RWBY: Welcome to Lodestar (A Fate Core System RP) - Game Thread

[Pappytech]

"...But not us. Never us. They crashed upon our borders like a wave, bringing the wrath of the earth and sky with them. And together, we stood - and we endured. And now, to reward our patience, our fortitude, our sacrifices... fate has brought us here."

Wearing a half-smile, Claire listened in rapt fascination to Xuan Ba's impassioned speech. Or, at least, she was listening to Professor Wink's rendition of it. Doubtless this was all some impressively complex illusion, likely created by the professor's Semblance. That, combined with the undeniably fact that the Black Bull would ultimately be wrong about his nation's eternal endurance, did put a bit of a damper on things. But even so, the simulated Beast King's sheer charisma was overwhelming, and the young Huntress-in-training couldn't help but join in the resounding roar that followed.

"LET THE BATTLE BE JOINED, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! TO ARMS!"

"Primo Victroia!" Claire cried out, her voice utterly insignificant against the crushing volume of a Faunus warpack. With quickly growing momentum, the army began its advance through the incoming Dust attacks and towards the hastily-erected walls that surrounded Lodestar.

Though she made sure to keep an eye on the technicolor blasts hurtling her way, the young Faunus didn't charge forward just yet. Spotting the rest of her team grouped up amidst the rest of the crowd, Claire made her way towards them. Amused, she noted Matt and Schwarz's fuzzy new additions, though Mr. Zaan's reaction to the changes were off-putting, to say the least. Self-mutilation... Even with his Aura boosting his healing rate, that sort of agony wasn't something normal people put themselves through.

Filing away Mr. Zaan's actions to think about later, Claire gave Matt a mock salute, touching her new spear to her forehead. "Okay Mr. Leader, you're our rock-smashy guy, right? How do you think we should try to get past those walls?"

 

[Arcanist]

His ears still ringing from the Faunus brigades' enthusiastic reaction to Xuan Ba's rousing speech, it took Matt a moment to register that Claire was trying to address him over the ruckus. "Okay Mr. Leader, you're our rock-smashy guy, right? How do you think we should try to get past those walls?"

Matt scanned the horizon taking a closer look at the fortifications they were assaulting. The walls were made of hastily cut stone, supported at the base by packed earthwork and braced by beams of wood every few meters. It was unlikely they'd withstand a truly prolonged assault, but with Dust raining down on them... even a few moments of delay could spell disaster.

He recalled his time in the Wastes during initiation - where he triggered a small tremor to block a pathway and prevent the Grimm from pursuing his team. Natural stone formations had faultlines and other deformities he could sense and exploit, given enough effort, but this was an engineered fortification. Would there be something so convenient, even if it were made of stone?

Well, there was only one way to find out. "We should... uh... get to the walls as soon as we can. I'll see what I can do to them from there."

 

[Redryhno]

"LET THE BATTLE BE JOINED, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! TO ARMS!"

Not nearly as bombastic as the books made him out to be

Running ahead of most of her group, she kept to the side as she ran towards the wall, jumping and activating her Semblance to fly above the Dust-projectiles being shot at them. More than a few stopped firing at the Faunus charging the walls from the ground and came flying towards this new Faunus rocketing towards the top of the wall.

Speeding through the air, Diamond used her dandpatta much like her Icarians, though they allowed her more centrifugal force, spinning out a bit more than she expected,though she was able to control her Semblance enough so that she landed well enough, knocking a singular soldier off farther into Lodestar as he raised his weapon to block the twin swords. Turning towards the soldiers now turning towards her again, she smashed her gauntlet into the face of one on her right as she ripped through the weapon of the one on her left with an upwards slice.

Spinning again, she hooked a foot through the legs of the soldier with the broken face and sent him tumbling down to the Faunus horde with a second smash into the side of his head. She stalled for a moment turning to face the defenseless soldier to her left however, the Dust-based projectile weapon in both hands and a light red line traced from their belly to chin, confusion and terror written plainly on his face, though otherwise unharmed.

Just like...that Zaan...

