War of Dragons: Shibuya - I

Shibuya lies a great deal of miles south of Fort Ouph. Beyond forests and valleys and barely trodden road. It's a dangerous route, one that is known to only some of the most expert of Adventurers. And now, an army must travel through it. This means civil engineering and a significant guard force traveling there.

The main body of the army is remaining near Fort Ouph, preparing to expand the supply lines. Which leaves the 'Vanguard' team traveling towards the Palace Land held town of Shibuya in the middle of the day. The weather has gotten rather cold, now that it's November. And the goal is to get the town taken before the Snow hits - as that will make any attempts at subterfuge far more difficult.

A few carts travel with them, while Earth Wave Arte users are at the front, tearing up the ground slowly. It's a noisy practice that is almost certain to capture the attention of monsters down the line.

And draw them it does. A good six hours on their travel, the ground begins to move a bit.... until to suddenly give out a few meters to the east - followed by an enormous /glut/ of Goblins suddenly rushing out under the dark of the trees. Another ground-quake, and the same happens a bit to their west, flanking the group. Before they know it, crude spears and poisoned arrow bolts are being fired their way!

    The lizardman had been working to improve himself of late, he had failed his alliance in several ways in the last year so now Rizadoman was attempting to reforge himself. It was still a work in progress, but the training had done enough to prepare him for this. So prepared in fact that today he is actually wearing clothes. The goblin flank though, the goblins, it was another reminder for what he had let slip through his claw. With a roar he moves towards the west flank.

     A spear comes at him and he knocks it away, then another and another and the attacks do not get to him despite as he tries to wade in. Of course that doesn't mean he is murderizing goblins either, a claw strike here and there but not much value.

This isn't the first time that Mikage has made the long journey from Fort Ouph to Shibuya, though this time, it is with the large company of others. In the past, she had been in far smaller company, usually keeping out of sight. At the moment, there is little real way to disguise the movement of so many. However, she moves at the periphery, herself and Rama keeping an eye out for trouble.

Trouble that inevitably finds them after long enough. The sight of so many Goblins appearing has her wincing inwardly even as she reaches for her bow, Dawnbreaker, "Why is it always Goblins around here? Where is that Goblin obsessed guy when you need him?"

She takes aim at the Western group of attackers, as those are closest to where she'd been positioned as a guard. Magic is already forming around the arrow, swirling around it with particle effects. When she fires, it launches straight into a group of the Goblins, exploding into a vortex of storm energy that slams them against each other and the ground.

    Baroness Wake is not in charge. She's here as a guest. The introduction is the usual curtsey and smiles and politeness, but now it's really time to get down to business.

    Goblins are such a drag. An en masse it's not like they are any better. The smell alone is punishment enough! Speaking of punishment, even a priestess has to address enemies appropriately.

    In Wake's case, that means a lot of goblin faces being crushed, limbs broken, etc. It's not pretty, considering things, but it clears a space around her, making it easier for her to jet backwards on a slick of water, evading the many projectiles heading her way.

     War. War against other players, even if they're players that are under the control of something else. Something that Pela had outright avoided the events for, the fights around. If there was a PVP event, she usually was going the other way. Never in her lifetime on ETO did she suspect she'd be taking part in something like this. And yet this is where she ended up finding herself.

     Still, solo habits die hard and she tended to hide along the edges of the groups, doing little tasks here and there, moving supplies, and various other things that don't have her quite as much in the direct 'sunlight' so to say. Of course, then there were goblins. "Sst." Pela reaches into her pack, she'd assisted with the creation of it, and she was absolutely going to use it here. She carefully coats her blades in the thick viscous liquid of her dose of Goblinbane. And then into the eastern flanks she goes, lifting her blades and dashing in to draw the attention to one of the groups of goblins, activating Vortex Draw to pull the goblins right into her waiting daggers as she twists and dances through the fray.

Haru is part of the front with the Earth Wave Arte users. The Artificer is good with Earth on his own, but brings with him a large Earth Sprite that helps clear away larger debris such as rocks and trees so the casters can focus on leveling out the roads for the wheels of the supply line carts. When it comes to mana reserves, the white haired Enchanter has plenty to spare and to pace through over the hours. Dirty work, the young human is well covered in dirt and stray debris from the magical power-tooling. It is a far cry from his clean look of an urbane jacket and jeans. Unlike Wake, he is taking a handful of Silver Swords with him and providing direction from the front of the advance.

The same is true of the battle preparations once goblins are sighted. A whole glut of them. "Hold a line," he motions out to the West flank as his Ioun Stones begin to spin at a faster rate. "Ignis. SPhere. Inimicos." the Artificer begins to chant, the orbs circling him becoming as red as motes of lava. They erupt into magic, sending a classic Fireball spell like a mortor into the back lines of the advancing gobbos. Massive area damage, ho!

They had made considerable distance in the time. But six hours without a major issue was almost too long, like something was building up... To the point that Shiruba -almost- looks relieved when Goblins swarm out of the forest around them. It was inevitable, and it was a surprise it had taken this long, but it hadn't made her any less ready for it to occur.

Shiruba already has an arrow in her bow, which she fires into an arc, and itself erupts in a blast of wind that knocks several of the poisonous arrows out of flight. "Sic the archers!", she calls out, seemingly to no one at first.
Until the screech comes from above, as her peregrin falcon powerdives out of where she was circling above the convoy and into the ranks of the goblin archers on the East Flank, with a disruptive thunderous clap in her wake from the speed.

Giving Shiruba a chance to take aim and start trying to pick them off while they're disrupted. Taking down the numbers of the enemy's ranged attackers will hopefully give their melee defenders some more room to work.

It was time to take their home back, though Goblins? Bloody Goblins? Looks like that's the case she'll draw her bow as she leaps from her cart.

"Them of all times?!"

She's already letting the arrows fly and this time they are clearly charged with magic rather than her standard shots it's just there are so mny goblins...

"I will Haru! I have no plans to allow them past so long as I breathe!"

    There are moments that call out to the Baroness. Like a whisper where something is just within her reach, a scale that is just right for her to tip with a little push.

    Her attention, mid-dodge, focuses on this, on Rizadoman's attack. There's a thrill of change and she gestures, murmuring. Only one word, a rune can be clearly heard, and around it fate swirls and changes:



    "FEHU!"

