Phoenix1

Heather did notice Karl's parents in the crowd...buuuut she also noticed how they were definitely more "in the crowd" than "part of the crowd". Part of her wanted to say to Karl, "Well, at least they're here!" Fortunately, Heather had by this point stuck her foot in her mouth with Josef often enough that she was able to recognize when a well-intended statement of support would probably not have the desired result, so she kept quiet. Although evidently those lessons, though well-learned, were somewhat selectively applied, because she couldn't help leaning over to say quietly to Josef, eyes dancing with amusement, "Your Dad's the best," with a little giggle. I mean come on, the guy had dressed up as a burning stick to show support for his son! How could you not love that? -- Heather cheered and applauded all the speeches of her fellow Recruits with her normal and expected levels of enthusiasm. Err...mostly. She could admit it, Karl's speech drew a kind of wide-eyed look of surprise from her, and when he finished her applause was maybe half a second slow and slightly more subdued. I mean, good on him for saying what was in his heart but...oh snap! -- Little surprise, her reactions to the power displays was similarly effervescent, after each new Page had rejoined the group. "Dude the fire thorns are wicked!" she told Josef excitedly. "Demons gonna get their faces wreecked~!" ... The look she gave Remy was one of flat astonishment. "You can fly!?" she said immediately. I mean okay sure hover but was she moving laterally while not touching the ground? Yes, yes she was. That was flying as far as Heather was concerned. "Jealous!" she said with a laugh, and though she was certainly at least half-joking, even that was actually a pretty big deal for her. Heather was one of those people who tended to be just honestly happy for the good fortune of others. Remy had a noble heritage, a full and supportive family, access to wealth and luxury, a (I'm guessing) huge house, and still got to enjoy the same sort of personal day-to-day freedom as Heather did at least on most days. And this was still the first time she had expressed any sense of jealousy towards her whatsoever. ... {Gushing about Gen and Lily's powers will be edited in here or possibly added to a future post!} ... And for the second time in a row Karl got the most muted reaction from Heather. "Sooo...yeah, blood spear's looks pretty badass!" she said, with a slightly nervous laugh. "Um...tad creepy, not gonna lie, but still! Badass!" She considered asking where the blood for it came from and decided she neither needed nor desired to know.