Recovering, she punched out with the weapon attached to her right hand, ripping through another soldier charging at her with weapon woefully raised above her head, Di kicking out as she simultaneously pulled out and sliced diagonally at the next in line. A few moments to breathe, she slammed the flat of the blade into the terrified soldiers head, knocking him unconscious and curled over the edge of the wall. Disarming the one behind him on the wall, she punched him as well, knocking him to the Faunus horde below, following the previous screamer.

Slapping her blades together, she kicked off from the wall and enacted her Semblance again, sweeping down to the Faunus army that was almost at the walls before she was overrun by mass numbers alone.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

(( Amber ))​

Amber pulled back from Matt a little as Jin made an absolutely horrible bear pun at Zaan's expense, shaking her head at the her all the while. But she couldn't help but stifle a soft chuckle. It was almost unbearable. Still, she made a mental note to get a hold of those adorable mouse ears before the class ended. After a few moments, Professor van Wink spoke up again once the others had called out what they knew about the scene.

"Correct you all are! You're all seeing Xuan Ba's forces as they prepare to make their assault on the Lodestar Forward Outpost! But, you don't have to take my word for it."

Amber turned to watch the massive figure of Xuan Ba himself step forward and call out to the forces there. He was powerful, with an impressive physique and horns. As he made his speech, found herself cheering with the crowd of other Faunus, even though she hardly had a reason to. He seemed to be coming to the end when the sound of hissing bolts of Dust arced toward them.

"LET THE BATTLE BE JOINED, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! TO ARMS!"

Amber roared as she charged forward with the others, weaving between Dust shots and leaving some of the others behind as she and Di headed the pack. Di, using her Semblance to the fullest, went on ahead to the wall of the outpost and quickly disarmed and knocked out one of the human soldiers firing Dust at them, and he fell over the edge towards the battlefield.

Seeing that as her chance, she grabbed the barbed whip at her hip and lashed it out, grabbing the soldier in midair before executing a deft spin, whirling him around and smashing his back into the wall. She promptly followed up with a headbutt to his forehead, and there was an audible crunch. A few moments passed before the section of wall just behind him crumbled.

"Jade, Elva! We have a way in!" she called back.

 

[hiei82]

Even Jade had to admit, Xuan Ba knew how to give a speech. Sure she wasn't completely sold on the idea of going to war, but she could see why others would follow. It didn't help that - except in the illusion - she wasn't a Faunus and couldn't really know how hard they had it.

Despite this, Jade joined the charge. She figured Prof. Wink had some idea what he was doing and who was she to disagree on the first day. With the drums and horns of war playing around her, Jade moved forward with heavily practiced movements. She dodged several rudimentary dust-artillery shells with her zig zagging. All the while, she took shots at guards on the walls. One by one, they fell back into the stronghold; injured or worse.

As she ran low on arrows, she grabbed more from fallen soldiers around her. She wondered if this was a subtle aid from Prof. Wink for the ranged combatants but couldn't prove it. Either way, it didn't matter.

As Jade began to close in on the wall, she began to wonder how she'd get inside. Without dust, she didn't have any way of breaking the walls down. She supposed she could steal some dust from a fallen Lodestar soldier or two and rig something up, but otherwise she'd need to depend on her luck or her friends.

"Jade, Elva! We have a way in!" Amber called out from a hole in the wall. "Luck and friends apparently." Jade fired a few arrows at the defenders rallying to the breech then refreshed her arrows one last time before she entered. While doing so, she grabbed a fallen Loadstar soldier's dust crystal and put it on the end of one of the arrows as a sort of emergency trump card.

"Okay Team JADE! Let's take this castle!"

 

[Deu Sex]

"Jin. Not. Now."

Jin was taken aback by Matt's reaction. It seemed exceptionally venomous for someone as docile as him. It was enough to make her feel upset. Had she said something tactless again? Perhaps this wasn't the appropriate time for humour, given the shock Schwarz was going through. That or Matt really, really hated puns. Maybe that was it. She would have to ask him after class, as something more pressing was currently at hand.

Xuan Ba's illusionary figure stood above the group. Jin smiled as the Black Bull spoke, entertained by his boasting. Noticing the rest of the Faunus army cheering at his words, Jin decided to roar alongside them.

