Shoot out at the Tower Entrance

The tower entrance is a whole lot of hustle and bustle. People coming and going and now it's a security checkpoint as well. So what happens when you have a checkpoint where everyone has to stop and be checked for any weapons or contrabands or anything like that? Well you get the ultimate time wasting mechanic, a line.

    So now here waiting to get in there is a line of people standing in the mid summer day heat getting cranky. A good mixture of Landers and Adventurers is interlaced in the line and it seems that all the trouble with the line is due to one guy at the front of the line. There is a Cait Sith with a cowboy hat on arguing with the guard. "No I will not take off my hat! I inherited this hat from my Grand.. No wait? you can't just." There is apparently a scuffle and then the words go out. "He has a CROWN!" The word is shouted and people start to panic as throughout the line a couple of the other adventurers wearing cowboy hats all take off their hat to show a metal loop around their head with a single crystal.

     The poor guy who shouted about a crown ends up with a crossbow bolt in his leg as Shirin shakes his head, "It would have been in your best interest for you to just be respectful and let me and my friends in. Now we will have to do this the hard way."

    It appears the crown have come to climb the tower.

Kita has taken it upon herself to usually be at the checkpoint. In fact, she'd been doing sketches and taking notes about the arrivals, trying to make sure that what limited resources Scale Emblem has to offer are given to the refugees that need it. In fact, she has acted a bit as a 'guardian angel' to those who have no place else to go, after her own experiences fleeing from Ezzo.

When the Crowned make their appearance, though, she is one of the first to get to their feet. The Imp's tail whips behind her, but there is no time for her to chimlink for outside help before combat aggression is initiated. She isn't one to curse under most circumstances, but the temptation is there. The mage is on her feet in an instant, looking towards the enemy.

"Protect the refugees!" She calls out, even as her anger is turned towards the enemy combatants. "These people have been through enough." Weaving her hands in the air, dark magic drips along her fingertips before summoning circles begin to form just in front of Shirin and his posse. Up from the ground emerge a pair of prehistoric raptors. The dinosaurs snap their jaws and begin to pounce, Jurassic Park style, on the enemy crowned.

It really was only a matter of time until they came knocking on the Scale Emblem's door.

The Alliance of Yamato's most obsessive raiders and hardcore clearers have enjoyed relative peace within the protective walls of Aincrad Tower. The sanctuary promised by Tolbana and Karluin, and to a lesser extent Alne, have seen a continuous flow of refugees from Eas and elsewhere in Yamato, stretching the Alliance's ability to provide for those under its aegis to hitherto unseen limits.

It really was only a matter of time.

But this is why the Scale took such measures to secure their home away from home. This is why this checkpoint exists, why the Scale has stockpiled arms and armor, and why...

Why is it that the once clear blue sky has suddenly taken up such a terribly ominous hue?

"Lightning," an ice-cold voice growls from further up the stairwell. A staff held high gathers a catastrophic arc of coruscating electricity, then swings down to unleash it in a torrent of white-hot skyfire upon the Crowned. "It was only a matter of time, wasn't it, thralls of the Palace Lands? You've made a mistake, coming here."

The Doctor of Tolbana tilts back his broad-rimmed hat, blood-red eyes shining with rage. This had been one of his frequent visits to the checkpoint, the doctor himself spearheading emergency medical services among the refugees. Now, though, he can only thank the gods for giving him the opportunity. "You heard Kita. Protect the refugees. Capture the Crowned if you can. If you can't, then do what you must and know that it's a mercy."

Schneider had been assigned to Tower Guard duty today, but has not come on shift or been briefed yet what sort of things to be wary of. The shout about people with crowns, for instance, doesn't raise his concern just from the words, but the scuffle and shouting and panic -do- concern him and he will rush over to see what's going on.

What he sees is a bit confusing, but clearly his allies are all attacking those guys there with the metal head-loops, and Schneider is not one to be left out of a scuffle. But it took him a moment to work out what's going on, he needs a fast spell to get into the fray. "Slayer-Slayer Baromono! Lightning of Darkness!" he says, gathering magical power. He extends one arm, palm out, and concludes, "Marubolt!"

A javelin of raw magical energy surges out and into the group of Crowned with a sizzling zap, and someone's down a chunk of HP. It's normally a much longer-ranged spell, so it strikes almost the moment it gets cast, leaving Schnieder in the Stop In The Name of Love pose for a moment before he adopts a wary expression, ready to cast again.

    Fukaziroh isn't one to say I told you so...

    Actually she is. She really kind of is. She thought it was entirely possible the Crowned would try to sneak into the root cities and do something sneaky. Those sneaky people. She did NOT, however, expect it in the Tower of all places. She probably should have.

    She spends most of her time in and around here, coordinating and assisting with refugees, aiding SEA with their works to set up supply storages within the tower itself. More doing advisory work than actually getting her hands dirty with construction admittedly, but she does what she can.

    It was happenstance that she was nearby when the cry for help went up. She glances at Haru, then shrugs. Not really any point asking him what he intends to do, no more than is it important to ask Fuka what she intends. It's pretty obvious. She charges.

