Crowned Duel of Honor...

Rumors of war proceed apace. There are Palace Land adventurer's coming. There have been attacks, there was even an unfortunate slime massacre. The evening is quiet, and the lights of Shibuya glow in the distance. The animals are oddly quiet and there is something of a menacing feeling in the air as one travels through the trees.

Rumors, and rumors of slime-murders most foul, might mean something to someone who is hooked into the currents of gossip that flow through the lands.

Robert is not. He should be, but as of late he has been somewhat lax when it comes to information gathering. Why? Who knows. He certainly is not visibly inclined towards rectifying this deficiency. Instead he can be found tucked into the shadow of a large tree, leaning against its trunk with eyes closed. Occasionally the dim glow of air magic sparks at his fingertips before winking out.

    An ominous feeling descends over the dark trees and several arrows find their way into the tree that Robert is leaning against with a rapid series of threatening 'thunk' sounds. And then a deep masculine voice calls out. "In the name of Potimas Harrifenas. We have come to save the people of the land from your arrogance and hubris. We shall judge you and put you in your place Adventurer. Never again will the tragedy of Filimøs be repeated."

    Figures rise from the underbrush, each man and woman dressed in matching colors though their armor and equipment varies by class and level, save that each has a metallic band set with a crystal in the front resting upon their brow. "Shall we simply send you to your church, or do you have the fortitude to face trial by combat?"

SpritesHero visibly twitches, and one eye slides open. He manages to look very, very, slightly annoyed. For the spell he was working on was, in point of fact, a detection spell.

Spoiler alert. It doesn't work.

There's a brief pulse of movement as he pushes off from his support to take a single step forward. Annoyance shifts into mild confusion, but his hand nonetheless settles upon the hilt of the sword that hangs at his side. "No clue what you're talking about, but you are asking for a fight, yes?" he suggests.

    The voice answers "If you wish to break it down to such a base level, that is what trial by combat entails." the squad of soldiers spread out forming a ring, alternating bows and spears to create something of a fighting ring, and then a smaller more feminine voice comes from behind the large man who has been speaking. "You will face me, and you will be judged." she says, the large man joining the circling squad of crowned. The open end of the 'ring' contains just the plain androgynous form and a large boulder. "Shall we then dispense with words and move on to the slaughter?" she asks though she doesn't seem to be wearing or wielding any weapons, instead a small hanko is gripped in her left hand with a soft blue glow coming from the stamp face.

SpritesHero blinks once, twice. His gaze lifts, surveying the circle in general before returning to the smaller owner of the more feminine voice. The confusion only deepens at this point. Silence reigns for one, two, three breaths, and then he sighs, lifting his hand off the sword at his waist. The hand rubs at his forehead, half covering his eyes, his free arm circling around the front of his own ribs. "Uh. Right," he states at last, schooling his features into a poor mockery of royal dignity. "I accept your challenge. No more words. Let our blades speak for our hearts." He checks sidelong with a guard. How's he doing? Properly dramatic, yes?

The androgynous figure nods at Robert's speach as if it were the more normal and natural way to speak. She bows. "I am Haechi of Thor. Tell your compatriots that we are coming to restore the natural order when you awaken in your church." And then the boulder behind her stands, uncurling, unfolding, sharp ridges of stone resolving themselves into a somewhat humanoid figure over ten feet tall. The massive creature looks like an unholy amalgamation of a humanoid, crab, and sharp lava rock. It produces a massive scythe made of the same stone as its carapace.

SpritesHero levels his gaze at Haechi. He kneels, grasps a stout stick from the ground, lifts it to his forehead and swishes it to the side in a duelist's salute. "Geoffrey. Black knight of the Tower Dolorous," he intones, adopting a fighting stance. The footwork is credible. Well-practiced even. The "sword"? Not so much. "Make peace with thy maker, for thou wilt meet him anon."

So far, so good! At least until the massive crab lava-rock critter appears. To which Bob only has one thing to say.

"Uh."

Well, maybe a bit more to say. "Craven knight! Thou consortest with sorcery!"

    Haechi looks incredulously at the stick, perhaps he's a druid? Her expression is confused but she tips her wrist, the face of the hanko flaring red, and a stamped mark on the creature's shell flares an equal red, green energies flowing up into it as the girl speaks the words of a spell. "Attack." She says, a simple command, the monster takes several large steps forward before swinging it's weapon in a massive overhand strike intended to simply crush the Adventurer.

