Duty Session 418: A Dark and Stormy Night

    Taking shelter from the storm is always a wise idea, at least in Fukaziroh's mind. She may be a mighty lightning wielder but getting hit by lightning does terrible things to her hair. Not to mention she's not a big fan of being cold and wet. Fuka loves her comforts, and much prefers to be fascinatedly staring out a window at a storm than actually being exposed to it.

    Abruptly a quest notification appears. "A Dark and Stormy Night?" she muses. Well THAT'S rather obvious. And she's never refused an ominous quest pop-up yet! Why start now?

    After she selects 'yes', she notices the middle-aged spriggan. Spriggans being among some of her favourite people, she doesn't regret having selected yes before realizing the quest's origin. But yes, a lightbulb does go on.

Sheeting rain and storms? Well, it's the perfect sort of environment one might find a Sea-Witch on her travels. Fukaziroh's presence gets a nod from her, of course, and the offered quest has her simply accepting it without a word. She pressed yes. Very obviously.

Still, she's looking particularly morose today -- even by her own standards.

Goldenblade is sitting and relaxing after a day's questing, and while not afraid of any storm, she also likes to stay out of it. Lightning is not her element of choice, but then again, all the magical business she considers is much the same way she thinks about the plastic children's toys of plastic wands with stars on and phrases like 'by the power of the moon'. But a quest, she'll do. She thinks she knows what this one is. When a spriggan comes in out of the pouring rain and a quest pops up, that's the sign of a trip in the storm. "Time to get wet," she says with a smirk, pulling her cape around her, for the ten seconds of dry that will provide.

    As Adventurers begin to accept the sudden quest being offered out to them, the man's expression seems to shift from worry to hope. He motions over those who expressed an interest. "Yes, come. Come here." He ends up taking over a table from a group of other Landers who seem to only give a momentary look of irritation before moving out of the way.

    "Time is short." He begins. "I've been tracking a group of air elementals. They're drawn to the storms this time of year." He explains. "They're one of our only sources of wind shards. So I need your help." The Spriggan wipes dark hair out of his eyes. "We need to find them before the storm ends, dispatch them, then gather as many shards as we can." Then, with that hopeful expression, he asks, "I can lead you, but I can't fight them."

    Once the group agrees, he is quick to lead them back out of the inn, much to the dismay of the other patrons. The problem is... no matter how bad the storm looked from inside, it is far worse when you're faced with it.

    Winds come at them from all sides, rain pelts down against them, and there is a fair share of debris that is being whipped about by the storm's winds. It will be a difficult task to even get out of the city without taking some damage from the forces being thrown at them by nature.

Goldenblade is not bothered by winds. She's weathered any number of typhoons in her time in Japan, though mainly from indoors, and for preference from several prefectures away. On the other hand, construction happens in whatever weather, and while you can't lay bricks in the rain, they cheap out on tarps by putting them over where you're working and not anywhere else you need to go, so she's used to being out in the wet. She's got a bit of intuitiveness she calls walking between the raindrops, that in RL didn't do much other than improve her attitude, but here, it seems to keep away the worst of the blown debris and driving rain. "Well, this is a nice walk in the park," she says sarcasticly.

Oh. Winds. And rain. Jazz's favorite things in the world! Right? She is a Sea-Witch, after all, and that means that she should be able to solve any problem with either of those things. Emerging, she's immediately buffetted by the hands enough to interrupt whatever wave art she was going to try to deal with it, and in the end, she's knocked end over end by the powerful gusts of wind in the first place. The perils of being wee and twee.

    Fuka waves back, seeming to be cheery enough to make up for Jazu's morosity, and doesn't hold the Undine's mood against her. She does frown though, upon hearing the nature of the quest. She tries to remember if elementals are monsters or not. She thinks so, but having recently had a close encounter of the third kind with a divine beast of lightning, she's a bit uneasy at the thought of butchering possibly-intelligent creatures for loot drops. She shrugs and nods though. Best to analyze them herself. If she's there and they happen to have an I marking on inspection, she'll be in position to stop the slaughter. And if they're monsters, well, no foul!

    Pulling her cloak around her, between that and her armour she's relatively well protected from rain. Not when the rain's driven by storm-force winds however. Fortunately there's an easy-enough solution. Fuka chants, her words full of the voice of the storm but not carrying beyond a few feet in the storm's fury. That's enough however, to quiet the air within that small bubble. The wind still howls, the rain still falls, but the fury of the storm is lessened enough for Fuka to be almost pleasantly comfortable! That's when she notices Jazu's situation. Okay so the girl's morose, but that doesn't mean she has to be knocked around by the storm as well! Fuka beckons the Undine over, lifting a cloak-covered arm in a pantomimed gesture of offered shelter. The relative stillness of the air around her could extend to others, if they're willing to be close enough to take that shelter.

    Once beyond the edge of the town, the true pressing force of the storm becomes obvious. There are no lights here to guide their path into the wilderness beyond the town walls. The wind throws blasts of water at them which would easily extinguish even the most sturdy of torches.

