time they get to the palace, they'd be taking the formation Takeshi had mentioned, Takeshi leading up the front. He walked with his chest out, ready for confrontation, opting not for stealth today in the hopes that if anyone were to spot their party, they spot him first ... (Checked with Muse OOC)
As the vehicle comes to a stop and Edith, Takeshi and Lynette and Raina step out, Edith glances around; It's perceptive, with stupendous night vision unsurpassed by any mortal. It seeks not only the area, security systoms, magical protections and guards, but also spiritual ones, phantasms lingering and for anything unseen.
Raina looks at tamamo who is right with her carrying Raina naginata along with her own bow "stick close and help me finish off any alive targets okay..." Raina talking to her handmaiden about their own plan of attack, they were discussing something...but it is a bit inaudible as they went from talking to whispers, the place is...oddly comforting, maybe it is because of familiarity but she wouldnt mind being here at all, she pulls out a flash light, but doesnt turn it on just yet, it may be dark but revealing their location right out of the gate is not a good idea just yet.
Lynette was enraged. Her usual silver tongue faltering as she launched herself at Takeshi in a furry, unable to even bother replying to Edith. She screamed and struggled the entire way to the van, but was eerily quiet during the ride, absentmindedly touching the ends of her hair as if mourning a loss. Once the group exits, in the middle of the stuck up girl's pouting, her eyes would notice something in the distance. She huffs, slowly shifting her gaze back to the group, her voice sounding very coy in nature. "Well would you look at that. What a cute group of suspicious people gathering outside the the wall. Totally not a weird scene to be a concerned about."
"please keep your grievances until we have recovered the artifact and murder every single one of the dynasty miss muse" Raina has switched her empathy off for this one, just like she has done several times before, the enemy is just the enemy and nothing more, still they are rather obvious if not for the fact it is dark outside right now, but if the dynasty would attack now would be a great time to drive them off.
His head snaps over in the direction Lynette had alerted him to, double checking over his shoulder to make sure he couldn't spot any operatives trying to circle around behind them or go for an ambush before he swipes his hand through the air to instruct the group to follow him and sets out into a combat jog in the direction they'd seen the enemies "Get ready, we might be about make contact" Takeshi warns the group, moving Mao no Tsume no from his back to his hand
Lynette grumbles under her breath in response to Raina, "I shall not," she quietly pouts. As usual Takeshi jumped into combat mode, but she quickly places a hand on his shoulder to ease him. "Relax, I don't think it's battle time yet. I only saw three, but there could be more. Perhaps following might lead us to better conclusions that running in swords drawn," she suggested.
"Well, Barbie's first haircut." Edith demands of Lynette, "Where do we go? We have a job to do and your pathetic struggles against your supernatural better is slowing us down- A wonderful job of trying though. If I had a working heart it would be beating with the joy I feel at seeing the pep you have to bring to bare. Maybe one day you can channel that into your magic and it might just work on me." Edith is in fact very bad at pep talks "Or on anyone or thing at all, really." It doesn't matter though; Edith isn't looking for an answer. The vampire vanishes into the shadows, keeping up with Takeshi, Lynette and Raina, observable to only those with the skill to do so.
As Edith takes to look around, she can see quite a lot of spirits lingering around. Some were definitely Eidolons, their gazes watching and turning to the group. Some weaker, others stronger, and this is in addition to the spirits of the dead, the Yurei, who do not seem to do much more than to settle in for the night. None seem to mourn or be stuck on to something from life, no, it seems that they are those who have chosen to linger, and maybe it is in her knowledge that it would be considered normal in Japanese mythology to a certain degree. Most of those more powerful spirits, of the Eidolons, seem to be some type of primal eidolons, maybe a few divine and fae, too. Ghost types, too, and they seem to be far more better dressed for what must have been their time once. She could probably ask them for the route. One of those ghost spirits was a very well dressed woman, too.
The group that Lynette had pointed out to Takeshi and Raina, as well as Edith was moving along of it, to the right, which would lead to a little lake that Raina might recall to be called the Oikeniwa garden, with the Keyakibashi bridge that leads across and would lead to the Otsunegoten or the Gonaitei garden. The group of suspicious people does move quickly, and Edith would make to guess that they are either ignoring the group or have not yet detected them. By their movements, it is the later, the confidence of being unseen.
Sneaking upto the group, Edith lowers her voice to address Takeshi, Lynette and Raina. "Eidolons en mass, many spirits and the group ahead of us have not noticed us. I can ask one of the spirits for directions, or we can follow these."
"...it is sort of chilly here right now huh" Raina mutters to herself, she doenst have any sort of excellent vision or power, honestly all she got from being an angelborn is just being a slightly stronger person "the spirits huh, you can ask them, they might know something, if we follow the group ahead, they are likely as lost as we are" Raina said to Edith, spirit talking is rather useful...getting info out of people long gone is rather helpful for finding some sort of mysterious entrance or relics.
Being told they weren't yet noticed, Takeshi lowers his run to a more crouched one, tilting forwards as he grips his blade to try and restrict the metallic clacking of it as he runs. "Mission is search and destroy. We have Dynasty in front of us. We not let them escape." Takeshi tells Edith, his eyes narrowing at the group as he picks up the speed, looking to close the distance and engage with the group ...
Lynette glares at the snooty Edith, deciding that these would be slights against her would not be soon forgotten. "When we get back I'm switching out all her blood bags for ketchup," she growls after the woman vanished. Whether or not it was that Lynette didn't care that Edith could still hear her or was simply not aware she was lingering nearby was up to interpretation. By the time her voice came back, Lynette would wrinkle her nose. "No wonder my skin was crawling..." She mutters, head head whipping back and forth for the things she couldn't see. She decides to stick close to Takeshi as the group advances.