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Anyone would be nervous whenever they are going off to war, for war is a nasty business. Even if it's through more traditional methods that this new world recognizes, anything can happen at any time. Curtana is certainly nervous, but that's the thing about courage. He isn't letting his fear take a hold of him, and having the courage to go forward.

Though it has been several hours since they set out, Curtana has still been doing his best to keep an eye out on the road, especially with how loud the Earth Magic users have been. He has also been doing his part to help out, but with a smaller mana capacity than actual mages, he can only help in bursts.

It's during one of these breaks that a goblin ambush assaults the warband, arrows filling the sky! Tucking behind his shield, several arrows bounce harmlessly off before he rushes forward to engage the goblins. Unfortunately, the goblins are working together and not attacking one on one. This leads to a stalemate of sorts between the knight and three goblins.

Yeowang has of course joined the effort to retake Shibuya, she has been active in supporting every stage of this effort and even working on preliminary scouting effort. She had worked on scouting this road out for the purposes of driving a for real road from Ouph to Shibuya before the Palace Landers arrived, so she has an idea about how hard this is going to be. It's unfortunate that it has had to come to this, the Palace Lands invasion, before anyone will take action on the effort she'd mapped out so long ago, but better late than never. Not that our objective here is clearing the road permanently, just long enough to get the army through. But it will be a start, and will likely get the most threatening enemies.

Waves of goblins do not surprise her, she knew some were lurking in several camps south of Ouph. In some places, you can't fire an arrow without hitting one. The route we're taking avoids the worst areas, you could lose an army in some of them, but this band is small enough that just our advance party ... has a chance, anyway, if she can stay quick on her feet.

Stepping aside from the initial rush and surge of goblins, she lays out several with crippling strikes, seems they underestimated an unarmed woman. They won't do that again. Not the ones she struck down, anyhow, hard kicks and merciless barehand strikes are all a part of her martial arts style, and though this is a bit more serious than MMA, and her school forbade 'street fighting', she's got a bit of experience at it because of ... this and that. Well, things happen in a person's life. But for now, she's happening to goblins, and it's not going well for them.

Kaydon had been out in the front, behind the Earth arte users, keeping tabs on things. So he was right out at front when the Goblins rush in at the group. He lets out a heavy sigh. Not what he wanted. If he was going to skirmish, he'd rather it have been with a few of the Palace Landers. Oh well, no sense in letting it get him down, especially since they still need to keep everybody, and all the equipment, safe.

So once the arrows and spears descend, he is quick to throw himself towards the eastern flank of goblins, the Jaeger coming to bear off his back as he swats a few poison arrows out of the way as he charges towards the goblins. Clearly throwing caution to the wind, he jumps into the front of the goblin pack, the gunblade swinging with violent force, rending Goblins asunder. He knows how they operate, pack tactics and overwhelming numbers. But if he can hit them fast and hard enough, it'll throw their tactics into disarray.

    Goblins? That's it? Miyako snarls under her breath as she glares out at the little monsters. She's already annoyed enough at whatever is keeping Kotono delayed, hopefully her partner will show up soon. And then they'll get the damned invaders out of her town.

    But first they have to get the damned goblins out of the way. Step one: Obliterate the goblins.

    And so Miyako steps to the side of the road, clearing the way for the melee fighters, and begins her casting, singing softly as she scribes her ice-blue runes in the air.

        Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside's delightful
        So since we've someplace to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

    And her spell fires off, snow falling from the sky above the goblins... which quickly turns to ice and hail, pounding down upon their heads!

    Merek is of course going to work to assist in bringing safety to Shibuya, though it looks like for the moment they need to deal with goblins. The man takes a moment to place a bit of Goblinbane on his sword while he draws the weapon and nods a bit to the party.

A Goblin rushes the Lizardman in person, and is soon joined by a few others. The Were Fang is making a good showign of his defensive moves, but surprised, he's having some trouble getting his claws into them...

That is, until there's this sudden swell of power that envelops him. A push against his body that almost seems to lengthen his claws, turning clipping motions into fierce hewing strikes, littering his claws with goblin blood!

Mikage in the meantime, asks a rather pertinent question, for not seconds after she asks it, she hears...

"Twenty..."

A tired voice remarks, coming out from the fallen burrow of Goblins, slowly lifting himself up and standing on a log. A Goblin tries to rush him with a dagger, only for The Goblin Slayer to cave its head in with the club he has in hand.

"Twenty-one."

It seems they just found out why the Goblins stormed out, and who caused that caving! Mikage's arrow zips, swirling and launching into the Goblins near the Goblin Slayer - tearing them apart in a flurry of wind and energy, blending them against a tree and leaving streaks of red against the bark!

The very same trees suddenly detonate in a gulf of eart hand flame as Haru's blazing attack sends the Fireball into the old wood, shattering it and sending bark and debris shattering into the backs of the smaller Goblin bodies! This finally gives Curtana - who was being forced back by some of the victims, to lower her shield and get a better look at the battlefield, finishing one of those fallen before her.

Yeowang quickly stepping in in order to to assist Curtana, using her martial arts tricks to cripple another squad of goblins coming for her, giving her the opportunity to drop them alongside her ally.


On the other side of the battlefield, Baroness wake is already on the move. Joined by Pela Clarpuff, the two swing and shift between the Goblins coming forward. Crushing blows from the Baroness send them into the sharp grasp of Pela's daggers, and each time Pela rushes from the shadows and lets herself be known, goblins retreat towards Baroness Wake - turning it into a strange but exhausting back-and-forth. Goblin bane is clearly doing its work, though there are other members of the party that are suffering the Goblins' own poison as well by now.

One of the goblins suddenly loosens from the formation, rushing Baroness Wake as she directs some of her power towards Lizardman, only for it to get stuck through the head as Haru's arrow tears right through its head, practically 'deflating' its shape. The Peregrin powerdives through, biting one of the Goblins in the backline, causing it to shoot at the one that was just about to shoot at Erufu. Allowing the elf free reign as her magical arrows rain down in a larger volley upon her enemies.

Followed by a loud shearing motion as Kaydon storms forward, using Pela and Wake's assault to reap those that try to close the area behind them. Each swing ripping through more lives! Miyako is covering Kaydon's assault by turning the area to sleet and ice to the sides. A few goblins falling over and /sliding/ towards the Gunblade bearing Adventurer.