When Heather's turn comes, she takes to the stage with a touch of trepidation, her heart beating a bit fast and butterflies in her stomach. Waving to the crowd with her fellow Recruits arrayed around her was fine, but she wasn't actually super-used to being the individual focus of attention, and she was hit by a bout of stage fright. Fortunately, she had prepared her speech well in advance, so she took a deep, slightly shuddery breath, and said, "Five years ago, my sister stood here to give a speech. I remember watching it. I was sitting right there," she said, pointing at one of the chairs (in the front, if there were rows). "She began her speech saying she wanted to thank everyone, everyone in the village, for everything they had done for her, for us, growing up." "I can only echo her words. They say it takes a village to raise a child. This village raised two, when tragedy took our parents from us. Words cannot properly express my gratitude for everything everyone in this village has done for me. I would not have made it here without all of you, supporting me, encouraging me, teaching me. In a few minutes, I'll no longer be known as Heather Templeton, but as Heather of Greenbrook." "But I think, realistically, I always have been." "I don't think I could ever properly repay the kindness, support, and love I've been given by the people of this village, not with work and not with wealth. But I hope to do so with honor. I am not yet a Knight, but I hope to one day become one, and so I must act as one. A Knight never forsakes their sworn word. So I make this oath, not yet as a Knight but with all the sincerity of one, that I shall always honor the village that raised me with my words and my actions. I will not swear to bring Greenbrook the honor it deserves, for I do not know that such a lofty goal lies within my power to reach. But I shall ever strive to achieve it." "If I tried to give individual thanks to everyone who helped me get to where I am now, we would be here all day. But I do have to give thanks in particular to my big sister, Laurel, the Storybook Hero of Greenbrook. She was my hero long before she earned either her Blessing or her title. It was her choice to walk this path before me that encouraged me to walk it myself, and I will keep following in her footsteps until the day I catch up." "I'm coming Sis," she finished quietly, wiping a tear from her eye. -- Heather stood marveling at the Crystal Pool for almost two full minutes, awestruck by its beauty, trying to observe all the little plays of light and color, and failing entirely. There was just too much going on. It was beautiful, and unlike anything she had ever seen. Finally shaking herself free, she changed into her robe, placed her father's ring atop her mother's book and placed them gently into the liquid, and then stepped in herself. The experience of receiving a Blessing is typically gentle, soothing. But most Recruits weren't hydrophobic. She wasn't afraid as she stepped into the pool. In her head she expected it to be basically like a bath, which she didn't have any trouble with. But the steepness of the slope surprised her, and the tug of the crystalline fluid even moreso. She flashed back to her oldest living memory, sinking into the river, water filling her nose, her throat, her lungs. She panicked, flailing, but she had never been a strong swimmer, and the pull of the Pool was inexorable. She gasped and held her breath, plugging her nose with one hand, just before she slipped beneath the surface, continuing to kick and flail with her other hand. In her panic, she didn't notice that she felt no need to breathe at all, that her lungs weren't burning. She felt her consciousness start to drift away, mistaking it for the effects of lack of oxygen as blackness started swirling in her vision, and though her efforts only redoubled, her kicks grew weaker and weaker. She could not believe that after everything, the entire year of training at Fort Naoth, she wasn't going to ever become a Knight, wasn't going to become her sister's Squire, wasn't even going to face a single demon on the field of battle. Her oath broken before she could make even her first attempt to fulfill it. She would bring no honor to her village, she would be forever known as the Recruit who somehow managed to drown in a freaking Crystal Pool. This isn't how the story is supposed to go! was her last conscious thought, before the darkness claimed her. -- Heather awoke with a gasp, bolting upright. She was...alive. She was fine. ...Of course she was fine. She cracked up, laughing at