[ We find Our Heroes standing on a miserabl trail sandwiched between a miserable pit and miserable mountain. The sky above burns red with the light of a series of angry orbs curving away in either direction like a string of pearls. The pit radiates a feeling of sorrow, the mountain leers condescendingly at you, and the light hurts in a way you can't quite describe, perhaps because it lends the only color around. ] [ A nearby weed reeks of bloodlust. The corpses of demons freshly slain silently scream for retribution. And everywhere is a faint but palpable sense of hopelessness. ] [ This is Carceri, the Prison of Gods, and it is not a place that people enjoy. ] [ Given all that, you are all baffled to find a warm, inviting brick entryway with tasteful brass-reinforced oak door in front of you. The place is illuminated to give it the presence of colors other than a seething red, and there is a cheerful welcome mat in front of the door. ] [ There is a sign next to the door that says "Come on in!". And this is where Will is sure the portal demons are lairing. ] [ Session Start! ] * Seylin eyes the door. "This has to be a trap. But it's the nicest, most inviting-looking trap I've ever seen." * WillS nods. "The portal demons are inside. I can feel their presence." This must be where the female demons live. Seylin, check for traps, please? Certainly. [ The only anomaly about the homefront is that the door is nearly twenty feet wide. ] Ya know. This place really sucks. * Seylin steps up to the area before the door and begins examining it. If she finds no traps there, then she checks the welcome mat next. And after that, she checks the door itself. * Tia sniffs the smelly weed and grimaces. [ The weed strains to reach Tia with sharp pointy leaves. ] Aha. * Tia backs away a bit and peers curiously at the straining weed. "Huh. This place sure has some weird plants." * Seylin points to the lights at the entrance. "The lights are on, somebody's home, and despite the signs, they really don't want any uninvited guests." * WillS takes a look at what Tia's sniffing. "Yeah. There are no nice smelling fauna here, Tia." Great. Get us in. There's a spell on the door that'll cause the lights to zap anyone they don't want entering. Can one of you dispel it? * Patrick sniffs around curiously. I can give it a shot. * WillS mutters a stoic prayer and points towards the light, which flickers a bit but stays on in the end. * WillS shakes his head. "Sorry guys." That's okay! I'll take care of it, then. * Seylin pulls out her toolkit and gets to work on disarming the lights. * Patrick shrugs. "It's why Seylin can disarm." * Tia watches over Seylin's shoulder as she does her thing. [ Tia has little difficulty watching over Seylin's shoulder. ] [ Seylin fiddles with the door, but it doesn't approve; the lamposts send torrents of lightning, fire, and foul-smelling reddish liquid at all of you. ] * Tia yelps. "Ow!" * Kenji brushes a bit of soot off his kimono hem. * Seylin zips out of the way. "Eeep! I'm so sorry!" * Tia does her best to shake off the red stuff. "It's okay, Sey. I'm all right." Will it trigger again? * WillS groans as he gets hit by all three. "Yeah Sey. It's alright." Enjoying that ring, Will? * Seylin sighs. "Yes, it'll trigger again." Everybody stand back. * WillS nods. "Yeah. It's great, Kenji." * Seylin flies out of the way! A LONG way back. * Patrick blinks as he steps out of the way of the torrent, narrowly pulling his bow out of harm's way as he does so. "What're you planning this time?" * WillS steps a ways back too! * Tia nods. "Good idea. Um...how far back is enough?" as far back as that blast went. Okay, I'm going! * Kenji reaches over his shoulder, draws Soramaro, and as he levels it out, it shifts and suddenly it's not a katana anymore, it's a long trident. Nice! Wow, how'd ya do that, Kenji? * Patrick states the obvious. "Magic." * Tia taps her axe on the hilt. "Can -you- do that, Mr. Axe?" I didn't. Soramaro is made of dreams. He has no form. Amazing. * Tia ponders for a moment. "Dreams? Whose dreams, Kenji?" I don't know. I never thought to ask, and he isn't telling. I wonder what you could make out of my dreams. Think a dream pillow would be soft? As