The Goblins however keep swarming. And with the initial wave of them having escaped what is now clearly a burrow that is being destroyed from within by some unknown means...

CRUNCH!

Suddenly, the West side finds a massive head of stone coming through, eating a good ten of the Goblins, as a Centipede-like rock monster with a draconic head tears them apart, devouring them, then /crashing/ down, landing upon a few of the trees and sending them falling towards the Adventurers!

The Goblins on the East Flank continue to engage with the Adventurers from the East, but the ranged ones have begun using their arrows in order to fire at this 'Deathpillar' that has appeared! What's worse, two large Brutes have managed to make their way up, bearing massive two-handed swords, and have begun literally /THROWING/ those enormous swords at the Adventurers, then picking them back up, swinging them, and throwing them again!

That voice. Mikage turns just in time to hear the count down from the Goblin Slayer. "Of course. Where there is Goblins... There will always be the Goblin Slayer." She rolls her eyes, more amused than anything else.

Rama yowls, racing a circle around Mikage's legs but hesitant to move further from the safety of the army. With so many Goblins, it would be easy to be caught out and with their shared health pool, the Ranger is keeping her animal companion close. "I know, buddy, but you need to let us handle this right now." She tries to reassure the cat.

That is, until the Goblins are turned into lunch by something else entirely. "Well, that's new." Looking between Rama and the draconic centipede, she offers a shrug. "Okay, that you can go after." Touching a hand along his back, the girl channels some of her magical energy into her companion, who seems more than happy to zoom off, ready to take a bite out of the rock monster, with little flecks of ice trailing behind him.

There's Goblin Slayer, and there's a 'Deathpillar' or whatever they're going to call it. Point of the matter is that it's a terrible day to be a Goblin... but the giant worm thing taking the archer backline's attention is a small silver lining to the matter.

Unfortunately the Goblins aren't letting up on the matter, at least on the East Flank, as two Brutes emerge from the horde and start swinging, and throwing, their equally brutish swords. With a grunt Shiruba digs her heels in, whipping up a barrier of winds around herself. Unfortunately the sword's weird dynamics with it's size hit the air barrier and instead of being knocked aside tumbles into it, slamming into the Cait Sith broadside instead of by the edge. Still, it hits hard enough to make her stumble backwards, tail lashing to regain her balance before she falls over completely prone.

The grunt turns into a full blown lupine growl as she clenches her teeth, sharp fang-like ones showing at the corners of her mouth. She pulls an arrow from her quiver, and with a snap of her arm strikes it against the ground to use the sparks of friction to ignite the pitch on the tip. Then nocks, pulls back, and takes aim for one of the Brute's head with the now fiery projectile! Getting a face full of flaming headshot should get the point across!

     In and out of combat, an awkward and exhausting back and forth for goblin and adventurer alike as Pela and the Baroness send goblins back and forth. Each time a goblin is downed, she moves on quietly to the next one. While no Goblin Slayer of destructive towards them, Pela clearly has a bone to pick with Goblins with the viciousness she strikes. Something crunches and tears through the ground, the goblins being driven out the rest of the way from the ground.

    The western flank is in danger, but the eastern flank isn't much better off as two of the larger brutes of the Goblins make their presence known. As those thrown swords come towards her and the Baroness... Pela slips under it, even doing a tactical slide between a pair of goblins on the way to one of the brutish goblins while slipping her wakizashi into their sheathes.

     All so that she can focus on getting to one of those brutes, leaping to zip along its form and get to its arms. And bring her wakizashi out to stab them straight towards opposite sides of one of its arms. A twist of the blades inside of that arm later, and a blast of electricity rocks through the blades -- and into the brute's body. "...Sleep." Once that strike is performed to weaken it, she kicks off to rip those blades out of the Brute's arm so that she can continue fighting.

    Merek looks to the goblins while he takes a potion with alchemist's fire and will throw that into the goblins as well as any other creatures that are taking them on. The man draws up his magical shield although it does little to protect him, and he takes a strike. "Not exactly what I thought we would be fighting when we came by!"

    Rizadoman was not expecting the giant rock of centipede but it will not detour him. In fact he is intending to be the detour instead as he charges toward the worm and plants himself but this worm was going full speed and runs him over as if he is speed bump. He has to pull himself out of the ground after getting slithered on. That wasn't the best experience. With an annoyed look on his face he draws his shield from the back and with rage filling him throws his shield at the worm intending to take a chunk of the rock off the worm. The shield is thrown hard enough it whistles through the air as it aims to impact the rock worm.

Kaydon continues to slash his way through goblins, even as the battlefield errupts on the other flank. It's too late to change direction and help them out over there, he'll just have to trust in his friends to be able to get the job done. That momentary distraction of Deathpillar rising up out of the ground allows one of the goblins to catch Kaydon with a spear, making the were fang yell out in pain as he turns around and rams the hidden blade on his gauntlet into the goblin's stupid face.

Annoyed at having let his guard drop, Kaydon continues to use the weapon on his gauntlet on several other close by goblins, "I'd give anything for a grenade right about now." He mutters to himself while stabbing another Goblin. They've got to break the goblin lines and force a retreat.

Yeowang is a bit surprised to see the goblins driven out by the stone centipede monster, she was almost expecting Goblin Slayer to be the cause of the stampede. To hear Rizadoman or Erufu tell it, finding a way to get some horrible monster to attack a goblin den would be just his style. But as the monster drives the goblins on, she is entirely happy to be the anvil to the monster's hammer, and as the monster drives the goblins on, she will shatter them one by one.

With her hard martial arts style, she delivers crippling blows and deadly strikes. In Real Life, they wouldn't be as deadly as they are here ... at least not to a trained and experienced MMA fighter. The hits are still brutal, but the game seems to add an unforgiving element of finality to the strikes. She's broken arms and legs with strikes in tournaments, but she never used martial arts to kill in RL. Well, here, it's her or them, and they're not backing down, so she doesn't see any other alternative.

Well speak of the Slayer and he shall appear she's not even mad about this. The goblins need to go down just for existing after all.

"Good to see you!"

Yes she's happy to see him even here. Haru has her back as he gets one of the Goblins that was about to shoot her.

"Thanks."