"ill take a few of them down then" Raina following Takeshi lead begins to aim her bow at one of the men she is confident one shot is enough to take one out especially since tamamo is helping to double tap anything that can still move.
" Then that is what we shall do." Edith agrees-" Takeshi has already run off ahead. "Oh well." Edith could path to the group. She could fire off a bolt of dark sorcery, but Takeshi has his blood up, and he does enjoy carnage. There's no point there fore in stepping out of the shadows, and so Edith waits, protecting Lynette and Raina from behind, tools within easy reach, a tranq gun in one hand, a poisoned knife materializing in the other."
The agents do hurry along - but the advantage lies, this once, in the party's basket. Takeshi has his blade and comes swinging, Raina has lined up a shot along with her own muscle. Arrows fly loose and hit the mark, blade rends into flesh... but the targets are not dropping. Three gazes turn and look up, Takeshi might immediately recognize their nature, because as it turns out, they were like him. Demonborn, with bodies that simply can resist more, that simply can do more to protect themselves and that increased regeneration does start to hit up. They turn to Takeshi, drawing their own weapons, that is scimitars, blades, a spear is somewhere along the line as well, and a pistol. They were not unhurt, Takeshi was stronger than each individually, but they were a group, three, the two in melee opposing him, and the one with the pistol raises it up to point it at Raina. They say something in Chinese.
Edith can feel see how the spirits turn to look and watch, some even look entirely angry when they hear the Chinese language. Perhaps a little request could make them aid the party. Through her legitimate education, she may remember that China and Japan had historically been known to be enemies to one another, with Korea technically defended against Japan by China. One Korean admiral called Yu Sun-Si once repelled a Japanese invasion of Korea in the late fifteenth century through naval warfare.
"You see that." Edith says to one ghost-- the nearest. In conversational tones, the vampire chats away as though a fight wern't breaking out. "Chinese. It might be worth rallying a defense before they can invade and take over your country. That would be a shame-" A pause then. Edith has noticed the gunman and paths over to him, a silver sphere in one hand, the pin already pulled. Edith taps him on the shoulder, smiles, hands him the neutralizing grenade by force-- Through his head, then steps back, allowing Takeshi with his blade and Raina and Lynette with their weapons to take care of the situation fully; Even neutralized, Edith is undead and pain doesn't matter to the undead.
Demons they may be, but Takeshi had something they didn't. As slamming the lacquered sheath into the back of the first's head didn't seem to do anything, Takeshi brings his hand to the handle of Mao no Tsume.
A shriek heard only in the minds would split through the heads of all present as the eye at the blade's guard bursts open full of fury. Black flames already spilling out of the scabbard as he draws, Takeshi crashes into the two demonborn with melee weapons in front of him with a violent snarl.
Sharp spurts of the same black flame are hurled out from the swirling chaos as Takeshi engages the demonborns, the black flame catching and burning at the ground around them ...
Raina clicks her tongue, of course they would be able to survive an arrow to the back "i should really get a sniper rifle next time this is just ridiculous" then Edith took out the gunman and Raina began to refocus her aim at another target, this time tamamo helps out by also taking aim, if one wont slow them down then a thousand arrows shall be their undoing "aim, steady, fire!" Raina loosened her shot and tamamo does the same aiming to the one who Takeshi is engaged in a fight with.
Lynette watches the violence with dull eyes, her heartbreak deeply rooted. Alas, she pulls her bow free, giving the string a taunt tugging before taking aim at one of the demonborn men's head, aiming between the eyes as she fires, attempting to avoid Takeshi who charged into the mess. She does take a few steps away, appalled by the use of a grenade.
Fortunately, these Dynasty agents work as a team, and this means that when the silver grenade goes off and goes BZZZTTTT and naturalizes, it also affects the other two agents. Takeshi would find little issue to knock out or kill one of them, and the pistol-man had no head anymore as the grenade was 'gently' placed inside it. Blood splatters everywhere, pieces of meat fly around and a small piece of bloody human meat lands on Lynette's cheek. The last Dynasty agent however has the time of his life. Spirits draw into him, his body first pales, and then he begins to wail and scream as if everything he was, was burnt and eroded away from inside. It was one of the Eidolons that ended up reacting, first looking at Edith and then at the foreign invader. Smoke leaves from his mouth, his skin turns black, and something burnt hangs in the air. But the three agents are overcome, dead, and done for.
"now...we should ask the spirits for questions regarding the artifact, miss edith if you may?" Raina just watched a man die in a horrific manner and reaction is rather flat, tamamo is going around picking up arrows from the dead recovering any that isnt blown up to smithereens or broken.
A hard swung upwards cut smashes the guard of one of the demonborn out of place, the second attack from Takeshi coming in horizontally before the guard can be brought back into place, the head of the dynasty warrior being cut clean off. Takeshi watches the body fall with a violent sneer before quickly looking to the other two, noticing that Edith and the spirits had them cleanly handled he flicks his blade to the side to rid it of blood and resheaths it.
"Good work. Keep move." Takeshi says, unable to see the Eidolons himself as he turns to start marching in the direction the group they'd just slaughtered had been heading "Raina-chan, put an arrow in each one's head. Make sure dead." Takeshi does pause at the mention of spirits from Raina however "Spirits? Ha?"
"Oh very nicely done." Edith congratulates the team as they deal witht he team od Dynasty agents. The cluck of the tongue though; How unfortunate. Nothing left to use. Oh well. "You are a hero today," Edith continues with the eidolon, speaking with it as though over afternoon tea. "You saved Japan."
Lynette tenses up, immediately disgusted by something wet hitting her cheek. In a slow motion, she reaches up to flick it off, not having the stomach to handle looking at whatever the soft thing was. "I want to sit in the onsen..." she whines to herself, lowering her bow as it seemed unneeded after that massacre. The smell of burnt flesh was hovering in the air around them.
