Carnage Beneath Breg Epona

Breg Epona's underground has been marched within for several months now. People constantly patroling regions, with a heightened series of patrol routes coming together near the access to the Kunie beneath. There have been the usual Adventurers around the region, inspecting and killing monsters in the region. But things have gotten a bit more tense since the take-back of Shibuya. Clocks have moved up.

And now, a group of Adventurers have returned to Breg Epona's underground, where all those patrols have been coming together. Thanks to the timed patrols, they arrive when patrols are at the furthest reaches.

Leading this group of Adventurers is a familiar Salamander Monk by the name of Middray, staring at what little defenses are gathered in this area at the time being. He seems to whisper something, and the Adventurers with him fan out into the 'garden like' area, trying to figure out the secret behind this Kunie's gates.

A small subset of the Adventurers with Middray try to rush the Yamatoans that are present, and use magics to silence them and place them immediately within a battlestatus - before assaulting them with quiet weapons such as Knives and other Melee and Arcane Artes. Another series start using Earth magic to raise 'walls' along the tunnels and the entrance, to close off the gates!

The party charges, getting attention. Mages do their job to silence the would-be defenders. People turn to look, to ready their weapons despite the surprise.

And are looking entirely the wrong way, as one of their own trying to counteract the silencing is abruptly dropped by a poisonous knife in the side of his neck. He drops hard as the paralytic toxin takes effect, and Daiyu steps over him as she emerges from the shadows like nothing had happened, several more poisonous blades in one hand, ready to use.

Soujiro Seta is in the Breg Epona area by good fortune. Not too long ago he was taking out undead during a dark-style festival. Now he around for training. Revisit old places and old monsters. Slash them to bit. Go on your paces. Hang out with some junior Adventurers. Liven up their guard duty patrols. Faceroll into an ambush from Salamander Surpreme.

Speaking about rolling, Soujiro dashes out of the way of an assault of knives that ends in a roll behind a bit of cover just in time. He begins to say something out loud to the others there and it comes across as just mouthing. Souji is Samurai, not Mime. A quick menu-equip and he is an armored samurai at that, donning his notable red armor over his normally flowy kimono. It is a quick, practiced action performed often during TRAINING.

The Samurai rolls out from behind his cover and the second 'charge' of his dash leaves a wake of fire behind him. It ends in an abrupt charge with his shoulder to one of the Wave Artes users that are looking to seal the party into the room. A deft step forward as he draws his katana out, taking the pommel of his weapon out so quickly that it is a weapon in itself aimed right at the throat of another caster. Trading silence for silence in the opening moves of the melee.

Goldenblade is the primary instigator of much of the defensive situation here, and the complicated partols that were, ostensibly, still searching. But that's not really a ruse that can be expected to carry on indefinitely, and indeed it hasn't. The patrol is taken and silenced, but that silence, as opposed to a normal timed check-in, is also a red flag, and has brought immediate response in the person of, well, everyone Goldenblade could round up in a hurry, and everyone closeby willing to fight Palace Landers beneath the city.

Rallying everyone and rushing down, she's met with a surprise attack, and forced to react, but Goldenblade is wickedly hard to surprise, it's said she has eyes in the back of her head, and the fellow attacking her finds himself attacking the air where she was just standing. As indicated by a pair of still smouldering footprints, and a trail of fire, as if she'd just hit 88 mph. She probably hasn't, but there is a shadow of doubt. Her shouts may be muted, but the ring of steel as she draws her goldenblades is not. They seem to be fantastically sharp and preternaturally strong, able to cut through the blades and shields interposed to stop them, sending shards of steel and wood flying as she slams into the attackers with a ferocious resolve. The badge on her armor marks her as a member of Westelande's military, so this can be considered official action.

All the warning signs were there something has been going on down here. She didn't know just what was up in Breg Epona. She was on edge as she went deeper she would find that she'd been right. That's the only reason she catches on to something being amiss as she pops a divine shield to intercept the attacks and calls out.

"AMBUSH!"

It is a serious one as well, she would find given the level of heavy hitters who are here. Wait what was that motion, Gwen turns and falls back from the main combat to the mages. She takes note of an attacker and she rushes Daiyu the massive plate-clad form of Gwen is now barreling down on the Palace Lander.

"GALE OF SWORDS!"

Her sword charges with the magic of the wind as she bears down upon Daiyu.

The patrols had been part of ensuring that the underground was kept safe, and Carbon was down patrolling as quietly and in the shadows as he can. It's in these shadows that he runs into the Palace Landers. He's a ranged fighter, so when he immediately gets attacked at close range with daggers, he tries his best to fend off the attacker, and put some distance between himself and the enemy group.

Once he has some distance and can ready his bow, the weapon lances several rapid shots through the air, aiming for precision shots at several close targets, but in enough of a rapid succession that it will seem like they're being barraged from multiple directions at once.