    Their guide has a raised lantern, which seems to sputter as he tries to continue forward through the gale. "They really are putting up a fight." He has to shout to be heard over the storm. Then, during another gust of wind, his lantern dies, leaving the group in darkness.

    "Could... use some of that Adventurer magic right about now." He laughs, water dripping down his face. "Should be able to stand up against this storm, right?"

    Seems it is up to them to light the way, either by natural gifts, magic, or some kind of alchemical means that can stand up against the wind and rain.

Goldenblade acks as Jazz is bowled over by the storm, and will dash over to try and help her back up, and to keep going. "You can walk behind me," she offers, meaning downwind of course, and I will ...." And then the torches gutter out. Well, that's not a problem for /her/ is it? She whips out one sword, holds it aloft, and it bursts into flame, bright enough to at least illuminate the immediate area. She will then trek into the winds and the storm defiantly, because we Yamatoans don't disappoint Landers when they ask us for aid. She doesn't like to think what the Palace Lands players did to cheese off their Landers, but it must have been pertty awful. "C'mon," she says. "We've got this."

    Adventurer magic huh? Well Fuka WAS going to just cast a simple light spell, but the Spriggan's comment makes her immediately unwilling to seek a magical solution out of sheer contrariness. She calls up her inventory, rummaging, then pulls out a small bottle of viscous substance. She hands the package to the Spriggan. "Put this in your lantern oil!" she offers. "Then uh... light it with Goldie's blade I guess!" she grins.

    The substance, when mixed with oil, burns hotter and fiercer than oil, causing the lantern to be both toasty warm and nearly impossible to extinguish. For a considerably shortened time at least. Just don't ask what Fuka's doing with a highly volatile and flammable substance. Don't. Ask.

    With what light they manage, the Adventurers continue to be lead away from the town and into the long expanses of plains that surround it. Some of the surrounding farmland seems to be taking quite a beating from the rain, but many of the plants grown in Yamato seem to be sturdy stock that can survive such things.

    However, without any tall trees, it means that their journey has just gotten that much more dangerous. A bolt of lightning crackles out of the sky and nearly hits their guide, who stumbles backwards, landing in the mud. "Ha...haha, that was close." He seems to be laughing as a coping mechanism for the fear that just shot through him at being quite that close to death.

    The number of lightning strikes seems to be picking up the further they travel, getting closer and closer to the party. It leaves them with a few avenues to progress safely. A skilled hand might be able to create a lightning rod, and a seer may be able to predict where lightning might strike, but others may just be left to little more than their speed and wit.

Goldenblade seems to have lost Jazz, the twee one declining or unable to go on in the gale force winds. Goldenblade will see her back safely to the tavern we started in, then continue on. "Anyway, onward," she declares. Into a lightningstorm. "Bugger that," she says sourly and makes like lightning, herself. She zips across the area as fast as the lightning coming down from the sky, and in one moment, it looks like she actually goes around where a stroke is coming down. You can tell because she leaves a fiery trail like certain deLoreans, and on one place, there's a slight semi-circle.

    It should be possible to block lightning with magic. Certainly Fuka intends to learn just how to do so... eventually. She hasn't learned it yet, and even if she did it works against magic, not against real storm-driven bolts of crispy death. "Lightning hits the tallest thing around, I hear." Fuka claims, looking around at the distinct lack of trees.

    Hmmm. Diminutive sprite, somewhat elderly spriggan. And a human warrior woman. Well, if lightning's going to hit the tallest thing that's close by...

    "HEY! Don't run off without me!!" Fuka yells, immediately breaking into a run and trying to catch up to the longer-legged Goldenblade. Not quickly enough. Fortunately Fuka's armor is enough to protect her from a near-miss. Unfortunately, well, her armor is mostly metal.

    Fortunately, Fuka doesn't mind being a smokin' hot Sylph. Unfortunately, this isn't the right sort of smokin' she prefers. She'll need healing after they get clear... but for now, she'll live.

    Leaving the lightning behind, their guide pants from the effort of physically fighting the storm with every step in order to continue forward. The Lander seems to be pretty tough, as he has made it side by side with them, at least thus far. "Just, a little further." He calls out.

    However, another flash of light from the sky reveals that their path forward may not be quite so simple. Swirling up high into the sky seems to be a wall of wind, water, and debris. Going over it seems impossible.

    "I've seen this before." The Spriggan guide explains, "They're in there. When enough of them group together like this, they can create massive walls around the eye of the storm. There has to be a way through."

    It is up to them to try to find a way through. Those with mining or earth capabilities might be able to tunnel their way underneath, but a keen eye for construction might be able to find a weakness within the wall that would allow safe passage.

Goldenblade is only 5'2", herself, and while that's not huge by any means, it's a giant in the counsels of the smol and the twee. She's also blazing fast, and not shy about it, though further ahead, she can be seen to be waiting, in an area where there's higher structures to attract the lightning.