    While in a situation like this Fuka would usually open up with a big flashy spell, there are too many innocents around. Instead she goes discreet. Well, discreet for Fuka. This involves waving a huge axe around and getting right up in the faces of the attackers, forcing them to fight through her if they want to get to the innocent citizens. "On it!" she yells to Kita. "Oh hey are those raptors? COOL!" she adds, while her axe descends in a vicious arc. "Did I..." *WHACK* "... hear something ..." *WHACK* "... about the hard way? I love it hard!" *WHACK*

    She might not have meant that the way it sounds. Then again maybe she did.

Gwen had deliveries to do, various things ordered by SEA guldies. Sure she had her issues but she wouldn't say no to good coin right? So here she was making ready to deliver. She had a lot to think about with what the uncrowned warned them about. When she catches sight of the Crowned her eyes narroew. One she's not in bikini this time. Nay she's in plate today as she move to ready her weapons.

"Sonic Lunge!"

Gwen will speed towards the Lead Palace Lander.

"Get the wounded clear!"

Being around here is helpful to find materials and assist the refugees alongside Fuka. No shortage of stuff to do! His angle at the moment is a bit material, almost merchantile, as the Artificer has a small fire crystal sliver the size of a pinky finger. He is running his hand alongside it to feel the vibrations it produces when feed enchantment energies. Kind of like how someone may run their finger over a glass of water. Its curious. Of course he almost drops it when people start shouting. Its a juggling act of tapping it up into the air. Again. Almost. No. Yes. He catches it.

"A surprise encounter," Haru says to Fuka with the glance. A hand taps to his monocle as he looks forward to sweep out the area with tinted vision. A scouter, perhaps! No, its used for more precision. He isn't in the fore, being in back ranks a fair bit behind the reinforcements rush. "Refugees?" he asks in response to the Kita and Proph directives. "Don't have to ask me twice," as thats what he typically does, or has the last Crown encounters, with Enchantment debuffs usually. It keep the civilian pain count down.

Haru holds onto his casting orb as it turns black as as ink. Swirly grey mist flows out as rings appear on each word of the chant. "Tenebris. Fluctus. Hostilis." The smoke whips out in waves against the hostiles, debuffing them with a coughing mist and buying time in delaying strikes that could land on friends of civvies.

The crowned begin to go to work causing quite a ruckus. A lot of flashy loud magic is thrown in the air , as if they were trying to start a panic and it seems to be working as people begin trying to run in all different directions. However then the heroic adventurers arise to stop the evil crown and the presence of the heors lead to the panic dying down and some even staying to spectate.

One of the larger crowned members of Shirin's Posse is suddenly surrounded by raptors of all things. As the big guy tries to brush them off Shirin just looks towards Kita, "Clever girl." Lowering his hat he gets ready to start shooting when lightning begins to rain down upon them.

The lightning that has begun to rain down causes the Crowned to scatter and take cover , this sends one of the crowned minions right into Schneider's bolt of magic and gets knocked off their feet. Another ducks around the corner and takes it hard from Fukaziroh's ax.

Gwen's attack does indeed reach a crowned but not her intended target as a female human seems to have gotten in her way taking the hit for her boss. The crowned human looks Gwen in the eye before she has to back down and starts coughing due to Haru's smoke. Shirin himself is covering his face trying to stop from breathing to much of the smoke in but seems to be coughing as well. The heroic adventurers have absolutely started the party with a bang.

Despite all this though, the crowned rise to their feet as they all draw their crossbows , some hand sized like Shirin's, others closer to the normal size one might suspect. Then Shirin's voice echos loudly," The Queen has declared that the adventurer cities in the tower must be razed. We shall not stop until we have done as the Queen wishes!" With a loud declaration the other crowned raise their weapon and shout in unison, "FOR THE QUEEN!" Then the crossbow bolts of light begin to arc about trying to put some holes in the so called heroes armor.

Another lash of Kita's tail shows her irritation, though she can't help but smirk slightly, her lip lifting on the side. The girl has a distinct scar there, something that usually doesn't come with randomly generated avatars. Despite being a user of dark magic, Kita isn't particularly weak against light when it is used against her.

She makes another series of hand motions, tracing out a protective rune in the air. Which... summons up a very surprised looking Dilophosaur, who takes one of the bolts immediately to the chest and bursts into pixels. "Sorry about that, but better you than me." Sure, she takes some damage, but not nearly as much as if it had struck her directly.

Then, of course, Shirin goes and says the 'magic words'. The thing that is likely to set off someone who considers themselves a guardian of Tolbana. He threatens the place hat has become her home. "I don't think so." She draws her hand against her spellbook, pulling out what looks like crackling dark energy which flows around her fingers before slinging it right towards Shirin this time.

Afterall, he is the one that opened his mouth and spouted those threats. Where the sphere of dark energy explodes, all within start to see nightmareish visions while the darkness within does slow damage over time. For Shirin... it's quite possible he sees some choice things being done to his 'Queen'.

Schneider is hard to hit with the magic in that hat he made. It's not that he's fast or agile, he just seems to have a masterful sense of where to be that is not in the way of attacks. It's too bad it doesn't last longer, but for the moment, he's well clear of the incoming crossbow bolts. "I've got something for your queen," he says, and this being Schneider, this could mean almost anything. Famously, he got around, at least in his source material.

