Refugee Rescue

    The message is a simple one. Wake has heard fror Ryuulu, her sylph patron, of a desperate situation east of Mac Anu. With landers and adventurers both in danger, her response was quite predictable: gather a team.

    The work, as she presents it to the group is relatively simple:

    1. Ascertain the exact location of the targets
    2. Slip past or crush the Palace Land patrols guarding them
    3. Provide urgent healing and aid to ensure all are able to move for the escape
    4. Get everyone out alive and back to Eas for additional treatment

    Getting close isn't likely to be easy, though the Baroness is able to tap into the very resourceful Silver Tongue Pirates to get dropped off not far from the target area. They'll wait for pick up in a hidden spot not far from the drop off point. Why they know so many secret places to unload their valiant cargo isn't explained.

    Off the boat, Wake stands and looks to her companions. "We know they are not far from this point, assuming they are still free. Let's locate them and determine the strength of our enemy."

Toshiro would have been content to stay behind on the boat. He at least seemed to be enjoying himself there, looking out cross the water with a fond smile. But of course, that wasn't going to be an option. They had a job to do here, and he intended to be fully present for it. As they near their destination, he spends some time fiddling with his medical kit. While he may not have anything in the way of healing magics, there are some things better treated with practical aid and potions, after all.

Once they reach dry land, the oversized sea serpent sucks in a deep breath. "Assuming we're up against an entire military occupational force, I'm guessing we should be erring on the side of caution, yes?" His golden gaze glides across the various individuals surrounding him, a curious glint in his eye as each are offered the same friendly smile.

Goldenblade was ostensibly in the area to work on installing hydroelectric at Eas. Which is kind of a big deal by itself, admittedly. But she's not too busy to help out her friend Wake, and anyhow, the assistants and draftsmen and metalworkers have their marching orders, and her presence isn't needed 24/7 to keep things rolling. So here she is, off the boat and out on the trail with Wake just like old times. Well, sort of.

They haven't actually adventured /a lot/ together, just once or twice, but she places a great deal of faith in Wake's skills, even though Wake's been a bit different lately. But no crown, so it's probably just too long in the game. It could happen to anyone. Well, not to Goldenblade, who's player is so old that she farts dust, or so she's been told. She's as level-headed and determined and straightforward as ever. Also, as clueless as ever, but the things her mind latches on to, are taken apart until she's worked out how it goes. Woods not so much. To Toshiro, she says, "Probably won't see their entire occupying force outside of town. They're still outnumbered overall, and they know that the Landers will oppose them. They weren't expecting that."

Her overland skills are more or less atrocious, scuffing the ground, kicking dandelions, hocking loogies from time to time. Has she found dip? But anyhow, her sneaking skills, on the other hand, are quite good, as Wake knows from some of their past adventures, and of course her ability to improvise in the field is known. On the other hand, she's got a distracted look on her face and she keeps mumbling about RPM and liters per hour and looks like she's attempting to do math in her head, so it's not clear if her head is /fully/ in the moment.

Miho had heard what was going down, she's been itching to bust some Palace Lander Skulls if needed. Though she would keep her mind on getting people the heck out of this nightmare. She wasn't the most stealthy sort. Yet she would be of use for diversions. She was eyeing the new outfit the Baroness had, however. Was that a creation of who she thought it was? Likely it was best to not draw the eye of Sauron upon her. She looks at Toshiro and has to crane her neck to look up at him.

"Aye we should be, the Palace Land nobility are without honour or humanity. You see it in the commands given to their mind slaves."

     Refugees who need saving?! This sounds like a job for absolutely the worst possible person to save anyone! A lady who likes to use a lot of water and drown people! AKA Fukasa Yuri! But she had skin in this game. The fact that the palace landers had taken hold of something of hers, that being the church tha she revives at? That had gotten a little under Yuri's skin. And the ability to potentially take something away from those same palace landers that had caused her possible future trouble? It was something that Yuri was looking forward to.
     While not great for step 3 or 4, Fukasa Yuri was very well suited to the first two steps, and when she steps off the boat, she gives a small nod towards the Baroness. "...Let's get to work then. Track them down, find the source of their power and their leader, and cause as much chaos so you guys can get ahold of the refugees, right? I can do that." She glances towards the rest of the party, carefully taking in their classes and appearances. Seems like a decent group, at least for the most part.