"Why us? Why do WE stand before the gates of the human lands? Why not fierce Bai Hu, or clever Qing Long? Why do WE stand alone in this feat? It is because we have endured. When the humans came with their strange new weapons, Bai Hu struck out and Qing Long wove away... and yet, for all their strength and guile, one by one they fell."

Jin's interested was piqued at the mention of Qing Long. She was a fan of the Azura Dragon, having read much about his exploits in the east and the very first conflicts with Vacuo over Dust deposits. It was said that he was the most clever Beast King and that his eyes could find any weakness in any enemy he fought. Jin always liked to imagine that she was a descendant of Qing Long, given their shared surname, although no evidence existed to prove such a theory.

As Xuan Ba's speech came to a close, Dust projectiles rained down from the walls onto the Faunus army.

"LET THE BATTLE BE JOINED, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! TO ARMS!"

Team JADE already seemed to be assailing the walls, Di sweeping human defenders off and Amber using one to smash open a small breach. Jin noticed Jade picking up a Dust crystal from one of the defenders who was knocked over. She would have to do the same in order to fight efficiently, due to her combat style and semblance relying heavily on Dust.

First though, she approached the rest of Team MJSC. Claire was inquiring about what the plan of attack would be while Matt tended to Schwarz.

"We should... uh... get to the walls as soon as we can. I'll see what I can do to them from there."

"The soldiers who fell appear to have Dust crystals. I will attempt to loot these crystals and embed them with the walls. Matt should then use his earth-manipulating semblance to detonate the Dust, which will expand the breach further and potentially kill many defenders."

Without waiting for a response from the rest of her team, Jin turned around and started running towards the walls. She searched over the bodies of the defenders who'd been thrown over, eventually finding a pair of red Dust crystals. She approached the breach that Amber had created, then wedged the crystals into the wall's foundation on both sides of the opening. She closed her eyes as she gripped both crystals, channelling their contents into the stone. Though manipulating Dust without aid from her Crystaldusters was a difficult task, her semblance was powerful enough to manage it.

 

[Pappytech]

"We should... uh... get to the walls as soon as we can. I'll see what I can do to them from there."

Nodding along to her leader's lackluster commands, Claire took another moment to observe Lodestar's makeshift wall. Considering Matt's Semblance, he could probably crush the rampart like a house of cards if he was so inclined. But the soldiers manning the wall, even if they weren't proper Hunters, could probably do a fair bit to make that difficult, even with the holes JADE was putting in their defense. Someone would have to distract them.

"The soldiers who fell appear to have Dust crystals. I will attempt to loot these crystals and embed them with the walls. Matt should then use his earth-manipulating semblance to detonate the Dust, which will expand the breach further and potentially kill many defenders."

"Mmmm. Makes sense," Claire agreed. Jin's plan would work. Probably. "You do your thing. I'll keep the defenders off your back. Can't let the other teams have all the fun, can we?"

Charging her Aura, the young Faunus took off after her teammate, dashing recklessly down the cliff face, dodging back and forth to avoid the incoming Dust attacks. Though this was her first time navigating a full-fledged battlefield, Claire made good time, reaching the wall shortly after Jin and racing straight up the fortifications. The shoddy construction gave her plenty of footholds to make use of, and her natural agility let her clamber up the wall in a heartbeat.

As she cleared the top of the battlement, Claire was greeted by the shocked visage of a human soldier, clutching a small Dust crystal in one of his hands. "Hi!" the Huntress began cheerily, twirling her spear behind her back as she triggered the weapon's catch. "You're in my way, so I'm gonna have to cut your leg off, okay?"

With a metallic grinding of gears, the spear's blade extended and pivoted, twisting into a hybrid of ax and scythe. Spinning the weapon fast enough to make it blur, the Faunus advanced towards the soldier, who hastily leaped back out of the ax's range and readied his Dust for throwing.

Had he been listening closely, the illusory warrior might've noticed a slight pop as his opponent's joints briefly slid apart. Unfortunately, focused as he was on his Dust, he didn't realize his situation until it was far too late. The sensation of cold steel cleaving through his calf may have tipped him off though.