She'll notch another arrow and let it fly. She's not about to lay down for this, no they need to get their home back from the Palace Landers. Well, the goblins here are pretty handled as there's something else some sort of massive sone beast yeah it's time to not fool around. Though it did eat the goblins at least.

She will level her bow take aim at it then let a shot fly.

"BURST SHOT!"

The supercharged shot is let fly as Elf tries to get said shot into the thing's maw where it's likely far more vulnerable than say its hide.

    Well, that was a good start. The counter attack is inevitable, and incredibly well delivered. Painfully delivered. One of those thrown swords is more than just lucky, it strikes the priestess quite squarly, taking a pretty good chunk of Wake's HP bar.

    Fortunately her counterstrike is no less formidible, and she attacks with zeal. After all, goblins aren't protected by the Goddess. If anything, they have been thoroughly pummelled with the ugly stick. Though in this odd instance, Wake's attack is delivered with teeth. She'll want to brush and floss after this.

Haru keeps a cool head from the back lines. It is enough to coordinate with Shiruba to position the Silver Swords up and in front of the massive goblin lines mounting on the west flank. Then the great Rolling Stone makes its way, a solo band appearance of hangry proportions. This is why you need a snack, rock beastie. Wait. You found some already. "Only reinforcing the fact that Earth rocks," the Enchanter says to the sight of the carnage. A quick defensive Arte is thrown up over himself with slivers of gems floating in front of his person that assemble in silvery lines. The panes the lines create show various colors of glass, shielding him from the minor debris and increasing his movement to avoid that big tree branch that is larger than his torso.

"Crystallo. Serratus. Lacrima. Assula. Inimicus." the Earth Master Artificer begins to chant as the debris begins to gather around him in a scrap storm. The four stones that he uses to cast his Wave Artes spin in a fast pattern to add to the chaos, crossing over the earthen elements and drawing them upwards above Haru. The stones flash, pulsing and shaping the element until it is a massive, jagged spear of crystaline earth. A hand raises up as the spear points towards the large beast. His monocle flashes to life, white lines against the purple lens as he looks for a weak point in that thick armor. "Got you," he grins lowing his hand and launching the rending lance towards the big'n with enough force that his jacket flutters in anime hero animation.

A massive rocky insect bursts from the mass of the goblin forces, and Curtana has to leap to the side to avoid being crushed by a stone leg. "Bloody hell...we're stirring everything up, it seems!" Deciding that the 'Deathpiller' is the greater threat now, he rears his sword arm back, igniting the weapon with the familiar Firebrand technique. Most users of Firebrand generally don't throw their weapon at their target. "Whirling Spark!" Defying logic, the blade hovers in place and continues spinning, the intense heat melting through the stony armor his opponent had on before flying back to the knight. Catching it by the hilt, Curtana throws the blade again and again, determined to make the most of the Sword Arte before it ends.

    With ice still raining down on the goblins, Miyako watches over their destruction, smirking to herself. By the time she notes the presence of the new wave of monsters, it's just in time to dodge aside from a thrown sword!

    She eyes the pair of brutes, and starts preparing another spell-blast... but by the time she's ready to cast there are too many people crowded around the monsters. And they seem to have things well in hand. Better to do something more useful. Like encourage her allies. She has just the song for it.

        Axes flash, broadsword swing
        Shining armor's piercing ring
        Horses run with polished shield
        Fight these bastards till they yield
        Midnight mare and blood-red roan
        Fight to keep these lands our own
        Sound the horn and call the cry

        HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE MAKE DIE

The enormous stone-draconic looking centipede lands upon the ground, and begins to remove itself from the caves. Its shell is littered with Goblins that are in the midst of dying, and it isn't long before the light-shattering effects of their HP coming to zero comes on full display.

As Rama rushes its position, it quickly hops up onto its head and digs its little jaws in. The moment it does, there's a sudden PULSE of ice from that position, which quickly creeps over its body.

For some Adventurers, this is not the first time they've seen a foul beast like this. These types of monsters are one of the few natural predators of Goblins, and tend to live within deep caves like these. No doubt they're one of the scourges that forced the Gnomes back onto the surface and out of their Underground Gnomedoms.

With the Deathpillar freezing, Rizadoman gets in there, slamming his shield into its face. Ice shatters first, having gotten under the stone, soon tearing off some of the stone itself, revealing a weaker flesh beneath! Though the worm of stone quickly rises up to try and avoid that weak point from being assaulted!

Only for Yeowang to manage to get down from a quick jump above, using one of her deadly strikes to slam its head back down to the ground, causing its head to 'bounce' off of the ground for a moment! With that opportunity created, Erufu's burst shot SLAMS through that weak point created by Rizadoman. Behind it, she can see Goblin Slayer moving and checking the fallen Goblins. Any that haven't shattered, he's personally ensuring is getting crushed by the blunt end of his mace. And when one goblin tries to run, he grabs hold of a sword left by one of the Goblins, and expertly throws it into its back, cutting apart its spine and soon causing that one to shatter as well!

When it comes to Goblins, the Goblin Slayer doesn't roll the dice.

Speaking of rolling -- Haru rolls up his stone assault, lining them up into a long rending lance, and sends it rushing right to the Deathpillar's head, shattering another enormous gash along its head! Though it doesn't fully penetrate, it ends up creating an even larger gash than the other one, creating the perfect opening for another assault to finish it off! Curtana's assault rises into the air, bursting around the area of its head and causing the stone on its body to start to /MELT/. Slowly damaging as if someone cast Heat Metal on someone wearing Full Metal Plate!

All while a song rises from the midst of the team, lifting their spirits and making it almost seem like the forest leaves are not creating quite so many shadows anymore.

On the east side: Shiruba receives a massive sword to the face, breaching her defenses, before she manages to snap a quick arrow right into its head. It bursts to flame... before the Brute slowly reaches its hand up and /pulls/ the arrow out of its head... almost like it's too stupid to understand it just got really hurt...

It then looks down at the arrow, flaming and burning its hand... Then roars out in anger at her!

Ah, there it is. Now it knows it is hurt!

The arrow is throw to the side and it stomps towards her to pick up the blade, swinging it towards Pela, but the slides beneath! It keeps the swing going, rushing it for her and Baroness Wake's head, then tries to stab and reap it /through/ the both of them, only for the Electric burst to weaken it after its attack, causing it to wobble for a bit. In that moment, Baroness Wake jumps, and tries to bite down. She ends up biting onto the brute Goblin's enormous bottom lip, and tears it off! Thick red glow splattering over Baroness Wake, staining her clothing!