When word when out that Refuges needed aiding, Viviene was quick to offer her aid to Wake, armed with her three namesake weapons: A falcata, a huge greatsword, and katana. "Sneaking by or just taking on any Palace landers posing a threat to us or the refugees, I can do either." the tiny spriggan noted as she kept to the middle of the group, her eyes were scanning the horizon carefully, and looking about, searching for any signs of threats. "Can also provide some cover in the darkness if needed, as well."

SpritesHero goes overboard with a rather substantial splash and, kitted out, slogs his way towards the poorly-illuminated shoreline. Once he too has reached dry land he tucks in behind a rock, rapidly dries himself off by way of a series of magical spells, then draws closer to the rest of the group. A parting smack against his pant-legs is enough to knock off any residual salt crystals, leaving him...not invisible, exactly. But at least he doesn't show up that much better than anyone else in the group.

"Understood," his voice grates out, attentive. He says nothing beyond that single word, instead waiting for precise instructions. Or more details. Or moving out.

     And now for part one. The talk of comms gets a simple nod from Fukasa Yuri, who lifts her trident, a swirl of motion and water growing on the top of her spear, before with a burst of water, a small sphere appears, a single pirahna in the center of it. Yuri leans in, pressing her lips to the bubble of water and murmuring into it, a muffled sound before she points out into the air.
     The pirahna leaps out of the water, beginning to wriggle and crawl along the floor as it silently moves forward like the angriest little puppy, quickly leading them towards a scent that water creature had picked up, and Fukasa is sprinting after it to follow it, "Better run, if you wish to find them." Yuri states simply as she moves after the pirahna. Even Yuri, sprinting after the pirahna, seems to be losing it though. Who would have thought a fish out of water were so quick?!

    "Caution is wise," Wake agrees. "We do not know what they will think, or how bold they will act." She turns her attention to Miho and tilts her head, "I do not know if they are without humanity. We had pray that they are not, or this will end.."

    She does not finish that sentence. Her attention focuses on the work ahead. Behind her, the Silver Tongue Pirates slip silently away, making for the rendezvous point.

    Relying on Fukasa to guide them, the Baroness senses something is wrong. It is a strange feeling, that impulse that tells her that fate lies in her hands. Her eyes fall shut and she reaches out, whispering under her breath. Only the last word can be made out clearly, and with it Fukasa is able to keep up with the quarry.



    "FEHU!"

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Goldenblade actually communicates by party chim when we get ashore, and in a very quiet voice. You'd have to be very close to overhear, and most of the party wouldn't hear her if it wasn't coming through the chimlink. "Let's keep comms here, less chance of being overheard," she suggests. "I'll find us a route away from as many sentries as I can." And so saying, she will set out, as directed by Fukasa Yuri, to circle around any large concentrations of Palace Lands forces, remaining alert for large patrols, and keeping everyone in the shadows and bushes as much as possible. This is the other reason she wears mail - she can sit in a bush and the twigs and branches don't prod her uncomfortably, they just bend away. But she's careful not to sit so heavily they crack or crunch.

    Goldenblade's work is effective, and keeps the team out of harm's way more than once. Though the group is not terribly stealthy as a whole, the caution used by their guide sees them through.

    At the end of the wandering, the team sees both their target, thanks to Fukasa, and their enemy, which appears to be following a trail of their own. There are five Palace Landers in front of them. They inspect (when in range) as Landers. They are armed and armored, but clearly expect an easy time with their quarry.