"Oh, be quiet," Claire sighed as she stepped over the screaming figure. "It's just a leg. Cauterize the wound, and you won't even lose that much blood." Clicking her tongue in disapproval, the girl surveyed the other defenders who were turning to face her. A light smile played across her lips as she examined their armor. "Hoo, that's a neat design. There's just something really cool looking about hand-forged equipment, you know? It's an aesthetic you can't really replicate with modern machinery.

"Buuuuut," she continued, sliding her weapon over a shoulder as she advanced, "the thing about modern stuff, is that it's generally a lot tougher or more efficient than old stuff, even if it doesn't look as cool. Mind if I test how strong your gear is?"

 

[Arcanist]

"The soldiers who fell appear to have Dust crystals. I will attempt to loot these crystals and embed them with the walls. Matt should then use his earth-manipulating semblance to detonate the Dust, which will expand the breach further and potentially kill many defenders."

Matt was briefly taken aback at Jin's rather... cavalier attitude. He was under no illusion that participating in this battle would mean having to harm his fellow man - even if they were just illusions(or whatever they were, Matt still had no idea what the hell this place was supposed to be) - but talking about it so nonchalantly was off-putting, to say the least.

Her proposal, however, was a solid one, though with one caveat - he'd only ever tried directly using his Semblance on Earth Dust. What, exactly, would happen if he used it on something else he had virtually no idea. His experience with earth Dust, while interesting, left him with more questions than answers. Not only had turning his Semblance's second sight towards it yielded no useful(or at least comprehensible) information, but when he had them directly interact it didn't go as he had expected.

But if Jin just wanted him to set it off? Well, Dust reacted to Aura, right? And he could use the earth around him to transmit his Aura over great distances. He nodded at Jin as she lept off and took in a deep breath, focusing his attention at the familiar thrum Aura pooling at his feet. Extending his consciousness outward, he reached forward until he felt the cracks and twists of natural stone turned hard, hewn, and rigid - the touch of Mankind cutting and carving. He extended his will into the wall, waiting patiently. At this distance, he couldn't do much more to the stone than monitor its status and effect some very minor physical changes, but he had a firm hold over the flow of its natural Aura.

With it, he took a moment to examine the wall and the structures behind it. It had a rather large hole in it, from where Amber had managed to effect a breach, but other than that... it was rather surprisingly well put together, for something that appeared to be constructed so hastily. A cursory sweep revealed no obvious structural defects - to be expected, he mused, since this wasn't a natural formation but rather an engineered fortification - and that... well, it was hard to describe what he was feeling, exactly. Like rain was falling against his skin, in a way, only to slip off harmlessly. Only it wasn't his skin, per se, but his perception of what was happening to the wall. While Amber had managed to blow open a hole, the rest of the wall was holding - and if the chunks being torn from his perception in the no-mans-land was any indication, Xuan Ba's army was suffering for it.

That didn't bode well for them. Even if Amber managed to force open a small opening, that only meant there was now a convenient chokepoint for Lodestar's defenders to focus their efforts on. They needed either a breach large enough to move the majority of their army through at once - something he doubted they could deliver - or the rest of Xuan Ba's army would need to make lots of similar breaches throughout the length of the front, something he was most certainly not seeing happen. At this rate, their assault would lose its steam in a matter of moments.

He was pulled from his examination by a sudden rush of... heat? Like most things relating to his Semblance, the sensation was thoroughly alien and had next to no parallel in human terms. But as he focused on it, Matt quickly became certain - this was the power of Dust, coiling its way through the stone, waiting for the touch of Aura to release it.

He took in a deep breath, then exhaled, gathering the full strength of his concentration. The distance was quite large, but with some effort... it was possible. He focused - seizing the Aura thrumming through the wall, twisting it, subjugating it. Like the stone it represented, it was stubborn and taciturn, but Matt kept at it, redoubling his efforts. Soon, he felt it buckle and bow, submitting to his will. He gritted his teeth - now for the really hard part. Taking all of the Aura he'd conquered, he forced it to move, surging it into one place - the hole Amber had blown open, now the epicenter of the strange, alien heat crawling its way through the structure.

