Sentain IC

Malus, having nothing to pay immediate attention to, chooses to search another nearby asteroid, breaking into it with the might of his hoof. He finds nothing but some now-broken machinery. He then quickly flies back to join Cosmac and Aulair.

The remaining number of unexplored asteroids is now 13.

Krista and Sycal each search the other asteroids.

Krista, upon opening hers, found what seemed like an operational, but oddly empty ship hangar instead of storage. Something was off about this...

Sycal, upon trying to punch a hole in the asteroid, activated some sort of defense mechanism inside of it, judging from the sound of a whirring engine and robotic noises. Turrets popped out from the surface of this asteroid, powering up their laser systems; two small guns and a large cannon.

Turret A: 2/2 <weapons inactive>
Turret B: 2/2 <weapons inactive>
Cannon: 6/6 <weapons inactive>

11 asteroids remain unsearched.
-------------
ENEMY TURN:
The smaller turrets (A and B) are pointed directly at Sycal, they seem to be charging a blast up.

The Cannon, on the other hand, activates a shield around itself and the one turret closest to it, preparing for an attack.

Turret A: 2/2 4/4
Cannon: 6/6 : 4/4

4 red lights are popping up in the distance, confirming that Regnant ships are on their way here.

-------------
TURN 2

PLAYER'S TURN:

Aulair breaks his guard with Krista and passes it to Sycal since she's the one targetted by the turrets.

Krista: 3/3
Sycal: 3/3 : 2/2

Cosmac, seeing the turrets, acts quickly. Grabbing his kinetic shotgun and sword, he blasts the unprotected turret (B), destroying all of its core functions, then slashes toward the other one (A), underestimating the shield the Cannon had put up around it.

Turret B: 0/2
Turret A: 2/2 2/4
Cannon: 6/6 2/4

Krista thanked Aulair for his protection while he offered it, but upon finding the hangar she didn't notice him leave to do something else. That the hangar was empty while the other asteroids were full gave Krista the feeling that it had been used recently. It wasn't just inactive; running lights dotted throughout the hangar's interior testified to this.

She floated inside and drew her pistols, expecting a sort of ambush, but the hangar was completely empty. Using the magic from her halo, she moved back out through the entrance and into empty space once again. She found herself an unsearched asteroid and once she found what seemed to be a hatch, she fired at it with her pistols. Naturally, the recoil from both pistols was enough to send her spinning backwards, so she had to stabilise herself with her halo.

The hinges on the hatch were decimated and she pulled the hatch away, condemning it to float out into space forever. The asteroid contained all sorts of weapons but nothing like the Saintification devices she had been told of.

10 asteroids left to search.

Malus sneered at the turret defences. He wanted some real action, darn it. Nevertheless, he used his halo to gain momentum, launching himself at the remaining turret. As he drew close, he violently moved his head off course and whacked the machine with his horn, which was enough to take out the shield the cannon had emitted.

Still moving from the sudden change in direction, he managed to kick the turret from it's stand. All that remained now was the cannon.

Turret B: 0/2
Turret A: 0/2 0/4
Cannon: 6/6 0/4

Sycal, once again, searches an asteroid, discovering something very important; a map of the storage complex. The map dictated which asteroids hid which, narrowing down the search to 3 asteroids labeled 'Angel Loot'. Aulair relayed the information to the rest of the group, noting that they might find something to enhance their abilities in them.

3 asteroids need to be searched

The large Cannon produced some sort of electric charge, but before long, it did something the group didn't expect from something so large; originally aimed at Krista, it almost instantly whirled around in a 180 degree turn and fired a thick green beam upon Sycal after she left, before immediately turning to hit Aulair before overheating.

The devastation of the blast knocked Sycal unconscious despite Aulair's best efforts and sent her flying aimlessly towards deep space.  
Total Damage: 8

Sycal: 0/3 0/2 (-5)
[[Revival unavailable]]

Dropoff (3):
Aulair: 2/5 0/2

Just when things were going bad, 3 of the 4 red lights in the distance popped in; Three small Regnant crafts equipped with sub-par weaponry. It seemed as though these were either rookies, or they weren't expecting a conflict, they haven't even powered up their guns yet. Whatever the case was, their lack of preparation might have saved the angels.

Craft A: 3/3
Craft B: 3/3
Craft C: 3/3

The cannon's shield was charged up again, but remained overheated.
Cannon: 6/6 4/4
[[Cooldown: 1 turn]]
-----
Player Turn 3:

Enemy Status:
Cannon: 6/6 4/4
Craft A: 3/3
Craft B: 3/3
Craft C: 3/3
[[1 more incoming.]]

While Aulair didn't receive the bulk of the laser's destructive power, the blast definitely made him question the situation. Regnants never placed turrets these powerful on mere weapon caches, they're usually saved for their space-stations. Something important must have been under guard here other than the Saintification device. That's when he noticed Sycal was drifting into space. Not knowing if she was alive or dead, he rushed off to get her, but not before destroying one of the ships in the way.

Total Damage: 3
Craft C: 0/3

Cosmac was stunned by the force of the cannon. All he knew about the situation at the time was that Sycal had been hit and Aulair was trying to recover her body. Not wanting the cannon to repeat the same devastation to someone else, he started focusing on neutralizing the cannon, eventually destroying its shield; hopefully for good this time.

Damage: 4
Cannon: 6/6 0/4

3 asteroids need to be searched.

Malus, having witnessed the brute force of the cannon, quickly prioritised his target. "Aight. time'fer some REAL action." He drew his whip, which instantly unravelled itself in his grip. He drew his arm back, braced himself and gave a shrill yell. "ÎNCEPEM!" he hollered as he seemingly propelled himself at the weapon. When he drew close to the cannon, he whipped his arm forward and landed a direct hit on its metal exterior with his whip. However, it turns out that Malus's trajectory was sending him past the cannon.