Wisps of shadows had been flowing around Viviene, keeping the darkness tight around her, as she sees the upcoming threat, she looks over to SpritesHero as if to signal, noticing his stancing and just has a grim expression, and nods at him. She melds within the shadows, letting them spread and envelop SpritesHero as well, as several lethal attacks come out from the shadows, only seen at the moment as a katana is seen slicing for necks, stabbing through the back towards hearts, and so on, all in rapid succession, it seems like she is trying to help SpritesHero build off her own attack, and turn it into a devastating combination of lethal slashes!

All this time, Robert...wasn't doing much in particular. He'd been keeping as silent as possible and as out of sight as possible, probably doing his darndest to be forgettable.

That all changes once the quarry comes into sight. There's a brief moment in which his form shrouds in the dark wisps of skill activation. His eyes slide to the side, catch Viviene's silent 'go', and then he too is off in a blur of motion. Truthfully, he's a bit slower than the bladed whirlwind that she is. A pace and a half behind. But as she goes into her dance and the foe turns towards her, he sets about his own work, neatly...neutralizing those whose attentions have turned towards the greater of the two threats.

Mission accomplished, he slides his knives back into his inventory, and flashes a quick smile in Viv's direction. A silent 'well done', no doubt.

Toshiro seems content to go with the flow, watching on with an amused grin as the angry little fish flops about. "Not what I was expecting, but if it works..." His words are accompanied by a soft chuckle as he follows after the pack, doing a surprisingly good job at keeping a low profile and not making much noise despite his size. Fingers twitch and fidget a bit as they get deeper into enemy territory, eyes flicking about in the low lit environment as he keeps alert for potential trouble. Something that is obviously unavoidable with what they were doing.

As the enemies come into view, it becomes clear that they wouldn't be able to progress without a bit of conflict. With a soft sigh of mild frustration, the Were Fang quickly starts to weave together his Wave Artes as quickly as he can. The moment the melee fighters start to jump in he unleashes his arte, encasing one of the guards heads in a rapidly condensing bubble of water. The moment of panic and confusion as the others dive in and attack buys him enough time to quickly channel a second arte, sending a wave of freezing energy across the enemy force. While some would find their armor had turned brittle and more vulnerable, the poor soul stuck with the bubble would find their head encased in a suffocating globe of ice.

Miho says "I won't hold high hopes myself about them given what they have done. So I'm expecting it will only end when the last one of them is dead. We should focus on getting the people out though right?I can deal with the ones we can't sneak past or trick."

She rests her hand on the hilt of her Katana, it seems she can make and use her creations pretty well. With that, she'll take to it moving to engage the enemy where needed. She's much rather be going after the nobles who gave the order.

    In a flurry of light the enemy falls, bursting into pixels. They simply cannot withstand the righteous fury of their enemies. Nor were they expecting to face so much power, so quickly.

    While the group works efficiently and quietly, they are so near the refugees that their work is in clear view. Slipping out of the shadows, the ragtag group rises into view. They had been hidden as best they could be among the shadows. They are a pitiful group, that much is clear. The adventurers are low level, scared, and in bad shape. The Landers are in a worst state. There are five adults and six children. The eldest, who is indeed elderly, is badly injured, unable to stand. He is secured to a makeshift litter.

    "I know you," he says. Oddly, it is a Salamander. "You are far from the Westelands. But at the heart of battle."

    Wake moves forward, past the others, to get to her work. "Swiftly now, we must get them able to move. We are far from out of this."

If the Palace Landers expect an easy time with their quarry, then they don't know who's stalking them. Poor saps, they're really deep in it now, Goldenblade considers as our attack group lays out some wicked sneak attacks, dropping the Palace Landers without drawing much attention to themselves, and the enemy goes down, one two three. That's the objective. Well, one objective. She offers a thumbs-up to the team.