And then, as the last bit of Aura creeped in, his Semblance abruptly lost contact with that segment of the wall, just as a massive blast - a great, roaring sound, one of the loudest he'd ever heard - assaulted his hearing, shattering the rest of his concentration.

Spoiler: OOC

Anyone in range of the blast must make a DC 3 Athletics check or take a minor Consequence as a result of being unable to fully avoid the explosion.

The wall has the situational Aspect 'Primed to Blow' and you may spend a fate point to invoke it to assist on the athletics roll, if you so choose.

 

[EmperorZuma]

Schwarz was numb and deaf to the illusion for a short time after he thought his deformities had been shed. At least, until Xuan Ba shouted his rallying cry. Then, everything started to fall back in place, the Siege of Lodestar, the armies of Xuan Ba...the battle that stood before him.

Such history... As the army charged forward, Schwarz stood up, the stinging pain of his savage act now fading into the background. ...this exists within my House's memory...am I expected to kill my kin?

With a disapproving scowl on his face, Schwarz joined in the attack, at that point basically in the rear guard. I will not play such a role in this manic's design! Almost immediately his thoughts went to Xuan Ba, picturing a swift stab in the back to quickly derail this trivial piece of theatre. However, Schwarz quickly shook his head to rid himself of the idea. Either Wink would intervene and remove any hope Schwarz had of making such an attack, or he would make Xuan Ba more powerful than even his reputation maintained. Either way, such a move would not bear fruit.

For now, Schwarz decided to play along, if only to wait for the opportune moment. He moved with the army in their charge, but focused more on not getting hit than striking back at the "enemy". He even got a little amused when saw the hole a classmate had punched in the wall. Yes, by all means, make it easier from them to cull this horde.

However, his amusement didn't last after he regrouped with his team, who appeared doing something by the wall. It took him a moment, but then Schwarz realized just what they were trying to do with the Dust implanted in the wall. No! He was about to do something-anything, to stop the process, but before he could even think about what to do, that section of the wall exploded.

All Schwarz could do was avoid the shock of the blast and the hail of debris. He even used some of the illusionary warriors (or other students, Schwarz couldn't tell and didn't care) as terrain and his weaved through the outpouring of flung stones. Damn you Matt! Schwarz scowled as he saw his "leader" through a momentary gap in the storm of dust. Why are you letting this madmen align us with the enemy?!

 

[Deu Sex]

Jin attempted to distance herself from the wall as best she could after priming it to explode. Even though she was curious as to whether actual pain would occur within an illusion, she didn't want to test such a theory on herself. However, it seemed she either misjudged the amount of fire Dust she channelled into the wall or the potency of Matt's semblance, as she was caught in a blast radius that exceeded her expectations.

Flames licked at Jin's side, scorching her arm and sending waves of pain through her nerves. She growled as she grasped the burned limb with her other hand. "Interesting.." she thought. It seemed Professor van Wink's illusion was spectacularly realistic. Despite this, the pain Jin felt would last only briefly. She closed her eyes and her mind fell back to the training she had learned with her father. Within a second, she was able to drown out the feeling of pain through mental willpower.

Her false injuries dispelled, Jin charged into the wall's now enormous breach. She spotted a fallen defender, laying belly-down against the dirt. Likely one of those knocked over by the explosion. She noticed the soldier reaching for a nearby fire Dust crystal. Jin sprinted over and stomped on the soldier's arm with her foot, preventing him from grabbing the crystal. With her other foot, she then stomped her foot hard against the back of the soldier's neck, pushing against the base of the skull. There was a satisfying crunching noise and then Jin reached down to pick up the Dust crystal for herself.

Another defender was getting up on there feet when Jin turned to meet them. She raised the crystal with one hand and used her other to channel the fire Dust with help from her aura. She then struck out her channelling hand, unleashing a spray of fire Dust that was akin to a flamethrower. The soldier screamed as he was engulfed by flames.

 

[hiei82]

Jade was busy dropping enemies through the hole they'd made in the wall when something went horribly horribly right. She wasn't exactly certain why given all the distractions, but she suspected - against all odds - Team MJSC was somehow responsible. Regardless of the cause, a large section of the wall near them disappeared in a burst of fire.

