Dead Spriggans Tell No Elder Tales Online

Grunties are famous for stealing Lander clothes and dress up in them, even uttering the odd sentence. In a sort of "Look at me! I'm a Lander!" kind of imitation game.

The one that is pulling Uta's live-in cart (a reconverted large barrel, painted white) is larger than average, sporting a maid uniform, a purple wig, and two fake Sylph wings.

"It's FASHION TIME!", she exclaims, to which a tired looking Uta replies, "Yes, Gwenty. Yes it is," with the same patience a parent would have with a kid who won't shut up.

Grunties say the darndest things.

What this Spriggan is doing here is anybody's guess, but the wooden sign on the side of the cart says "Uta Furore's Mobile Clinic, Wandering Doujou, Traveling Circus, and Itinerant Concert Hall and Culture Center," with a smaller "Professional services! Reasonable prices! Totally legit! Inquire within." carved below.

She seems to be on her way to Shibuya, somehow. Why, it is anyone's guess, but given the recent battle and her unmistakeable nurse's uniform (even more so since her Pharmacy strange mood), perhaps she's heading there to tend to the wounded and put as many of the troop back on their feet as soon as possible?

With their occupation of Shibuya over most of the surviving Palace Land forces had withdrawn from Eastal. But not all. Only a fool would think the Adventurers would be content with retaking their home.

Trees were a second home to foxes, and that is where Daiyu had perched herself, monitoring the route between the freed Shibuya and the only Root Town on the landmass. The dark forest made it easy for her to keep out of sight while observing. Not that there had been much. Mainly New World moving their supplies and people back to the town, and the convoys had been kept small, staggered and well guarded. Nothing worth sticking her neck out against just to harass them.

"IT'S FASHION TIME"

Ears perk at the peculiar cry, swiveling like furry radar dishes to hone in on the source. The Maid Grunty isn't hard to pick out once you're looking for something, pulling a wagon as Grunty are often used for.

It's the one at the reigns that gets Daiyu to squint a bit, and bound from one branch to another of a tree closer to the actual road to get a better look.

Nurse outfit. Medical services (and several others??). Must be more of their relief aid. And it's not so heavily guarded like the previous convoys. Hmmmm...

Gwenty stops. She sniffs the air. Uta sighs and scratches her head. "What is it now?" The grunty replies, "I am getting ideas. Hmmm."

Uta scratches her head. "Ok, you want a rest? We can have a quick rest," she says. And swipes her menu open. "Let's see if I have any book I can read while I wait for you to..." she turns her wrist to leave her limp hand to gesture in circles, "...do whatever you have to do."

Daiyu parkours across the canopy branches. The cart stops. Perfect timing.

A branch can be heard twanging as the hulijing leaps off of it like a spring. As she soars overhead a quick motion of her arms throws several kunai blades. Which hit neither Grunty or Spriggin, but rather precisely wedge between the spokes of the wagon wheels to dig into the ground and lock them in place. Paws land on top of the wagon with little sound at all, four tails swishing to re-establish her balance. "I am afraid this is as far as you go."

"Oh, Snap! A crowned!" Uta exclaims, almost losing her balance-

Well, okay, -completely- losing her balance. She tumbles backwards, falls on the ground, dusts herself off, and assumes a fighting stance. A sideways glance to the cart. Kunai blades. Unwise to proceed. An intense look at Daiyu. "So, this is it! This is the battle for the liberation of Shibuya!", she says. "The time has finally come, where I do take part to a major confrontation!" Slightly lower stance, tighter grip of her fists, narrower eyes. "I have prepared for this moment since the first day I was trapped in this world, and I finally-"

Panic."NO I HAVEN'T! I AM NOT READY FOR A MAJOR BATTLE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!", she exclaims, as she begins to run in... not quite circles. Chaotic patterns. But then, unexpectedly, Daiyu will likely feel a prick, and notice that the Spriggan is far closer than she'd have expected her to be...

The dramatic posturing and speech gets a brief blink out of the fox, and then a furrowing brow. "What? Shibuya was alrea--" And then the flailing starts. Ah, panic, confusion, and.. what's that? Daiyu instinctively snaps up an arm, which gets plinged by a needle. She doesn't need to be an Alchemist to guess the contents are going to be a complication, though it helps.

Guess there is no time for games then. With a burst of speed that would rival a certain famous hedgehog the vixen leaps back into motion, a cloud of dust in her wake as she leaps aside and darts away from Uta's flailing about. Looking for all the moment like she's run off into the forest again at the sight.

But it is not so, she is only waiting for the Spriggan to stop thrashing around before she comes charging back with a vicious slashing assault.

It takes a bit, but Uta eventually calms down. "Wait, what was I doing here, again?", she wonders, tapping her lips. "Oh, right, Gwenty wanted to do something and I'm not sure what. I wonder if poking her with a stick..."

Menu is flicked open, and a white staff in the shape of a snake coiling around a red, anatomically-correct-heart-shaped gem at its top shimmers into existence in her hands. "Let's see if-"

And then Daiyu appears.