When the refugees emerge, she will step forward also, to help organize and guide them, though she didn't expect to be recognized so far from home. Though she does wear the badge in plain sight, insignia of an officer in Westelande's military, and apparenly the Salamander recognizes her insignia? "My orders are to fight the Palace Landers and repel them from Yamato," she says to him with a smile, pulling a small flask from her beltpouch and twisting the top a quarter turn. "Here, breathe from this," she says, handing it to him the flask. When he takes it and breathes deeply, his health bar starts a slow climb, and the worst of the debuffs clear. "And I will not hesitate to do that, have no fear."

     Once they make it, Yuri wraps the cloak that allows her to sneak around her, pulling it tighter and activating its power with a quiet ripple of magic that makes her literally disappear so as not to possibly distract the attackers, eyes silently watching from the invisible ripple while the rest of the group works on their job. She'd done hers, she supposed, though she wished to wash over the guards... she holds back. This time, at least, just holding that cloak tightly around herself as her pirahna returns to her, a small kiss placed atop its head before it disappears into the sphere of water that had summoned it.
    Unfortunately, when it comes to healing? Yuri is all but useless for anything other than another pair of hands to help transport or assist in the guardianship of those who were injured and in need of protection. Still, she /does/ provide something of use. She summons two salamanders, the two lizards large enough to assist in carrying the injured, while also prividing a warm place for them.

Toshiro lets out a breath of relief as the enemies disappear into particles. A moment is taken to collect himself, long fingers gently tapping on the center of his chest as he follows the others forward. His eyes then turn to the band of individuals as they come into view, shoulders drooping slightly as the smile across his lips grows. "What a sorry bunch you are. Don't worry, we are all here to help." He steps forward from the group, leaving the back of the pack for the first time. While Wake heads toward the children and Goldenblade moves toward the old man, he goes toward the adults. As he does, he throws a gesture over his shoulder toward the rest of the group. "Those of you who can't heal, keep watch or work on finding us a safe route out of this position. I don't want to see any dallying." There is a teasing ring to his ever jovial voice, making it unclear as to how serious his words are.

One by one he quickly Inspects the adults, engaging them in the most idle of conversation as if they were simply coming to him for a check up. "Ah, you've got an infection. Here, I can help with that." Rather than engage in proper medical procedure, he simply navigates the menu to administer the proper treatments, occasionally offering some of the potions he brought with him as needed.

SpritesHero defers to others for healing. It is not his strong point, and the last thing he wants to do is accidentally start some kind of snafu. So he simply rubs his sleeve over his chin, giving the captives a quick once-over, before making his way to the periphery of the encampment. Taking up a position behind a nearby tree, he keeps both eyes and ears open for any incoming reinforcements. Or scouts. Or whatever else may be out there still.

    The Baroness works as well as she can in the situation. Seeing her friends get to work on the others, she focuses her attention on the children. Healing light flows from her. The little ones are tired, hungry, scared, and to the priestess' shock, show signs of being struck by attacks from the enemy.

    Wake doesn't have time to wipe at her eyes, but it moves her to tears. Strangely, she does not feel the anger she would have before. Only sorrow.

    Even healed, though, there are two very small ones, perhaps three of four at most. These the Baroness scoops up in her arms. She directs an urgent look towards Goldenblade and says, "I keep asking you to build things for me." She turns her gaze to the others, "Please forge a road to get us out of here. Our escape is to the north and just slightly to the east along the shores."

Miho is quick to put her Katana away after the last foe is downed, she'll do something not many know she can do so. She can heal it seems? It makes sense given she works a forge as accidents happen right? For now, though she'll focus on the adults working her magic to work the adults. She's not Pro, she's not Uta, yet today? She's healing like them from the looks of it. She moves from one adult to another healing them up to the best of her ability.

"Let's get it so you can move. We don't want to linger and I doubt any of you want to stay here longer, right?"

In short order she'll have them good to go.