Acting on instinct, Jade weaved around the sudden rain of debris. As each rock drew in, she slipped around it with the minimal effort, never losing her focus on the enemies through the hole. Most of the rocks passed her by through luck, though a few she needed to dodge. Throughout, she continued to fire her arrows at the enemies on the other side of the wall, hitting them with pin-point accuracy in spite of the unexpected conflagration.

 

[Pappytech]

"Ooop. Almost got me that time!" Grinning, Claire stepped backwards out of range of a soldier's sword swipe, before lunging forward to deliver a crushing blow to the defender's breastplate. Even above the sound of crunching metal, the crack of breaking bones could be clearly heard, and the armored figure went down, gasping for air. Twirling her spear, the Faunus took a look at her slowly thinning crowd of opponents. "Alright, who's next?"

The young woman had always known there was a dividing line between soldiers and Hunters, even adolescent ones, but it was still a little disheartening to see how easily most of ancient Lodestar's defenders went down. It made sense, of course; while Hunters were trained to fight and kill Grimm, monsters seemingly designed to slaughter humans as efficiently as possible, soldiers were meant to fight other humans. In ages past, that meant battling other armies for territory, Dust reserves, and other precious resources. In the modern day, it typically meant catching or discouraging criminals and terrorists. Regardless of when or why they were fighting, soldiers were rarely expected to face Grimm. It only made sense that they'd be completely surpassed by those who dedicated their lives to hunting the black monsters.

As she stepped forward to launch her next attack, Claire paused, distracted by a slight rumbling beneath her feet.

The next thing she knew, she, the soldiers, and the wall were suddenly flying through the air, propelled by a searing burst of flame and heat. Gritting her teeth against the sudden blaze, the Faunus tried to cloak herself in her Aura, but couldn't form it fast enough; tendrils of burning air and fire snaked through her defenses, burning her hair and searing her skin.

An involuntary gasp escaping her lips, Claire found herself falling back to the earth below, and managed to get her feet beneath her before slamming into the ground. "Gah!" she grunted, hastily patting out the smattering fires across her body. "Hot hot hot hot hot hot hot!"

Thankfully, the flames were easy enough to extinguish, and had only left minor burns on her exposed skin. They'd sting like hell, of course, but it wasn't anything truly crippling. Thanking her lucky stars for that bit of good fortune, the young Huntress turned to look at her team's handiwork: a gaping hole, wide enough for a whole squad to pass through.

"Well. I guess that worked as well as it could have.

Spoiler: OOC

Claire's taken a Mild Consequence. She now has the aspect 'Singed'.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

(( Amber ))​

Not long after she had made a small breach in the wall had Jade joined her.

"Okay Team JADE! Let's take this castle!"

Amber grinned at that, and instantly took a place just behind her leader, holding off any Lodestar defenders that had poured out of the breach she made from overwhelming either of them. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jin quickly move over to the breach she made and wedge something into the gaps of the stone.

It took her a moment to realize just what she was doing: Those were Dust Crystals that she was shoving into the wall. And with enough Aura, any form of Dust tended to violently explode. So that meant...

She whirled around to find where Matt was, even as four of the defenders started to move in on her. Given what he told her about his Semblance, he could probably use it to channel his Aura through the earth and stone to--

The explosion interrupted any thoughts she had at that point, catching her largely off-guard, though she managed to throw her arms up in time to protect her face. The four defenders weren't so lucky, however, with the flames and debris catching them. Despite her best efforts, however, she still managed to get set on fire here and there, and she hastily patted out the flames, particularly the flames that had caught on her bangs.

As the Dust settled, however, it looked like Jin and Claire had gotten caught in the explosion themselves, though Jade looked none the worse for wear.

"Well. I guess that worked as well as it could have."

"Hey! Jin, Matt! Just because that's 'friendly' fire doesn't make it hurt any less! Be more careful next time!" she shouted as she wrapped an arm around the least-injured defender's neck and squeezed hard enough to break bone.

