Duty Session 442: Zombie Jamboree

You would think after what happened in the Dukedom most attention would be on that nation, or aiding Eas in recovering from the recent attempt to besiege it. But no, Adventurers are still going off on other quests in other lands. An alturistic peculiarity, that they would still be inclined to assist Landers with lesser problems than the War hanging over there heads.

A peculiarity a certain four tailed fox has deemed worth investigating. And as luck would have it she caught sight of two of the local Adventurers that she actually knows heading out on such ventures, and has decided to tail (he he he) them to see just what they were up to. Certainly to be sure they don't retrieve anything that could be a threat to the Palace Land forces and not something of her own interests in Adventurer behavoirs.

Those two adventurers are Kotono and (who else?) Miyako.

Kotono is usually looking rather upbeat and chipper when it comes to going on adventures, but in this case, she is not looking too excited. Instead, she's got her hands on her blades and is looking around constantly. Things aren't going well here as it is, and Kotono's really got a bad feeling about things right now.

The Spriggan keeps her eyes darting side to side to avoid the possibility of an unwanted ambush.

    Miyako shakes her head as she looks over the village from a rise nearby. "Too damn quiet," she mutters. "I'm getting sick of all these damn undead. We don't need this kind of distraction with the Palace folk frakking about." She sighs and shakes her head. "Still. Can't leave 'em to fester like this."

    She settles herself, casting a few basic, long-duration buff spells, and starts down the hill towards the town. "Bets we'll see anything worse than zombies?"

Daiyu is keeping herself to an observing distance, but her sharp Were Fang senses can pick up most of what is exchanged between the duo. Ah. So this is to keep a problem from escalating while they are focusing on the invasion war. That actually makes a good deal of sense. Though it's still a marvel how easily these Adventurers are motivated to assisting with such matters. Outside of raid parties going after big monsters it could be like pulling death with some of the less.. exceptional individuals back home.

But that's neither here or there.

Approaching the village from the outskirts means going through one of the cementaries. Which exist almost exclusively as a spawning zone for low level undead since Landers don't have bodies to bury. Though low levels are balanced by the number of them sporatically ambling about, though not entirely aware of their own surroundings. Fighting is always an option, but this is a time descresion might be a better option, and bypass the hazard with subtle haste.

Now you see her.

Now you don't.

Kotono makes herself literally invisible to all of those undead roaming around. Sometimes it's better to avoid conflict instead of instigating it. Kotono walks carefully to avoid drawing attention to herself. "Those living corpses don't know what they're dealing with," The Spriggan whispers to herself.

    Now you see her.

    Now you... /hear/ her.

    Miyako makes her best attempt to sneak along with Kotono.

    And then the toe of her boot catches in a bit of crumbled stone. She goes flying right over the gravestone she'd tripped on. "Gyah!" she cries as her head hits another stone, and she picks herself up, holding her head.

    The noise of it attracts the attention of nearby zombies, and she has to fight her way out through the slow-moving monsters. Fortunately for her, she's quite good at -that- part of it.

The top of one of the grave monuments must of been cracked and loose already, as it falls on top of the head of one of the zombies trying to lurch towards Miyako, crushing it's skull and giving her an opening to fight through.

Surely this had nothing to do with the Hulijing parkouring across the top of said markers, taking the 'high road' above the field of vision of Zombies and Adventurer alike, while keeping her own stealthy movements to slip past the edge of the cemetary and amongst the village buildings. Of course not. Nothing to make sure the enemies she's observing can continue on for her to observe.

Past the cemetary the sound of chimes in the wind can be heard. Unfortunately the chimes are on the outside of what was once a tavern, and the sound has also attracted a rather gruesome zombie who is equally invested in the liquor abandoned by the locals fleeing. Clearly he's had his share already, by the emtpy bottles stewn about, as he chugs down another while staring at the chimes. This one might take a bit more than just stealth to deal with.

That's a strange creature and it definitely doesn't look friendly.

Biting her lip, Kotono forces a smile and tries to approach in a polite manner, not knowing what she's supposed to be doing.

And the monster seems to sense it too.

The creature does not have any friendly thoughts for the Spriggan as she uses her blade to keep the creature at bay before dashing away and cursing.

The sound of chimes draws attention. And then Miyako hears the tunk-tunk of decayed fingers thumping on a barrel. Which gives her an idea. She starts tapping on the toughened leather covering her stomach, first, then on a small drum she retrieves from her inventory, matching the zombie's rhythm.

    It ... doesn't do much good, really. At first it seems to lull the monster, it might even look a bit drowsy. But...

    As she closes in, the zombie rises to confront Kotono, and the music becomes... less meaningful. Pointless, even.