It is clear that the team Middray had gathered wasn't prepared to suddenly be dealing with Yamato ace combatants. They'd specifically planned to do this while the numbers were lowest. But as it is well known, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Soujiro Seta is one of those unexpected problems, dashing out of the way of the initial knives. Before Middray can even respond, the speedy Samurai has made it behind cover, and a second charge pommels to the throat of a caster, before he has the opportunity to cleave the head off of them.

The Salamander monk grimaces, as some of the stoneworks start to halt already. But he never expected this to be easy!

"Take care of the Tank." Middray speaks to Daiyu. "Give our people enough time to figure out the entrance, so we can head inside. We don't need to kill them all, we just need to make sure we can get down there."

He looks towards Goldenblade as she approaches. "I'm glad they made it this easy to find with all those patrols." As he begins to move towards him, seeing that his ally is caught unawares. Cutting through the Sword Arte user's very sword, and cutting through. A red line showing across their body, before they shatter into light!

Carbon gets some distance, and with his bow, he gets one of the Wave Arte users - shooting them in the head the same time that Soujiro's blade comes down.

However, this is quickly followed by Middray breaching the distance and round-house-kicking right for Carbon's head, then attempting to palm-punch his chest - straight towards Soujiro. The man trying to move towards Soujiro not a moment later, attempting to shatter the Samurai's blade with his fist!

His head then turns, and breathes a fierce wave of fire right for Goldenblade's body, seeking to melt gold and turn her into a pile of ashes!

The idea had been to take out the patrols in a quick and systematic fashion before they could sound alarms or call for help. Yet it seems that somehow the enemy was able to realize what was going on all the same and come rushing to investigate. And upon what they find, launch into a counter-attack.

Daiyu was still following the initial strategy, picking off those disrupted and disoriented by the frontal charge of Middray's group. Now a charging amazonian paladin in heavy plate isn't exactly a stealthy approach, but the fox woman was fixated on her previous task and only notices Gwen until she's almost on top of her. Quickly she leaps back, opening her fans and crossing her arms to defend herself, but the wind-infused swipe of the blade is still enough to force her back.

She tilts her head, looking the imposing woman over. Tails give a flick. "Interesting. Shall we see just how strong that armor is?" In a flash of motion the hulijing (NOTAKITSUNE) leaps back at Gwen, snapping one warfan shut to make a pointed tip and jab several times, trying to find any loose kink or seam between the armor plates she can stab through.

Goldenblade frowns at the Palace Lander gloating because we'd made it easy for them to find. But what she says is, "You mistake this. It wasn't that it was easy to find. Just impossible for you to pass undetected. And it's served spectacularly at it's task." With the blaze of fire sent right at her, right in her face, it seems like there's no way to evade the damage. But Middray really hasn't counted on just /how fast/ she really is.

How fast she is, is fast enough to avoid that point-blank blast, nothing left of her but the memory of her presence and the sense of a very narrow escape. But an escape none the less. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades is a mantra she's lived by, and that's another almost that can't quite catch up with her. "Pretty spry for seventy five," she chortles, appearing behind Middray and striking at him savagely, like a hammer on an anvil, intending with every blow to beat him flat. She steps into it, swords falling like a ton of bricks with every blow, two blades, no waiting.

Soujiro Seta is in the thick of the melee now. His motions are filled with purpose as the tension rises and releases like that of a bow string from each strike. Footwork is solid, yet adaptable to the battlefield to tap against the solid ground and give weight to the grounding strikes coming from his blades. One thing he does not turn his blades on is his own allies. Noticing that there is a Carbon heading his way, he opens up his stance to body block the impact. He takes a fair amount of kinetic damage in the process, but it is still better to dampen the blow have his ally connect with a wall and lose footing. There is enough sheer force behind the (were)human missile is enough to have the samurai's feet cut deep into the ground during the brace. Carbon even gets the dashing 'I got you' sparkle look from Souji. Sign up for your fanclub membership today!

Soujiro does not go on the defensive after the strike. Noticing that Middray is heading right towards him, the Samurai returns in kind with a head on dash. That fire in the young man's eye burns with one who loves the thrill of the fight. A strong opponent doesn't inspire fear. It inspires excitement. What will you show me? What limits will we break together? With a warrior's hyaaaaa he starts in with his first katana in a downward arc. It meets its demise as the blade clashes with Middray's fist and reduces the durability to pixelated fragments. Blue, steely eyes slide up in such slow motion. There it is. The opening thread. His next foot practically ripples the ground as the second katana swings upwards, hard, into the opening sacrificed by his other noble blade fragments.

Gwen has someone very dangerous on her hands, she does not know Daiyu directly but she's pretty sure the fox woman is quite dangerous if she'd not been sent on an attack, on the backline.

"It had to be a fox didn't it?"

She engaged now and then Daiyu gets a reply.

"We shall who is the first to break you or my armour?!"

Gwen's swordplay is quick as she moves to intercept them with her blade, once, then twice finally thrice she intercepts the attacks. She attempts to push back with another air-themed attack.

"SONIC LUNGE!"

Carbon's stealthy, not very dodgy. