World Tree MUSH

    A young man from the quiet town of Westview is in need of rescuing from a demon. This is going to be a very difficult endeavor, however, as the Archangel Tyrael and indicated that the only way to even have a chance at possibly rescuing Mr. Jeff Lecky would be to journey to the heart of Pandemonium--a dangerous and chaos-ridden realm--and retrieve a shard of the Worldstone within which to imprison the demon's soul. Despite this, the wizard Li-Ming and the group of heroes who had rescued the other cultists had volunteered to make the journey. Of course, they'll need all the help they can get, so Mr. and Mrs. Lecky, Jeff's parents, had put out the call to any in the World Tree who would be willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of their dear son. 

    Tyrael, for his part, doesn't quite believe venturing into Pandemonium is worth the risk for only a -chance- that Jeff might be rescued, but knowing the people of the World Tree, he has determined that they would find a way to do it with or without his help. So he might as well help and increase their odds of making it through and worth it. 

    Therefore, he has instructed anyone who would answer the call to meet him in Westview. From there, he would escort them to the Sanctuary of his own world from which they would enter the High Heavens through a portal in an old chapel that once belonged to the Cathedral of Light during the Sin War. Upon passing through, they'd find themselves on the outskirts of the Silver City, the capital and seat of authority. From here, the towering Silver Spire can be seen in the distance, with the Crystal Arch perched atop it. It is certainly a beautiful place, walls and streets washed in white and gold, although it would feel a bit cold and dry to anyone with human sensibilities. There is no need to go into the city though, as the Pandemonium Gate, the only portal Tyrael knows of that leads to the home of the Worldstone, is here on the outskirts along with portals to other realms.

    The Angiris Council is gathered before the gate, as if they had been expecting the party to arrive. Auriel, the Archangel of Hope; Itherael, Archangel of Fate; and Malthael, Archangel of Wisdom--all stand before the adventuring party. Li Ming in particular might be wondering where Imperius is, but that remains to be seen! Like Tyrael, dark, empty visages stare out from under hood or helmet instead of facial features. Tyrael would introduce them to the party each in turn, then proceed to explain to them something that he may have neglected to earlier. "You must gain the approval of the Council members other than myself in order to pass through the Pandemonium Gate. I attempted to intercede on your behalf, but they insisted that you speak for yourselves."

Misaki hasn't said much on the way here, but Tyrael's explanation causes her to step forward immediately. "There's a boy who got corrupted by by a demon. He's done nothing to deserve that corruption. Thanks to a timely intervention, the demon hasn't even been able to kill anyone. The injured will be fine."

She looks to the group a moment, "He's got two parents who love him, and I gave them my word that I would do all in my power to cure him of this corruption. I do hope you will not attempt to make a liar out of me, because I'd like to believe angels understand the meaning of honor. I'd like to believe angels understand the value of compassion."

    Dante yawns the most epic of yawns as he makes his way to the council, without regard of decorum he just trundles in with coffee strong as the barista could make it. He's quite honestly lost, buuuuuuut before he can really ask too many questions, Misaki covers the important stuff. "Yeah. That. We gotta save Jeff." He says, as if he was there.

    He has a bad feeling about this, and keeps a hand towards one of his guns juuust in case things get heated.

    Lian the Seer is not here.

    Oh, there is a black-haired, violet-eyed woman named Lian here, certainly. But the walking staff is gone, and her outfit is... somewhat similar, but not the same. The fabric is a bit more lightweight, her satchel has been left behind, and instead of the cloak, she wears a dark brown robe, hooded and billowing, open in front; it makes her almost look like a member of some sort of religious order.

    And while those who know her wouldn't be surprised at the lightsaber clipped to the right side of her belt, the nearly-identical cylinder on her left side might be a tad unexpected. She has /two/ lightsabers, it seems.

    As they arrive at the waiting Angiris Council, Lian bends into a respectful bow, both for Tyrael himself, and towards the array of angels as well. "I first offer gratitude for your willingness to hear us out." She straightens herself up, and continues, "I am Lian Kamoya, Battlemaster of the Jedi Order. Though I am separated from my universe and my Order, I still hold to the principles under which I was raised - all life is sacred, and innocent life even moreso. My reasons are the same as Misaki Sakai; I feel this young man's life and health are worth fighting for, and though my experience is no match for any of you, I am held knowledgeable and skilled enough to be the keeper of blade techniques for my Order, and the Force is strong in me. I have not just the drive, but the capability to see it through."

    Might be that Li-Ming has withheld information and rumbled about setting off on her own if need be but now that we're underway, she's cooled her jets somewhat. No need to alienate the Powers That Be of another world just to settle a matter of principle, right?? Well. We'll see.

    The wizard spends the journey up until the Heavens in relatively good spirits. Though quiet, she at least doesn't appear to be gloomy or seething about anything in particular. That is, at least, until she's faced with Tyrael's comrades. As if the Heavens weren't reminder enough of events she'd rather not relive, she's faced with one individual in particular.

    "Ah. Had I known you'd require us to stand before your council I'd have better prepared!" She steps forward, eyes fixed particularly on the narrow lack of visage belonging to Malthael. "We're traveling to Pandemonium. I am a wizard, seeking to aid mankind where your supposed powers of virtue will not. Stand aside." That's her part. That's all she offers. She's honestly expeting the last member of the council to appear as a show of force but she's witnessed that boistrous fool before.