His whip, instead of piercing the machine's armour, somehow merged with the metal itself which, partnered with Malus' speed, ripped the cannon right off its base. Malus then took advantage of the sudden additional weight and steered his path into the asteroid the cannon was freed of, and landed with a loud crash. He stood up and raised his whip, which had completely solidified with the broken cannon still attached. He had gained a new bludgeoner, it seems.

Damage: 6
Cannon: 0/6 0/4

Krista could only watch as Sycal was hurled away form them by the cannon; she might be needed soon to heal the girl's wounds. She had, however, uncovered the 'Angel Loot', or so it was called. Tools or weapons or even armour, it could help the angels. And with a large portion of their numbers blasted away, they would need it.

Malus took it upon himself to destroy the cannon, so Krista made it her goal to stop the remaining two ships from arriving. Aulair was too busy trying to stop Sycal from drifting forever into space.

Using the power of her halo, she drifted out to a point in front of the arriving ships, and she holstered her pistols. Closing her eyes, she began to perform a series of quick hand gestures, causing a large, golden magic circle to appear below her feet and slowly spin anticlockwise.
"Ich flehe, entfesseln die Macht des Feuers, zu zerstören, was zu nahe kommt." She whispered, finishing the spell with a casting motion.

Abruptly, one of the incoming ships detonated into a ball of dazzling fire, sending debris rocketing off in nearly all directions.

Total damage: 3
Craft A: 0/3

The sight of the Saintlies' destruction of their comrades and defenses intimidated the pilot of the remaining Craft. In a panic, the pilot activated his engines and ran away towards the other red light. It looked like he was about to warn his buddy to run away before they both get killed.

Craft B retreats.

--------
Battle 1 ends. All Health, Guard, and Revive points are restored.

Aulair hovered towards the group, now organized into a single spot. He noticed Malus's new 'hammer' and congratulated him on taking the cannon out.

"Sycal's in serious condition. I need one of you guys to bring her back to base before she ends up dieing." he requested.

Cosmac volunteered, taking her body. "I'll get her back to the Domain Gate. Meet me there when you've finished scouring those asteroids, ok?" With a nod, he left.

Admittedly, Aulair forgot that he was supposed to find the Saintification device. Abruptly, he jabbed into one of the caches dubbed 'Angel Loot', finding a whole armory of stolen angelic armors. Upon digging through the trainee-level armor, he quickly found a decent piece of equipment; a leech vial. Obviously belonging to a now-dead seer, he presented the set to Krista, while also finding something for himself.

Krista receives Gear:

Spoiler:

Aulair receives Gear:

Spoiler:

There were still 2 asteroids left to search. Malus's whip seemed to drift towards one of them in particular.

Malus noticed his whip was periodically trying to jolt his attention to one particular asteroid, but he was too busy listening to the others to really care. Suddenly, his whip launched itself at the asteroid, pulling Malus along with it. However, due to it's weight, their velocity caused the weapon to leave quite a dent in the asteroid's metal surface, and caused Malus to display what could've possibly have been the most impressive faceplant ever performed by a goat. "ALRIGHT FINE, Y'bloody piece'o string, JEESH!" he yelled, rubbing his sore snout.

He kicked the hull open and discovered what seemed to be a sotrage container full of semi-precious stones. His whip, having released the cannon in the initial impact, seemed to pull his attention to one stone in particular: a pale white rock fastened to a string. Malus, not being the most astute in his discoveries, picked up the stone, examined it, then procided to give it a lick. It tasted quite salty. Malus decided to bring the stone with him, maybe having something to chew on could distract him from all the intense battle trips he'd have to make in the future. He flew back to the group, and held out the stone. "Ay, prieten, check out this 'ere saltlick I found in that there rock" he exclaimed.

There is now only one asteroid left to search.

Aulair was just modifying his hooks when Malus approached him. something was distorting the side of his vision; and that's when he froze in place.

Malus receives Gear: Slaver's Repentance

Spoiler:

"Malus... where did you-... where did you get that?" he stuttered, seeming to know the value and power of the item.

What Aulair has handed Krista was a pair of tubes, around half a foot long, and made of segmented, gleaming, green metal. They had small green buttons at the middle of their length. At first Krista didn't know what to do with them, until they began shaking in her hands. At that point, she decided to let go of them.

The moment she released the green rods, they made a beeline for the pistols at her hips and latched onto the top of the slides of the guns. Reacting quickly, Krista pulled the pistols off her hips, only to watch parts of them shift and rearrange themselves as the alien devices took the form of shorter but identical barrels of the gun itself, with green diodes on their sides. The stacked barrels made the pistols significantly taller, but a lot of bulk had been removed from the bonesaws under the barrels. They were sleeker and shorter, but the teeth had grown to twice their size.

Krista gazed down on the new pistols in her hands, completely dumbfounded by the change. How much more potential could the weapons have if they could do this?
"Incredible..." She whispered. "Have you got any more?"

Aulair decided to ignore Malus's 'salty stone' and return to Krista.

"I'm sure we can find something else for you back in Paradisia once we complete our objectives here. There's just one more asteroid here, I'm positive our little device's gotta be in there." He replied.

And so he opened the hatch, and as expected, it was there. Of course it was the last asteroid left, his luck seemed to turn that way all the time. There was something strange about the placement of the Saintification device; it was one of the only items in the usually cluttered caches, and seemed to be in the center of everything. Hell, if one looked closely, one would notice that every item in this particular asteroid was salvaged from destroyed Saintification setups. Were Regnants reverse-engineering them?

If so, why leave a project like this unguarded?

That's when Aulair realized the final red light in the distance grew  larger; one would mistake it for a nearby star at this point, being so noticeably large and bright among the blankness of the space around them that it cast a light on the now-half-destroyed asteroids. Looking closer, one could make out smaller lights around the big one; reinforcements seemed to be coming in at an alarming rate. This didn't look good.

"Guys, I think we'd better make a beeline out of here. I'll take the Orb with me, you two cover me in case they give chase!"