Merek's flask of flame catches a few of them on fire luckily, clearing out some of the smaller ones, easing up the assault on the others. And allowing them to focus on the really really big ones! It's really the closest that Kaydon is getting to a grenade any time soon, stabbing through the loose remainders - tearing a few of them literally 'apart' with the gauntlet's weapon.

The first brute is still busy with Pela and Baroness Wake, attempting to impale them, while the weaker goblins have largely been eradicated. This leaves the second Brute storming Merek and Kaydon personally, trying to grab the both of them by the heads to clock them into one-another, before rushing anyone else near it and lift them /into/ some tree-branches!

On the West Side, the Stone Monster has begun swinging its massive tail around and swirling between trees, making it a lot harder to hit. What's more, it's getting harder to anticipate where it is coming from. Even with the weakpoint on its head, it is still rushing the group. It even 'jumps' its position and tries to come down on the backlines near Haru and Shiruba, attempting to DEVOUR them!

Rama is the one closest to the beast, though as it dives, he quickly rolls away, scrambling beyond the earth that is tumbling underneath his paws. So it is not Mikage, herself, who has to keep out of the way of the monster, but the lynx. This seems to be all according to their plans, though, as it has given the Ranger an advantage.

Leaving Rama to fight up close has given Mikage enough time to get up onto one of the carts and load up an arrow into her bow, tracking the movements of the monster as it charges. She holds magic channeled into the arrow, the effect glowing dramatically as she waits for just the right opportunity to strike.

Then, when the monster leaps, she tracks that weak point and fires.

Where it impacts, there is a rush of water magic that follows, meaning that it isn't just the impact of the arrow that does damage, but multiple hard blasts of water, ice and air that pummel the creature in the aftermath.

     Really, evasion wasn't perfect, and as that brute starts to retaliate against Pela... she slips up slightly, her movement not quite enough, and the blade chunks through her, causing her to grit her teeth as she's briefly pinned by the impaling stone sword. Pela shifts. She takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes, her feet bracing against the floor as she reaches into her pack. And she pulls out... a piece of bread? She breaks it in half, tossing half towards the Baroness. "...Cleanse palate." She says, before eating her own half of the Mellowing Melonpan. After a moment of calm breathing, she closes her eyes.... and opens them again, looking at that sword, picking out weak points. And starting to move. Careful stabs and slashes at key points to damage and weaken the sword enough that she can break off of it.

     And then she leaps towards the brute! Attempting to stab at one of its weak points with her blade. Pushing, pushing, pushing... for that weak spot, trying to push in and break through to hit that spot that would cause massive damage. But there's a thing about having just been impaled. It's really tiring and difficult to recover from.

    Merek draws up the fist of his while he begins to sweep in with kicks and punches right into the goblins, taking his time to take on as many that he can, while he follows along with the party, "well, it is the first step to taking back Shibuya, we need to do what we can." Then he's adjusting to lift up his magical shield to protect him, taking the strike.

    The fight is one thing. It takes a lot of her attention. The blood on her nice, new clothing is frustrating. And she spits out the lip she's torn off.

    Yeah, that's gross. Stupid goblins.

    She uses a feint to pour on the wrath, even though she takes still more damage, pushing her into the red. For a moment, she feels something.

    It's the same call, another slip of fate, waiting for her finger to move it where she wants. She reaches out the same way, the same word. She isn't even certain of its meaning, and it doesn't matter.

    "FEHU!"




    The gift of The Beautiful One doesn't require understanding. Simply faith.

Haru looks up as the frenzied Stone Monster has taken to the air to 'jump' and go to devour him. It is enough to blot out the sun. For tonight, it wishes to dine in the shade! "Going for the back line," Haru says as his four Ioun Stones appear to become five, the fifth being a sparky white ball of light. It shoots away as his Air Sprite, Yumi zips straight up as if 'nope!'ing right out of being a meal. "Can't say I blame you," he taunts the creature as it makes its way down. And for all that talk, it looks like Haru would get devoured as he doesn't move when the creature makes its way down.

Sparks of lighting meet the connection point as if the beast decided to bite into a live third rail. Lightning Switch: A replacement spell that swaps position with his summon. So where is Haru now? Up in the air, looking down like a demonic overlord that needs a long red scarf. "But you missed," the Enchanter says, already chanting out a Wave Arte that summons a large meteoric ball that he lands on. It descends like a burning ball of death onto the creature with Haru riding it down, gracefully jumping off after impact, sliding away, and neatly fixing the collar on his jacket before turning back to the beast. Enchanter Life.

    As Rizadoman recovers his thrown shield, the massive tail of the stone monster swings out and hits him, however the lizardman is ready this time. His scales glisten like rubies under the sun , having transitioned from their cool teal color. The tail does manage to knock back Rizadoman but his health never drops. Instead he lands with a tuck and roll with more focus on his prey now.

     The shield of Rizadoman's splits in to two pieces, forming his twin blades as he lets out a roar and then a challenge, "Centipede or goblins, neither will cease are attempt to recapture our home!" Charing forward his swords light on firre as he slashes at the centipede, flourishes and slashes again before leaping up and slashing a third time. "FOR SHIBUYA!"

Yeowang steels herself to face the stone centipede as the last of the goblins on this side are killed. Between the party, Goblin Slayer, and the stone centipede, the only real question was who would get the XP. But the centipede is still coming, and will need to be dealt with, it seems. Well, a monster like that would trash an armny trying to march through. This is what they're here for, to take out the most aggressive threats.

As she avoids the massive tail sweeps, just barely, jumping around in a frantic effort to avoid attacks, she looks around for where she can be most useful, but it seems like the party has things dealt with while she's been hopping around, trying to find a safe place to stand. Looking left and right, she stands ready, but it looks like things have settled out?

        Guard your women and children well
        Send these bastards back to hell
        We'll teach them the ways of war
        They won't come here any more
        Use your shield and use your head
        Fight till every one is dead
        Raise the flag up to the sky

    Still singing, Miyako throws herself into the fight, flicking from one shadow to the next and slicing at the beasts with her fans. A remaining goblin finds its head sliding from its neck as she passes it by, not even slowed, to dart around the beasts and harass them, doing her best to drive them mad with her swift slashing blows.

    Through it all, her song still sounds:

        HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE MAKE DIE!

Shiruba is watching the flailing Brute's movements, knowing they're a bit big for her to try and physically block. So she's edging back and forth warily, but still tries to dodge just a little too late. The Brute swipes to chuck her into a tree, it looks like a direct hit! ... Except its somehow not, as despite her stumbling start Shiruba gets enough of a kick into her step to slip under the massive limb that certainly was about clobber her into a tree.

She doesn't question it, not in middle of a raging battle. There will be time for questions and quandries afterwards.

She comes out of the maneuver and onto one knee, pulling the special metallic arrow shaft from her quiver as she does. Sparks crackling along the arms and bowstring of Thundersnow Howl as she draws the arrow back in it, the air around her starting to glow faintly from the ionization as more and more storm energy is drawn from the magic longbow to charge the projectile. Until it's crackling with so much power that it's own glow turns a hazy reddish hue.

Shiruba takes aim at the Brute, and fires. The arrow zings through the air as any arrow would, to impact it's target. The Brute's sluggish response to getting hurt only works in her favor, as the arrow's strike isn't all that painful.

It's the serious of lightning-like discharges that roar from the projectile to blast it's target multiple times in rapid succession that does the real damage with a booming cacophony.

Thunder's just a noise, boys, Lightning does the work.

Catching his longsword one last time, Curtana examines his trusty blade quickly and nods. "Good, burned too hot to get nicked!" It seems like a lot of the goblins are now being dealt with by the Deathpillar or the mysterious Goblin Slayer, so just the giant insect to deal with now.

Kneeling down, Curtana holds both hands to his shield to support it as it is hit by the stony tail. Barely staying upright, sparks flying as it slides across, the knight stumbles as the tail goes overhead. "Aim for just behind the head, you'll still hit it further down the body!"

Taking in calming breaths, Curtana chases after the Deathpillar. Despite a few tricks up his metal sleeves, he specializes in melee combat, so it can be annoying when enemies play keepaway like this. Channeling Hamon down his longsword's length, Curtana leaps forwards and swings his blade overhead and mirroring Rizadoman's cry. "FOR SHIBUYA!"

Erufu is going to keep on the move to still is asking to be devoured by this monster. Deathpillars were new to her, she's heard of them but never seen one. She just shudders as she keeps on the move. Goblin Slayer meanwhile is just finishing off any fallen goblins who are just playing dead. Later she would comment to Yeowang that at first, she thought it was Goblin Slayer who had caused the Goblins to flee herself. Keeping an eye on Yeowang for a moment she sees that she's still alive. Good, she'll turn her attention to Haru as well for a moment, also still alive good.

That thing needs to die, she mutters a short spell as she draws her bow again, the arrow turns /black/ and she takes aim even as the thing jumps for the backlines.

One shot, a second a third, she flips firing again and calling out.

"BLACK ARROW!!"

Water and ice blast into the stone beast, using the intense heat that had Curtana had left across its body. The stone rapidly cools, causing it to crack and splinter! The vile beast crying out in pain as Mikage's arrow keeps sunken in and keeps spreading its malignant ice!

Still, the Deathpillar manages to eat Haru's Summon, and Haru suddenly notices a rapid decrease in his health after the swap! Still, he has the chance in that moment to send that burning ball of meteoric power down upon it, clocking it right into the head, and slamming it the ground once more. It comes down with such dizzying strength that it remains on the ground for a while longer.

Floored, this gives Rizadoman the chance to close the distance and slashes with that furious blazing strike, leaving a wash of glorious flame in his wake, before the second slash carves across its body, and the third flaming strike burns across its body, detonating the ice left behind by Mikage's streaming arrow.

Following right after Rizadoman, Curtana comes down. Hitting right on target with the opened weakpoints in its head, and drives the blazing sword /THROUGH/. The blazing weapon tears into it, remaining in place for a few moments... right before that Hamon slams through the blade itself, and spreads light from the tip to the tail of the stone creature. For a moment it looks like it's not enough, only for Erufu's Black Arrow to suddenly slam /perfectly/ into the back of Curtana's blade, driving it further in, and sending a blaze of darkness through those very same pores! Its insides blaze white and black light through all those torn places of rock...

Before it shatters apart and explodes outwards as if someone overfed it a few too many pastries!

Pela then takes up the popular sport of 'if it doesn't go down the first time, keep punching the living crap out of it' over on the east side. Focusing on the first brute on their side, she begins slamming her fists into its already bleeding body, leaving more and more bruises of red glowing light, weakening its body as she pushes it back! It tries to swing a blade at her, only for Baroness Wake to intercept it and push it to the ground! Giving Pela the chance to slam her fist through its gut, and pull out its... well... glowing red light.

Over in the corner, Merek is punching a few goblins that are attempting to run away from the group - before bringing up the defenses. With Miyako aiding by moving in the back alongside the Goblin Slayer - the two 'dancing' through the retreating troops, slicing off heads and cutting out eyeballs. A shattering trail of light following in their wake.

The last remaining Brute decides to run away, only to suddenly get stabbed in the head by the Goblin Slayer, as he manages to have broken away from the dance with Miyako, and stabbing a blade through its skull...

After which he grabs another blade laying around and sheaths that instead, and looks at the Adventurers for just a moment...

"Good luck on your mission." He merely declares.

It has nothing to do with him. There's no Goblins in Shibuya. Instead, he wanders off, leaving the group to form their first staging camp and checkpoint at this location!

There is a sigh of relief as the worst of the fighting seems to end, at least for now. Mikage lowers her bow, arrow still balancing against it incase there was any last enemies still lurking that need skewering. Rama races back towards the rest of the gathered Adventurers, seeming quite proud of himself.

With a glance over towards the Goblin Slayer, Mikage rolls her eyes a bit at his comment. "And there he goes again. That guy is /weird/." Everyone has their quirks, some just happen to be quirkier than others.

"Anyone injured? Call out and let's get some healers working. We want to be fighting fit as soon a we can. I don't expect this is the last thing we'll run into before we get to Shibuya." There is still a long way to go, and many miles of monsters still between them and reclaiming their home.

The Brute is going to get Kaydon's full focus, as he slips under that hand trying to grab him, shifting his position as he clicks the cylinder on his gunblade into the right position, and then he strikes out at the brute, his gunblade flashing as it hits, the fire wave arte going off on impact, sending an explosion through the blade and into the Brute. These Goblins have never seen a weapon like Kaydon's gunblade, and he's putting it to full use with each strike.

It seems that the group has broken the goblins lines, however because they're fleeing and no doubt going to be pursued by the Goblin Slayer, who Kaydon gives a nod of thanks to as he heads off, "I'm fine. Just a little banged up."

     Pela is left after that cold, silent, calculating attack to that incoming brute. She hadn't screamed, she hadn't yelled. When her blade failed, claws, hands, feet, whatever she could manage was used until eventually she was left there holding that red weak spot, breathing heavily afterwards, her eyes narrowed as she looks up towards the Brute. Watching silently. Unmovingly. The moment it started to move, the red core was dropped to the floor and stomped on by wooden shoes.

     As it starts to shatter into red, her gaze turns quickly to find the next enemy. To find the next target that was threatening her friends and allies, tail fluffed up and sharp little fangs bared. But there was nothing left. Just shards of code surrounding the combat-ready maid. Pela blinks a few times, before straightening up, quietly recovering her blade and sliding it into its sheathe.

     She pulls out a small piece of itadori root and starts to chew on it as she moves over to check on the Baroness who she'd separated from in the end of the fight. And offering her that half of a Melonpan again. "...Appreciate you."

Erufu makes sure the beast ie dead she remains on guard the next thing shes going to do is help confirm all the goblins are dead. She'll call out to Goblin Slayer as he leaves.

"Take care of your self and may your hunt be good. When this business with the Palace Lands is over I'm dragging you on a proper Adventure!"

    Wake wipes her mouth and gets straight to work. Light magic is her thing. Elly should really do something about her own hp. But she doesn't. Not yet.

    The offer from Pela is met with a warm smile. She pauses to accept the gift.

    "Thank you, Pela. That is wonderful."

    And thank the Goddess it tastes really, really good. She can't help but close her eyes and enjoy it. Though she doesn't let herself linger long. There is hp to raise and who knows when another threat might appear.

With the fight over, Yeowang slips into post-fight mode quickly. Triaging the injured, providing aid to those she can, she moves from individual to individual, and she doesn't seem to run out of supplies. Seems her organizational efforts have borne fruit if she's got enough for all of the most injured people, between potions and spells, though those are for the worst of the injured and clumsily done because she's just not with the magic healing thing.

The exploding Deathpillar under his feet is certainly a surprise for the knight, on top of the Black Arrow channeling through his trusty blade. Sent flying back, Curtana rolls twice before managing to stop himself. "Okay, first time dealing with...uh...did anyone see where my sword went?"

A moment later, the longsword in question lands blade first into the earth before him, quivering from the impact. Shrugging, he pulls it free and makes sure that his original sword is still going strong. "Nevermind, found it!"

Waving a hand at the Goblin Slayer departs, Curtana turns his attention to the most important matter at hand now: healing the wounded. Noticing Haru, he walks over before he starts to cast healing magic upon the Enchanter. Holding both hands out, pale light starts to recover his lost health. "Is it always like this, for big groups like this?"

Haru lets a wash of air and water magic roll around him as part of the menu clean, heated by fire magic until he is back to his normal self. "All fine here. Plenty of health and mana to spare," he says back to Mikage as he notices the Slayer leaving. "A good warmup for taking back our home," he says, not speaking to anyone in particular as he checks over the carts and wagons for damage, sneaks, or sabo in the chaos of battle. "Thanks Curt. Shiruba may need it a bit more, but those guys were slow and I was in the back ranks. But yes, this is 'fairly' normal. We are a large group making a lot of noise. It attracts attention. How are you holding up?"

    Her song finished, and the battle with it, Miyako salutes the Goblin Slayer with her fans and wishes him "Good hunting." Then, smiling, she wanders off to settle onto a convenient boulder and relax a bit, flicking fingers over her menu to pull up the chimlink.

    "Hey, Ko-chan. ... yeah? Really? Well, you missed some goblins and a killerpede. ... no, no, we're all okay. You wouldn't believe what Wake did, though." She looks like she's trying not to giggle.

    She continues chatting with her friend, nodding and smiling as they talk about the battle and less consequential things. "Okay, you're an hour out? Well, catch up quick or I won't save you any dinner, hey?" Openly laughing now, she signs off.

It's not his mission, so we'll just be glad Goblin Slayer was here when he was to help deal with this interruption. "Thanks for the assistance, Slayer!" she calls after the armored form.

"Pretty much," she asides to Curtana. Then an ear perks at the call for healers. Then a faint sigh as she remembers she's nowhere near being able to do more than a few sparkles of light to help with that.

But that doesn't mean she can't help, as Shiruba likes to be prepared. She takes a moment to retrieve one of the crates she packed on a cart. "Here, I packed some medicinal supplies. Once everyone is feeling better Erufu and Yeowang can take hunters out to find some food." Interesting that she doesn't include herself in that.

But a reason becomes more evident after she walks back over to Wake and once the woman is finished with her palette cleansing snack thanks to Pela briefly bows. "Baroness, may I assist you in tending to the injuried as part of my study."

    Merek looks around a bit, with a nod to all the people that are about, "Alright, we should probably take time to heal while we prepare to make the next plan," he offers, then he's walking away to get a little bit of healing.

    Rizadoman watches the centipede pixelate away along with the last remains of the goblins and sighs heavily as he finds a rock to sit down and breaths slowly. His own body glowing with white light as his wounds heal slowly. Slowly the red marks around his chest disappear and he can breath easier as he recovers. "I am glad no one was lost. It is indeed one step closer and yet feels so far away at the same time. " He turns his head and looks in the direction of Shibuya. Lots to do before they get there.

     A small smile breaks Pela's lips at the compliment to the snack, the small cat bowing her head, before quietly moving over to the others that had been on the Eastern Front, pulling out a small snack or sweet of some sort and handing it to each. Kaydon, Merek, Miyako, and Shiruba. After /that's/ done, she goes over to gather one of the poisoned goblin arrrows, quietly beginning to examine it to see if it's anything new or different from the standard goblin fare while others go about their business, slowly turning that arrow in between her fingers.

Curtana checks himself over more throughly. A few nicks where his armor didn't quite protect him, but he seems to be doing pretty good. Even his shield is doing fine despite being the target for a tail slam. "Honestly...? Surprisingly well. I'm just used to being by myself or smaller parties, nothing of this size."

Curtana almost starts to cast a spell towards Shiruba as she leaves, but frowns as she seems to be avoiding any medical attention. "Besides, you were the first person I saw that needed some healing." Taking a look around and seeing others already undertaking new jobs, he turns his attention back to the forest. "Better make sure there's not a second force, just in case..."

    Wake looks at Shiruba. There's a moment of strain, and then she's just leaning on the cait sith.

    "I'll.. make you a deal. You keep me on my feet, you can study as much as you like."

    Perhaps the priestess is slowing down to make it easier for Shiruba to see and feel the healing magic. Or maybe she's just slowing down. Stubborn, stupid, she doesn't seem to think of healing herself. Red is nothing.

    "So we'll need to get you more chances to really feel the light, but.. for now, hopefully you can sense a bit of it."

Yeowang leaves off distributing healing and removes the white brassard with the red chain links painted on it, returning it to her inventory and heading out to hunt up some rations for the army. It'll take a lot to feed this many, but part of travelling light is living off the land, so she will support that, heading off into the woods, bow in hand.

Shiruba puts an arm around Wake to help support her. This isn't going to look awkward is it? Well doesn't matter, Gwen isn't here to see it and tell Morri. And Wake already has a life companion!... which probably wouldn't stop Morri, but that's neither here or there. "Deal. The more of it's various forms and uses I can experience, the more I know what to look and 'feel' for."

    "Perfect, experience makes for a great part of your broader education."

    Wake laughs softly and continues the demonstration. She has a way with light. It's clearly her element. Even though she isn't a bottomless font of mp, skill makes up the gap.

    "So after you learn, what do you plan on using it for, Shiruba? It's a bit of an unusual passion. Perhaps you'll be a priestess someday, too?"

     That arrow is turned over, the examine command used, and even some of her alchemic tools used to quietly check on the poison on the arrow. Once she's satisfied with her writings, Pela stands up to start make her way over towards the healers to watch and listen to them, her head tilted slightly as she watches the use of the healing energies.

     And watching their status in the 'party' menu quietly as well, and once their MP reserves drop too low, a potion is produced by the maid. "...Light is useful for many things." Pela murmurs under her breath. "...Unsurprising interest." Pela's tail swishes behind her as she watches the use of the magic. "...Fehu. ...What is that? Unfamilliar spell activation term."

    Miyako looks up from her guitar and over at the relatively-nearby Pela. "Norse rune, I forget what it means offhand. I'd have to check my notes." She shrugs. "I use runes myself but it's a different system."

"I want to be better prepared for dealing with the demon cult gnolls. Or if the Undead Army ever resurges," Shiruba replies as she observes. "Counter their dark with a brighter light."

She nods towards what Wake is doing. "And it can also be used to help and protect those around us." Pela offers a potion. "That's thoughtful of you Pela, thank you."

    "Fehu? Oh, of course. I don't know exactly what it means, but there are moments where I can use it. It's not always." Wake drifts into silence, trying to think it through. "After the Arcades of Eas were done, the Beautiful One gave me this blessing. I just feel something, some impulse, like with just a small nudge, I can change what is going to happen. It allows people to be better. Faster, stronger, smarter. It's a wonderful gift."

    "And of course, the gnolls. Those awful creatures and.. whatever they are hiding."

    Wake accepts the potion gratefully. Finally, with everyone else topped-off, she heals herself.

    "Apologies. I tend to miss the obvious when healing. If I die, I can't exactly help much, now can I?"

     "...Ah. ...I do not know much about the norse. That explains unfamiliarity." Pela murmurs with a small nod towards Miyako's input. The talk of countering their dark with a brighter light gets a slight shift from Pela. "...Knowledge of all is also useful." She murmurs. "...You are welcome. ...Supporting the healers is important. ...I think our earth mages may have disturbed the worm. ...Noisy progress, even if necessary."

     The Baroness' explanation is listened to silently, the cait sith giving a couple of small nods as she listens. Hmm. A small nudge to make people better, faster, stronger, or smarter. Pela tilts her head thoughtfully. Hmmm. "...Blessing of the Beautiful One, hm. ...That is interesting. ...I suppose that religion is more obviously felt. ...Makes sense." She murmurs. "...I, personally, have felt drawn to the Blind One."

"A necessary ruckus," Shiruba agrees, "We need to make a clear path to Shibuya if we're going to reclaim it before winter is in full swing." No one wants to end up like the French or the Germans marching on Russia.

"It was the same manner of events for me. Establishing the Museum to preserve Lander culture earned her blessing, and her blessing unlocked my Loremaster ability."

Shiruba gives Wake a light teasing poke in the side. "No dying. Especially not with Mac Anu still under enemy control. Tae would never forgive us, and I don't want to think about being denied her baking." Somehow it still comes around to food with Shiruba.

    "That's wonderful, Pela! Pursue that connection as you can. I imagine it will be very rewarding in the end. I know I have profited a great deal from The Beautiful One. Not just the special gift, but personally. I have a long way to go, but I think I'm learning something important."

    She laughs when Shiruba pokes her in the side. "Easy! Old women break easily, you know! But you are right, Tae would be pretty upset. I was already told I'm not allowed to die or she'll kick my butt. And make me cook my own meals for five years. She told me I wouldn't even get to use those soggy cracker meals."

     "...Forests also are not good for carts." Pela glances towards said carts. For their particular group, it wasn't that much, but she was sure that there would be hundreds of carts going along a supply route. "...Guarding the supplies is going to be difficult. ...It would be better if we could clear out the monster nests." She mumbles. "Hmm. ...Loremaster. Interesting. ...Please do not die. Either of you. I like you both."

     And she couldn't bear to lose anyone else important. "...Baroness. ...You are not old. ...Stop that. ...I will think of pursuing connections. ...For now, more important things at hand. Like dinner. ...I'll go help cook now. ...Will let you know when it's done." And then, in that friendly-standoffish way of hers, she just turns and quietly walks away.