Here, though, he seems to simply mean it's time for the Burn Everything Phase, and he casts, "Crimson blood, Slaying summoning of Graves, Zul-art Jodorti, Adaryl!" He gestures at his targets and concludes, "DEF LEPPARD" Clearly, this is not going to be a simple battle, but Schneider is going hard from the get-go. Where others use lightning or dinosaurs, he's staying with the old reliable FIRE. Good grief that's an awful lot of fire.

    Fuka hears Proph's orders and intends to try. They may be requests to some, but this is a war and Prophylaxis is a leader Fuka actually respects, so she'll treat his requests accordingly. She isn't sure they CAN take prisoners though, and the refugees are a much higher priority to her. She'll worry about the possibility of taking prisoners when they're beaten within an inch of their lives and reaching for their suicide pills or whatever it is they're likely to use. She'll happily keep an eye out for such actions and thwart them with excessive force. Which is sometimes just enough force, of course.

    Still she's going to try. So instead of attempting to cleave an attacker clean through from head to toe, she channels artes instead. She slams her axe down, making sure it's easy enough to block, and steps in when the attack is 'spoiled', unleashing a charge of lightning magic with her touch instead.

    "In THIS town, we use the tazers on the cops!" Fuka cries out, hoping to see her foe twitch and fall. Then again, even if he doesn't fall, he's going to have a much harder time attacking for a bit.

Gwen didn't want to go to war, she wanted to slay monsters that threatned the people of the land, explore and do fashion. To make thing but it seems the noblity of the Palace Lands had other ideas what they did to the Adventurers of the Palace Lands and their plans here? She was not about to let them do it.

"Do your slave masters have any idea what they will bring upon themselves? I wanted to be left alone to slay monsters to explore...."

She reign in something far more savage and will trigger a Divine shield to protect herself from the attack.

She then launches herself again wondering what kind of power the Crowned have as she laucnhes another sword art.

"GALE OF SWORDS!"

Thus commeth the wind elemental sword strikes but will it be enough?

There are very, VERY few words that could more quickly set Prophylaxis on edge than the ones Shirin decided to use. "If your queen wants to try her luck, she can damn well come here so I can fillet her myself," the doctor answers, in spite of having absolutely zero melee and cooking proficiency.

Thankfully, he can still use scalpels just fine.

Bolts of light crash into the magus of the tower and... smash harmlessly against his hardened flesh. A stoneskin buff ticks down to zero as the doctor steps out from the roiling nova of light, his staff carving a long arc across the earth. Phantasmal vines leap out of the wounded stone, snaking around limbs and coiling up throats. "Thorn Bind is online," Prophylaxis asides to the others, "Exploit it ruthlessly, if you would kindly."

Beat.

He squints Kita-ward for a moment, "...Have you always used dinosaurs and I just failed to notice all this time?"

Wave Artes are blasting all over the place as are skilled Sword Artes. The silvery band around Haru's monocle has ray traces going around it. A relic. Maybe it is a scouter. "I have a lock," Haru says out, settling on Shirin and the crown on his head. "Will need cover for this."

He isn't sure if anyone is going to give him any. Fuka, hopefully, although he isn't articulating the plan well because, well, if he did the enemy could evade it very easily. Just have to trust that he knows what he is doing. Like how cloth based caster classes like Enchanters should stay in the back, especially when there is crossbolt fi-- what is Haru doing? The blue eyed man runs in like a ninja, arms out with lightning steps blink-crackling him forward away from salvo after salvo. In to close the gap with Shirin. Full speed, not stopping.

The monocle begins having circular lines form on the lens, locking on to something or someone. "Got you," he says when his voice is mixed with the wind and whisper in arms length of Shirin, the Crowned who has pretty good fashion sense. The slack and jacket wearing Haru approves. It is his hand that is glowing for an unarmed strike as he leaps in at up. Flaming uppercut? Shoryuken? No. His feet are not planted at all, its a leap forward, a twist in the air and going for the crown. "Revelare," he says, the monocle lighting up in a bright purple light as he touches it. Appraises it. Gets the data he can through his Relic. Practically can see the download bar processing in the fractions of the moment he goes for it. Will it be useful? Unknown.

    As the bolts of light shoot around like someone forgot this was a fantasy setting game it would appear that Shirin struck a nerve. Shirin is caught in the void of the nightmare sphere, meanwhile his fellow crowned associates have there own trouble to deal with.

First everyone of Shirin's associates currently here have seemed to gone out and got some really cool thorn based accessory courtesy of the local doctor. Then that poor big guy who was having to cope with being eaten by raptors now has to deal with being tazed by Fukaziroh as his body twitches and seems to do a little dance before the big guy falls to one knee.

At the same time Schneider seems to be roasting one of the poor crowned people alive and Gwen appears to have caught her opponent in a mess of sword play that from an outside view just looks like a vortex of sword slashes. While all this is happening Haru is able to get over to Fukaziroh's target and take advantage of the momentary stun, but Haru doesn't get enough time to get anything more then the name of the big guy, 'Ruo'.

With a sudden push Ruo , Shirin, all the others manage to push forward and regroup with one another almost as if they were some sentai group.