Again, luck wasn't on Aulair's good side; as soon as he finished that sentence and started flying away, the red light exited its hyperdrive session.

An extremely large, cylindrical-like Battleship loomed far away from the group, its size was anyone's guess from a couple hundred meters to a couple hundred miles. Originally pointed directly at the group, it rotated to its starboard side...

"Let's get out of here-move!"

...And it rained hell.

The 4 white beams that it fired put the cannon to shame; if only they were more accurate; all 4 beams were aimed directly where they were before; the asteroid field, and now that they were in a high-speed travel, saw the entire field simply disintegrate. Whatever else they guarded there, they obviously wanted any evidence that anything was there wiped from history. The large ship didn't bother with aiming at the angels, but a couple smaller ships decided to give chase.


------------------
BATTLE 2 BEGINS:
------------------

SPECIAL RULES:
1: The team has to endure 5 turns of constant enemy attack before they can reach safe territory.
2: A Special Enemy will appear on turn 3; if someone lands a killing blow on it, he/she receives the following off the corpse:

Spoiler:

------------------
Enemy Turn:
2 Weak Crafts and a Repair Drone enter chase first, this time fully prepared for battle.

Craft A: 3/3
Craft B: 3/3
Repair Drone A: 4/4  

Craft A fires a stream of lasers at Malus and Aulair, missing with most of them, but landing a couple hits nonetheless.

Total Damage: 1, 1
Malus: 1/2
Aulair: 4/5

The coward piloting Craft B returned from its last encounter and follows the group closely, firing a single beam, but after missing everyone completely, activates a shield around itself, expecting a counterattack after his embarrassing miss.

Craft B: 3/3 4/4

The Repair Drone activates its Shield as well and guards the craft intent on attacking Malus and Aulair, seeing as none of the crafts were damaged yet.

Repair Drone A: 4/4 4/4
Craft A: 3/3 4/4

Aulair waits for Malus and Krista to attack first; maybe he can get some decent dropoff damage with his new gear now if they weaken the both of them.

---------------
Enemy Status:
Craft A: 3/3 4/4
Craft B: 3/3 4/4
R. Drone A: 4/4 4/4
---------------

Krista could only watch the white beams destroy the entire asteroid field in awe even as she flew away. Such massive destructive power was beyond her comprehension. The most destruction she had even heard of was dealt by the V2 rockets used by the Fuhrer's army, but they could never achieve this level of widespread chaos. If they could, maybe Germany wouldn't have lost the war and she would have survived...

But the beams could just as easily destroy her and her compatriots. Even if it meant her own survival, she had to protect her team mates, and as both Malus and Aulair were attacked by the smaller ships, she knew she had to act quickly. Holstering both her pistols, she drastically slowed her movement and fell back to the position of the ships. Once she was among them she resumed her speed, but she had put herself in a key position. Chanting in German once again, she began to assemble a complex spell she had learned at her first day at the Academy. Another magic circle appeared below her and began to spin anticlockwise, but as she progressed through the spell, it sped up until it spun at the speed of a grinding wheel. When her spell reached a climax, the circle instantly shattered, sending sharp, triangular shards spinning in all lateral directions and piercing the shields of all three spacecraft, leaving them barely intact.

The spell had greatly weakened Krista, taking most of her strength away. She almost stumbled mid-flight, falling behind and letting the ships overtake her. While she was loathsome to admit it, her life now depended on what remained of her squad. If they could break the shields and begin to attack the ships, she could have time to heal.

-----------
Krista: 1/3
Craft A: 3/3 1/4
Craft B: 3/3 1/4
R. Drone A: 4/4 1/4

Malus decided that action was more important than guarding at this point, and began his onslaught upon the crafts. As the enemy ships were hot on their tail, Malus had what could only be described as one of his "this will probably get me killed but at least it'll look badass" ideas. He swooped upwards from his original trajectory, began to drastically speed up, and let out an obnoxious bleat in order to draw attention to himself. As the two lesser crafts began to give chase, he turned backwards and held out his buckler, bracing himself and letting his momentum carry him further. As the crafts finally started to catch up to Malus' speeds, he suddenly used his halo to stop dead in his tracks, allowing the first craft to ram into him. Due to his preparation, however, he was able to drastically slow down the first craft as it hit. The second craft, who was closely following the first one in an attempt to look like the pilot wasn't making a fool of himself, didn't have time to react as his ship plowed into it's leader. The resulting crash was enough to throw Malus back towards the group, himself still clutching his shield in utter barbarity (or possibly stupidity). He was dazed, but somehow managed to escape that encounter fairly unscathed, despite the fact that he had just been driven into by a goddamn spaceship.

"...Well. that could've gone a'bit worse." he chortled. "Remind me't never do at'again."

-----------
Malus sacrifies his guard ability to deal 4 damage to Craft B.

Total Damage: 6, 4
Craft A: 0/3 0/4
Craft B: 0/3 0/4
R. Drone A: 4/4 1/4

Malus's display was entertaining, if not impressive. Krista wondered what kind of damage the faun could possibly inflict upon a speeding locomotive, given his ability to crush the spaceship just by allowing it to collide with him.

This was all an afterthought since he had achieved what Krista wanted: to hold off the crafts so that she could heal. More than achieved; he had destroyed them altogether. All that remained was the drone, and Krista considered using her new Leech attack, but the shield around the drone would probably have prevented her from healing at all.

She closed her eyes as she flew and began to chant yet another spell, this one of rest and rejuvenation. Her halo glowed a fierce, bright white, and began to slowly pulsate, each pulse of the halo's glow growing larger and larger until it engulfed the wraith altogether. After a time, the light subsided, leaving Krista in better condition.

-------------
Krista heals 1 tag
2/3

The Repair drone wasn't following the two spacecrafts that closely, so when Malus forced the two to literally stop dead in their tracks, The little drone managed to avoid the bulk of the flying debris; only suffering damage from a couple stray hull plates; destroying the barely-functioning shield and punching small holes in the hull.