Once the old man is up on his feet, Goldenblade will leave him with the oxygen bottle with him, to use the last of it, and she looks around at the surrounding terrain, which is wooded in the direction of the ships, and therefore the way home. But she has a plan for this also, and tells everyone, "The road will be this way," and heads to the nearby treeline. "This may draw attention," she warns. "Be fast, and be ready." Then she pulls a maul from her inventory, twenty or thirty pounds, if an ounce, clearly meant for demolishing walls and fortifications.

Such vegetation as does not give way immediately is struck hard, and splinters with a crash that, as predicted, will draw attention. But it also opens the way through the woods wide enough for the party and refugees to make good time.

In the blackness of the night, there is a dim glow from Robert's position by his tree. Intricately-formed, concentric circles of crimson and scarlet flash into existence, distorting the air. They linger--ten seconds, at most, then are abruptly snuffed out of existance. "We've got incoming, Wake," he announces, keeping his tones carefully neutral. "North and north-west, two squads, maybe a mile out. At least a score."

    The children look afraid, but Wake says to them softly, "Close your eyes, little ones. You are safe with me. My friends will see that we reach my castle by sunrise."

    

     Incoming? Good. She already had the salamanders out, so Yuri was ready already. Enemies coming to capture what was rightfully her--theirs. Yuri lifts her hand, moving towards that oncoming force. She was not interested in subtlety, no. A sphere of water appears over what Yuri can best tell is the leader of this force attempting to hinder them. And inside that sphere of water, a fire sparks into existence. Sputtering and flickering before suddenly surrounded by stone which encapsulates the heat of that fire. "Into the depths with you." She murmurs, as that stone consuming the fire starts to glow, the water around it boiling. "The fires of hell that shall consume." Her incantation continues. "Until you are just one more lost within the blistering depths of the sea." Yuri finalizes, as that sphere of water, stone, and molten magma is dropped upon her target to consume them in its agonizing embrace and leave lingering burns and hindering stone.

     Ultimately, the damage wasn't that great though, much to Yuri's disappointment. And it ends up being more of a set-up than properly taking out her target. Something that makes the woman scowl. Were her summons attempting to betray and leave her, performing so poorly today? She crosses her arms over her chest, simply watching in annoyance as the battle continues. This problem would have to be rectified.

Viviene seemed willing to go first into the fore, the giant sword she carries in hand is sent smashing into the ground at any incoming palace landers, smashing them away in a loud crash, only for her to punch, kick, and otherwise use raw, overwhelming force, tearing her sword out of the ground to create a path through any of the palace landers. She fights viciously, opting to show no signs of mercy to her opponent, but her expression is a grim one. There is clearly not one to enjoy this kind of battle, but she fights as efficently as she can. Viviene is focused on creating a path people can move through, while not over extending herself too far to not get surrounded, and keep Goldenblade covered from any attackers. "Lets make a steady push! Careful not to over extend!"

Toshiro gives Miho an appreciative nod as they come in with the healing magics, something that falls outside of his realm of experience. While he can only treat the ailments for the moment, he allows Miho to handle tending to their physical injuries. Between the two of them, the adult part of the group would be in good condition. "There. All done here. How are-" His words are cut off by Sprite's warning, jaw snapping shut as his smile fades slightly. The sea monster's gaze turns toward the designated direction. "Well shit." His attention turns toward the children as he hears Wake stopping to comfort them, jaw clenching slightly behind his smile as he steps toward the bunch.

"Hey kids. Nothing to worry about here. Come on, let's get you out of here." Fortunately, he wouldn't need his hands to help fight off the mess headed their direction. The giant of a man crouched down, scooping up the two smallest and most frail of the remaining children into his arms. "Eyes on me, kiddos. Uncle Toshi's got you." With that, he heads off with the others to quickly follow the path GB is carving out for them.

As always, the Infiltrator keeps to the back of the pack. As they move, he mutters an incantation under his breath in preparation for whatever threats come their way. But his rhythm is different from usual, his arcane words sounding more like a children's song than a Wave Arte as he attempts to keep the young ones in his arms from, at the very least, bursting into tears. As they go, a glint of metal catches his eye in the moonlight as a PL sniper loads their crossbow. A moment later the incantation completes, encasing the target in a pitch black bubble. The nightmarish sphere would torment their would be attacker, while also obscuring their view long enough for the party to move past without their interference.