The thorns have all broken and damage has been done, not a single Crowned looks like they are doing ok. In fact they look angry and while Shirin seems to be standing strong one or two seem to be rubbing their head. Finally Shirin speaks up, "It's time. For the Queen, for the Land." The four associates of Shirin each produce a potion and drink it.

There is a strong surge of magical energy around each of them as they raise their crossbows and once again fire beams of light, this time much larger. On the other hand though their health bars are rapidly decreasing, infact at this rate one good hit will likely end one of the associates. Shirin does appear to have hesitated taking his potion for the moment though.

The black mage gives a strange look, glancing briefly over at Prophylaxis, obviously picking up on some chimlink chatter. "Yes? Though I don't use summons as much as my regular dark magic." She sounds a bit confused at this, but shrugs her shoulders.

That is when everyhting gets a little more tense. The enemy drinks those potions and more spell arrows get launched their way. Enough so that Kita has to call up a more powerful shielding ability, surrounding herself with a flickering aura of darkness that seems to ward them away, but only just barely.

Her head tilts, obviously hearing more over the raid chimlink, her eyes narrowing as she pushes her glasses up on her nose. "Fine." She mutters, obviously having to change plans at the last moment. The mage flips through her spellbook, opening to a page near the end where her custom spells are stored.

Forming her hands into a circle, Kita summons up a huge sphere of dark energy. It almost looks like she is casting Nightmare Sphere again, but this one seems to float in the air before she gives a sound of effort, blasting it towards Shirin and his men. Halfway to the target, it explodes into glass-like shards of dark magic which whip towards them at high speeds.

    Wait, potions? Are they killing themselves that quickly? Fukaziroh hesitates, realizing only too late that these aren't lethal poison taken to deny capture, but a fresh offensive. Or, not JUST poison. Judging by their expressions at the least, those potions HURT even as they provide a rather ludicrous surge of power.

    She sets up to continue the battle, hoping to do as Prophylaxis suggests and take advantage of an opening. Lightning doesn't risk the ice, so she feels safe firing off a bolt in the hopes of damaging or disrupting her enemy. Unfortunately for her she's shot with a light crossbow. No, a Light crossbow. "Wow, that's..." is all she gets out before she's blasted, crying out as she collapses to the street.

    She's tough however, the mighty battle fairy. Rising up halfway to her feet, propping herself with one hand, she draws in power and blasts out with a lightning bolt. One that is turned aside by the aura of power the Palace Landers are putting out.

Schneider sweeps his glittering cape, tacky as it is, up in place to cover behind it, and the scales flicker as they deflect the light and the attacks, scintillating into a tasteless display. Liberace would be proud. But what drops, drops, and it's way too useful to not use! When the attack has been weathered, he sweeps the cape down dramatically, and pauses for a discussion on the raid chim, finally sighing and wading into the melee.

He's not as effective there, though as long as fire is involved he's adequate, he will roust out the low HP minions with a blazing sword, smashing and burning them with malice aforethought. They'll just have to suck it up. But it seems that the firey sword is pretty decent, if not nearly as devastating as his big boom spells.

Gwen is pretty much in the thick of things. She knows they likely will have who knows what sort of gear. Given they are slaves of the various Lander Kingdoms in the Palace Lands. She is very concerne about what they might have up their sleeves. The big magical wave motion crossbows come into play and Gwen just take it in stride.

She's eyeing the potion and is fforce to pop full on Anchor Howl to deal with the Crossbows. As the winds about her body seem to die down she starts chanting.

"THUNDER BREAK!"

She starts with the lighting bolts going for both Shirin and his companions.

Look, Prophylaxis doesn't always have the mental bandwidth to know exactly where the various dinosaurs scrabbling across the battlefield are coming from. Though he must admit that dinosaurs are specifically a strange thing to miss, but at least he owns up to it!!

Besides, there are more important things occupying his brainspace at the moment.

Strange potions pop out of various inventories, and four of the five Palace Landers swiftly imbibe...

But the *effects* of those potions are something that chills the doctor to the very core.

"You... You damn fools! You suicidal morons!" Prophylaxis roars, a wave of withering frost racing outward, cutting through the warmth of summer like a scythe through wheat. Rime clings to the doctor's paling cheeks, his breath frosts on his blue lips, and yet his teeth do not even so much as rattle, "Spirit of Winter! Stand with me! I offer myself to thee! Inexorable winter, Lady of Frost! Let all those who stand before us wither before our united might!"

The doctor strikes the earth with his staff. Shirin's arm-- the one with which he holds that potion...

Suddenly freezes solid, seized by a sort of cold that could only be described as unnatural.

"Were you always this foolish," the doctor growls, furious, "Or did that queen of yours squeeze your brains out of your skulls when she placed those crowns upon your head!?"

It was a gamble to get this close and it shows in Haru's blue eye. It flicks over to Fuka's electrical support with a nod. Wouldn't have gotten this far without it. The Artificer rolls onto his feet. His position is over-extended and he needs to make his way back to the friendly lines. Making his way back is going to hurt. He knew that was part of the cost when he stepped up to the table to throw the dice. "Thanks," he says as he gets a distance away. The whole gratitude thing gets shortened by the Palace Landers drinking Space Marine Stims that causes him to slowly head turn.