SpritesHero heaves a sigh as Haechi's creation rumbles its way towards him. Indeed, his expression can only be one of beleaguered resignation. He has precious few moments to scout out his approach. Certainly, that oncoming juggernaut is not going to be hitting lightly. On the other hand, beating up on a juggernaut isn't likely to get the kid to lay off. There's a compression of his lips, a tensing of his expression. Lightning-quick, the ground shifts, launching him past the summon and towards Haechi. It's not entirely successful. He gets clipped en route, but the positioning is a bit better. Upon landing, he charges.

Haechi's monster appears to be lighter on its feet than you would expect from some monstrous crab-man, performing something of a pirouette before slamming one foot down creating a localized quake. The trees shiver and leaves drift down even as the monster brings it's weapon down in another massive strike towards Robert. Threatening the small woman ? young man? Adventurer, seems to anger the creature even as Haechi moves the chop causing the face to glow a darker more bloody red, the mark on the beast matching in hue.

Who taught big-and-ugly ballet? Robert is not appreciative. Well, he is...in a cosmic sense...but it's somewhat harder to ignore the fact that he's the one on the receiving end of said balletic grace.

His charge is interrupted as the ground shifts, resumed with a cracking of air, and re-interrupted by the blow that suddenly lands. Nonetheless, he does arrive near Haechi, groggy and seeing double, but still in a position to do...well, something. There's a quick series of three stabs with his stick (half-hearted and, if one were to be honest, a bit more slappy than stabby), followed by a blazing orb of fire that blasts upwards from point blank range. It's calculated to miss and hit the forest. But hey, Robert's aim is a bit off at this point.

    Haechi does not seem to have been unprepared, a shield flaring to life around the Adventurer as the strikes come in from the stick. The woman? Now that he's close Robert can see she's a slightly built woman with a fair amount of muscle for such a small frame, is protected from those strikes, but given his odd actions she isn't exactly expecting a point blank fireball which blows away the remaining shield and a chunk of hitpoints.

    Haechi growls out "The Mountain Falls." the head of her hanko glowing green, and the sound of the creature's footsteps get heavier, if that is possible, than when it was shaking the earth. And then it swings that massive weapon, which seems to have grown, layers of stone having grown over the weapon even as the monster's strength was boosted to compensate.

It took long enough. Not a child's musculature. Not a child's manner. And now that they're face-to-face...clearly not some rich noble's spoiled brat. Robert freezes, for an ill-fated moment, and is abruptly clobbered in the back.

No doubt he is seeing stars. But the play-acting from before vanishes in a flash. The branch drops from his side with a hollow clatter, the dagger drawn from his belt glints in the moonlight. Features twisting, he utters a snarled, garbled incantation. Darkness flows into the ground, pooling at Haechi's feet before resolving into thorned vines, and as he lunges forward his knife slashes upwards, hard. A blinding shot which, if successful, may buy him the space he needs to slide through the fireball-assisted escape route.

    Haechi sees the change in Robert, she's used to being underestimated and a new shield snaps into place around her, working to keep those cursed vines away from her flesh. The blade snapping out and adding a bleed effect to her just before the shield completes it's closing. The young woman growls out another invocation, the color of her hanko changing again to more of a blood red hue. "Come to my call, spawn of the crawling stone." and she is answered by small knee heigh versions of the great monster she commands rushing to try and grip and bind Robert's legs, while others of their same ilk fling small shards of razor obsidian at the Yamotian.

SpritesHero resists the temptation--and risk--of a parting boot to the backside. Instead there is simply a swish and the singing of metal being struck as his sword--real this time, not a branch--swats Haechi's shards aside. There's a momentary pause during which his gaze settles upon her, and then he's gone on a slick stream of water that carries him out through his fireball's smoldering foliage. Steam hisses, its clouds obscuring the path of escape. No final taunts. No hissed threats. No promises of vengeance. He's not sticking around.

Not even for his inner chuunibyou.

    Haechi stares as her little crab monsters... and giant crab monster, just don't have the speed to keep up, as soon as Robert breaks through the line arrows are loosed, flying through the steam and smoke after the Adventurer. "Coward! Flee! Take word then, we come, we come to ensure that the wrongs of the past do not come again, we will not let you destroy our lands and bring your doom to us!" the girl continues screaming for some time though Robert loses the rest as he swishes away on his water stream.