    Morrigan may have missed out on the original incident involving Jeff and the demon summoning cult, but after a quick briefing from Tyrael, she decided it would probably be prudent to get on the Archangel' good side by beginning her part in what is to be their mutually beneficial relationship a bit early.
    Tyrael has demon problems.
    Morrigan's grey 2003 Ford Windstar comes rolling into Westview to solve them.
    And then she finds herself in front of a council of more angels, back in Sanctuary.
    Awkward.
    Ahem.
    "You might think the life of an individual mortal boy beneath you." The Warlock begins to speak. "But I'm certain that saving his soul from the demon attached to him is working toward a greater good for both Sanctuary and the worlds beyond it. It wouldn't look very good for business if demons from the Burning Hells decided to leave to other worlds and spread their influence and corruption beyond where you all would be comfortable having or handling them, hmmm?"

    On her way over, Emily dropped Double-A off in Westview so that she could check the stasis device. Double-A ordered Emily to behave herself, then immediately proceeded to get into an argument with Chief Everett over something inconsequential.

    Emily listens to Misaki as she gives her speech. And then Lian, who is very interesting in ways she hasn't properly understood the full extent of. Okay, what can she say that won't just be a direct repeat of them ...

    ... She has to give both Dante and Li-Ming a look, though, albeit for different reasons.

    Okay, freaking Morrigan's response is actually helpful for Emily's purposes. "I'm gonna level with you guys," she tells the Council. "I'm, uh ... not very good at being a good guy. It's just, the consequences of doing bad guy stuff would be a pain, if you know what I mean." (Yet it would be still easier not to participate at all; the fact that she is here is telling.)

    She glances around. "And it's better to save a life than, than not to do so," she says. "Right? Is it really justice to kill someone over something that isn't necessarily entirely their fault? So." She shrugs. "Saving his life seems to be the 'good guy' thing to do here."

    ... Really, she's a bundle of nerves right now, which might be obvious in the Force. But she's presenting a front of total chill right now, if not quite serenity.

    "I regret I did not inform you earlier, Li-Ming." Tyrael says apologetically. "But I did not expect this meeting would be required, either." But as he has already spoken his part to his brethren, he remains silent for now aside from that.

    The Council's attention is first brought to Misaki, as she greets them with respect and speaks of a promise made. Dante is mostly ignored, because he doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. Lian, though, seems to be perfectly confident in both her abilities and her cause, something any of the angels would respect. Morrigan, too, has a fair point--a better one than Emily anyway, in their minds.
    However, Li-Ming's defiance doesn't help much. It's a good thing Imperius isn't here, because he -definitely- would've overreacted to that. As it is though, since she seems to be staring down Malthael, he speaks up first.

    "Do you command us, mortal?" he questions the wizard. He doesn't -really- sound angry, but there is an air of haughtiness there.
    But Auriel seems to be leaning their way. "Do not mind it, Malthael." she says, dismissing the issue. "There are far more important matters at hand. It is admirable that these mortals still cling to the hope of salvation, despite the odds. Itherael, does Talus'ar speak of the outcome?"
    Itherael shakes his head. "No, the fate of these outsiders is unwritten."
    Finally, Malthael seems to give in. "An effort against the Burning Hells' influence within other realms is indeed a worthy cause, even if a singular mortal's life is inconsequential. However, if your lives are your own to endanger. Very well then, it is decided."
    At this, the Council does indeed step aside, and the Pandemonium Gate is opened for the group to pass through.

Misaki lets go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding when the Council steps aside. She bows to them, "Thank you for your understanding." Then, she transforms and heads for the gate, waiting for at least one other person to step through before she does so herself.

    The response from Li-Ming draws an arched eyebrow out of Lian, but she remains silent, content to listen and see what comes of all their declarations.

    And her patience is rewarded. The Council allows them through, and Lian responds with another bow. "You have my utmost gratitude." She's the absolute picture of serenity as they pass through the gate, though once they've gone through to the other side, her demeanor becomes more businesslike. They're entering enemy territory, after all.

    Dante might not know what the hell's going on beyond 'kid was possessed, we gotta fix him' but he blanches at the thought of letting a kid die if there's a chance to save him. So he just grunts and lets cooler heads debate. The Jedi's efforts are rewarded with success, and he offers Lian a clap on the arm. "Nice work there, Mithrandir." He teases, before he makes his way towards the portal.

    Self-preservation was a thing Dante learned was for mortals. He couldn't care less about backup. With guns in hand, Dante pops his neck. "Alright then, let's go save a life."

Li-Ming glances at Tyrael and offers a very small tip of her head. She should have expected this. The long-time structure of things is by far more intact in this version of her world than her own afterall.

    "Ruin looms for you all. You would do well to look to Tyrael's example in the coming troubles." Wit that, she's off toward the portal. That's about the most genuine warning she can offer without pulling up a chair and laying the whole story on them all. Which, considering parties involved, may be incredibly incredibly difficult to properly convey.

    This is going to require some proof but now's not the time. "I'll regail you all with the details. We have an inconsequential soul to save." Speaking with her back turned and everything. NO respect! Zero. At least her spooky cohort has the good sense to not show his gritty mug.