"Well thats," the white haired Enchanter begins as the bolts come forth with greater fury. The next word would have been choice. Surprise. A quick draw of his hand coats his body with a thin glow of dark mist, like an aura of energy absorption, which only absorbs a part of the damage before he gets back to the lines. The Dark energy rolls into his orb again as he summons out his Dark Sprite, Eve, a small cat-monster that seems pissed that she was summoned in the middle of a missile barrage.

Too spread out to make it cover the whole battlefield, his Zone spell of Blindness. Best tactic Haru considers is to make the crossbowmen less accurate while their health self depletes. Let them flail offensively while eroding their vitality. "Tenebris. Cadit. Lunae Lumen. Oriri. Occultare." The first three parts of the chants cause a black mist to fall from his orb like a smoke machine at his feet. Eve, the sprite, stands in it. The final two words cause the mist to sweep out like a dark sea wave, coating the field with a thick fog. A pale moonlit center at the top gives soft illumination, giving the affected area a blacklight glow while afflicting the debuff.

    The bolts of light rip through the remnants of the line that once stood, on top of damaging those who stand against the Crowned. One particular item that gets damage is a covered wagon, and when it is hit it reveals that there is a family of spriggans curled up inside of it scared out of their mind. Another shot and these people may be in serious trouble.

    The lightning bolt of Fukaziroh's may look like it is going to be deflected but the lightning chains and strikes Ruo of all people as he falls to the ground, his hp status dropping down to 'Near Death'. His associate is in a similar situation as Schneiders fire drops him to the ground, again 'Near Death'. Gwen's lightning strikes strongly in the center of the group knocking two of the other associates to the ground , leaving only Shiring standing. The others are all 'Near Death', as they are covered by the dark mist of Haru's, covering the fallen completely.

    Shirin himself doesn't get to help much as his arm with the potion freezes over before the shards cast by Kita rip into him, paying particular focus to the arm itself. He tries to lift it or drop the potion or anything but can't manage it.

    As Shirin's friends fall around him it only leaves the lone Sheriff, his arm frozen and unusable he raises his crossbow and adjusts his hat with his free hand without disarming. " So be it, then I will fight you all myself. With one hand tied behind my back." Then the sheriff does something off putting he moves into melee range and begins to swing his limbs out as he strikes out a couple of times per each of his opponents before moving on. It is obvious he is suffering from this fight becoming five on one though.

    Struggling fully to her feet, Fuka glances about in the aftermath of that brutal attack. The Palace Landers were powerful, dangerous, but... if she didn't hallucinate it, their own potion's power didn't so much protect them as draw attacks in to strike them down in exchange for offense. So yeah, she doesn't want one of them any more thanks.

    She also spots the spriggan family. Now, she may actually have a bit of a weak spot for Spriggans, all considered, especially small cute ones. And the sight of them huddling there makes her abruptly decide she's going to stand in their path and not leap to the side to evade. She has armor, she has hit points, and she's willing to use both to protect others.

    She uses it well, in fact, standing her ground and readying her axe. "You got it." she replies to Prophylaxis. "Teach them a lesson, Prof!" she abruptly yells, launching herself forward with the power of air behind her, raising her weapon in an effort to cleave clean through the iced-over arm of the fanatical Crowned before her.

Seeing the family of Spriggans beneath the wagon is enough to ignite a protective fire in Kita. She had escaped Ezzo with many of Spriggans and helped them re-settle in Tolbana. Where the others seem to be dealing with Shirin and whatever is left of his people, Kita moves towards the Wagon. That, however, leaves her exposed to the incoming attack. Her health bar drops even as the blows strike home, her body seemingly freezing briefly in place.

This is where the past comes back to haunt her. Kita does not do well with people getting up into her space, especially when the attacks hit home just after. Her hands begin to shake as anxiety and stress ramp up. Even so, she's been in ETO long enough to contain most of it, standing protectively near the wagon.

"If... if you want them, you'll have to... have to go through me." Her voice breaks at points. The girl is obviously not so brave as she puts on. Still, she begins to weave more magic, drawing up a series of purple flames around her which she lashes out with, sending them towards Shirin, but only after Fukaziroh has had their chance at striking first.

Schneider is not quite used to the melee thing. He's a hybrid caster, but he doesn't do this part very much. When Shirin starts flailing, he throws up his bog-standard magic shield, which proves enough, though it takes some hard hits. Maybe it was a bit closer than he'd have liked, but it was enough.

He chims the raid channel, and finally, there's permission. Fire at will. No more need e said, of course, and dark energy gathers around Schneider like bad news about to happen to someone really hard. The incantation is menacing, "Brain, Brain dead. Obey your blood oath, come forth from the land of Avalon. Fire of Gehenna, become a fiery blast and burn everything around us!" He pauses dramatically, then extends his arm, pointing as he intones the final syllables, "EXODUS!"

He's concerned for the Landers, of course, but right now, his main concern is blasting the hell out of this villain. Roaring, intense flames engulf Shirin, hungry for HP. Ravenous.