(Malus's Dropoff: 2)
R.Drone A: 3/4 0/4

Watching the others perform their duties, Aulair decides to use his new hook to latch onto the repair done. Underestimating its sharpness, he ended up completely penetrating the drone's hull and internal systems, leaving it completely inactive.

Total Damage: 4
R. Drone A: 0/4

----------
Turn 2:  
----------

Malus's Health Tag regenerates:

Malus: 2/2

A couple larger cruisers manage to catch up to the group; one significantly larger than the other. The bigger ships were comprised mostly of thick hull, and had little in terms of weaponry; each only had 2 main guns opposed to the standard 4. The larger one had already begun firing them, but the smaller one hasn't even booted up their weapons system yet. Regnants had a tendency to arrive unprepared for war. Upon opening its sides, the larger ship releases a Repair Drone identical to the one Aulair just destroyed.

Heavy Cruiser: 25/25
Cruiser A: 15/15 (weapons inactive)
R. Drone B: 4/4

The Heavy Cruiser opens fire on Aulair, dealing significant damage to his armor and spinning him out of control, while simultaneously firing a missile directed at Malus. Someone other than Malus needs to destroy it.

Total damage: 2
Aulair: 2/5

Missile: 2/2 (Seeking Malus)

The new Drone, idle as was the previous one, sets up a shield around the smaller Cruiser, possibly to allow it some time to boot up its weapons.

Cruiser A: 15/15 4/4
R. Drone B: 4/4 4/4

Aulair, being the target of two laser attacks by two different Regnant crafts, was getting concerned about whether they'd make it back to the Domain gate. That's when his halo turned a bright blue; he was communicating with someone over a long range.

"Alright guys, Cosmac's heading back our way, he just dropped off Sycal at the gate, so it won't take long for him to return.
(Cosmac will arrive at the end of turn 3)

--------------
Enemy Status:
Heavy Cruiser: 25/25
(Missile) 2/2 (Malus)
Cruiser A: 15/15 4/4
R. Drone B: 4/4 4/4

Krista lagged behind the group even as Aulair destroyed the last craft. Still she flew, as fast as she could, but she was a ways behind Malus and Aulair. Ever present on her mind was the enormous craft behind them that laid waste to the asteroid field, and whether or not it was lining up the sights at that moment. Krista did not fancy dying a second time.

With a reverberating WHOOSH yet another craft passed by her on her right, not ten feet away.
Blast it! Krista spat internally. More reinforcements!
That was when the Wraith began to feel a low, deep shaking beneath her feet. She spared a glance behind her — the heavy cruiser was just inches away form her feet! She attempted to dive away from it but she was too late. The ship sped up with all the intention of knocking into her with the hull and succeeded in every right.

Her sideways movement paired with the ship's sudden impact sent Krista tumbling along the side of the hull, bouncing off the hard, grey metal as it sped past her. Drawing a pistol and spinning around, she jammed the saw blade into the metal in the hopes of arresting her movement. The teeth of the blade shrieked as they carved a dead straight line across the ship's side and kicked up a bonfire of sparks, but Krista still slipped away as fast as before. With an incredible strain she pressed the blade into the hull of the ship, and she did begin to gain a grip on it, but it was not an even surface. The metal she desperately tried to latch onto fell away and she was left to scramble at empty space as the ship sped past her.

Desperately looking behind herself for anything else she could try to arrest herself on, she spotted the ship's wing rushing forward to meet her. Drawing the other pistol, and this time using the power of her halo, she gravitated towards the base of the wing and slammed both blades into the smooth, grey metal. Instantly she felt the pistols tug away at her grip, but she maintained tight control over them. Her latex gloves began to rip and tear; she obviously needed something sturdier if she wasn't simply performing operations. Looking behind herself again, she saw that there was a portion of the ship left, but nothing else to grab onto past the wing, and just beyond her feet, one of the ship's engines burned. If she fell here, she would be roasted and left to drift.

At that point, the recessed area of the ship's side behind her opened up like a garage door and released another drone. Not thinking twice, Krista pulled her bone saws out of the wing and kicked off to avoid the burning engines. Having travelled at the ship's speed while clinging to it, when she released the wing, she simply floated alongside the vessel for a while before it began to accelerate again. She fell back and, guiding herself with her halo, she lined herself up with the drone behind her and planted both feet onto it. She quickly found her footing and leapt off it into the open side of the ship.

The inertia of the ship and the lack of gravity saw Krista standing sideways on the back wall of the small drone hangar. There, she saw the Regnants for the first time. They looked like misshapen old men with bloated heads, wide, red eyes and nothing else in the way of facial features. Thin to the point where they looked starved, and naked but to no discernible effect, they simply looked like things straight out of nightmares. There was only a single Regnant in the small hangar, tethered to the ceiling by several ropes and cords, performing maintenance on the single other drone inside the hangar.

It didn't take long before the decrepit alien spotted the German nurse, and it only had time to pick up what looked like a walkie talkie before a bullet tore through its oversized scalp.

Krista ran up to the ceiling and began to climb up the beams that lined it towards the end of the rope holding the Regnant corpse in place. Upon reaching it, she took hold of it and began climbing backwards with it until she reached the end where the body hung. Using the bone saw on her pistol she made short work of the harness holding the Hellspawn in place and, mustering all the strength her legs could achieve, she kicked off the ceiling and swung forwards on the rope. As she neared the front of the room, she let go, and she glided straight to the doorway that led to the forward end of the ship.

Krista grabbed the sides of the doorway and began climbing her way forward. The only thing resisting her movement was the acceleration of the ship, which enforced a soft, backward pull on Krista's body. The corridor that led to the bridge was long and narrow, but boasted a miasma of other doors and passages. She climbed swiftly, with both pistols in her hands.


The bridge was full of Regnants, each at a computer station, while a much taller specimen stood on a raised platform, overlooking everything. Hitting the angel that lagged behind had caused quite a humorous stir, but now it was back to business. They had made successful locks on the other angels and were giving it their all.