    Dipping into a flourishing little bow, Morrigan gives Li-Ming a side-eyed look.
    Gutsy, telling a squad of angels what to do. Even if it doesn't get the best reaction. Nevertheless once the council stands aside, the Warlock folds her hands behind her head.
    She could not care any less about some possessed kid. But if it means stopping demons from spreading, this will have her attention for now as she hads for the portal.

    Emily relaxes slightly in a way that only now calls attention to the fact that she'd been tense. (It doesn't entirely calm her internal worries.) "Yeah, thanks, guys!" she says, genuine graciousness in her voice as she echoes Lian and Misaki.

    She strides forward. "Releasing Capacitor Seals 3 and 2," she announces. She's surrounded by the three auras, silver, gold, and pearlescent; the first two shatter and the third one fades, and in a swirl of silvery nanomachines, she becomes a burly woman in a pinstripe suit with short silver hair, glowing purple eyes, and four arms; a pair of oversized holographic twintails appear on her head, moving with glitchy physics as she conjures up a plain white sword.

    ... She snickers at Li-Ming's antics, and she enters the portal with an amused and faintly smug smile. "Goddamn, kiddo."

    On the other side of the portal is a realm of chaos. Creation and destruction side-by-side, constantly and simultaneously canceling each other out. At the heart of the realm, the Worldstone gives rise to new terrain, pushing the parts on the edges back into the void as they crumble into the vast abyss below. In the distance, there are flashes of light that pulse across the landscape, but it's unclear whether those are lightning bolts or the fires of the Eternal Conflict.

    And guess where the portal opened out? That's right, on the edges, where the the terrain is shifts and cracks like some kind of earthquake with everlasting aftershocks. As soon as the group sets foot on in the realm, the ground shakes violently and splits apart under where Morrigan and Misaki are standing, threatening to send them into the abyss, too if something or someone doesn't intervene!

    And as if that weren't enough, a mob of spine-covered monsters jump down from the top of a nearby cliff and charge at the group, rushing forth on sharp, needle-like legs. Some of them even shoot razor-sharp quills at the group as they go! For his part, Tyrael jumps in front of them and tries to give them some cover, knocking a few of them off. But the party is going to have to do some fending for themselves with these numbers! These things are fast, but fragile.

    Into the portal and everything immediately goes to hell. Or Pandemonium, really, but that's a matter of semantics, between spiney monsters and the fact that the portal leaves Morrigan perched rather precariously on a crumbling ledge.
    With Misaki.
    It sort of just happens. It's almost a pure reflexive action on the warlock's part.
    "-Move it!"
    Morrigan shoves Misaki. She shoves her hard and she shoves her AWAY from the edge towards more solid ground.
    Of course this comes just as the ground gives way and Morrigan goes down. For a moment, it looks like she's falling. But the single hand clasping the cracked edge of the split earth, and the second hand quickly scrabbling up to join it says that she might need a little help getting back up amid the monstrous assault.

Misaki gets shoved. She immediately reacts to seeing Morrigan's predicament by getting herself proper grip before reaching out for the free hand, "I'm stronger than I look." She promises, her other hand moving to grasp Morrigan's arm the moment their hands lock, so she can pull the warlock up onto the ledge.

    Fortunately, Lian is suited to fend not just for herself, but for others as well. Her eyes dart between the monsters and the collapsing floor under Morrigan and Misaki, and the Force tells her what she needs to know even before Morrigan takes action.

    There is a rush of energy and a sudden wash of sky-blue light, and the Jedi takes a swift step up to plant herself beside Tyrael.

    Without preamble, she begins to whirl and weave her lightsaber, making tight, controlled movements, efficient, simple, and perfectly placed. It's as if she knows where the quills will be before they arrive, and that weapon sears them neatly out of the air. The Jedi's rapid movements work wonders for thinning the cloud of incoming projectiles. She won't be able to intercept them all, but she's absolutely doing more than her fair share.

>> SUMMARY[Lian Kamoya] >> Am Jedi, very good at projectile stop.

    Totally unapologetic for her derisive attitude towards the angels that greeted them, Li-Ming simply smiles for Emily. "Yes, well. I won't be the one to humble them, fortunately."

    Then, through the portal and into immediate bedlam. "Fantastic!" She scans her surroundings, taking in the frankly breathtaking scenery. The sudden appearance of hostiles, though, earns a sigh.

    A sweaap of one hand places a bubble of distorted time to provide cover alongside the area Lian is defending. The quills impact it and immediately slow to a crawl, though they are moving and most are not exactly intersecting the center so they will eventually emerge and resume their path.

    That done, she wrenches all the arcane power she can muster and rakes the ridgetop with a bombardment of 'small' fireballs that crash down like a rain of meteors. There is, however, enough of a delay and a small enough radius for each impact that she's unlikely to stop the entire swarm. It should delay or destroy whatever lays beyond that particular approach.

    A glance is spared backward. Just in case she has to fall back and deal with the uncertain terrain instead.

>> SUMMARY[Li-Ming] >> Am wizard. Very good at boom.

    Funny they enter Hell just as things go tits up. Dante's read up on his namesake's writings, and he's seen enough glimpses at the Nine Levels of Hell that he's fairly prepared for the typical underworld he might visit. Of course, he sees demons arrive to come greet the adventuring party and pops his neck. "I'll cover you!" He calls out to Morrigan and Misaki, before opening fire on the devilish hordes with his pistols.