She's been looking over the structure with a strange sort of eyepiece-like thing attached to her helmet, and has a few ideas. When Fuka and the fellow make it there, she points out, "It's thinner there and there, see? If we work in there, it'll be pretty much a straight shot through."

    Panting and smoking, Fuka pulls up just short of the seemingly-impenetrable wall of wind and water. She eyes it, once again considering what sort of magic to use. This time, since no one's actually pointed out it'd be a nice time to use magic, she's inclined to actually use magic!

    "I could use earth to make a tunnel." Fuka notes, eyeing the storm and the local ground dubiously. "Ground has to be soft right now. Shouldn't be too bad. But ... earth is boreing!" she grins. A shame Haru's not around to appreciate the in-joke.

    Fortunately, Fuka has an alternative. Having recently done some work with water and air magic as a way to chill things to freezing, she's almost as good with ice as she is with lightning. Chanting and channeling both air and water mana she freezes the ground, making a spot that's easy to shatter. It should be easy for them to break through at that point, and Fuka brings up a partial dome as well to shelter from the stormwall's assault. It won't last long under the onslaught, but then it doesn't have to.

    Beyond the wall is what must be the heart of the storm. It is eerily quiet here, other than the rustle of the wind through the grasses. All of the chaos that these wind elementals seem to be bringing with them has been pushed outward into the swirling mass of storm that still rages around them.

    "There they are." The Spriggan gasps, seeming almost manic in his glee at finally beiing able to find them. "I can't help you here, but I'm sure you can handle it." Afterall, Landers aren't quite so immortal as Adventurers.

    The elementals, themselves, look as if they were made from the essence of wind magic. Their forms shift, roiling winds, crackling lightning, a haze of cloud formations, each flashing against the darkness of the night. They seem to be distracted by the storm, likely drawn by the strong natural forces.

    However, that makes them that much more dangerous. It is hard to tell just when they begin to notice the Adventurers, but one does start to shift in their direction, followed by a flash of lightning that shoots out towards their location. After that, they all shift into battle, turning their storm-forces against the Adventurers.

Goldenblade moves through with Fuka and peers at the elementals as we approach. "So, yeah," she says, "watch this," and vanishes again. Which kind of defeats the point of watching it, but well, it's not a long wait. She appears just in what might be considered behind an elemental, not that a whirlwind of air has a side. Goldenblade considers it behind, so that's how that works, and impales it on two swords. It's not as bad as it would be for a living target. Which would generally cease to be a living target. But Assassinate does cost the elemental a big chunk of HP, and after that, it's a pretty normal fight, though with that chunk of HP missing, the elemental's not putting up much of a fight.

    Rather than watching Goldenblade, Fuka's busy examining the elementals. Yep, turns out they're monsters. Not beasts, and certainly not imanity. That means good to murder! Fuka then considers her axe. Nice thick wooden shaft. Yep, if she's going to be getting attacked by lightning she could do worse than be waving a big metal axe head above and before her, rather than standing back casing and letting lightning bolts strike her directly.

    She's a bit startled to notice Goldenblade has disappeared though, having her attention called by the 'watch this'. "Watch what?" she demands, which ... draws elemental attention. "Oh, never mind then!" she answers herself happily, charging in to deliver some meaty thwacks with her axe. She even cheers when Goldenblade abruptly appears behind an elemental to shank it hard. It might not be enough to kill it, but Fuka's quick to join in and her axe is quite suited to hackventurer duty!

    There seems to be good reason that their guide had taken cover. The fight with the air elementals is chaotic, with dangerous bolts of lightning and icy lashes of wind sent in their direction. However, the Adventurers keep them spread out enough that they remain individual enemies rather than becoming one, more powerful, boss monster.

     Over time, they are able to pick off the elementals one by one, though not without quite a bit of effort on their part. When the last one falls, the storm around them seems to quell, if only a little bit. The winds ease, but there is still an ever-present rain drizzling down across the fields.

    "Aha! You did it!" The Spriggan steps out, grinning ear to ear. Where the elementals had fallen, there lies a series of small shards which he begins to collect. "These will be very useful to the Mage's Tower." One he has gathered them up, he makes his way over, offering one out to each of the Adventurers. "Thank you all for your help. I couldn't have done this without you."

    He seems to avoid any questions on what the shards might be used for, simply offering them all a grin before he heads off into the night with his bounty of shards.

    "Darned right you couldn't!" Fuka snarks, but it's good-natured snark rather than cutting. "Just remember my name! Fukaziroh, lady of l... no wait. LEGENDARY Lady of Lightning!" she adds. Hey, never too early to begin establishing a legend right?

Goldenblade is wearing her Westelande army tabard, so any rep she generates is appled to her rep with Westelande. "Glad to help," she says simply to the Lander, and to Fuka, she says, "Looks like the storm is letting up, but I'll still be happier in front of a big fire. Let's get out of here."