SpritesHero does not join in the fight. Not explicitly anyhow. From time-to-time those concentric circles blink back into existance around his eyes. Occasionally he'll indicate the direction of an incoming Lander trying to sneak up on the group. But aside from that? He just keeps a moving, yet sheltered, position. Purely playing support this round, it would seem.

It gets a lot like a Samurai movie with the rather small Salamander Woman, at first there seems to be nothing she draws her bald and in one action downs two of her foes, she twist turning tail whirling along with her blade. She just goes from foe to foe cutting enemies down. She doesn't stop they are dealing with escorting Landers out. Those people won't get back up even with the terrible price someone like her must pay to get back up.

She'll trust the people protecting the escort to keep them safe while she works on her grim harvest.

    With an easier path to follow, and a lot of offensive power, the group is making good time. They have broken out of the ring that was closing around the refugees, but certainly at this speed they are not hard to find. Sprites becomes aware of someone coming fast, flanked with a few allies, some six in total.

    The way out, though, is just ahead, and even as the Silver Tongue Pirates start helping the injured into their boats, the last challenge crashes into view.

    It is an adventurer. Crowned, heavily armored, and strong. "Thank you for finding my quarry! I owe you my thanks." A huge sword is held up, "I know just how to repay you."

    The others are out of view, but their arrows soon follow, shot to hit as many people as possible. Aware of the danger, Wake simply covers the children in the boat. She has no shielding magic to speak of. It will have to do in a pinch.

     Oh. Good. A crowned adventurer. Yuri had been waiting for this. These annoyances, the weaklings who let themselves be taken over by mere landers. As arrows fly down towards her, Yuri waves her trident over her head, a sphere of water appearing around her to deflect the oncoming arrows to the side, harmlessly falling to the ground next to her as the summoner walks to the forefront of the battle. "Deaths of the ages will be thine end, thou who have lost all that makes thee worthwhile." Yuri incants, her spear pointing forward as spheres of water appear in front of her, several corpses floating up to the surface of those bubbles, sailors who had died ages ago, the spheres of water popping as they tear rusted and barnacle-encrusted cutlasses from the ground.
     "Ye drowned ones, remove this filthy waste from mine sight, that we might continue our mission with those that have earned our care." The trident is lifted up straight into the air, before cut straight forward towards the palace lands adventurer. "GRAVE CALL!" And the drowned sailors charge towards the adventurer, attacking with those accursed blades and attempting to slowly and steadily chunk his health pool down, as well as actively cut off any kind of retreat the adventurer might have. "Filth from the palace lands, tell your leaders that we will not allow your disgusting presence on our lands when you revive at the church."

Goldenblade is grateful as Viviene keeps the enemy off her as she blazes the trail, though one wonders if a soldier would fare much better than a tree or a rock, smashed to splinters so it doesn't impede progress. Fallen logs are struck underhand, and fly through the air end over end, until smashing into the trees to the side of the trail, and tall boulders in this rocky shore are struck overhand. No bell rings, though it might as hard as she hits it, but the rocks are smashed to pieces. Thick trees are struck from the side, and crack at the base, slowly leaning away and slowly falling into the trees behind them, deeper into the woods. The ecology people would swallow their tongues of apoplexy if she did this in RL, she considers.

When the big bruiser comes through to do what his lackeys couldn't, she shouts back, "They've found your doom, Palace Lander. We'll take the payment of your life from you, and you'll get nothing from us!" She spins once to build momentum and hurls that heavy maul at the Palace Lander to be sure she has his attention - he'd got to step back or take it in the face - and then she's taking his attacks with blocks and parries from her golden blades, which the Salamander Lander certainly recognizes, they're as famous as she is in Westelande, and his attacks are stopped cold, the threat of her counterattack forcing him to concentrate on her as much as he is, leaving the civilians mostly free from hindering as they square off. "Is that all you have?" she demands of him, and he's starting to look worried. He's high level, but he wasn't ready for the damage the party is doing.