    He can't help but eye Lian's bladework. "Damn." He's gotta get him some of those laser swords.

    Emily snickers, nodding to Li-Ming. "Yeah, well --" Crumbling ground! She floats upward and hovers there. "Wow everything's going to hell right off the bat. -- MISAKI!" That signet ring with the glitching glowing runes appears on her finger ...

    ... and in the time it took for her to get the Timekeeper out from wherever it was buried in her nanomachines, Misaki and Morrigan have it handled. "... Well, then," she says. "Anyway, wow everything's going to hell right off the bat. KERPOW!"

    She leaps into the fray, swinging her white sword, and firing golden lasers wherever she can -- as usual, only five bolts at a time can manifest at once.

    Even as Misaki reaches for Morrigan's hand, the chargers are already on top of her, and would have sunk a sharpened leg into her back if Tyrael hadn't impaled it with El'druin with only fractions of a second to spare. But the ground shakes again as Morrigan is hanging there, and suddenly some kind of worm-like creature with massive jaws, hideous fangs, and large glowing yellow eyes bursts from the rock right near where she was hanging. Though it seems more focused on the rest of the group than on her, a ball of fire launching out of its mouth toward them. When it lands, it will explode on impact and scorch anything within a certain radius. Unfortunately, with how they are limited to the floating patches of rock across the treacherous landscape, it may be difficult to get out of the way without falling into the void. But at this point Morrigan has a choice: she could grab Misaki's arm, or grab the worm and attempt to 'ride' it back up.

    With Li-Ming's time slow and Lian's saber, the most of the quills intercepted and do not hit their targets. And the wizard's rain of fire does prevent the rest of the mob from making it down the ridge. However, there are still about a dozen of them that are already on top of the group. Though most of them are sliced apart by Emily's blades or blasted into oblivion by Dante, there are still a few stragglers by the time that tunneler comes out. Two of them gang up on Lian, launching themselves at her with their spiny bodies, while Emily, Li-Ming, and Dante each get one to themselves. Sharing is caring.

    Once things go to CQC, Dante switches from his pistols to bare hands. He really wishes he kept those gauntlets he took off Vergil, who took off of the demon Beowulf. Still, his physical strength is nothing to sneeze at as he throws a furious haymaker at one of the demons that rushes him. "You guys picked the wrong devil to fistfight!" He says, lashing out with a pushkick before he deftly evades a demon's quills, putting it in a jointlock and TWISTING hard enough to snap bone like a twig. THen he drives his elbow into the demon's ugly face, and finally Rebellion comes out. He swings the greatsword to split the demons in half, aiming to get two for one strike.

    Morrigan is not going to say no to help from not falling to her death. As soon as Misaki is braced the Warlock reaches for the senshi's outstretched hand and scrambles up to more solid ground. Especially as that worm rears its ugly head and belches fire
    Once she's back on her two feet, she takes a moment to dust herself off.
    Not gonna lie, that had her heart pounding.

    [Morrigan will remember that]
    [Morrigan approves (+5)]

    "Well. That was terrifying." She announces matter of factly. "Thanks for that."
    Now on to proper business, she wheels right around and outstretches her hand. With a flare of light and the sonic boom of thunder, several crackling rays of green energy lance from her fingertips, aimed right for the giant worm-thing's exposed mouth to stun it with the agonizing energy. "We should get moving, staying in one place here is probably really bad." She notes to the group.

    Good. Misaki and Morrigan are safe, and Li-Ming, Dante and Emily have done much to thin the horde and stall out the quill barrage. Lian gives Tyrael a brief side-glance and a nod.

    But it seems a pair of the quilled monsters have picked her out as a target. The battlemaster whirls her lightsaber once, changing her stance, and then as they dive at her, she leaps. It's a high flip, taking her directly over them in an acrobatic movement, and as she passes over the spiny creatures, her lightsaber lashes downward, striking a vicious blow.

    She doesn't take her victory for granted, though; the instant Lian's boots touch the ground, she turns the momentum of her flip into a tight, controlled spin. The spin becomes a whirling lightsaber strike, an agile movement forward that puts her in reach to slash at both until they're no longer a threat.

"Just returning the favor." With Morrigan in relative safety, Misaki summons her guns. Seeing how she doesn't have a whole lot of room to maneuver without abandoning the safety of the group, she improvises. Lian provides her with inspiration, and Joyous sprouts a stationary green beam while Marvelous sprouts a stationary blue beam. Upon close inspection she's actually manually spiraling the laser outwards and then back into itself before letting it dissipate, which takes some focus.

She immediately aims for the side of the worm, trying to see how effective this idea she's had no time to practice or try out before really is.

    Emily shoots straight upward to avoid the spine attacking her, and then ... her sword doubles in size, turns to point straight down at the monster, and then rockets downward much faster than would make sense for mere gravity, followed by another burst of energy-bolts.

    "Staying still equals bad, got it!" she calls back. "Which way do we go --?" A brief moment of hesitation as the worm appears. "... Okay, away from that thing sounds like a good start!" Summoning her sword back, she conjures up three more, to hold one in each hand.

    She peers at Misaki, and grins. "That makes absolutely no sense but it looks awesome," she says. "I approve!"

    Li-Ming sees the worm in time to avoid being crisped by the fireball being sent from behind and with a stomp and twist of one foot, she releases pulse of magic that rips away the energy in the air aound her and the ground she's standing on, flash-freezing it all. Worm-beasts are nothing new to her and even the smallest are capable of killing from below. Less so if they wind up choking on a slug of frozen terrain while trying. No time for further thought on the matter, there's a quillbeast coming- Which Dante readily destroys. "Much appreciated!"

    Able to turn attention to the worm and, seeing that we're attacking it with beams and the like, she opts to join in. She points with her finger and lets fly with a pulsing red beam of arcane power that shrieks as if protesting against the presence of the very air it cuts through. With any luck, it'll cut through the worm just as well as she imagines Misaki will.

    If it's worth killing it's worth overkilling.

    "Tyrael. Guide us!" Despite the broken nature of this graveyard of failed worlds, the resting place of the World Stone is probably fairly intuitive. The best path to take, however, will certainly be anything but.

    Spinning lasers, super strength-filled punches, kicks, and blades. And a giant blade on Emily's part, are enough to dispatch the rest of the chargers. Even if not, they would have been torched by that fireball anyway. Speaking of the fireball, since no one moves to intercept it, it lands and explodes, turning everything into a blazing inferno. Hopefully no one has a weakness to fire.

    The worm gets more spinning lasers, eldritch blast, and arcane beams for its trouble, though. It screeches and dives back down into the ground, just as Li-Ming manages to flash-freeze the fire and put the entire plateau they are standing on out.

    But yes, it is time to move. Tyrael nods and takes to the air ahead of them, moving toward the heart of the realm, where Pandemonium Fortress and the Worldstone lie within. The ground trembles as the tunneler burrows through the ground after them, causing the terrain to become even more unstable than it already is. As they are running, more creatures appear. This time, they dive out of the air, launching worms covered in slimy poison at the group. They are sporting dragon-like wings and their legs are like spiked tentacles that slither along the ground. Unlike the chargers though, they seem to prefer keeping a distance with their worm-barrage. If anyone tries to get close to them, they will attempt to backflip away.

    The ground around them is frozen, and Lian briefly looks down before turning her eyes to Li-Ming. "Impressive." But while they have a chance, they need to get moving. She flourishes her saber once, and then takes to a steady jog, keeping up with the airborne Tyrael as best she can. It's here that the limits of her lightsaber technique become apparent; not only are the flying monsters keeping out of easy reach, they're flinging projectiles she can't afford to deflect. Her lightsaber might turn that poison into a smoke or steam they could inhale.

    All she can do is dodge the worms, shifting and moving in her path with that same supernatural foresight as before... though at the very least, she can stop long enough to extend one hand, then fling upward, as if issuing a command - and at her command, the Force hefts and throws a fair-sized rock, straight up towards one of the flying creatures. It's the best she can manage right now.

    Dante gives Li-Ming a thumbs up and a wink. "You know it, Ming." Advancing, they find more devils ahead as Dante draws his shotgun. The double-barrel blasts holes in the winged beasts like they're big fleshy skeet. Dante dodges and weaves as the worms are flung his way, smacking one with a devastating backhand. His shotgun blasts away with more shells than it should hold, demonic powers being what they are petty issues such as 'ammunition' are completely irrelevant to the Son of Sparda. "Fuckers are relentless, I'll give 'em that!"

    With the fire put out, it's time to get moving. And with Tyrael leading the way, Morrigan falls into pace with the group at a brisk trot that won't get her left behind.
    The problem comes when more creatures emerge, flying and launching toxic worm-like beasts at the party.
    "Okay sooooooo... Nobody look me in the eyes right now." She warns.
    Because she closes her eyes.
    When she opens them up once more her eyes are replaced with inky black voids of dread power, tiny pinpricks of starlight gleaming visible like galaxies in her gaze...
    As she looks upon the flying beasts.
    She looks to one, and attempts to slam it with supernatural sickness, an intense and inhumanly powerful vertigo and nausea that would bring even the stoutest of men to their knees retching.
    She looks to another, and her gaze becomes the thing of nightmares, attempting to inflict a horror upon the beast from which its only recourse would be to run away from in absolute terror.
    She looks to a third and attempts to simply put it right to sleep with her terrible gaze.

>> GAME >> Morrigan spends an Edge for: I cast Eyebite at 6th level.

    Emily ... rises up higher as that fireball explodes. "I can turn into a vehicle, but I can only carry like three people at a time," she says, starting to fly after Tyrael. "... should've brought Double-A here ... Uh, anyway!"

    She charges in towards one of the winged attackers; no dice, it backflips away. She glances around the attackers as a whole, then shrugs and fires golden energy-bolts at them from a distance. "Gettin' complicated over here," she mutters. "Hah, yeah, Dante, that sure seems to be the case!"

    She glances at Morri-- in Morrigan's general direction, and says, "That works too!"

Misaki turns back to using her guns to focus ranged attacks instead of attempting to force her way into making them swords. She's mostly quiet but then Morrigan does that and she sighs deeply. "Really? Couldn't even manage twice?" She asks.

    Wonderful, the worm escaped. Li-Ming clicks her tongue in annoyance, absolutely considering the array of spells she can bring to bear even against an enemy shielding itself with the ground beneath their feet. Nearly every one terribly destructive, something to be avoided given the precarious and limited nature of the terrain. "Damn."

    She tilts her head up to acknowledge Lian's compliment, then breaks into a jog, jovially swatting Dante on the shoulder on the way past. "Li-Ming, if you please! I'm not some bald, foppish villain you know!" Oh my god she's watched movies.

    The next threat from the sky is less easy to address on the move. So, she stabs upward with the occasional fork of lightning from her fingertips, taking advantage of any break in the unison of the creatures especially once Morrigan begins her strange, magical assault. It's distracting, watching the flow of magic striking out at our foes from that strange young woman. It's very tempting to look but she's no fool. She'll simply have to ask later to sate her curiosity rather than risk. Besides, it creates fantastic openings that are something other than vaporizing worm-barb-projectiles or taking pot shots at foes who seem very proficient at evasion!

    If any of that slimy poison touches any bare skin, an excruciating burning sensation would start immediately at the site, followed by inflammation, blood, pus, all that great stuff. Worse if the worms touched, as they would also bite and latch onto their victims, letting yet more poison in. As such, when Dante backhanded that worm, the sheer force of it squishes the thing, but not after it had already latched onto him. Therefore its destroyed body releases all of the poison that was contained within it, with all of the above nasty effects! The shots from his gun do take down quite a few of them, though, combined with Misaki's magical attacks and Li-Ming's occasional lightning.

    As Morrigan and Lian assail the flying lurkers, the sick one and the sleeping one simply fall to the ground and don't get up, while the one that is feared flies off in a frenzied panic and runs right into the one that had been unfortunate enough to get slammed with Lian's telekinetically-launched rock. This alters its course a bit, causing the rock and both of the ancient beasts to go flying into another cliff face. They hit it hard, and the rocks crack, sending massive boulders tumbling down toward the group. Tyrael throws El'druin into the ground and teleports between them and the rocks, bringing up a shield against which some of the rocks are smashed, but this rockslide is going to take more than that!

    And then that tunneler that rears up out of the ground again behind them. This time, it tries to chomp down on Li-Ming, though it has sustained quite a bit of damage already...

    "Keep back!" Lian calls. As the rocks rain down around Tyrael, Lian switches her lightsaber off and hooks it to her belt in a swift movement, then plants both of her feet and extends her hands. Flinging a projectile-worthy rock is one thing, but this? This will take focus.

    The sudden landslide slows and then halts, in mid-air. Lian's eyes unfocus a little, her expression a mask of steadfast concentration, as the Force sings with her will and wraps itself around the falling stone. For a second or two, the lot of it hangs there in the air - and then she flings her hands to one side, hurling it away from Tyrael and the rest of them.

    The downside is, of course, that while she's doing this, she's not moving, and not defending herself... someone might want to cover her.

    Oh no. Now we find out if Dante's vulnerable to poisons. Spoiler alert, he is if they're demon based.

    His head grows fuzzy and clouded as he remembers things. And also sees...a clown. The goddamn clown that Arkham disguised himself as to torment everyone throughout the tower. "Oh come on, Dante. You pimp slap a single worm and now you're tripping balls? THat's PATHETIC!" Jester cackles, dancing around Dante as he deftly dodges bullets fired by the half-demon.

    "Get...the fuck out." Dante says with a woozy snarl. The clown continues to dance, cackling madly. "Now now, that's no way to greet an old friend!" Jester croons, grinning way too widely for any human. "Look out now, you're not done here yet~"

    Dante, forcing himself to get a grip on his sanity, opens fire on the flying creatures some more, but his aim is getting more erratic and wild, his shots bouncing off rocks that fall, or even bouncing bullets off of bits of the creatures' anatomy themselves as they work their way to the heart or brain....assuming these demons have those anyway.

Misaki is moving, and she realizes that Lian is focused on doing something other than defending herself. The quick and agile senshi steps in, trying to flash lights at anything that comes close and physically intercept any attacks that are going Lian's way.

Despite the fact that Lian is probably better equipped to tank them.

    So the threat from the air is addressed. She lets up her harassment of the strange venom-favoring beasties just in time, it seems. When the huge worm cracks up out of the earth again, she has just enough time to whirl and face the threat. Her eyes shine and she thrusts both hands out, releasing an intense but focused beam of matter-rending arcane energy right into that reaching maw. "Die, wretched creature!" The beam spits motes of energy that leave smoking pits in the ground, arcs of energy stab every which way and the glow around her hands shines with enough light that she almost can't be seen!

    It takes only a moment to totally disintegrate a human sized target. Longer, certainly, for such a massive beast and the ground it's hiding in. Or a hand-wide gash in the ground behind it extending back about 40 meters.

    She's left panting, her arms smoking and radiating a violet nimbus that leaks from her skin, hair and eyes. She's currently in no position to handle a rockfall for a few beats.

>> SUMMARY[Li-Ming] >> Boop. https://i.imgur.com/TQwURMF.png

>> SUMMARY[Dante] >> Dante: "I need healing."

    Emily ... glances between Misaki and Morrigan. "What?" she says, smirking.

    And then, rockslide. "Ohhh boy ..." Noticing that Lian is standing perfectly still, she swoops down ... slows down when she realizes what she's doing ... and then lands behind her to help Misaki with fending off anything that gets too close to her. "Hey, kid, no trying to let stuff hit you!" she says, tanking something that Misaki was trying to tank. "You're not made out of nanomachines and thus -- YYYYEOWTCH! -- and thus much much more difficult to hurt than the Battlehamster."

    She furrows her brow at the worm. "And you can just buzz off!" she yells ... right before Li-Ming begins to do her thing. Emily stares for a couple of seconds, her head swiveling unnaturally as she moves around to deal with other things, then shrugs and focuses her whole attention back on helping Misaki defend Lian.

    "Ah no no no no no, I'm not torturing them, we're a little too busy at the moment for me to have any fun." Morrigan counters Misaki as she blinks a few times and her eyes return to normal. That's the end of that as...

    Rocks fall.
    Everyone dies.

    --No wait that's not right. Especially so as Lian displays her puissant proficiency with The Force to halt the rockslide from smashing Morrigan and the others to a bloody pulp.
    Giving the Warlock time to peer over the Wizard's shoulder.
    "Huh. I should learn that spell."
    Sadly she cannot. Disintegrate is only on the Sorceror and Wizard spell lists.
    She'll just blast another flyer that gets close with that eldritch lightning of hers, until then.

    Tyrael will find himself quite impressed with Lian's efforts as she literally stops the entire rockslide in its tracks with only her mind, and furthermore, even flinging the rocks away into the void beyond. Of course, this also leaves her vulnerable to what remains of the barbed lurkers and their poisonous worms. And...apparently Dante's erratic shooting. It's a good thing Emily intervened when she did, or else Misaki would've been obliterated. Still, the two of them get pummeled by worms and probably a few errant bullets from Mr. Son of Sparda. The worms don't really do much to Emily, but Misaki would get the same searing pain and bleeding that Dante just experienced if any of them touch her skin.

    Speaking of Dante, he definitely is going to need healing soon. Or -something-. The poison is working its way up his arm already as blood continues to gush from the original wound...he can feel it. But even though some of his shots aren't pointed the right way, some of them are, and between that and Morrigan's eldritch blasts the group manages to finish off the rest of the lurker mob.

    No sooner had the tentacle-y flyers been dispatched, Li-Ming lets loose with an incredible amount of destructive arcane energy, her rage directed at the tunneler. Its fangs only manage to slice a shoulder before it is reduced to so many pieces...unfortunately so is the ground around it. The entire piece of terrain the group is standing on cracks down the middle first where the wizard had cut loose, before thousands more smaller cracks spider out from the center. Pretty soon the entire piece is crumbling under their feet!

    Dante's still seeing things in his head right now. Clowns mocking him, Vergil mocking him...he wonders if he cuts his arm off it'll stop the spread of the poison. He also wonders if he'd be able to grow the arm back later. Bleeding to death vs dying of poisoning is a pretty rough conundrum.

    "Nnnf...guys? Where's uh...Why's the ground shakin'?"

>> SUMMARY[Dante] >> Dante still needs healing, is tripping balls.

    It is with grateful eyes that Lian regards regards the others. But time permits her only a nod of acknowledgement. They need to get moving. She looks at Dante with concern, but healing isn't her forté; someone else will have to cover it. The ground is crumbling. "...I believe haste might be in order," she observes dryly, before turning to start running and leaping across crumbling debris with superhuman speed and agility. The Force will guide her on the correct path to take, and lend her swiftness to take it, but that's still no guarantee unless she puts plenty of her own effort in.

    So the tunneler is handled.
    At the expense of the ground that the group is standing on. This is not exactly good. It's especially not good as Dante...
    He doesn't look like he's doing so hot.
    "Crap crap crap."
    "-Mary! The thing! I need the thing, now!"
    "Right, Master! The thing!" A tiny voice can be heard from Morrigan's backpack as the flap swings open and a set of mechanical tentacles hold out a bottle of red sloshing fluid.
    Morrigan snags up the healing potion and her backpack closes on its own as she skids over to Dante.
    Uncorking the bottle she pours a measure right onto the demon hunter's injured arm before shoving the bottle to his lips. "Drink this, fast."
    It's not an antidote, but it should at least clear his head a little.

>> SUMMARY[Morrigan] >> Feeding Dante a healing potion for 1d4+4 HP.

    Emily furrows her brow as everything starts falling apart. "Oh, great." Let's see, Lian is proving to be able to handle herself, and she knows Li-Ming can "fly" ...

    In a swirl of nanomachines, she transforms into a hovercar with a single headlight and two swiveling seats and what appears to be a stretcher or medical bed with a harness which will automatically strap the patient in as soon as he lies down (just ... without any medical equipment), then zooms over to Morrigan and Dante. "Get 'im on!" says Emily's voice, the headlight flashing in time to her words. "Misaki, do you need a lift too? ... Misaki?"

Misaki manages to not get hit despite herself thanks to the intervention of Emily, who then also offers to help her evacuate. "Couldn't hurt." She answers and jumps into one of the seats. Now that she's sitting in a car, she can't help herself, and offers the refrain of any youngster on a trip who thinks it's taking too long.

"Are we there yet?"

    Dante takes the bottle like a champ, even if it tastes like rotting fish. CHugging it down like bitter medicine, Dante feels his wounds heal and the poison purged from his system. "GUh...thanks." He says, once he drinks the rest of it, and he tosses the bottle away as he shakes the numbness out of his arm. "At least I won't have to cut the whole thing off." He says, just before he clambers aboard to Emily's new weird hovercar form. "You look like somethin' outta The Jetsons." is all he can offer. "Didn't know you could do that!" He won't argue with a way outta the crumbling zone, if the other option is 'die'.

    So smashing the monster with a release of arcane power was effective! Perhaps a little too effective. Li-Ming winces and tries to shake off the ache in her muscles from channeling so much power through her body so quickly, though the weird glow clings to her for a few moments longer while she takes stock.

    "Well. It seems I overdid it once again. Apologies in advance if we all perish." She steps back from a crack that appears underfoot, scowling as if crumbling ground is somehow a thing that can be mean-mugged into doing what she wants. Of course, her little slip seems to be a relative non-factor as the chaos appears to be well in hand. The people accompanying her, she'd thought at first, would be a hindrance. Turns out she's just glad to be deadass wrong about that.

    "I'll be fine; go." She kicks off of the ground and, with little more to propel herself than pure violence and fire, she takes off, trailing lines of roaring flames from her hands. Rocket propelled levitation. Not something you pick up from dusty old tomes!

    Lian's swift Force-guided movements allow her to dance across the falling debris, leaping and vaulting her way to safety on another, more stable piece of Pandemonium terrain.

    Morrigan manages to get over to Dante quickly. The healing potion is poured out over his now-bloodied hand, the red liquid making it look like the bleeding is worse but in fact it actually does halt the poison's progress through his systems and clears the hallucinations enough that he should be able to keep fighting effectively for now. He'll probably need an actual antidote later to neutralize the venom, and time to heal some of the internal damage to his arm, but at least he's stable for now.

    It's a good thing Emily can change into a vehicle capable of carrying multiple people, because that makes preventing those who can't fly or jump really high from falling to their deaths much easier.

    So the rest of the group soon follows Lian to her safe spot, they'd also find Tyrael, since he can also fly, and since Emily seemed to have things handled, he didn't bother to grab anyone himself. He checks to make sure everyone is accounted for, and once this is done, he points toward the way forward. "We are nearing the Fortress. But be wary, we must cross the battlefield of the Eternal Conflict in order to reach the Worldstone."

    As if on cue, a massive ball of glowing holy fire comes screaming out of the sky, and strikes a neighboring piece of terrain--though it very much looked like it might hit them before it landed. Indeed, the Pandemonium Fortress is visible from where they stand, the structure nestled in the center of a giant rock formation. But between them and it is a chaotic warzone, blazing with artillery fire and littered with the dead, empty shells of demon and angel alike.

    Much like Tyrael, the first thing Lian does once she reaches safety is to turn and check on the others. Only once she's assured everyone is safe does the Jedi turn to look out across the battlefield ahead. Her eyes narrow faintly, looking out at everything; while the holy fireball is concerning, her instinct tells her it's not a direct threat, so she only goes so far as tensing up.

    Though to be fair, that's not an 'only' for a Jedi as old as her.

    To Tyrael's words, however, the Jedi turns a thoughtful look. "I may be able to help with that. I can make no guarantees, but I am more talented than most of my Order at feeling the ebb and flow of battle. If my connection to the Force works properly here, I might be able to guide us on the path of least resistance." It's a big 'if', but it's worth trying.

    Morrigan rides the Emily car.
    She pauses to look at Misaki.
    "... Don't make me turn this... Whatever Emily is around." She says flatly.
    Before the group is deposited overlooking a nigh endless battle.
    "Well. At least we're headed in the right direction?"

    "She'll do it. She actually has a driver's license." Dante asides woozily.

    Li-Ming pushes herself along, whirling tails of flame trailing her. Kind of a flashy way to move about but good enough to keep her from plunging into whatever pit of nothingness waits below the bounds of this twisted reality. She cuts the engines and floats down the last few meters until she can cut her levitation and settle onto firm ground, armor softly rattling as gravity reasserts itself.

    "Ah, I'd read stories of such battles. Tales of endless slaughter, neither side gaining any true advantage. If you can gain an insight to guide us through that melee, so much the better. I don't want to spend more time here than we need to. There are other matters that must be seen to as well." All of this is information she can use, experience she can wield fo the benefit of her world as much as the young man and his demon problem back in that strange town.

    "If everyone's prepared...?"

"I don't think miss Emily cares if miss Lor'osa has a driving license. She's in control of herself." Misaki takes a closer look at the 'car' to see if there even are any controls for Morrigan to use, before looking back out to observe the area, "Hey everyone, come close. I'll try make us look like one of those balls of glowing fire."

    At Dante's comment, Emily laughs out loud, and begins playing the sound effect from the Jetsons' flying cars as she provides seatbelts for Morrigan and Misaki. "I'm a car, obviously!" Emily fires back to her passengers. "Settle down! Heh, anyway, looks like we made it WAUGH!" She backs away from that giant fireball. Oh, it's landing somewhere else. Okay. Whew.

    She takes in Tyrael's comments for a moment, seeming to stare at the battlefield before them. 'If everyone's prepared' yeah right, Li-Ming. "Tyrael," she says flatly, "what's a good vantage point from where I can actually see the fortress? I'm inclined to sequence-break us over there with my portals. If I can get line of sight, it's definitely reliable, unless this dimension has weird ... dimensional properties that'd mess that up, but I'm not really detecting that kind of thing."