A few muffled PAFF!s behind the door to the bridge caught the attention of all the Hellspawn. They all looked at each other, not sure what to make of it. The Regnant Commander pointed at a lesser Regnant and jabbed a thumb at the door. All heads were turned to see what they would see through the door.

The door was a little impatient, it seemed. With an explosive burst it flew inwards, crushing the Regnant unfortunate enough to have been ordered to inspect it. The Commander emitted a furious yap and pointed at the blood stained nurse marching through the doorway with both pistols raised and a magic circle spinning behind her back. With a single shot she sent the Commander tumbling backwards across the bridge, its brain receiving far more fresh air than it was comfortable with.

There was an uproar as the rest of the Regnants charged Krista, some even picking up weapons that seemed too large for them to carry. As the first two approached, Krista spun around with both pistols whirling overhead and struck both Regnants on the head, cleaving halfway through their massive heads with the saw blades on her guns. They seemed stuck there, but it didn't matter to Krista; she lifted her guns up with the aliens stuck to the undersides, lined up the sights and began shooting.

PAFF-PAFF-PAFF-PAFF-PAFF! The pistols barked out as she annihilated each Regnant in turn. Some bullets exited their targets and tore holes in the viewing window. One Regnant in charge of steering the ship slumped on the tiller, causing the entire craft to veer to the left. She kicked the Regnant corpses off her pistols and holstered them. She was done here. As the craft turned perpetually to the left, the weak force that pulled her backwards before changed direction, and she began to float towards the right side of the craft. Using this to her advantage, she quickly re-entered the corridor and began running along the right wall to the aft end of the ship. It was not wide enough for her full height, so she had to crouch low while she ran.

As she reached the hangar again she jumped, and the craft's motion did all the rest, carrying her out of the open hangar door. She activated her halo and stabilised her movement, and as she righted herself, she fired at the engine on the very wing she so desperately clung to on her way in. With the engine damaged, the craft began to spiral out of control, away from her comrades.

----------
Krista (eventually) assassinates Heavy Cruiser 0/25
Total damage: 25
Krista: 2/3

It wasn't hard for Malus to notice the missle heading straight for him. It was approaching quickly, faster than he could accelerate without any asisstance. He glanced around quickly for something he could use to aid his situation, and noticed the repair drone going haywire over the sudden destruction of the main vessel. Krista's display had certainly thrown a spanner in the works of the machine's programming. Malus decided that now was a good time to act upon it, but he'd have to act fast.

He strafed from his course and pulled a wide, upwards u-turn to keep the missile on it's journey. He sped towards the tiny craft with his whip ready. When he pulled close, he landed a harsh blow on it's hull, destroying it's shield and damaging it's exterior. He quickly pulled his arm back and landed a second hit, but this time his whip merged with the sheared metal instead of dealing damage. Malus then kicked the droid and yelled "AIGHT, GET'ALONG NOW, YOU PIECE'O SCRAP METAL!"

The droid, programmed to avoid combat, reacted to the assult and the missile threat very violently, as it suddenly let off all of its jets at once in order to get away. Malus soon found himself darting away from the group at immense speeds. He pulled back on his whip, and the drone started to curve upwards. Upon this discovery, he repositioned himself to the left and pulled again, causing a gradual right turn in the drone's trajectory, curving greatly the harder he pulled. With his newfound vehicle, he coasted the repair droid back towards the group. However, he had to keep moving at his current speed to keep the missile away from him, so he had to perform quite a few various loops and spins to avoid careening ahead of the squad. Hopefully someone else could remove the missile from the scene before he got an upset stomach from his flight path.

----------
Total damage: 6
R. Drone B: 2/4 0/4

The missile was catching up to Malus, although his loop-de-loop pattern might have saved him some time, Aulair's job of taking it down was made a little harder; his chainhook could hit either Malus or the rocket at this point. That's when Malus started performing spins. Now was his chance. Aulair shot out his hook, now knowing its new sharpness, pierced through its tailfin engine and whipped it towards the other cruiser, now shieldless due to Malus's efforts, exploding in a rather violent manner before making some deep cuts in the hull with the chains of his hooks.

Aulair:
Total Damage: 4
Missile: 0/2

(Dropoff: 2 +2)
Cruiser A: 11/15

Aulair could only watch Krista as she rapidly exited the larger ship, now spiraling out of control, with her once white apparel now stained to a crimson. She must have done some large-scale interior decorating in there. He flew closer to her, seeing as she was lagging behind his pace.

"I see you took a bath." he laughed as he eyed her bloodied bonesaws, initially not expecting her to be capable of performing such brutal close-range combat. "Welcome to the party, Krista."

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Turn 3:
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The large cruiser Krista was in wasn't completely cleared of Regnants though, and while all operations on the bridge were usually led by a captain, when the main hanger opened to release a large, robotic suit, it became clear that the tall specimen Krista punched a bullet hole through wasn't the Captain... The pilot of this robotic suit was.

Regnant Captain: (?/?) 20/20
(Phase 1)

The Mech was lavishly decorative; Regnant symbols and their colored oval insignias decorated the sturdy-looking chest/cockpit. A loudspeaker blared with the voice of a particularly angry female commander; sounding nothing like a Regnant. Was she a Saintly Angel?

"You think you can raid my belongings, board my flagship, slaughter my crew and just simply run away from me? You get back here... RIGHT NOW!"

The Mech blasted Malus with a large beam similar to that of the Cannon that knocked Sycal out, only thinner and weaker, leaving Malus heavily wounded and unable to fight unless his willpower says otherwise.

Total Damage: 2
Malus: 0/2
(self revive point available)

That's when the repair drone scrambled to the Captain, unable to provide a shield, attached to a small slot in the back of the mech, presumably to repair itself before it comes out again, or to prepare to repair the mech when attacks came.