What seemed like a good idea in the moment... turns sour very quickly. The attempt to lull the monstrousity farther almost works until it seems to realize there was something going on, despite the addled state of what's left of it's mind. It gargles out what might of been a roar as it lurches into motion, turns towards the two Adventurers that had disrupted is drunken solace....

And then snarls as what looks like a smokebomb goes off in it's face. Though in it's already drunken and disoriented state, it's little more than an annoyance that causes a sneazing fit.

The source of the smoke bomb is quickly apparent as the familiar fox of four tails lands between the two, grabs the equivilent of their collars, and yanks them to start moving in the opposite direction. "Don't ask now, don't stare, just run." Amazing how she can be so calm about the matter.

Fortunately the drunken brute is not at all fast, especially in it's stupor. Unfortunately, running also leads them to another horror waiting. One that gets even the hulijing to skid to a stop, eyes narrowing at the smaller corpse hanging off the large zombie like some manner of puppeteering tumor. "... There is more things wrong with this than I can put into words." A tessen snaps open in one hand. "But it must be dealt with if we are to endure this fiasco..."

"What the-?" Kotono's cut off as she's pulled away by Daiyu. She's not going to ask questions, she's just going along for the ride... or something like that. Once they get settled, Kotono realizes that there's another threat present.

"Let there be light!" Kotono says as she activates her spell runes, and a bright light shines through, giving Kotono and the others some magical assistance.

    Miyako doesn't hesitate, even as she snatches forth the war-fans she's started using since she first met the fox. (What? Imitation is the finest form of flattery, they say.) And it's time to get the frak away from Mr Dead Drunk.

    There's only one problem: The escape route leads them to even worse. She stops and stares. The zombie... monster... thing... no, she tells herself, it's a monster. Just a monster. Sure it's ugly. Sure it's horrific. ... oh fuck. No. Not dealing with this. Not even thinking about it. Just kill it with fire.

    She's scrolling through her inventory, trying to block out the sight of the monster, looking for the fire potion she'd tucked away months ago... "c'mon, I know I put it... don't tell me I used it already..." And then...

    LIGHT! BRIGHT LIGHT! "Fuck, Ko-chan, warn a girl before you pull something like that," she chides, uncovering her eyes. "Is it... uh, dead, yet?"

The bright shine produced by Kotono might disorient her partner a bit, but it is enough to make the horror show leer away from them, covering its face with one mishapen hand. The parasitic form dangling from it's stomach screeches more verbally as it flails, it's gangly limbs not able to actually reach it's own face.

"Grand Cross!" Followed by another flash of light, this time in a pair of blinding streaks. And Daiyu standing in a post strike pose with her fans behind the monster.

As the parasite drops to the ground, severed from the larger monster. It slowly withers as it no longer has the larger body to support it, which just collapses back into a malformed corpse as it no longer has a controller animating it. It's not until she hears the splurch of both forms hitting the ground that the vixen stands properly, though far from relaxing. She cants her head a little to glance back over her shoulder. "Before you ask, yes, I was following you. I am a scout and spy, after all. And that you were.. investigating matters other than the ongoing conflict between our realms was curious." That is as much explaination as she gives before starting to continue on, raising one hand to point a closed fan across town. "That building is the fanciest here, it is likely a point of importance. That is where these quests usually lead, yes?"

Not that they get farther than a few blocks before the *twang* of wire can be heard as it's lept from, and the mummy lands acrobatically in front of them. Daiyu immeadiately steps back and raises her tessens in a ready stance as it starts to advance on them. "Interesting... though not entirely shocking. Culturally mummification isn't unique to Egyptians. They just became the most famous for it."

"I'm sorry, Miyako," Kotono says sarcastically. "Had I known, I would've told you to wear sunglasses!"

Kotono's not exactly annoyed at Miyako, just at things in general.

Namely the sight of an acrobatic mummy.

"Is that a joke?" Kotono asks as she draws her blades. "I think you need to go back to your retirement tomb!" The Spriggan comments as she rushes forwards.

    Miyako spreads her war-fans and chuckles lightly. "Limber for an old geezer," she quips, then turns her head to regard Daiyu. "Care to share a few pointers, then? Watch this."

    Grinning, she draws one fan across her face as she steps into the shadow of one of the buildings... and emerges from the shadow of another, behind the mummy, twisting into a quick slashing motion that brings both fans slicing across the mummy's spine, cutting it into three.

    "I've a ways to go before I can match you, I fear. But it would be nice to be able to call you friend."

The author within Daiyu finds some weird irony in how this has turned into a Teeth Clenched Teamwork scenerio.. but cliches aren't necessarily a bad thing. Depends in how they're utilized. Thoughts she's keeping to herself for the moment.