Takeshi was of course only refering to the one the spirits killed. The one he killed no longer had his head connected to his body, and the one Edith killed no longer had a head at all
Raina walks up to the dead men and getting her naginata handed to her she cuts off their heads, that is one way to ensure that they are dead in a orderly manner.
"That was overkill." Edith mentions to Takeshi in an all too pleasant tone, as Raina sets to work and Lynette swipes off the meat splat. "I do suppose we best continue, no?"
Takeshi is only trying to continue because he can't see spirits and doesn't realize yet the Eidolons might still be a problem ...
"Say," Edith asks the eidolon that had just murdered the Dynasty warrior (pun intended). "I don't suppose that you could point us in the direction of the super secret tunnels below the palace could you? The ones we should not know about and require ridding of chinese invaders before they can steal your entire cultural history and replace it with yellow robes and paper dragons and stupid hats."
Edith adds, plumbing her memories-- she doesn't know much difference between China and Japan. To the vampire, they are all the same. "The last thing you need is crispy shredded beef and chow mein with fortune cookies for every meal." Is Edith helping? She believes so at least.
Takeshi glances over to Edith with a frown "What you talking to? We not have time to waste." Takeshi chides the woman. Takeshi was locked in today, but still a muscle head it seemed.
Lynette would move forward, glancing down at the bodies but the visuals were making her feel sick. She turns quickly to the wall, pressing her head to the cold surface. "This is so much worse than hunting in the woods..." Lynette groans.
"the spirits takeshi, edith can talk to those who have long past so we may get information regarding the artifact we are here to protect" Raina is choosing her words carefully one slip up and she may suffer a fiery fate as with the dynasty warrior (also a pun) did
"Indeed." Edith nods to Takeshi. "I am talking to this rather lovely well dressed lady of oriental descent." Well done Edith, you arn't making fun of her clothing or insulting her. "An eidolon, much like your Kin'Yoko."
A look comes over Takeshi 's face that very clearly betrays that he was trying to figure out whether or not Mao no Tsume could kill spirits. But only for a moment. The man nods his head and decides to let Raina and Edith figure this one out, moving his eyes to scan the area, make sure no threats of the lesser world were sneaking up on them ... "Muse. Pay attention" Takeshi instructs Lynette who has her head up against the wall, snatching a grip on her at the upper arm and roughly tugging her away from the wall to point out "Keep eyes open. Tell me if see anything."
The eidolon does puts its gaze onto Edith. She was foreign. Undead. An evil spirit, as far as the myth considers, and this one is quite old, not so approving of her. But it also sees Takeshi and Raina, and ignores Lynette, and sees their desire and want. It is a brief connection - this one was once one of the Daimyo of Kyushu, the image of a secluded room fills their memory for the fraction that it looked and peered into Takeshi and Raina, and the memory that they then draw up and live through again is from earlier, forcing them to recall the purpose of their visit. It is not painful, but it is something that is simply taken, and Edith words also find themselves true when it reaches the understanding that the Dynasty had come to steal, to occupy glorious Japan again. At least as far as it is concerned.
It touches now upon Edith, not a whisper, not a single shredded word, but a hunch, a feeling... A direction. There is other entrances than the one the Dynasty had wandered to, inside the palace, past the wall, in a little corner. It is a slim fit, Takeshi would probably need a little push to get in there, but it leads down to a hallway five meters below. There is no map that comes with this, but the wish for all of these Chinese enemies to be wiped out. These old grudges seem to last for centuries, it appears and a single clue towards the Hollow Bloom...
"Beneath the Shadows,"
"A rootless flower sleeps,"
"Feeding on darkness,"
"Never knowing the sun,"
"Breathing black."
Then Edith also speaks to the lady, and there is conversation between her and the Eidolon, which, of course is in Japanese to Edith's dismay. Not understood at first, but then the lady does answer Edith, and the Eidolon translates for her. This is again cryptic "The path sought is buried in silence, roots drink forgotten sorrow. Follow the scent of unseen blossoms, and the petals of the past will guide your step."
is very bad with japanese behaviours, though she's seen Takeshi trying to capitulate to Ritsuka. To that end, the vampire bows-- First to the eidolon, then to the woman. "Thank you both. We shall rid the chinese for you." she promices. Relaying the information given to Lynette Raina and Takeshi already having it, Edith begins to scent, something she can point out to the group if they have a good sense of smell. The vampire aligns herself with said scent and begins to track it. "A hidden enterence other than the one they wished; Oh and the well dressed lady used to own the Bloom we need. Thank her." Then she's headin off in the direction suggested, the clue will have to be enough.
Takeshi is shown a bunch of images, but in the end it's Edith who decodes the puzzle. He nods his head as Edith leads the way this time, keeping his hand gripped onto his blade as he follows behind. "Raina, Muse. Don't wander." Takeshi instructs the duo as they begin their journey into the underground tunnels of the compound ...
Raina felt briefly dizzy, it seems Edith is done talking to the spirits and eidolon and with tamamo in tow she began following the vampire lady "do we have a clue?" Raina asked knowing she might not get any answers, it is still best to ask anyways considering she doesnt have any sort of spirit talking ability of the sorts.
Takeshi notably did not thank the lady as Edith requested, how rude!
Raina thanks the lady as requested "ah thank you" (i should really read with more detail than skimming)
Lynette squeaks as she's dragged off the wall and held out by Takeshi as if she was some sort of metal detector on the beach. Thankfully it seemed Edith was gathering the clues for her. "Thanks invisible lady," she hums suspiciously, turning on her heel to follow Takeshi back inside. The team seemed to be tracking something Lynette was unable to detect.