Total Heal: 1
R.Drone B: 3/4

The cruiser also came to the captain's side, providing it with a weak shield system. Whoever this was, if an entire cruiser lays down its weapons systems to protect her, she must be pretty damn important.

Captain: (?/?) 20/20 2/2
Cruiser A: 11/15 2/2

Player's turn:

Aulair didn't hesitate to defend Krista; both were damaged in combat, and the pilot of this exoskeleton suit seemed intent on getting revenge on the Wraith.

"Dammit, Cosmac, you're taking your sweet time getting here..." he muttered.

Aulair: 2/5 2/2
Krista: 2/3 2/2

Enemy Status:
Captain: ?/? 20/20 2/2
Cruiser A: 11/15
R.Drone B: 3/4

Malus suddenly felt every incoming thought intensify ten fold. He could sense the desperation of his squad as they rushed to defend each other. He could sense the onslaught being drawn out from the armored enemy that struck him down.

He could also sense that he needed to help his teammates.

Suddenly, his entire form glowed brightly. His weapons began to fade into him, repurposing themselves. His whip merged with his chest, and each of it's 9 thick stands penetrated into him. Four of them exited through his back and became large flails. His buckler melted to his form and became additional armor. He could feel his horns becoming heavier, and his hooves growing to sharp, claw-like points. He also felt his mind filling only with thoughts of maiming those who opposed him. The flash dissipated, and his form had been signifigantly altered. He had gone full berserk mode.

Berserk!Malus:

Berserk!Malus turned to the captain and roared. He was angry at her. He didn't like her tone, her attitude, her nerve to shoot him with a lazer beam. He wasn't going to have that.

With abnormal speed, he lauched himself at her, his flails bared. He rammed himself into the reagent captain, his horns giving enough impact to annihilate her sheild. Upon doing this, he quickly pulled a 360 and whacked her in the hip with one of the flails, landing a considerable dent in her armor and forcing her sideways. Still raging, Malus then landed a kick on her shoulder before she got out of reach.

As she was forced away from her post, Malus then laid havoc on the Cruiser, latching onto it's outer wall and furiously kicking at it. "GRHAHDADHSH" he yelled. Either he was finding it difficult to speak due to his teeth now taking up most of his mouth, or his rage was preventing him from forming actual words. After a few hacks at the craft, some of the machine's wiring became exposed. Malus grabbed them with his mouth and yanked them out through brute force. He didn't know what they did and honestly, he didn't care. He then began violently hacking at the ship once more, hoping to cause more destruction.

----------
Malus revives himself and activates his amulet's ability in order to become Berserk!Malus
Malus: 4/4

Enemy Status:
Captain: ?/? 16/20 0/2
Cruiser A: 5/15 0/2
R.Drone B: 3/4

"Vell, I vas chosen for a reason." Krista admitted. "If zis vas my purpose, then I shall fulfil it as best as I can. It's not zee first time I have been covered in blood, mind you."

It was at that point that the Captain revealed herself, clad in a kind of mechanical armour that made her far more intimidating and powerful than she could have possibly hoped for on her own. As if on cue, the Captain began to accuse the angels of cowardice, and even challenged them. Krista glared daggers at the mechanised Captain. It seemed she had missed a vital cog in the enemy ranks even as she disassembled a large portion of its forces. And not just any cog, a traitor. This leader was not one of the decrepit Hellspawn she had slaughtered, but one of the angels turned sides; Krista remembered what happened to those who betrayed the Fatherland. She wondered if the same held true in Sentain.

Before Krista could react, the rogue angel shot Malus, stealing his life away. Krista went wide-eyed. A single shot had reduced their numbers even further! She began to mentally prepare the spells for reviving and restoring life, causing her hands to glow through the rips on her latex gloves. As she began to slowly drift towards Malus, keeping well within the bounds of Aulair's protection, she taunted the Captain.

"If I had known zere vas a veasel such as yourself still on board, I vould have stayed to finish zee job, traitor!"

Before she could turn her attention back to the late Malus, he darted across the intervening space between them and their opponents. Krista had to blink to ensure what she saw was correct; Malus had become even more monstrous, if such was even possible for such a creature. More than that, he was bigger, carried more armour, and he had several cords protruding from his back.

Krista let the spell dissipate as Malus began hacking at the Captain and her accompanying vessel. He was more brutal, more enraged than she had ever seen him. Granted she spent little time with him at all, and she preferred it that way, but this was completely new. He may well end up destroying the Captain altogether. That thought brought another more pressing one to her mind.

"Is zere any vay to capture zis traitor?" She asked Aulair. "She may hold key information on our enemies, and access to zeir resources. Especially if zis mechanical body can be used by ozzer angels."

Even as she put this to Aulair, she drew her pistols and took aim. But they were a little different. It wasn't the red diodes on the guns that were lit, but rather the green diodes on the leech barrels. She fired twice, once for each gun, but instead of the loud barking noise that the guns usually made, the leech barrels fired with the sound akin to that of a crossbow firing a dart.

The two bullets she fired glowed a bright green and left long green trails behind them as they soared across the void of space and embedded in the Captain's suit's chest. A host of small, aqua coloured orbs raced out of her and rushed back to Krista's pistols. The nurse gazed again at the pistols in her hands, at the green light on the side of each Leech barrel that seemed to pulsate with intensity. Mentally she tried commanding them to release what they held, and instantly, Krista felt a surge of soothing, comfortable energy rush through her arms and into her heart. She felt completely re-energised.

"So zat's how zey are used..."

---------
Krista
HP: 3/3
GP: 2/2
AP: 0/1
RP: 2/2
LP: 3/4

Captain: ?/? 15/20 0/2
I think that's how much damage the Leech tags do.

[Ozzer = other]

Aulair was a little dumb-struck by Malus's sudden transformation, not knowing if the amulet had taken over his mind or not, but his berserked state was dealing some devastating blows to both the captain and the Cruiser, so he guessed he was... alright?

Nothing added up for him; this was the first time in his long career as a soldier that he saw anything like this. Krista was mentioning how the traitor captain might have some information on her regnant allies and their other hiding stashes, to which Aulair replied,

"If this Angel we're fighting would only get out of that lil' suit and fight us, we could capture her, but she's got some support to back her up. Look at that huge Battleship; there's bound to be at least a couple hundred of these cruisers surrounding the field we were just in. I don't think that this traitor is affiliated with the Regnant forces on that battleship at all; I think this Traitor owned something on one of the asteroids and these cruisers are trying to calm her down before she gets killed, or worse for them, captured."

So 'capture the traitor' it was. Krista's suggestion might prove useful; if this angelic captain was piloting a suit like this, she might know at least something that could help to fight against the Regnants.

But that's when Cosmac came in. Looks like he finally decied to show up.

Cosmac: 7/7  

Upon arriving at the scene, he decided to make something of the two weakest vessels; the repair drone and the Cruiser. He flanked the Captain, preoccupied by Malus's vicious attack pattern, and made a weak slice at the Drone to make it as weak as possible, then decided to overload his kinetic shotgun to do the same to the Cruiser, the powerful blast's recoil ended up cracking his wrist, but the resulting shockwave blew a decently sized hole in the hull of the cruiser, exposing a highly explosive engine in the hull of the Cruiser.

Cosmac sacrifices a health tag to deal 2 damage to the R. Drone.
Cosmac: 6/7
Cruiser A: 1/15
R. Drone B: 1/4

Now that Cosmac was there, Aulair didn't waste his time to attack. Dropping his guard with Krista, he made his way to Cosmac's current position with his new chainhooks, first lashing out at the Captain, then grabbing the repair drone. Ripping off its power source, he chucked the defunct bot right into the mech's back armor, and using that as a distraction, proceeded to corner around the mech to jab a decently sized hole in the cockpit's side.

Aulair breaks his guard and sacrifices his guarding ability to deal 2 damage to the repair drone.

Aulair: 2/5 0/2
Krista 3/3 0/2

Total damage: 4, 2.
Captain: ?/? 11/20
R. Drone B: 0/4

( Dropoff: 1 +2 )
Captain: ?/? 9/20

-------
Turn 4:
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The Cruiser didn't seem stable, its engine exposed and sheilds inactive, with a couple escape pods being jettisoned at this time, the cruiser makes a beeline toward the newer combatant, Cosmac, and fires all its active weaponry on him.

Total Damage: 2
Cosmac: 4/7


After Aulair's assault on her hull, the captain took more extreme measures in her attack patterns, and even though her laser remained overheated, she blasted Malus once more before firmly grabbing Aulair with the mech's left hand, and in the process, shoving his chest into the now over-overheated cannon, making his entire suit of armor reach insane levels of heat.

Yes, it hurt. It hurt so much that he began to enter a similar state of  that Malus was in, only he had no amulet to turn him into a raging beast of death.

The captain Sacrifices a health tag to deal 2 damage to Aulair.
Total Damage: 2, 2

Berserk!Malus: 2/4
Aulair: 0/5

Reinforcements arrived at a bad time; both sides were weakened to crippling degrees, and here comes this cruiser amid the tension.

Cruiser B: 15/15

Again, this Cruiser neglects the attacking role to play guard to the captain.

Captain: ?/? 9/20 2/2
Cruiser: 15/15 2/2

Cosmac decides to play a little defensively this time in light of Aulair's Knockdown. He hovers in front of Krista and guards him from a close distance.

Cosmac: 4/7 4/4
Krista: 3/3 4/4

Enemy Status:
Captain: ?/? 9/9 2/2
Cruiser A: 1/15
Cruiser B: 15/15 2/2

Krista nodded in affirmation. "Zen let us take her support avay."

At that point, Cosmac returned, having left Sycal back at the Domain Gate. The Russian put on a fierce display, attacking both the drone behind the Captain and the Cruiser that had tried to protect her, very nearly destroying it.

Then Aulair left her side to finish the job with the drone and the mech itself. Krista felt a bit exposed without Aulair guarding her as he usually did, perhaps so far as to have felt naked without it. But as the Captain attacked him, roasting him inside of his own armour, she reasoned that it would have been safer under his guard in the first place. She knew she had to come to his aid, unless he brought himself back to life like Malus, but she doubted that. The problem was that he was stuck in the grip of the Captain's mechanical suit. Getting him out of there to revive him would be a challenge. Especially since it was her who had angered this traitor in the first place. Cosmac came to her side and offered a sturdier protection, which she thanked him for. Now that she was protected, she began to think of a plan. It was simple, but it would rely heavily on Cosmac keeping her safe.

"I vant you to stay as close to me as possible, understood? Zis vill be risky."
With that, Krista and Cosmac launched themselves at high speeds towards Aulair. They latched onto the mech's left arm, using their momentum to make it swing backwards from the impact. As quick as she could, Krista seized one of Aulair's hooks and swung it around the back of the mech, wrapping it halfway around its right arm and grappling onto it. Taking the other hook, she stuck it into the hole that Aulair himself had made in the mech's cockpit. That was all she needed to do quickly.

The Captain attempted to bring the mech's left arm back into view, but as she did, its right arm became pinned to its side due to being tied to the dead angel in its left hand. She simply could not attack the angels on her left arm while her right was tied to it, so she let go of Aulair and, using the taut chain as a slingshot, flung him away to the right. The hook on the mech's right arm became uncoupled due to the direction and force of Aulair's movement, and he may have been thrown into the depths of space without the other hook keeping him tethered to the mech itself.

Krista had taken the small amount of time she had to prepare herself for this moment, when she would have to unhook Aulair's second chain and fly away with his body to revive him. With Cosmac keeping close to her side, she yanked the hook out of the cockpit and kicked off the mech with a burst of speed, connecting with Aulair and grabbing onto his armoured form as she went.
That went well. Krista contemplated as she backed away from the Captain. She laid Aulair flat and face-up in front of her and began to instruct the angels around her. To Cosmac, she said,

"Destroy zat vessel's shields. Ve must focus on zis enemy if ve are to capture her."

To Malus, she cried out, partially to overcome what influences his change may have inflicted upon his ability to hear and comprehend,

"Malus! Attack zee armoured angel but do not kill her! Ve need to take her alive!"

Her orders given, she began to chant the healing spell she had prepared for Malus, placing her palms on the chest of Aulair's armour. Beneath it, his body began to glow a fiercely bright white which escaped through the gaps in his armour. It was a lengthy spell, as it required healing the body before reviving the spirit that inhabited it, but behind Cosmac's protection she had plenty of time. Eventually she completed the spell and the light faded away, leaving behind a dazed and weakened but very much alive Aulair.

"Velcome back." Was all Krista had to say.

Krista revives Aulair
(Krista 3/3 HP : 4/4 GP : 1/2 RP)
(Aulair 3/5 HP)

Berserk!Malus heard Krista yell something through the noise of failing engine parts and the shredded electronics coming from the craft he was in the process of destroying. 'Attack the armoured angel' she says. Sounds simple enough, but he also wanted to finish the mess he'd created on this giant hunk of space metal. As his rampaging mind pondered on what to attack next, he noticed a valve concealed deep inside the craft's inner workings. It had a big, red handle on it. Malus grimaced, his mannerisms suddenly changing into that of a bull in an arena. Red means bad. Red means 'kill'. Without any second thoughts, he lunged inside, grabbed the handle and yanked it out with all his strength. The valve broke open, gave off a faint hissing sound, followed by a great blast of pressure as the craft began to implode. Malus was quickly forced out of the engine and found himself being carried away by momentum from the imploding wreck. Satisfied with his work, Malus then quickly glanced around for something else to ram his hoof into.

He noticed the Captain and recalled what Krista had told him. "Attack, but do not kill." The first word of that request echoed the most in his mind, and he started to change his course in order to achieve the optimal position he needed for his attack. He lined himself up and, with the power of his halo, he launched himself at the armoured angel with a shrill "AKJHKFKJSFJG JAFAKF". The Captain looked up upon hearing the sudden sound of a pile of nails being yelled though, just in time to receive a face full of goat foot. Her faceplate gave off a loud crack, which only tempted Malus to do more damage. But he deep down that he had to hold back. Instead, he swooped behind her while she was recovering from the initial impact and attached himself to her using the four flails protruding from behind him. If she was planning on shooting him again, she would have to shoot herself too. Plus, she now had the pleasure of having a rabid animal attached to her back.

Total Damage: 5, 6

Enemy Status:
Captain: ?/? 3/20 0/2
Cruiser A: 0/15 0/2
Cruiser B: 15/15 2/2

When Aulair was revived, the molten, painful heat of his suit cooled down to a comforting warmth. While serene in this state of rejuvenation, he found his armor in a state of total ruin. Melted bits and pieces of the decor layers jutted out from the main body of the armor, leaving a blackened, half-melted   mess of a cuirass. Aulair was not happy, not one bit.

This anger manifested itself into an bright orange beam that came from the center of his halo. This beam was opposite to the Regnant lasers, instead of a straight beam of light and plasma, his seemed to curve and home into the first thing that caught his eye; the second cruiser. The beam exploded on contact, leaving a gaping, fiery hole in the cockpit of the ship, killing everyone there, but more importantly, neutralizing the ship.

Aulair ASSASSINATES Cruiser B:
Captain: 3/20 0/2
Cruiser B: 0/15 0/2


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FINAL TURN
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Enemy Turn:

The Captain, unamused by Malus's hold on her suit, cursed out at the group,

"You damn parasites... I don't need this suit to get back that orb, just you watch."

Evident that she wanted that Saintification Device, she ejected herself from the suit, confirming that she was a Saintly Angel, and more specifically, a Paladin. Garbed in caped armor, she wielded two small, but thick shortswords, along with a tower shield on her back. The mech later activated its auto-pilot system, and proceeded to try to wrestle Malus off the cannon.  

Captain: 7/7
Mech: 3/15

Recognizing the nurse that killed the men on her ship, the Captain acts out her plans quickly, zipping towards Cosmac first, she hacked away at his sturdy defense. While the assault certainly neutralized his defenses, Cosmac had a trick up his sleeve; he had overloaded his shotgun for this moment. Upon breaching his defenses, he unleashed the burst at her, knocking her back and rendering her armor useless. Desperate at this point, she made her final stand to severely wound Krista with her dual swords, creating three gashes into her lower chest, despite inadvertantly creating a long gash of her own across her back from the shattered armor.

The Captain Sacrifices a health tag to deal 2 damage to Krista.
Total Damage: 4, 2
Cosmac: 4/7 0/4
Krista: 1/3 0/3
Cosmac COUNTERS the Captain for 5 damage.

Captain: 1/7
The Mech, knowing that Malus was going to continue attacking him anyway, sets up a shielding system to protect both itself and its now-ejected pilot.

Captain: 1/7 2/2
Mech: 3/15 2/2

Aulair had not been paying close attention to the actual getaway, but judging from the time they spent flying away, they were reaching the Domain Gate faster than expected. Previously, cruisers were following closely, but out of firing range, but now, they've all fallen back and retreated. Everyone but the traitor, that is. He eyed the automated mech. It was almost destroyed, so he thought he might as well finish it off, seeing as how much of a fight it had put up earlier. Again, underestimating its shield and jolting backward from the force of his hit. The core was exposed now, the slightest hit would trigger an explosion at this point.

With both the mech and the Captain weakened, it only took one small move from either Malus or Krista for the both of them to fall; the captain would be captured, and the mech, or whatever remains of it, would be taken for examination. Angelic property was so close to them now; only a few more minutes to go and they'd be in safe territory.

Total Damage: 4
Mech: 1/15 0/2
Captain: 1/7 0/2