Calling upon his connection to the Yuki-Onna does come with a few downsides. Her power is great, and when channelled can flash-freeze all but the hottest of foes. But it is at a cost. The doctor stands his ground when Shirin comes in a-swingin', not because he's brave or particularly durable, but because he actually cannot move fast enough at the moment to evade. His body flashes red at each point of impact, Shirin shattering a fine layer of frost that had been clinging to the doctor's body with each strike. "It would be wise for you to retreat," he answers, his breath turning to a cloud of glittering diamond dust as the temperature around him continues to drop, "But then, that ring around your head... Does not allow for such considerations, does it? Or were you this self-destructive even before then? Or perhaps..."

The doctor's eyes sharpen. He reaches out, trying to seize a hand around the cowboy's shoulder. "This is your way of crying out for help?"

His staff strikes the earth. A globe of howling, freezing wind and driving sleet suddenly materializes around the both of them, but Prophylaxis by now is used to this kind of cold. Shirin, however, might not be so familiar with being thrust into the middle of a freak localized blizzard.

Real talk for a minute. Know that health bar Haru has? Yeah. Its sad. Might need to start chugging healing potions like it is a Tavern crawl in Shibuya. His speed trick didn't serve him on the Crowned quite as well this time around, fast steps to dodge out of the melee damage coming up too slow and not great enough timing. Two steps back. Enchanters / Summoners not well known for that vitality. Status effects, however?

"How about a diamond edge there, Fuka," Haru says as his foot digs into the earth to conjure up Earth magic as it cracks in his hand like dried chalk. He makes a curved gesture with his hand for a Wave Arte utility, putting a fine diamond edge on the end of Fuka's axe for extra sharp. Extra chop. Extra cleave rush.

Gwen has a choice she can avoid getting harmed or she can let Shirin get past her. Gwen does not think that is a godo idea so she takes the full brunt of the attack it's hurt her even with the dampers she still feels that. She staggers a bit.

"All aboard the Palace Land Express."

Gwen is chanting now wind surges about her.

"I call upon the spirit of the wind itself to drive my foes before me! DIVINE WIND!"

The winds pick up about Gwen and her sword. The blade becomes almost like a tornado while cutting gusts of wind try to hammer into Shirin.

    Shirin runs through the fire of Schneider and Kita as his health reaches the red , each blow knocking him back but it doesn't stop him. In fact he is hopeful it will unfreeze his arm however then he runs into the doctor , who takes the time to try to council him. This only causes Shirin to spit at the offered hand and laugh, " I would never cry at being in love." Then the blizzard wraps around him and the half melted ice on his arm freezes over again. The howling wind of Gwen's mixing in to the blizzard to make it a complete whiteout from Shirin's perspective. Then out of no where Fukaziroh comes in with the super enhanced axe just taking Shirin's arm as if it was nothing.

    Stumbling out of the blizzard Shirin just looks at his opponents and laughs, "You think this is the end. That's ridiculous. I am only the beginning. The tower and those who climb it bring so much ruin to this land. We will no longer allow it. My failure only means we will be coming in more numbers. My brothers have already returned to our love, I will be going soon. However before I go let me show you the power my love gives me." Raising his crossbow it begins to glow with magic as he rapidly fires beams of light at everyone totally expecting to be put down any moment.

"I never said anything about crying," Prophylaxis answers with a sad, but firm voice. "Whether you took that crown willingly or not, its effects are known to me now, and so all I can assume is the worst. 'Love...'" Beams of light smash into the good doctor's defenses, he conjures a barrier but the shield only absorbs one or two shots before collapsing. The blasts pound into his half-frozen body, knocking his HP to the brink. He staggers back, as if perhaps on his last legs.

"...Nothing more than the mind-killing song of a siren. I will tear this illusion asunder, mark my words. You say this is only the beginning? Well..." Prophylaxis straightens, lifting his staff high. "I am well aware. But there is a reason all who know me call me /Doctor./" A wave of brilliant light scintillating in many shades of blue and green, radiates from the gems at its zenith and nadir simultaneously. Fresh plants begin to bud and sprout from the earth as the pulse races across the doctor's entire party, granting them a potent buff...

A regeneration buff...!

All across the defenders' raid, hp bars begin to climb back up, creeping out of the red and yellow and bolstering strength that might otherwise have been flagging. "We know you would not hesitate to attack us here, now. This was just a checkpoint, Palace Lander. A /handful/ of the tower's defenders. Once it is known that our lives, our homes, our hearts and SOULS are under threat, do you think we would not fight tooth and nail to defend them!?"

    Seeing that Shirin, using his Light attacks like the rest of his forsaken crew, intends to make a last stand and die, Fuka... has plans.

    Determined to protect the Spriggans behind her, she still doesn't move from her straight-line path between the wagon and Shirin. His bolt of Light strikes her. She shields, calling on artes, but the bolt blasts through to strike her and it drops her health bar considerably. "Is that all you've got?" she yells fiercely, wiping away something that would be blood if it wasn't pixellated. "Hey idiot, your one arm's behind you." she yells, gesturing with her axe head at his fallen severed limb. "Aren't you supposed to be winning now? No? Giving up? Well let me tell you..."

    Fuka takes a deep breath then begins to sing. "SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, and you're to blame, baby YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!"

    She pauses, spits blood. "Take THAT to your beloved Queen, jerk."