Spoiler: Out of Character

Amber takes a Mild Consequence. Aspect: Singed.

 

[Redryhno]

Di had prepared her second assault on the walls, patta at the ready, when she instinctively jumped away from the wall that immediately was blown apart. Stone and human alike were thrown asunder and a hole large enough for everyone on their sibling teams to get through. She may not have approved of the needless destruction, but Jin and Matt were quite powerful with their Semblances in unison, something she'd have to remember for the future.

"Well. I guess that worked as well as it could have."

"I would hope so! You just blew a hole in Lodestar's wall!"

Positioning herself quickly, she dived through the hole in the wall before the rest, patta raised to defend herself.

 

[Arcanist]

"Hey! Jin, Matt! Just because that's 'friendly' fire doesn't make it hurt any less! Be more careful next time!"

Even as far as he was from the explosion, Amber's voice seemed distant and tinny, as Matt's ears were ringing a little bit from its aftermath. In hindsight, he and Jin may have overdone it a little bit, a conclusion supported by the sooty, singed appearances of the rest of his team. He couldn't fault the results, though - an enormous hole large enough to march an entire battalion through had been torn open in Lodestar's walls, a pillar of smoke and dust rising from a huge crater. Its defenders scrambled to assess the damage and shore up this literal gaping hole in their defenses.

With his task done, at least for the moment, Matt took a moment to assess the battle raging around him, and... it wasn't good. Another salvo of Dust-empowered blasts shook the field around him, striking soldiers both human and Faunus alike. Xuan Ba's soldiers were scattered, their lines starting to break - even with this newfound breach in their defenses, at this rate it would only be a matter of time before Lodestar's defenders completely collapsed their lines.

However... as far as Matt could see, Xuan Ba's army still looked to outnumber Lodestar's defenders by a hefty margin. If they pulled back, regrouped...

A great roaring sound, like that of a bull charging, echoed over the battlefield. Matt's head snapped in the direction of the sound's source to see a Faunus wearing ceremonial armor blowing a large, ornate horn - and as he blew it again, garnering the attention of yet more of Xuan Ba's troops, Matt quickly noticed they appeared to be backing off - retreating.

For now, at least.

"Team MJSC, let's get outta here! I don't want to be up alone against every soldier in Lodestar!" he called out, before turning to obey the apparent order to fall back.

 

[Pappytech]

"Team MJSC, let's get outta here! I don't want to be up alone against every soldier in Lodestar!"

Claire straightened up as her leader's orders echoed across the battlefield. Jeez, for such a soft spoken guy, Matt really had a good pair of lungs when he decided to use them.

Though her burns still stung, the young Huntress took a second to evaluate the situation for herself, and the results were a tad disheartening. Sure, Matt and Jin had managed to put a significant hole in the makeshift ramparts, but Lodestar's defenders were doing their best to regain control of the fight. Blasts of Dust and Aura were raining down on the ground combatants, striking Faunus and humans alike without distinction. Trying to advance through that, even with a clear goal in mind, would lead to a lot of casualties.

Yeah, Matt was right abut falling back. How'd the saying go? Something something, better part of valor. It certainly applied.

Half-hobbling, Claire dashed through the rain of Dust over to Jin. Had things been less intense, she might've had a few choice words about executing helpless people, but this wasn't really the time or place. Besides, in the end, they were just illusions, albeit very convincing ones.

"Come on, Jin," Claire began, prodding the dragon Faunus with the blunt end of her spear. "Time for us to fall back." Then, keeping an eye on the chaos behind her, the young woman took off after the rest of the retreating Faunus, dodging out of the way of a few errant Dust attacks. She'd figure out what to do after joining back up with Matt and Mr. Zaan.

 

[Deu Sex]

"Hey! Jin, Matt! Just because that's 'friendly' fire doesn't make it hurt any less! Be more careful next time!"

Jin looked back to Amber after finishing off the illusionary soldier with a flame burst. "Apologies. The explosion's potency exceeded my expectations. Though in the case of this siege, that will prove more beneficial than detrimental for us."

As the battle raged on, defenders rushed in to cover the breach while Dust projectiles continued to scythe through the Faunus army. Eventually a horn blew and the attacks began to fall back.