"We have a clue-- A poem, a scent and other locations for us to enter to find your artifact for Miss Shimomi." Edith explains more fully to Takeshi, Lynette and Raina, repeating what she was told.
Takeshi sniffs for a moment, picking up the smell himself "We just follow smell, right?" Takeshi asks with a raised eyebrow
"a poem huh, let me..." Raina begins to recall anything she can that may help them on this particular poem, it might help them out.
Nodding to Takeshi, Edith explains, "This is why people like you and I are better than cattle like them." Moving onwards to follow that trail, Edith makes it very clear that she means Edith, Takeshi and Ritsuka, with cattle being people like Lynette and Raina.
"Calling me the cattle with tits lole that?" Lynette rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Go ahead sniffer dogs, lead the way," she purrs back with a sickly sweet smile.
The smell was only tangible for Edith, Takeshi could not smell it at all, in fact, he might find himself cursed later, depending, only time will reveal it. The smell does take to an entirely different place of the imperial palace, west-bound, to the left to the Shimmikurumayose and inside there. This time it leads directly to a wall, and there it is strongest and it only takes a few moments for Edith to find how to open it. It slides to the side and offers a ladder down down down into dark and gloomy looking tunnels. They are encapsuled in stone, but those who are quite tall will need to bow their heads, as they were made at a time when people were smaller, and asians are generalls smaller than westerners are.
The hallways goes into two directions, Edith can see perfectly fine, Takeshi can see there is two ways, but nothing in them, to him it was as black as it was for everyone else. The small leads down one way, but a distant noise would lead on the other way. Both Lynette and Edith can feel something magical here, something different from what is above. Edith recognizes it to be dark magic, just as her own is and both she and Takeshi can make out the smell of distant decay and then the sound of a struggle now from where the distant noise came from.
Raina considers the poem, but she remembers something else from one of her lessons.
Long ago, when the moon wept for the earth, reigned an empress whose beauty was as fleeting as the petals of the sakura, and whose will was as unyielding as iron. She did not rule cruelly, but with a vision that defied the order set by others. Under her reign, women stood regularly besides warriors, regularly were involved in councils, but the tale says that her defiance came with a heavy price.
The opposing lords whispered poison into the ears of the kami to turn the heavens against her, swallowing it in war. Her allies burnt to ashes, betrayal struck a knight deep into her heart and at her final hour, abandoned, bleeding upon a temple's steps, she called upon those spirits who witnessed her and vowed: "If the world refuses me in life, then I shall make death take its root. A soul that will never rest until my name is spoken without chains, until the flower of my grief blooms forever."
She spilled her last blood at the shrine, and from the then cursed soil, a single flower emerged: The Hollow Bloom. One that does not wither, nor bend to nature's wails, hidden away from the hands of those who opposed her, waiting for a day when it would bloom again in vengeance.
As the door opens, Edith stands to the side. Takeshi is allowed to descend if he wishes, and Edith brings up the rear. Once Edith, Lynette, Raina and Takeshi descend however, Edith holds up a hand. She looks both ways, then nods in the direction of the struggle. "Dark magic." she whispers. "That way-- Edith may not realise that the others are night blind. "The same magic as I. The struggle that way shows us our direction, I think.""
"...yeah that bloom is likely cursed in some manner..." Raina recalling that felt wary then some sort of sadness "still...hmm, her name is still..." Raina wants to recall the name of the empress but for the life of her nothing comes up yet "well i do think we are in the right path..." Raina said as she looks over to see the aftermath of a fight "we should head towards the direction of the noise then...root out the dynasty part of our mission can be completed especially since it seems they are fighting something quite fierce there"
Lynette takes one look down that dark ladder and the expression on her face was disgusted. Even so she'd follow along with the group, heading into the darkness below.
Lynette regretfully wore platform boots on the adventure today so she would be one in the group required to bow her head inside the tunnels. "Fuck.. I can't see a thing," Lynette groans, thinking real hard about what Ritsuka mentioned the other day. As if by instinct, the room would react to her will. A fungus would begin to grow over the stone wall, small mushrooms sprouting that emit a lovely glow in the room, lighting the space for those with less adapted vision.
Though it's likely lost in the darkness, Edith's impossibly crimson lips part in a cruel, unsettling smirk. Edith's fangs flash for the most brief of moments, and Edith's sunglasses are folded and slipped into Edith's cleavage-- That only validates Lynette's snipe earlier, most assuredly, though Edith doesn't seem to have even noticed. Edith's knife is drawn again-- palmed ready to cut, and she nods to Raina and Takeshi, waiting on them to be ready. "I can assure you..." Edith purrs, sibilant as a serpent, rasping like silk, "I am very likely the most dangerous thing down here outside of artifacts."
Takeshi follows the group mostly in silence for now, his grip tight on the sword as his eyes dart back and forth. It was good when the bioluminscent mushrooms appeared to light there path, but it also meant that if anyone was looked for them, they'd be much much easier to find. Still, perhaps that's what they wanted right now. Takeshi glances over as Edith's sunglasses are taken off "Hey." Takeshi warns her under his voice "No use eye magic on us. We on mission."
"Children." Edith sighs. "I do something to engage in your customs of dramatic eye glass removing and you think I will hypnotise you." Edith clucks her tonge-- She would though if she thought it would help. "Not now though, no. Though on them, perhapse."
It was time for the party to penetrate the depths and with plan in mind, the group started to make their way in. As it turns out, the group was actually quite close to the desired shrine already... as they enter into a chamber that opens up. Within laid the corpses of a dozen agents - some unliving, raised, zombified, all women as they claw and bite at some sort of humanoid machine. Up, holding on to the surface is one of those ninjas, dangerous, with a katana in hand and Takeshi's concern proved to be quite right. They knew the group was there.