herself. Laurel had told her a little bit about what it had been like to receive her Blessing, in sisterly confidence. She had warned her explicitly that she would be submerged but it would be fine, that she could breathe the liquid of the pool as if it were air. Heather had a photographic memory, but that didn't mean every event in her life was always available at front of mind. In her panic, she hadn't recalled Laurel's warning at all. (It did occur to her that there had been nothing in Laurel's description about...whatever that was. It had been so intense, so real. She kinda couldn't shake the feeling of melancholy it left in her heart.) Boy was she glad you were alone when you received your blessing. That would have been so embarrassing if anyone had seen it. "Indeed," came her sister's voice from behind her, as she picked herself up (marveling a bit as she did at the little illusory figures around her). "I vote we never speak of this again." "Laurel!" Heather cried in delighted surprise, launching herself at her sister in an All-Out Hug that in another universe might have rightfully been described as Robinesque, but for the lack of a tail to wag. "What are you doi- woah!" Her hug caught nothing but air as she passed straight through her sister's image and almost fell flat on her face, only her physical training from a year at Fort Naoth allowing her to catch her balance. "Laurel" turned to face her with one brow raised and a bemused grin on her face. "Obviously, I'm not here. I'm an illusion." "Right. Obviously." "So, come on!" Illaurel prompted. "Don't leave me hanging! What'd you get?" "Oh. Um...well, illusions, evidently!" "Yeah I can see that. Anything else?" "...Okay wait does that mean you're self-aware?" "No, it means you're subconsciously manipulating light and sound to create a realistic-to-your-expectations illusion of your sister, because you remember her telling you all about her new powers after she got her Blessing and deep down you wanted the same experience but she couldn't actually be here because she has Important Knight Duties to attend, but since your new powers are largely instinctual they responded to your desires with the closest approximation they could provide, i.e. me. So, let's hear it!" Because evidently illusions crafted from your own subconscious desires and expectations inherit your Insight and Expertise (Crystal Lore) skills, which...yeah that checks out. "Right. Um...you know it's a little odd. I like...I have this sense that I can say something and...make it happen? But...not really that. Like...make something that could happen happen. Like it wouldn't work if it was something like, um..." she held out one open hand. "And then she was holding, a banana!" she intoned. And poof a banana appeared in her hand. "Seems to work fine to me." "No, uh, wait. Wha- Oh! No, sorry, bad example. That's another illusion!" "You sure?" "It- Yes! I'm sure! Look it passes right through you!" she said, waving it through Laurel's body for emphasis. "Uhh, I'm an illusion. It would pass right through me either way." "No it, guhh-" she started looking around for something else to wave her not-actually-a-banana through. "I dunno sis, seems to me like you have a perfectly respectable banana-conjuring power there. May the demons tremble at their inevitable and hilarious slapstick falls!" "It's not a real banana, look it passes through my hand!" "Hmm. How does it taste?" "What?" "If it looks like a banana and tastes like a banana, I'mma go out on a limb and call it a banana." "But my hand goes through it how would I peel it?" "You are literally subconsciously producing a near-perfect illusory interaction with your sister, good enough that you already forgot I was an illusion once. If it's an illusory banana I'm pretty sure you can make it look like you're peeling it." "It...fine." Heather made the motions of peeling the fake intangible banana and though she couldn't actually feel it beneath her fingers to all visual appearances it peeled perfectly normally. With a sigh she took a bite out of it. The banana was still whole (albeit peeled) when she removed it from her mouth. "It doesn't taste like anything. I think I only get light and sound." "Light, sound, and emotion. You're not actually as happy to see me as you feel like you are, because you know I'm not actually your sister and you still wish it was her here. In fact, you're mostly still kinda sad about the vision you saw, but you're covering it up with false happiness. But I will concede that you lack the power to conjure bananas. Alas, my dreams of hilarious