In other circumstances, Kita might feel bad for Shirin. The little knowledge they had about the crowned and his obsessive way of speaking suggests he is thoroughly brainwashed, but... right now she couldn't care less about that.

Her focus is on the poor Spriggans who had only wanted a safe place to retreat to. "If you come back, we'll be waiting, and this is only the beginning of the pain that will be waiting for you." Despite the fact that her hands are still shaking, despite the fact that she takes more damage, there is an intensity in her eyes.

Her wings extend outwards, her form looking truly demonic for a moment as it glows with purple flame which seems to form in a circle around her. There is a subtle note of violins in the air as if this powerful attack happened to come with some accompaniment. With a roar of anger, she lashes the flames out towards Shirin, and where each one impacts, it explodes in a pillar of purple flames, threatening to consume all that stands in her way.

Fire beams everywhere. Haru's residual Earth magic is brought up to give an Earthen Shield, but its not going to be enough. Not without some tanking support. Which he gets! Huzzah. There is a lot of passion going on around here. He doesn't have something specific to add in, would be too hat on a hat. But the singing part gets a grin on his face. Oh. Yes. That is the ticket.

Change of plans. Haru begins chanting a long and intricate Wave Arte that has already been brought onto the field. Haru's version of Nightmare Sphere is a haunting addition to the song. It adds in a chorus and some nice studio effects right to the brain so it will stick with them even longer. Plus the Dark magic finds a natural home in augmenting the next attack of kind, which ends up being Kita's already intense attack. So its doubly deadly? This is going to hurt.

Schneider's defensive magic is finally overwhelmed at the end, or maybe he's overextended it, protecting Haru, one of the newer members of the group, from Shirin's counterattack. Those crossbowbolts are coming out fast and furious now, and his shield fades out before they are done this time, so that he takes the last few in his chest, where his HP drops preceptitiously.

"You want to see power?" he demands. "Try this on for size!"

And Schneider starts chanting. Those who know him know what's coming by the chant and the way the dark forces gather. "Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik! Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell! ..... HALLOWEEN!"

The resulting conflagration makes the last one look like a practice run. This cracks pavement, and blisters the earth, and there's a greasy, unpleasant feel to the air that takes some time to clear.

"There's more where this came from, I can do this -alllll- day," he says with a sneer. And it's not /quite/ true. Helloween takes a lot of mana. But he's still got almost /all/ his lowest-level spells left.

The sasaults keep comming and Gwen will hold nothing back, she mutters something. "Memories of Stormwind grant me protection from what which I now face. Lion Aegis!"

A magicla shield forms about her seemingly with a gold lion head on a blue background which is able to take the brunt of the attack. Gwen now narrows her eyes.

"Backing us into a corner like this? We will do whatever we have to stop bring this to an end. Your Queen and her ilk may very well bring ruin upon the Palace Lands which it will never recover from."

With that Gwen chants again.

"TORNADO HOLD!"

Sending a focused tornado at the Sherrif!

    Everyone around Shirin has their health recovering meanwhile the poor Pangolin Jackal Man is instead set a flame. The pure destructive force of Kita's and Schneiders attacks are an extreme amount of fire and when you mix it in to Gwen's tornado it becomes one mass flame vortex. It is a good thing that the doctor healed his comrades because even they are seeing damage due to the heat. The near dead bodies of the fallen crowned comrades pixelate as if they are turning to ash under the heat mixing in to the vortex of fire. The flames are pretty though, you have some orange, and blue and white and purple, and red and even some black. Really it is very pretty and from the center of it all that is heard, " We will come! We will bring everyone to this tower and wipe it out! Wipe all of you out! " Then there is silence, or at least mostly silence it does appear that Shirin is humming the song that Fukaziroh started. Then his health hits the last straw and as the fire and vortex dies down only the last few pixels still remain floating in the wind before disappearing.

    Stumbling back from the heat of the devastating combination of fire attacks, Fuka coughs and holds up a hand, channeling some small amount of Light to start a regeneration effect to supplement Proph's. She doesn't have enough power to do this for everyone, but it does allow her to stand her ground and assess the remains.

    "Scale." she says simply, shaking her head at the devastation. "Yeah, I should've expected fire." claims the small air specialist. She turns around to walk away, only then seeing Haru. And Haru's wounds. Good thing he was shielded, and had Proph's regeneration kick in. She'd be pretty startled had those two effects not taken hold.

    "Oh. Uh..." she pauses. Should she have tried to shield him? Is that something she should be doing? This is kind of new to her, to be perfectly honest. So she kind of just stands there looking awkward. "Uh... need any help walking out of here?" she asks Haru lamely.

The flame fades. Prophylaxis stares at the empty space that had been, momentarily, occupied by an unfortuante adventurer. The doctor's shoulders slump as he exhales a long, tired sigh. "Well. I suppose it was inevitable. This place is only as safe as we are able to make it. And we cannot take anything for granted any longer."

The Prophylaxis stares for a long moment at the chaos gate spinning nearby, before turning towards the Spriggan refugees, "Alright, come along. I've got plenty of medicine left. Please, let me know if anyone is hurt and I will do my utmost to mend your wounds."

Of course, the offer extends to the party as well!