In detail, the deceased could probably raise, and there might be even more hidden away somewhere in this chamber. Through a doorway in the back, Edith, Takeshi, Lynette and Raina can see the shrine, and Edith and Lynette can both feel an arcane presence flooding from there, similar to that of a gate. An anchor perhaps, or an actual gate that empowers the shrine and the magic here. They will know there will be no constraints to her magic here, in this space and area at the least. Takeshi feels something tug at his mind, like when he is in the presence of Castiel or Kah, something was feeding on him.
the Dynasty has four mechanized humanoids. They have their own blatant, obvious weaknesses if you consider electronics, but they are entirely mechanical, and with the secret cybernetic technology, they may be somewhere between as strong as Takeshi to Edith. Probably not just as her, but they are are threat. Seeing as dark magic inhibits this space, it is probably no surprise that the Dynasty is using expensive robots to work through here. The Ninja by the ceiling keeps his eyes on Takeshi - those who may have the chance to gaze into the Nightmare find that it is too thick here, there was no way to escape to it.
The ground was solid stone, the walls were, as is the ceiling. There were no barriers, some furniture, mainly shelves, stands in this space at every wall, locked up and made from metal.
Lynette stares at the glowing wall curiously, shrugging at the convince of it being down here. "Oh good, I thought I was going to have to use magic," she sighs, eyeing Edith. "Well good then. If you're the most dangerous thing then I'll have nothing to worry about," she purrs sweetly.
Four cybernetics, and a ninja that seemingly controlled them. Takeshi frowns to himself. The situation seemed like it might be simple, but it wasn't so much so. If he charged the ninja, the cybernetic soldiers would charge Lynette, Raina, and someone who were at the back line, and they would lose. If he stayed to keep the front line, they'd be stuck in a war of attrition against a force greater than their own, and they would lose. They needed some kind of plan. "V-sama." Takeshi addresses Edith, keeping his eyes locked onto their enemies as he takes a defensive formation in front of the group "If you ended up alone with the ninja, could you kill him fast?"
Four cybernetics, and a ninja that seemingly controlled them. Takeshi frowns to himself. The situation seemed like it might be simple, but it wasn't so much so. If he charged the ninja, the cybernetic soldiers would charge Lynette, Raina, and Edith who were at the back line, and they would lose. If he stayed to keep the front line, they'd be stuck in a war of attrition against a force greater than their own, and they would lose. They needed some kind of plan. "V-sama." Takeshi addresses Edith, keeping his eyes locked onto their enemies as he takes a defensive formation in front of the group "If you ended up alone with the ninja, could you kill him fast?"
As Lynette, Edith, Takeshi and Raina spot the machines, Edith grins-- Lynette and Edith feel the arcane power, and Edith very much notes the dark magic. Dark magic and a gate means that here, Edith is stronger. So much in fact that she decides to give Lynette a lesson in the arcane. "Magic is empowered by gates." the vampire explains calmly. "The gate resonates with a type of magic. And if that magic is stronger, every source of it is also empowered." A smirk. "I am not an arcanist however." Edith isn't. Edith is something more, and dark magic has a deeper darker level. "The ancients have access to a power greater than the arcane focuses that many know. This is sorcery; A greater, more ancient power that dwarfs the magic that most mortals learn." There are no words-- No samatic motions, no arcane prep work-- Just Edith and a focus. The ninja is granted a look at a power beyond the arcane. The ninja finds himself impacted by a short, sharp blast of not the arcane dark magic that Edith is mistress of, but that ancient force. He is speared with a blast of dark sorcery. "Yes." she says after that first spear of dark sorcery is fired.
Within Haven, dark sorcery is 104. Beside a dark magic gate, dark sorcery is 166, outside gate proximity, it is 83, so the party and SR get where Edith is going with this.
Raina notched an arrow to her bow, she is getting ready to loose an arrow in case some straggler survive what Edith did to them...but she doubts they will survive.
Lynette gets chills from this sort of, old magic filling the air around them. If she had more sense perhaps she'd run away. "A gate?" She repeats, taking the explanation from Edith willingly. Sure she can sense it, but recognizing what she's sensing is an entirely different game. Listening to Takeshi as well, Lynette bites her thumb, before raising the hand her ring was sitting upon. Takeshi seemed nervous, perhaps a little fae fun was required to help. Lynette watches as Takeshi charges in towards the Ninja, sword drawn ready to attack, leaving both Lynette and Raina vulnerable. What an irresistible opportunity the cybernetics would be unable to resist to take out the back lines. Lynette raises her bow in defense, as if ready to fight her own battles.
It wouldn't be until the robo creatures moved to close in that the trickery would be revealed. The form of a charging Takeshi would fade away into Edith, meaning that that true Takeshi had never left at all, giving him the element of surprise against the charging cybernetics, splitting up their initial formation and giving our team a needed advantage.
Takeshi had indeed not been the one to charge! If they were going to win this, they needed to deal with that ninja, but if Edith had gone on her own, the cybernetic soldiers might have just ignored the slower Takeshi Raina and Lynette to all jump on Edith for a 1vs5. But, with the tank of the team diving past and leaving the backline vulnerable, the obvious course of action would (HOPEFULLY!) be for the cybernetics to take advantage of the vulnerability to push towards the back line ...
If all goes well, the cybernetic soldiers would already be committed to the charge before the trickery is revealed and Takeshi is revealed to still be protecting Raina and Lynette, Edith having been safely delivered into a 1vs1 versus the ninja!
Four freaks and a ninja-- Oh goody! Edith can finally cut loose. It's not beautiful. It's not elegant it is violent and brutal-- Inhuman and beguilingly haunting. One moment nothing. In the next, it is not Takeshi running at the ninja, but Edith directly before him, fangs extended, skin bone white, jaw distended and eyes as black as the sorcery Edith is mistress of. A hiss, the swipe of a knife with undead strength. The exsanguinating strength of a vampire in the grip of full, cruel, undieing mortuum. Lynette's illusion vanishing as the monster-- the true monster manifests in bloodlight and the chill of the grave. That paralytic poisoned dagger moves for flesh, and Edith begins to recite not a spell's incantation, but a hymnel, her dark magic-- Necromancy healing, controlling and puppeting the undead to full strength, directed towards the Dynasty agents. "Dance free, where ever you may be." she begins, free hand motioning in a dance macabre "I am the lord of the dance said he. And I'll follow you where ever you mayn be- I'll lead you all in the dance said he."
Something that makes Edith's attack even worse is the fact that it is quite dark here. The ninja is about to respond, evades, but that thing is not just anything. It is raw magic in its most potent form, it adjusts, accounts. If it was anywhere else, other than here, no dice, a miss, but here - it smacks into him, draws into his very essence. His covered up body grows cold and pale, and then... he just drops. Deceased and done for. There was absolutely nothing he could have hoped to do.
The cybernetic bodies, one of them crashes and rips apart one of the defending undead, and goes on to use a sharp blade-like shape to slice at another. They were still in combat. It turns that the machines split, two remain to fight the remaining undead, the other two turn to face the new opposition. One prepares to meet Takeshi in a fight, while the other starts to move forward, arrows fall and pellet from Lynette and Raina and her guardian, making a loud CLINK sound as they clack into the metal, leaving little dents in its armor, as it now moves to engage - and then actually comes to face Takeshi instead.
The other two machines, engaged with the undead, do withdraw from them, and start to rush at the party as well, after mister ninja did drop and was gone and done for, and this means that the two are who end up engaging onto Edith. The posion proves fruitless against the machinery, and she takes control over the undead who now, for sure side with her and the party now, that means she gets the advantage she is looking for. One of the machines, not two. Two may had overcome her, one is busy now. The third was caught in an illusion and sensors realign, one is fighting Takeshi being aided by Lynette and Raina.
Takeshi draws his blade and heads in to fight the cybernetics! He does his best to try and keep Lynette and Raina protected! He wasn't a match for the cyber soldiers, but he'd hopefully be able to hold his own for at least a while. He would be focusing on defense, trying to hold the line to prevent the soldiers from reaching Lynette and Raina for as long as possible, using demonic regeneration and stubbornness to stay on his feet for as long as he can!
Lynette would defend Takeshi from the back. Her arrows aimed towards the joints of the soldiers, considering if she couldn't knock them down outright she would at least slow them enough to make them easier targets for Takeshi to wipeout.
Raina keeps pelting the cybernetics with arrows along with tamamo, there isnt much they can do here, she doesnt have any sort of powers or abilities that cn help them with slowing the hunks of scrap metal down, aiming at the eyes of the cybernetic she tries to see if that will blind them.
The ninja is down and someone, Takeshi and Lynette are holding their own. Still, Edith with a few undead... That's not good enough odds for Edith, and to even those, the vampire places two fingers to her lips. A whistle and a large black mastiff begins to materialise. "Kill." Edith tells the potent minion. Then-- with the undead and spectral hound handling this cyborg for now, Edith turns her attention upon the others, firing dark sorcerous blasts at the three moving in on Takeshi, Lynette and someone. Powerful Edith might be, though she is only one person, and she cant easily divide her attention when there are so many threats at hand; Edith's attention is split between firing dark sorcery, ducking, dodging and being more mobile than the machine upon Edith and empowering the undead.
The ninja is down and someone, Takeshi and Lynette are holding their own. Still, Edith with a few undead... That's not good enough odds for Edith, and to even those, the vampire places two fingers to her lips. A whistle and a large black mastiff begins to materialise. "Kill." Edith tells the potent minion. Then-- with the undead and spectral hound handling this cyborg for now, Edith turns her attention upon the others, firing dark sorcerous blasts at the three moving in on Takeshi, and Lynette. Powerful Edith might be, though she is only one person, and she cant easily divide her attention when there are so many threats at hand; Edith's attention is split between firing dark sorcery, ducking, dodging and being more mobile than the machine upon Edith and empowering the undead.
The ninja is down and Takeshi and Lynette are holding their own. Still, Edith with a few undead... That's not good enough odds for Edith, and to even those, the vampire places two fingers to her lips. A whistle and a large black mastiff begins to materialise. "Kill." Edith tells the potent minion. Then-- with the undead and spectral hound handling this cyborg for now, Edith turns her attention upon the others, firing dark sorcerous blasts at the three moving in on Takeshi, and Lynette. Powerful Edith might be, though she is only one person, and she cant easily divide her attention when there are so many threats at hand; Edith's attention is split between firing dark sorcery, ducking, dodging and being more mobile than the machine upon Edith and empowering the undead.
Just as the undead leave the control of whatever controls them, so do more rise. It is a chaos, unpleasant groans fill the air, screeching of metal, sorcery splashing onto something and Edith's little minion joining the fight, too. There is even a moment where Takeshi's sister is almost taken out, but something bright suddenly settles around her and a moment later she is being dragged out by her handmaid. She would later be back in Haven, fine, unhurt and alive.
Takeshi does his best to try and slice and Lynette has her own magic, too, which helps and confuses. Takeshi feels himself be more and more drained, something the machines do not appear to be impacted by at all, but eventually, the four bots are scrap machinery, lying broken and damaged around a number of former Dynasty agent corpses and the only undead that yet linger for the moment were Edith's. Stirring, groaning in the middle of it all. One does something that is definitely irrational, kneels down, bends over another body and BITES right into the flesh with a disgusting sound of flesh ripped apart.
Now there was only the shrine ahead that was left. Takeshi would, again, be affected the most there, the closer he gets, the more he feels himself be drained and at the passageway on, even Edith and Lynette would feel the pull, the tug.
It is a place untouched by the sun. Walls are lined with carvings of faceless women in prayer, a winding stone descent finds itself with the slow creep of roots. The entire room would be dark, besides for Lynette's light-filled mushrooms. A black torii gate stands at the shrine's heart, its wood cracked. Beyond it, the shrine is built of lacquered ebony with delicate golden inlays, floral motifs twisted into unfamiliar shapes, made to look like blooming and withering at the same time. Weathered paper talismans cling to the beams, ink faded. Everything here, is now silent, beyond the noise the party makes.
In the center of the shrine, atop an obsidian altar, rests the Hollow Bloom. A single black flower, petals that look unfathomably deep, black as the night. It holds no wilt, it does not sway, but it seems more than only alive. Lynette and Edith will easily tell that this flower feeds off of the life of those around it.
His wounds were closing up slower than they should, and Takeshi would notice. His mouth hanging open with heavy breathing, his limbs hanging limply slumped in front of him by the time the fight is done, Takeshi looks over himself, his mouth curling to a snarl. He was too spiritually ignorant to have noticed the effects until now, but after a fight during the period of taking inventory he would now begin to figure it out.
"Ha, a flower of Amaterasu" Takeshi cackles as he, with lethargic movements and almost missing the sheath opening a few times, resheathes his sword. "It hates men." Takeshi notes before nodding to Lynette "You'll carry it" Takeshi informs her.
"Oh isn't that interesting...." Stepping up, Edith doesn't touch the flower; To the contrary, for now, she simply inspects it, mentioning to Lynette and Takeshi, "You should most certainly pick this up." What a bitch, the vampire isn't alive. Edith has deduced that the undead are here to protect the flower that eats life and she is curious what happens if one were to touch it. "A curious ability, no? It feeds on life force. I wonder what happens if one were to touch it directly." Edith suspects, though she's not Tsubaki. Ritsuka leads and Lynette and Takeshi are members. Is this indeed something Edith has any right in picking up? Should Edith leave it to someone' or should she wait to see if it kills Lynette. Takeshi would be a shame, but Lynette is barely even a person to the vampire.
"Oh isn't that interesting...." Stepping up, Edith doesn't touch the flower; To the contrary, for now, she simply inspects it, mentioning to Lynette and Takeshi, "You should most certainly pick this up." What a bitch, the vampire isn't alive. Edith has deduced that the undead are here to protect the flower that eats life and she is curious what happens if one were to touch it. "A curious ability, no? It feeds on life force. I wonder what happens if one were to touch it directly." Edith suspects, though she's not Tsubaki. Ritsuka leads and Lynette and Takeshi are members. Is this indeed something Edith has any right in picking up? Should Edith leave it to Kin'Yoko, or should she wait to see if it kills Lynette. Takeshi would be a shame, but Lynette is barely even a person to the vampire.
Lynette kicks the strap robots, looking horrified at the idea of facing an army of walking corpses. Lynette scoots past them, towards the room, with each steps she takes the wall fungus grows to reach her, illuminating her every step with gentle light. She approaches the gate, letting herself be drawn in by its pull ehile barely noticing Takeshi's desire to do the opposite. It seemed all this odd energy was conguested around... a flower? "Gross," she'd mutter instinctively. It was sucking the life around it like a bottomless pit. "You want me to collect that? Is something bad going to happy if i pluck it?" she asks first, mistrust laced in her voice.
Lynette happen if I pluck it?
"Nothing bad will happen at all." Edith assures Lynette. Stepping back, Edith simply waits to see what will happen-- Edith's phone is in Edith's hand. Is she really so disinterested that she's texting, or is she taking notes.... It's the latter. Edith has notepad open and is very much looking forward to recording what Lynette finds.
Lynette stares at Edith and then shrugs, reaching down to hold the flower, pucking it free from the earth.
Standing with folded arms and a stern look on his face, Takeshi also raises an eyebrow to Lynette as if to ask her why she hadn't picked up the flower already "Come on, we not have all day"
As Lynette examines the flower, both she and Edith can tell that it is a void that drinks the light. A bloom sculpted from nothingness. Almost eldritch. Not quite eldritch, it was from here, earth, but its attributes come closer to that. The magic is dark, but it was full of it, it definitely has something from the Other, too. It pulses faintly, as if breathing, but there was no wind here that would disturb its petals. Each single petal carries a little Kanji that is only visible to Edith. She cannot read the language, but she can determine the magic that is imbued. Sorrow. Binding grief. Duty.
The faintest whisper reaches both Edith and Lynette, fragments of a buried lament. Voices of the past coil around the Hollow Bloom, like old prayers and ridden with loss. There is the presence of the dead empress, who's spirit was above at the palace.
The more Edith watches it, the more she comes to a few conclusions: It hungers. It is not just an artifact, or something of the past. It waits. It seeks. It was never fated to remain untouched, a power that is raw and primordial, ancient.
Then Lynette picks the item up. It is close to weightless, tender, and feels entirely freezing to her hand. To grasp it, was to take up its weight, and Lynette can feel herself grow a touch more tired. Enough to keep her living and moving and functioning, but effectively drained just to that limit of barely above functioning.
The demon nods his head in satisfaction as he sees Lynette pick up the flower. He can tell it's affecting her, but his response to that is to simply try and get it to the extraction as soon as possible so that she may once again put it down. "Alright. Let's go." Takeshi barks as he turns for the exit, swiping his hand through the air to instruct Lynette to follow along behind him, trusting Edith had reached the same conclusion he had and was on the way out himself. Sadly, all the details regarding the continued will of the dead empress would go above the head of the spiritually ignorant soldier ...
As she notices it, Edith shares the spell forms with Lynette Loss, sorrow and more. The issue here is, though she records the canji she sees, she doesn't share it with Takeshi for him to translate until well after Lynette picks it up. One must let the canary into the mine first, after all. Still, the flower is taken from atop the altar and it is in Lynette's hands now, and the chinese are dead. The objective is technically achieved, but what will the outcome be?
Lynette yawns tiredly, her body becoming a little more slack as if she was suddently exhausted. Holding the flower between her palms was a heavy feeling, but semi-manageable. "It's like a parasite," she mutters, slowly heading after Takeshi. She could walk. It was like the flower needed her to be able to walk, but the poor girl felt a bit like a zombie doing it. "If I get... bags under my eyes from this... Ritsuka will owe me a new dress," she mutters, ready to get this over with.
"The entire supernatural world is parasitic." Edith shares with Lynette. "The natural order; You feed on those weaker than you-- The lesser cattle. Takeshi feeds on you. I feed on those like Takeshi and Miss Shimomi, and those like Kah and Castiel feed on me. Above even that, the eidolons and the demipowers feed, the demons prey on the demidemons and the gods and the fae feed on all below. It is the circle of life." Edith loves the Lion King, and as she notes Lynette's responces to holding the flower and she steps up beside Takeshi ready to rejoin Ritsuka, the vampire begins to hum I just cant wait to be king under her breath.
This time, the way back finds itself to be... quiet. Back through the hallways, lighted up by Lynette's glowing shroomies. The path down is easy to seal up again - and the spirit of the dead empress, only visible to Edith, begins to possess Lynette, though without making the girl do anything, she only inhibits her. Watches. Follows. There is the three corpses that will, tomorrow, likely be reported as a murder case. Someone will need to do a clean up before another day dawns, preferably within the next couple of hours, but the Hanshin Group and the Tsubaki no Tetsu will likely find something out, and all they need. The driver back does not look all too happy with the artifact, aware enough to feel that thing drain at her, but the trip back still makes its way just fine.
Takeshi feels like he entirely wants to be REALLY far away from Lynette right now. It keeps draining at him.
Back at the foothold, Ritsuka is already present, cleaning her armor and blade, the midnight black one with the thermal edge, not the one that Takeshi had seen her wield a few days prior and the Japanese woman sets it all aside when the group returns and moves to take the flower from Lynette, careful with it and if Lynette passes it over, the spirit settles into Ritsuka instead, whom does not seem as affected by it. Thanks to being quiet villainous. "Tell me about the whole of it? What did you see? What happened? I did handle what I had to handle... but I think that it is only going to escalate from here on with the Dynasty."
"Hello." Edith greets the spirit again, as though Edith and her were old friends-- Edith likely doesn't care there's a language barrier. "The spirit of this emperess is inside your haircut Barbie." the vampire explains to Takeshi. On the trip back, Edith speaks into her ear piece. The Hand cleanup crew is summoned and Edith arranges for the three outside to have been chinese terrorists who decided to in-fight, thus drawing the attention of the Japanese authorities. Takeshi and Lynette are allowed to explain the situation in full, with Edith only interjecting when points need be clarified, or where something is unknown by the others. Indeed, even though the party is two people down; Raina and her aid, Edith doesn't seem to have even noticedthe absence-- Maybe she died early on. Who knows, really... Except for Ritsuka, Lynette and Takeshi who will likely see her before Edith does.
Takeshi makes sure to stand on the other side of the room to Lynette as she holds the relic, to the point of pressing himself up against the wall a bit. "We found enemy. We wipe them out. Two groups, first was trio of demonborn. Second was single ninja, four cybernetic warriors, and undead." Takeshi reports to Ritsuka "After second group fell, we found flower. Muse-chan take flower, and we bring to you."
Lynette was quiet on the way back, too tired to even make a snarky comment to Edith. There was nothing but relief by the time she was able to pass the flower on to Ritsuka. She shivers, as if she could feel the spirit leaving her body for another. "I feel so... violated right now," she groans, sitting right into the floor with her head between her knees. "I need a minute," she groans tiredtly.
makes a couple of nods still, taking the flower. She is a lot more careful with it - and like Edith, she can see the kanji and she does read them out to Edith, Lynette and Takeshi.
"The Night weeps. A darkness shall rise when the flower blooms. Unseen and unheard. Drowning the land in silence before the storm. Bloodline. A crimson debt must be paid, only a daughter of fate ma ywalk the path and bear the weight of the past. The mourning bloom. The sky shall know grief, veiling the moon, as the wold world shudders beneath. The sealed oath. A name once spoken in devotion will be carved anew in betrayal, and the past shall call for retribution. The Hollow Bloom. That which flowers without rooths thirsts eternally. To grasp is to surrender; to reject is to be pursued. The path to the netherworld. One step forward, the world shatters. One step back, the soul is lost. There is no road untouched by shadow. The sacrifice. To open the gate, the price must be paid. Blood upon stone, name upon wind, and the Hollow Bloom shall awaken."
She shrugs, and then, almost far too idly says "Shall we head back to Haven-city then? I will leave this with Kin'Yoko. She will know where to keep it so it does not drain on us until the ttime for it has come."
"Onsen, please. I want the scent of death off me," Lynette whines softly, listening along with the kanji but too exhausted to take much from it.
"Just wait until the demon gets you home." It's Edith's turn to snark now, and Edith quips to Lynette just so. "So Takeshi's sister of haircut Barbie?" Edith asks in responce to the blood sacrifice comment. Then a nod to Ritsuka. "Haven."