The Hulijing barely manages to graze Uta, before the Spriggan begins to zigzag dodge her movements, block them with her staff, and sing an increasingly unsettling chant which materializes dark tendrils of Arcane magic writhing all around the staff, focusing on the gem...

...and also on Uta, who becomes increasingly engulfed in bague, hazy Darkness, and take on the kind of terrifying nightmarish features that tug on primal instincts of fear and terror, and as the magic charges up more and more, giving the Gem a deeper and darker appearance, and the discharge seems imminent...

...Uta ends up with a straight-up attempt at a punch a few seconds -before- an actual magical discharge.

Timing is everything.

Only now she talks. And what she says in a hissing, otherworldy voice, is "Wait, Shibuya was -already-!?"

Daiyu skids to a stop after her rush of movement, fan still held ready in one hand. The other is used to nudge her half-moon spectacles back into position on the bridge of her muzzle. At the same time a faint prismatic flicker can be seen across the tips of her tails as some of her spiritual energy is drawn on to counteract the injection's nefarious effects. Held tilts at the growing darkness and it's presence. "How.. atmospheric." A burst of light air ripples with her as she spins around, using the fan to slap aside the attempt at punching her. "But I shall not be so easily intimidated."

Another whirling motion, accented by the *swshk* of the second fan being opened in her opposite hand, and once again slashing repeatedly at the nimble Spriggan. "The assault may be over but your medicinal service could still be of aid. Thus cannot be allowed."

Uta continues to leap erratically. Part probably due to training and an innate propension to chaotic movement, but the other part... well... she's boggling. "The Shibuya battle -already- happened? When? How? Where? - Well, okay, the lsat one is easy. In Shibuya, I guess...", she mumbles to herself, distracted for a moment -- a fatal moment where she takes some scratch damage.

She is, however, quick to steer her attention back to the task at hand. While she's twirling in mid air. Because, yes, Uta manages to become distracted while twist-spinning in mid air. Ultimate wuxia technique.

"It already happened! Not -again-! ARGH!"

And with the latest frustration, she bears down on Daiyu, to not just smack, but -SMACK- her on the head with her stick.

"I.. think I see why you are only a Nurse," is the only real response Daiyu has to the distracted ramblings. Can you imagine someone like that being allowed to wield full medical capabilities? Arguably scarier than the war front.

Though when the Spriggan comes in with a mighty swing... All she whiffs is the shadows as her foe has proven once again to be most elusive. The fox has darted back amongst the trees, a shadow admidst the trunks, and unlike some Dark types not making any snide mocking remarks while flitting out of vision.

There is, in fact, nothing from her until the abrupt "Gotcha" hissed between fangs. At the same time that Daiyu has come up behind Uta to stab one of her poisoned kunai in the girl's back. You know how the saying goes.

Rogues like doing it from behind.

Uta's eyes bulge. Shocked, her brain freezes, and she begins to shiver.

And that's not the kunai that does it. It's Daiyu's first words.

"Happy place... happy place... happy place...", Uta keeps repeating to herself, and with a quick chant, she surrounds herself in a giant slime, hiding inside a bubble of water contained within. Possibly at about the same time as Daiyu attempts to stab her -- but by mere coincidence rather than a calculated defensive move.

When the summoned monster is dispatched, all that will be left will be Uta, lying sideways and shivering on the ground, squeezing a red stress ball. Her teeth chattering, she attempts to cast a musical spell with her staff in Daiyu's direction, but all that chattering of teeth interferes wit the casting. The result? A shattered, cracked, irregular blast of ice darting out of the gem, towards Daiyu.

Daiyu inadvertently ends up plunging her blade, and her hand, into the caustic goo of a large slime. Her reaction to this is as appropriate for a dignified lady such as herself.

Which is to say shrieking "EEEEEW" loudly and sharply enough to split the ears as she jerks her hand out of the globby mess and shakes it to dislodge muck. "Why would anyone use such a technique!?"

Wait a minute. Unorthadox slime use. Spriggan.

"... Oh. You're that slime handler Shirin was antagonizing over for some reason."

By then Uta has emerged from her viscious cover, and started to dish out her response cold. Daiyu adjusts the hold on her warfan, gripping it more like... a racket? Or paddle might be more precise, as with a thunderous crack of motion she uses the flat side of the fan to swat the chunk of ice away, getting only minorly pelted in some dislodged crystals as she does so.

Then several more kunai blades, these crystallized from ice shards of her own, appear in her hand just long enough for her to flick back at Uta in a rapid flurry. "Prepare to fail at the hand of a real assassin!" she snarls angerly as she does so.

"...Shirin? Antagonizing? What?" Uta bursts out in surprise with a frown, seeming more surprised that someone would remember her rather than terrified by having someone actively antagonizing her. "I would have thought he'd have completely forgotten about me by now."

That wound-shaped light in her back is still glowing, pulsating, and her HP bar decreases accordingly. She cannot but watch in awe as the elaborate fanwork quickly dispatche her clumsy ice attack, and can do little about the incoming flurry but dodge as well as she can, taking the occasional graze.

There's a slight chuckle at Daiyu's mention of a 'real assassin'. "Are you in this for the fame and lasting memory? In that case, robbery and theft is where it's at. As Machiavelli once put it, 'Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony'."

Before she launches into another song, bouncing all around Daiyu, singing what sounds like a J-pop tune, tapping her staff on the ground, creating a circle of light with each tap... and later on, with a single slam of her magical item between the bridge and the chorus, cause a plethora of slimes to bounce out from what might be seen as 'summoning circles'.

The remark actually gets a faint chuckle out of the fox woman. "No. No, there is no fame and fortune to be found in war. We are merely pieces on a much bigger board. No one remembers the knights and bishops that made victory possible, just the rulers that ordered the march."

As the slimes are called onto the field, she snffs softly. "Nor the pawns." Tails lash and she charges into the fray, though some magic clearly comes into play as her stride sends vibrates through the ground to send slimes scattering hither and though instead of dogpiling her.

As she closes in on her foe Daiyu leaps forward, spinning in the air to bring her fans slashing in a ring around her motion, one ablaze with fire and the other shimmering with ice's bitter bite.

There it is again, the large slime, summoned again as a protective shell around Uta. It does not prevent Uta from taking damage, but at least, it will hopefully cause about as much right back.

Slash, slash! Uta loses a chunk of HP, and gains a couple of glowing red gashes.

"The pieces mostly don't get a say in how they're moved," Uta remarks through gnashed teeth. She clenches her staff, intones an hymn of sort, and soon, enveloped in a white and golden aura, her health begins to regenerate, as the gashes slowly close themselves. "The issue is that, here," she begins, as she takes one step towards Daiyu, "you are pretty much playing chess against a spinning top." Another step is taken. "You can never tell when"

All of a sudden, Uta darts towards Daiyu, and, as stated tries to jump in the air, spin, and land with as hard a punch to her face as she manages.

When Uta leaps at her Daiyu leaps back, and brings up both her arms as she snaps her fans shut, and crosses them over to intercept Uta's punch before it can mess up her face. "If only it were so easy to tilt the table away." Even when folded the fans have a sharp point to them, enough to leave an aggrivated effect where they catch when she snaps them away.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to push the Spriggan on a back foot, and Daiyu barely has time to accomidate before the woman is back on top of her. She twists, seeming to skate off the ground... but it's not enough as the effect of Uta's staff throws off her balance as she can't get clear of a hit that sends her tumbling backwards across the ground. "Hfff."

She rolls back onto her feet, but doesn't rise higher than a crouch. Instead using it to propel herself charging foward, and unleashing another elemental combination of slashes with her fans, though this time with a much more sinister essense in the synergy.

It is a long, long battle. Attrition. All sorts of techniques are employed. On Uta's behalf, it goes from Siren-singing the opponent into a trance on Uta's behalf, thanks to the magic of her staff, to alternating erratic movements to magical casting to kung-fu, parries, thrusts, swings and spins, somersaults, and even jabs and slashes with surgical implements. More slimes are summoned, be it in the guise of shields, projectiles, or simply temporary emotional support monsters. Yes, there's a moment where Uta just disappears into the woods and is found hiding in a bush, petting a slime. But that does not last long, and she's back sliding on summoned current of water, twirling, and punching and kicking her way back into the fight.

At least, no more injections seem to happen.

While her name may translate to 'black jade' one could compare Daiyu to the wind and they would not be far off. Her movements are elusive and graceful, yet strike with all the intensity of a lightning strike when the oppritunity presents itself. Her spinning techniques have the lightness of a breeze, yet accoust her opponent with the frenzy of a cyclone. Often weaving other elements or the debilitating effects of her other talents into a beautiful yet dangerous dance of warfare. Even after she switched from the warfans to her jian sword in hopes of cutting a bigger chunk out of her opponent's defenses, every move, every strike was calculated and precise.

But Daiyu is a warrior of pragmatic efficency. Whereas her opponent... Uta's previous comparison to turning a top loose upon the game board is not inaccurate. Daiyu fights to outmaneuver a foe rather than overpower them. But the Spriggan's erratic nature and unpredictability keep throwning her crafted strategies asunder, and that's when Uta manages to get in a more prominent blow or two.

Plus she keeps using the slimes. Ugh. She doesn't hate the monsters but they are sticky and gross and potentially poisonous to deal with.

The last assault sends her skidding backwards, having barely managed to fend it off with a combination of skills, digging the sword into the ground to arrest her motion. The fox woman snarls softly, then sighs as she pulls the sword from her ground and stands. The sword is spun a few times to clear dirt from it... and then slid back into it's scabbard hidden within the parasol on her back. "You... are more formidable than your appearances give credit. This is not a fight I can fully win, and the Black Jade Fox is not willing to die over a mere medical supply run. Good day."

At least she is polite enough to briefly bow, before turning on her heels and sprinting back for the depths of the dark forests surrounding them.