Then Goldenblade vanishes, much to the Palace Lander's surprise. He looks around for her, he knows he's being set up, but he can't see /how/. That's okay, Goldenblade will explain shortly.



Shortly turns out to be just as he's setting his sights on his next target. He's given up on Goldenblade, which is what she needed, and as he steps towards the rest of the party, she appears behind him. Wake knows this attack, the two of them used to work with Akatsuki back in the day, and though Goldenblade doesn't break out stealth to call out the attack name, it's clearly Assassinate that drops a huge chunk of HP from the Palace Lander, who now has some very serious thinking to do very quickly if he wants to walk out of here.

the sudden arrows had Viviene reacting quickly, blinking from place to place, leaving shadowy blue images behind her, dancing and back and forth and around the arrows at high speeds, or knocking them out of the air with her wide-bladed greatsword. Once she sees herself with an opening, she opens up and directs a pulse of dark magics towards the crowned adventurer. Its a quick, and sudden curse that seeks to sap the individual of their strength, and make it hard for them to find an opening to strike. "Hit 'em with the debuffs! Debuffs all on one guy will make it near impossible to fight!"

Toshiro is quite relieved to see the boat come into view. His speed picks up a bit, all too ready to give his arms a break and see the little Landers safely to the boat. The two of them are set down, his hands roughly ruffling their hair as he offers them each a toothy grin. "You did good. Now let's-" Once again, he finds himself cut off by more bad news. He turns quickly to see the individual before them, his smile starting to fade as he realizes what exactly they are. The ever present joy in his eyes fades as he steps back off the boat, swallowing heavily as he eyes the fighter's blade. "I'm guessing we can't talk this one out?" The hail of arrows would answer that question before their opponent even had a chance. With a few quick words, the sea monster would vanish from his previous position and immediately reappear on the highest point of the ship where the arrows would not reach.

As the army of undead emerged from the waters, Toshi couldn't help but let out a groan of frustration. At least he's a safe distance from their stench this time. A fact that allows him to focus on his incantation, eyes focusing on the figure at the center of it all. A few moments later, while the party descends upon their opponent, Toshi would summon countless ice needles above their head. The razor sharp shards rain down upon the crowned soul, the needles embedding themselves into their exposed skin. The ice freezes body and steel alike, making their body more brittle and susceptible to punishment. Just in time for Goldenblade's massive strike to carve into their frozen flesh. At this point, Toshiro looks away from the fight, instead focusing himself on doing what he can to help the sailors ready the vessel for a swift departure.

SpritesHero is slightly slow on the uptake. Frankly, he'd been expecting that the Palace folks would come to him, instead of trying to hit the refugees. That fact alone completely turns his plan upside-down.

In short, waiting is no longer an option. There is a low-pitched humming noise, and his feet which until now had rested on terra firma now levitate a few inches into the air. The acceleration towards the enemy is smooth, if otherwise unremarkable. But smooth acceleration over that distance nonetheless allows quite a bit of speed to be built up. The arrows are left far behind in his wake.

There's a snap, a sudden plume of noxious, midnight-black smoke around a couple of the grunts. And then Robert vanishes into that smoke, evidently having seen fit to execute a ram. Possibly with not a little stabbing involved. Once the smoke clears, the grunts are gone, and Robert can be seen to simply stand there with his arms folded over his chest. He's evidently perfectly happy to leave the boss to Goldenblade and co. Alternatively he just doesn't want to be nearby when the rest of the folks get going. That might be life-threatening.

It's time to press onward they can't stay here for long she knows that much. She'll move ot deflect the incomming arrows with her Katana as she keep on pushing forward she'll take a few shots with her blow before she'll break into a run. She wants this to end she know they have to go. She'll keep near the rear helping to cover everyone else in getting out.