soft as you could imagine, I'd bet. * WillS nods. "Yeah. It would be as soft as you wish it to be, Tia." Ooh! I want one! * Kenji draws the trident back in one hand, steadying its aim with the other, and thrusts it forward in a flash of movement, straight into the lamp. * Tia falls silent and watches anxiously. [ The lamp explodes in a cocophany of thunder and burning light, shaking the mountains. Before the spots are cleared from your eyes, you hear the sound of rumbling rock all around you, but thankfully you are not impacted. ] * WillS prays for Bahamut to protect them as Kenji throws the trident. Especially to protect Kenji, even though he prays to a dress wearing Bahamut. [ Pat flips off into the gorge in his haste to evade the blast, but Seylin is able to catch him and carefully navigate back up to the crater. Tia is on the sideline, badly singed, and Will is near the edge of the crater, looking in bad shape. ] [ There is a stain near to where the struck lamp was. At the leading edge of the stain is what appears to be a person who has been turned inside-out. Well, most of a person. Nearby is a long streak of silvery liquid metal that was once Soramaro. ] * Kenji screams, a horrible, gurgling cry hardly recognizable as his voice, because he's a quivering pile of organs and exposed bones in the center of the crater. Well... Fuck. Oh dear sweet holy Bahamut... * Kenji gurgles loudly * Tia coughs and staggers a bit, recovers, and stares openmouthed at what used to be Kenji. "K-Kenji...?" * Seylin gulps, puts a hand over her mouth, and then flies over to the gorge to be violently ill. * Patrick leaps down from Seylin's arms and lands on the ground, taking a quick look at Kenji to see if he's, well... still alive. * Tia wails. "That's not Kenji, is it? Where is he?" (Oh, whoops, thought I dropped Patrick off already.) [ Patrick finds, much to his dismay, that Kenji is indeed still alive. ] * WillS is laying completely still at the crater's edge. Seylin, get Will up! * Seylin wipes her mouth with a handkerchief, nods, and flies over to Will, taking care not to look at ijneK. * Patrick shakes his head, trying to think of how to get Kenji back to his normal being... God dammit, they never went over imploding people. Espically people that *live through* it. Will, I, uh... I hope you can do miracles? We need one now. Desperately. * WillS blinks as he groans weakly, still disoriented. "Huh? Miracle what?" * Tia slowly approaches Patrick and what's left of Kenji, her fingers nervously tugging on her hair. "What do we do?" * Patrick takes a moment to look at Soramaro, then back to Kenji. Wait and see what Will has to say about it. There's probably something Will can do about Kenji's situation. * Tia nods and bites her lip. Kenji... imploded. [ "Inverted" is closer, actually. ] * Tia wails again and bursts into tears. (That too.) Woah woah woah. Tia, settle down. Kenji's not dead... Well, in th- he's not dead. Okay? Just, calm down, we're going to fix things, all right? * WillS mutters underneath his breath and stands up after a wave of healing energy covers him. "Kenji what??" [ Will sees Kenji. ] Will, get over and take a look at the mess that's still Kenji. * Seylin nods. * Tia sniffles and wipes her eyes on her arm, then nods. "Okay. Sorry, Pat." * WillS scrambles on over and examines Kenji closely. * WillS grimaces as he gazes over the remains of Kenji. "I don't think we'll need a miracle here. Lets see now..." * Patrick starts scanning around for any enemies that could have been alerted to the hugeass explosion. * WillS puts his hand lightly over what's left of Kenji and takes a deep breath. A series of bright healing energy swamps over Kenji, and in a single bright burst, return Kenji to his wholesome self again. * Kenji whispers hoarsely, "Ow." * Seylin turns around and looks. "Whew." Kenji! * WillS wipes some sweat from his brow. "Feeling better, Kenji?" * Tia, however, restrains herself from tackling Kenji with a hug. Rather impressive, Kenji... I hope your sword's in at least as good a shape as you are now. It'd be kind of awkward to lose it right after you got it. * Patrick smirks at Kenji. "Good to see you're not dead, though." [ Session End! ]