"Team MJSC, let's get outta here! I don't want to be up alone against every soldier in Lodestar!"

Jin was reluctant to obey. To her, it seemed better to strike while the iron was hot. Overrun breach before Lodestar's soldiers managed to fill it in. Closing distance with them would also reduce the effectiveness of their ranged Dust attacks. Suddenly though, she felt something prod her side. She turned to see Claire.

"Come on, Jin. Time for us to fall back."

"Hmph. Fine." she replied to her friend. She snatched up another Dust crystal from a slain soldier before rushing back to regroup with the rest of their forces.

As she headed back, Jin weaved her way past the other soldiers and towards Schwarz. She'd noticed that while the Zaan had come along with the others, he hadn't taken part in the fighting itself while the rest of Teams MJSC and JADE had stormed the breach. She wasn't sure why her team member was being reluctant to participate, but perhaps some vocal prodding would provoke him into action.

"After we regroup, I do hope you intend to join us in spearheading the second assault. Or is the noble Zaan prince scared of fighting a few ghostly warriors?"

 

[EmperorZuma]

"Team MJSC, let's get outta here! I don't want to be up alone against every soldier in Lodestar!"

"First sensible thing you've done today..." Schwarz muttered to himself as he quickly joined in the retreat. He was almost tempted to do something to cut off a small band of the retreating forces, leaving them to fall at the hands of the Lodestar defense and weaken the Faunus force as a whole. However, he decided against it, seeing as how doing so would probably rub up against the professor's "grand plan" in such a way he would render Schwarz simply unable to even try.

Instead, he did as was commanded by the leader, getting back together with the team during the withdrawal. However, before he could get a word in edgewise, the constant thorn in his side decided it was a good time to twist itself.

"After we regroup, I do hope you intend to join us in spearheading the second assault. Or is the noble Zaan prince scared of fighting a few ghostly warriors?"

He looked at her with a snarl of disgust that was even deeper than usual. "My ancestors fought in this battle. It would be a disgrace to the very core of my being if I were to kill one of them, even if they are illusions." He then turned to Matt, his disgust somewhat softening into one of confusion. "I have reservations against wanton slaughter of my own kind, regardless of some instructor's intent."

 

[hiei82]

"Team MJSC, let's get outta here! I don't want to be up alone against every soldier in Lodestar!"

Jade heard the horns and caught the movement to retreat as well. How could she not what with the giant ears. Jade didn't like the idea of retreating so easily after all their hard work but without the army all the enemies would be focused on the stragglers. She was pretty sure the historical recreation was safe, but she didn't want to be the one to test that theory either.

"Team JADE! Full Withdraw!" Jade yelled out, backing away slowly while covering the recovery and retreat of her teammates. She quickly burned through her remaining stock of arrows as the group made it's escape. For a moment, she thought she saw Rufus on one of the walls sneering at them but dismissed it out of a belief that it was probably just an illusion. Well, she dismissed it after firing an arrow at the "illusion" just in case.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

(( Amber ))​

As Jin called out an apology for going overboard in her pyrotechnics, Amber merely snorted as she lashed her whip around the throat of one of the defenders attempting to pour out of the much-larger gap in the wall. As it was, she couldn't exactly blame them for being overzealous. Still, having fire just centimeter's away from one's eyes tended to be a little uncomfortable to say the least.

Another round of Dust explosions rocked the ground around her before she heard the bellow of a war horn behind her, and she spared a glance backward at the rest of the Faunus forces. She spotted the ceremonial armor, and as the Faunus blew the horn again, it was pretty clear they were sounding a retreat. Both Matt and Jade confirmed it.

"Team MJSC, let's get outta here! I don't want to be up alone against every soldier in Lodestar!"

"Team JADE! Full Withdraw!"

With a grimace, Amber tossed the soldier at the end of her whip aside before calling out to Di and Elva.

"Let's go girls! We don't want to be here when the rest of those pricks start a charge!" she shouted, before turning to follow quickly behind Jade.

But she did make sure she was behind, keeping an eye for any vanguards among the Lodestar forces, trying to cut off their retreat.