    The boats are ready to get out of there. So much so that the pirates are already pushing off, but holding just a pace or so from the shore. Easy for a running leap.

    The arrows are largely blocked, and the refugees kept safe. Wake takes a few shots, but has plenty of health left. She calls out, "Swiftly, let's be away!"

    As for their enemies, they have had enough. Some of the arches perished. Their leader stumbles back, health draining swiftly. Before he can fall, however, his health starts to rise!

    At the edge of range, more enemies approach, several of whom appear to be crowned. At least one is a healer.

SpritesHero books it, with a minimum of fuss, probably because the PLs seem to keep coming and his mana is distinctly on the lower side. He does hang back a bit, if only to make sure that the evacuation proceeds properly. But once he's down to the evac boats he not-so-nimbly thrashes through the shallows, vaults into the closest boat, then gets the heck out of the way of anyone else trying to board.

Toshiro is already onboard the ship, but still refuses to turn toward the shore. Instead he focuses on organizing the refugees, guiding them below deck where they might be safe from whatever might be coming next. His attention focuses on his fellow players, double checking on them and making sure they are in good condition and all accounted for. After spending a few moments giving them a few playful jabs at their sorry state to help lighten the mood, he slips each of them a few coins to spend on some remotely decent gear. With that done, he heads back up topside to assess the situation. "Did everyone make it back?"

Goldenblade scowls as her opponent doesn't fall to Assassinate. He's tough! But he's backing down, reconsidering his life choices, and with the Palace Land backup showing up in the distance, that's enough to motivate her to choose the better part of valor. Back to the ships, she takes it in a few huge strides and a leap, landing on the deck and skidding a couple feet, almost plowing into the refugees who're standing around afraid.

She turns to them, looks them over, and points to the injured ones, "You, you, and you, below decks now," she says, and something in her words chivvies them into action. "You," she points to a small woman, "Go down and look after them, help keep them warm, find some blankets or something." She turns to the less injured, and says, "You fellows, take that line the sailor's hauling, help him out. You," she prods another, "Help out over here." And thus she directs the rescuees to assist the sailors, to get us out of here faster.

     Too bad there were reinforcements. And a more important objective. Yuri watches the battle continue, before turning to crawl onto the boat, leaving those drowned sailors to fight in their wake as a distraction as she wades out to the boats and slips up onto the decks, assisting in getting their refugees onto the boat, slipping down and sitting quietly at the back of the boat, letting the others direct the refugees and similar. She'd done her job, finding the refugees and assisting in breaking the ranks of the enemies. Her job here was done.

Miho is one of the last to get out but she makes it with a flying leap on to the ship and she'll make a three point landing as she does so. The small Salamander seems very pleased with herself as she gets up and dusts her hands off. "Glad that's over."

With the rush of opposiotion, Viviene is making her way towards the boats, when she spots a couple refugees lagging behind, she sheathes her sword and begins to grasp one of them in an arm each, and aims to make an enormous leap, carrying both herself and the two refugees up into a leap that brings them up onto one of the boats, as she lands with a thud, setting the two refuges down, she looks around. "Did we get everyone? Lets get out of here, We're over run."

    The Silver Tongue Pirates need no encouragement. One of them laughs, "This is better than the time we.." He trails off, seeing the sorry state of their passengers. "Well, let's be off. The sooner these people get back to safety, the better." He looks appreciatively at the Landers Goldenblade has gifted and says, "Of course, maybe a few of you will want to stay on."

    Later on in the journey, though, it'll be clear that bakers and cobblers as they are, smuggling is not going to be a great fit for them. Fortunately, by then, the sea air and yet more healing has taken place.

    Eventually, the group is dropped off near Takamatsu, where Goldenblade's road and a bunch of pekos await to get them back to Eas. It is indeed just as the sun rises that they reach the safety of the castle.