demonic pratfalls will go unfulfilled." "...I think I can actually make it more likely for demons to pratfall hilariously." "So it works kinda like my Blessing. Probability manipulation. Only you have to say it?" "Sssssort of, maybe? Only not really. It's not...changing odds, I don't think. It's changing real things, just kinda in a way that alters the odds? Like, if a demon is charging at me and I narrate them tripping and falling flat on their face, it's not that it makes them more likely to trip and fall in some arbitrary way, it's more like...can anybody actually prove that tree root wasn't slightly raised before I spoke. Or...something like that, maybe? Um..." She looked at one of the nearby ley crystals. "That crystal is loose," she narrated, before going over and pulling it effortlessly free. Although...a thought occurred, and she pulled on the crystal next to it. It, too, yielded to her grasp. It...maybe took a little more effort, possibly? She couldn't really tell. "I...think that worked?" Laurel just shrugged, taking her word for it. "You 'narrate' them, huh? So...your power is super-storytelling?" "...Oh man I think it actually is! THAT IS SO COOL!" "That is...literally the most 'you' power I have ever heard of." "I know, right? Oh man this is going to be great! I'll be the Narrator, and you can be the Protagonist! ...Kinda hard to show off though. Except maybe the illusions, I guess? Although...hmm. If the power is in my voice..." another instinct was kinda rising to the surface. She looked at a patch of ground near the pool and said, "Boom!" There was a thunderclap of sound like an explosion, which probably could have been heard even back at the stage, as a clod of dirt exploded from the ground. "Oo-ooh~. Now we're talking!" "Yeah we are! Ooh, wait, I can do light too right, because illusions? Do we have lasers!? Zap!" ...! ...? "No lasers. Just bananas." "Maybe an illusion of a laser?" "Oh right uhh...Zap!" Twin beams of intensely bright pink light shot from her eyes and where they struck the ground there was another explosive sound and flying clod of dirt. "HA! We have fake lasers! All of the special effects with none of the burnination! Let's be honest the special effects are really what you want from lasers in the first place, I'm sure there have never been any demons that are explicitly vulnerable to light-elemental attacks in the history of the world!" From the empty air, a female voice with a slightly posh accent narrated, "There actually were!" "...Okay, primary goal for the whole power-practicing bit is to stop subconsciously creating illusions before they do something embarrassing." "Seems smart." "Okay. I have to get back out there." She went over to where she had left her clothes, started untying the robe's sash, and said, "Uhh...go away! I have to change!" "I'm not actually- you know what, nevermind." The illusion of Laurel obligingly vanished. -- When Heather came back into view of the crowd, a flashy display of colorful fireworks exploded noisily around her! A few doves flew about her head! The sound of trumpets played a fanfare from thin air! "I got illusions!" she said cheerily as she took the stage again. She noticed idly...the butterflies were gone. She wasn't feeling any stage fright at all, anymore. Super-storyteller powers gooo! "And, um, other stuff! But it's kinda hard to show off though! But, uhh, um, oh! Hey, take it from me! Lily's speech is going to be great!" she narrated, giving the foreign recruit an encouraging thumbs-up. "WOOO!!!" Illusiory Laurel cheered from where she was now sitting in an illusory seat in the front row. "BEST BLESSING EVER!!" Heather had only herself to blame. It was exactly what she did five years ago after Laurel showed off her powers. "Haha, illusions! Super-fun!" she said as she made the illusory Laurel go away again and went back to her place among the new Pages. Training week could not possibly come fast enough. Mechanics Using Inspire Competence from Second Person Narration to...well technically Team Check Lily's Expertise (Oratory) not that we're actually making rolls for speeches but whatever she can do her speeching better! Forgoing the option to use Persuasion since her Expertise (Oratory) is only two points lower and the DC would increase by 10, but fortunately I wrote that as "may". Routine Expertise (Oratory) (DC equals Lily's rank, +5 for Teamwork, -2 for Impaired) Super story-telling powers goooo! Routine Deception (only because she has Skill Mastery) to not come off as embarrassed as she actually is (-2 for Impaired, -5 circumstance penalty)