It was only a couple of days ago that Kita had a conversation with her girlfriend about not putting herself at risk, and... well here she is. Coming home with a yellow combat flag is certainly going to require some answers. When it seems the threat has passed, Kita seems to come down, her breathing settling as she shakes her hands out.

"Get the checkpoint back in order. We've still got people we need to move through." She moves to check on the people in the wagon, then looks over to Prophylaxis. "We might want to see about getting some of the Alne Adventurers to start their own patrols." Her hands are still shaking, but she does her best to not draw attention to it.

Gwen is breathing pretty hard as the flames fade she looks to Prophylaxis.

"They have no idea how Earth fights...this is going to be a blood bath. I'll take you up on the path job doc. I then have a delivery to do and to head on. Maybe I should camp out before we go back as we all have been flagged..."

Damage lines light up Haru like a going out of business sale at Circuit City. Thankfully the doctor has them knitting up with the regeneration, to which there is a wave over in thanks. His hand is still waving when Fuka swings by. Despite the damage he took, he seems fine on the 'who should have done what' level. The man notices the pause and immediately goes with, "Did you see that back there? The electric path opening. The DIEmond edge buff, which," he dusts off his jacket, "is an Earth spell. Just saying."

The artificer leans in and says to Fuka, "So you are offering to sling your arm around me and help me to a tavern, wherein there will be drinks and cheer?" he asks, because he can't resist giving her a tease as well. A grin on his face.

"Agreed," Prophylaxis answers the trembling artist. "We'll also need to establish a more permanent defense out here. Perhaps even build artillery to mount to the train. And the Chaos Gates... We know so little about our foes. If they can enter Karluin or sneak into the woods on the third... Mm." He shakes his head slowly, rubbing gently at his forehead. It seems he has quite a bit on his plate. More now than before, at least.

But he at least does notice... something. The doctor's gaze flickers toward Kita's hands and then back to meet her eyes, "...Are you alright? I find this sort of thing... disquieting as well, myself."

He shakes his head at Gwen, slowly, "The problem is that they know too well how Earthlings fight. They /are/ Earthlings. But here, take this potion for now." It's in a syringe, but the doctor hands it over regardless. "Should act fairly quickly."

Schneider basks in the too-hot glow of the fading fire. Feels like .... victory. Even if there's no napalm, and it's not morning. Then again, if there /were/ napalm, Scale would certainly have it. Kita's words snap him back to the present, though. "Just coming on duty," he announces, though he eyes his cooldown timers worriedly. Hopefully they're cooled down by the time these Palace Landers try their next trick.

Gwen pauses "We need to fortify them or even find a way to contain them." She seem lost in thought in this. "Depends on how much they can recall..." She take the potiona nd will drink it without complaint. "Thank you."

Among the many members of Scale Emblem, Prophylaxis is likely one of the few people who might be able to understand the issue that Kita faces each and every time she goes into a fight like this. Even so, she just shakes her head at that moment, "We can talk about it later." Some things are best not brought up in more varied company.

She doesn't seem to want to shift focus to the many gaps in their defenses. So, Kita just focuses on what she can do right in this moment. The Imp steps back, starting to give orders on chimlink, calling for volunteers to help with clean up and re-setting of the checkpoint.

    Fuka rolls her eyes but no that isn't a dagger in her pocket. That is to say she's happy to see Haru still relatively healthy. "Yeah, the teamwork was pretty good!" she agrees. Certainly nothing to gripe over. The pun, maybe. But the teamwork was good. "Earth spells are totally useful." she agrees. "Just boring! Boring! Into the EARTH!"

    As to his not entirely covert suggestion, she sighs. "Don't you dare make a habit of getting half dead just to get your arm around my shoulders!" she warns in a tone of voice that could also be used to say 'don't threaten me with a good time'. For much the same reason.

    Arm around Haru, Fuka turns to Schneider, Proph and the other scales. "Glad we could help." she notes. "If you can think of a way a couple of enchanters might be able to help shore up the defense lines for the refugees, chim me." she invites. "And... thanks." she adds. For the healing and protection for sure.

"My sources inform me that Earth rocks," Haru replies with puntastic glee to Fuka's Earth commenary, "it rolls, too. I find it very difficult to tell them it is boring when it both rocks and rolls." Hands motions as if he is getting the bit from Seinfeld. His monocle'd eye looks to Fuka. Eyebrow waggles at that. Hes been waiting to use that one by the look of it. Arm is slung, the wounded is taken into Fuka's care. The arm that is slung around Fuka has a raise of the wrist to wave to Schneider, Proph, and the Scales. "Accessories, too, if the projects have fine part requiresments like a lens on surveillance enchants and the like. Or," he looks around the field, "medals for acts of service." A nod to Schneider specifically on that one. Intentional or not, he did save Haru's bacon back there.

On the matter of Fuka's accusation and adding in levity, "Fuka! You think I would fling myself headlong into danger like that? Wounded," he says in sarcasm, "deep wounds." Deadpan, "Literally. All over me. That guy was serious business. Shame I didn't get much off of the Appraisal. Crown. Jewelcrafter. Enchanter. Appraisal. Worth a shot." Having a person no longer enthralled? Worth a shot.