For the moment they may be working together, but that doesn't mean Daiyu has an issue in letting the two move first. Because, while nible for an undead, the mummy can't repeatedly dodge both of them at the same time when his position is pinned between them. "Learning, but effective," she comments on Miyako's technique, as she shreds the monster from behind when it focuses on Kotono's charge. Bandages are ripped, it's spine cut, though that's just painful for someone already dead. It does manage to shamble away from the two, with its body at an even stranger disjoint.

And Daiyu just walks right past it. "Die. Again." The mummy snarls and turns, only for it to turn into a scream as the Chinese symbol for 'Fire' appears beneath his feet and erupt into a blazing column that incinerates the remains. Only ash and charred bones are left in the wake of the trio as they move on towards the central building.

Upon coming closer it's apparent that the building, while once the town hall or mayor's manor, was now in ruins. Wrecked when the undead sieged the village most likely. Daiyu sighed, gesturing at the ruins with a fan. "How wasteful. A facility that could of been taken over and utilized, now left in ruin. These undead have no sense of how to properly conduct a siege."

A moan comes from amongst the wreckage almost as if insulted by her accusation. An armored form moves out of the ruins, that despite it's decaying state is moving with the precision of a military march. No shambling or lurching here. As soon as his eyes lay upon the trio the moaning turns into a blood curdling warcry of gibberish, as he draws his sword and storms towards them like a charging calvary!

Things really just get better, don't they.

A man in heavy armor who is not pleased to see the trio here.

And Kotono isn't pleased either.

"You aren't stopping us!" The Spriggan exclaims, using her blades to carve her point across.

    Encouraged by Daiyu's faint praise, Miyako steps into the fight, engaging the foe with her fan-blades. She's quick and agile, but she's on the defensive against that big sword of his. Its. Whatever.

    With great eloquence, she offers her opinion of the odds. "Just die!" She keeps up the fight, but if nothing else, she's a great distraction for anyone else who wants to jump in and hit the thing.

Daiyu briefly raises her arms crossed in front of herself, one warfan igniting in flames and the other with the glimmer of frost. Then she too leaps into the fray, striking with graceful spinning motions to slash with the fire fan, which the zombified captain recognizes as a threat and parries. But she does the same, using her fans to deflect his otherwise impressively sized sword. "Overcompensation," she murmurs.

At one point he attempts to engage some manner of demoralization ability, but fumbles it as having to defend from the fox and the spriggan's strikes disrupts it, and he gets chopped hard by Kotono that staggers it farther. It's only the armor and unliving stamina left, and that is slowly but steadily wittled away by the trio. Eventually Daiyu uses the disenchanting aspect of her Enchanter abilities to degrade the defense rating of his chest armor, allow the other two to cut him down properly. Pixels are all that's left, and a few pieces of the armor that fall to the ground as loot drops.

    As the creature disappears into the now-long-familiar shower of pixels, Miyako lowers her fans - but not completely. "Well," she says, "If that's how you're going to do it, you're welcome to spy on these little trips any time you like. I'll even let you know when we'll be in the area if you like."

Kotono takes a drink of water and then says, "Yeah, what she said." She narrows her eyes a little, although whether she's suspicious or just not feeling it is anyone's guess.

Daiyu snaps her tessen shut after extinguishing the elemental enchantments. Lets out a soft sigh. "I... appreciate the sentiment, Miyako." Gives a nod of her head in Kotono's direction. "But your friend has every right to be suspicious. As would your other allies if I began showing up too frequently." One arm rests across her front, allowing her to prop the other's elbow in her palm and raise her hand to nudge her glasses back onto the bridge of her snout with two fingers. "As much as you wish to call me a friend and emulate my style, it doesn't change that as long as this war goes on, we are enemies."

A pause. A flick of the tails.

"Maybe just less likely to stab you in the back for no reason. It would be a waste of potential." She may be a Bad Girl, but she's got standards.

    Bad girls are /best/ girls, Miyako would argue, if the subject had been broached. Which it hadn't. It's why she played a Spriggan, after all. (Well, she tried a catgirl once. It was ... interesting. But the person she'd made the alt to play with disappeared before the Apocalypse, and she'd switched to her current avatar.)

    "... Mmm, your own people might, too. Still, it's kind of fun to tweak all their noses, isn't it?" She flicks her own fans closed, but doesn't put them away just yet. She knows just how fast Daiyu can draw hers. "Besides, sooner or later, the war'll be over, and we won't have to be enemies any longer." She grins. "Then we can spar properly."

"... True. But you tweak too far..." A brief shake of the head puts the thought aside for now, even as Daiyu turns aside. "I will hold you to that, so you best keep practicing." At least she doesn't seem to upset about someone else taking inspiration from her style of fighting. "Until then."

    Miyako smiles lightly and bows, very slightly, keeping her eyes on the fox. "Until we meet again, m'lady Vixen. Don't die." Then she links arms with Kotono and heads towards the outskirts of the city, back towards Yamato-held territory.