Oh wait Heather has Eidetic Memory! +1d since the Impaired doesn't apply yet! Eidetic Memory bonus die for the Crystal Lore check Nailed it!

Lapis: Vlad Resistance (DC 21 after crit immunity, -2 for Impaired) Had to happen eventually. Note to self in future do not design challenges that can be won with a single successful check if you want them to be actual challenges. Jack retrieved!

Routine Perception (DC 15) And Expertise (Crystal Lore) DC 25, not Routining since I don't think Heather is in a state conducive to it at that point LOL that was a hard nope even before the Impaired

Anya: Vlad Resistance (DC 34/26 after Bruise and Weakness, -2 for Impaired) I'll just give the HP back. And against the Disarm Vlad Resistance Reroll Bruised and Dazed

Solstice Healing SE (Rhys, Anya, Lapis, Jack) Rhys gets 16+11 RP, Anya gets 16+11 RP, Lapis gets 11+11 RP, Jack...is hurt pretty bad, I guess. He gets 5 RP towards his Technical Stagger.

Team FLNS Well. It wasn't like Team FLNS would be shown up by a mere Professor, whether his Semblance was pure shenanigans or not. Fen's first shot blew one of the remaining Nevermores out of the air, and her reverse shot sent a second flying into a third. The one that was sent flying was badly damage; the one it crashed into, beak-first, was instantly destroyed. Sorin's charged blasts of multiple Dust types caught both targets solidly, the first one taking relatively less fire but more water and lightning, badly shocking it and eroding its defenses while also giving it a pretty severe scorching. The second caught more of the fire, managing to resist the shock and most of the erosion, but suffering massive burns. Neither of them were in much of a position to weather any sort of a follow-up attack, which would have been fine for them if Hunters worked in teams of two. Since they didn't, Nicoale blew a massive hole into the first one's chest with a partially-charged shot from Caladbolg, while Chapi blinked over to butterfly-kick the second one in the face with fire blazing around one foot and lightning crackling around the other. Both of them collapsed and started dissolving, leaving the field clear. OOC Battle over! Everybody take a Hero Point! I figure I'll give you guys a chance to act before having the Fable brothers do anything, since they can't necessarily easily tell that all the Nevermores are down. Team RACL There wasn't really much time to await any responses from JNBS, although the "HOHOHO! ROUND TWO MOTHE..." that you heard dwindling behind you suggested they had it in hand. Rhys's Olympian speed allowed you to keep up with Vlad as he tried to flee. The light blazing from Rhys's chains burned the master vampire, slowing his defense, and all three of you managed to get hands on Jack in a concerted effort to wrest him away. "Now, now. No take-backs!" Vlad growled, and with a surge of inhuman strength fueled by his cursed Semblance, he heaved Jack free from all of you, though whether on main force or just on the fact that if you had tried to hold on in the face of Vlad's vampiric strength he would have torn your Aura-broken classmate in half was a matter that could be debated. Regardless, he had Jack in hand, and took off down the darkened-but-not-actually-where-you-all-were, shadows from outside of Rhys's aura of light seeming to flow to him as he ran, fading him to near invisibility. Mechanics Vlad: Free: Reconfigure Serial Killer. 14 points to Scaled Opportunity, 16 points to Aura Mobility, 4 points to Shadow Form, 6 points to Potence, 16 points to Shadowblend, 28 points to Fast Healing, 14 points to Rapid Recovery. Free: Activate Shadowblend. He gets Total Concealment from Visual, Auditory, and Olfactory senses (he doesn't have the Complication the spawn do). He can't actually conceal Jack though so this only gives him the defensive benefits. Move: Race. Standard: Ghost. This is a bit of an odd call on his Combat Assassin Benefit. Functionally this is an attempt to Hide and he is in combat, so I'm going to give it to him on the check, but it won't count towards his degrees of success, since in normal situations Hide wouldn't give any benefit for those. Vlad Stealth (DC 35, +5 for Combat Assassin not applied to degree of success, -2 for Impaired) ...Fails thanks to the Impaired. End of Turn: Restorative Regeneration clears Vulnerable. Resistance to recover from Impaired (DC 20, -2 for Impaired, -2 for Weakness) And very much does not recover from it. All PCs are on turn. Robin Chro's own dagger caught him full in the chest, and though the fell power that Vlad had placed upon him meant biological matters like poison were a fair bit less threatening to him than most, added on to the rest of the damage you had caused, his sand-colored Aura started crackling around him as his Aura levels dropped into the red. "Urkh! Why you little-!" WHAM! Your bat clocked him full upside the head, snapping it to the side again, only this time you were prepared for the endurance that his Semblance offered him in a mountainous environment. WHAM! you dealt another resounding blow on the backswing, they kept coming. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WH- Chro's Aura snapped open as he disengaged his barrier! -AM! With his Aura barrier disengaged, your final blow delivered its full force straight to Chro's skull. He wasn't entirely defenseless - his Aura had to be almost exhausted, but it hadn't broken, so his Semblance and the enhanced physical resilience he derived from it was still going. Even so, being as tough as solid rock only mattered so much against an unmitigated hit from a Huntsman-level weapon. There was a distinct cracking sound and Inugame was fine. But instead of slumping to the ground, his body collapsed...into a swirl of dark vapor, two roughly eye-shaped pits of red light opening up within it. "I'll kill you! You hear me Robin! Next time I see you you're dead!" Chro ranted, but with his body having suffered what would normally have been mortal damage, he couldn't reform until his vampiric power had a chance to repair it. "DEAD!" he yelled again, as he flowed up through one of the vents near the ceiling. OOC Battle over! Take a Hero Point for the victory and another one for me Fiating Chro's escape.

Nicoale: Free: Reconfigure Huntress Combat. 11 points to Combat Training, 10 points to Railgun, 33 points to Charged Shot (Penetrating, Perception), 2 points to let's say Farsight. Move: Nah. Standard: Attack NM1 with Charged Shot. Resistance DC 26+Penetrating-Perception vs. Damage. Attack (DC 17 after Vulnerable) Resistance (-5 for Bruises, -2 for Impaired, -8 for Weaken) DESTROYED! Chapi:Free: Reconfigure Huntress. 11 points to Combat Training, 22 points to Instant Flurry, 11 points to Burning Kick (SE), 11 points to Shocking Kick (base Affliction). Move: Into Close range of NM2. Standard: Attack NM2 with Instant Flurry. On a hit, Resistance DC 26+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage and 21+Multiattack vs. Vulnerable/Stunned/Incapacitated Affliction. Attack (DC 22) Resistance (DC 30+Multiattack/21+Multiattack after Bruises, -1 for Weaken) StaggeredX2 = DESTROYED! Gotta remember repeat I'll do a turn for Brown if either of them survive. They did not survive

Anya: Even Impaired Vlad can't fail against the Taunt, but with Vulnerable the attack might hit. Vlad Deflect (DC 23, -5 for Vulnerable, -2 for Impaired) Hits Vlad Resistance (DC 21, -2 for Impaired) Resists

Robin: Chro Resistance (DC 35/28 after Multiattack and Bruises, +6 for Roots of the Mountain) Bruised Chro Resistance (DC 35/28 after Multiattack and Bruises, +6 for Roots of the Mountain) INCAPACITATED!

Sorin: NM1 Resistance (DC 30/21/21 after Bruises) Bruised, Dazed+Impaired+Vulnerable, and -8 Resistance, but otherwise having a good day! NM2 Resistance (DC 34/26/26 after Bruises and Penetrating) Bruised, Staggered, -1 Resistance

Heather gave little smiles and waves of her own to everyone as they arrived. "All good! The more the merrier!" she replied to Lily. She gave a kinda sympathetically-understanding look about the family problems, but didn't pry. She was about to say that if she had any questions or wanted a tour or anything (err, time permitting) to feel free to ask, but she didn't actually get a chance before Lily drew her attention to Karl's sudden wooziness, and she went over to check on him in concern. But regardless it wasn't long before they were on the way. Heather would absolutely chatter with anyone who wanted to for basically the entire flight, mostly just on matters of like, speculating on what all might have been happening around town while they were gone and such, with some intermittent but not exactly uncommon pauses to send a text on her phone (Laurel couldn't be there for the Blessing, but they were texting regularly as Heather kept her up to date on their progress or occasionally asked for some advice). Of course, getting a sense that Josef wasn't especially in the mood for conversation, she kept her chatting to the others and didn't pester him. ...Well, she tried. She wouldn't pester him more than once or twice, anyway! She made sure to thank the Baron for his hospitality when he came to see them off. When they landed she gave a little excited "Eee!" as she stood up. Not even because of the whole, you know, almost there, about to get superpowers, and all that. That was definitely exciting, sure, but that little exclamation was for being back home. This had been by far the longest she had ever been away from the village. She knew they wouldn't be there for long, probably not nearly long enough, but she was still excited to be back, and see everyone. She stepped out of the VTOL with a bright smile on her face, waving to anyone she recognized in the crowd - which was basically everyone in the crowd.

Lapis: Vlad can't Deflect that while Impaired+Vulnerable. Second one misses either way though. Vlad Resistance (Affliction 21/Disarm 21, -2 for Impaired) Double resist, nicely done Vlad.

Robin: Chro Resistance (DC 26/18 after Bruise and Mundane Physiological Immunity, +6 for Roots of the Mountain) Bruised and Staggered Need to roll twice dude Resists the Weaken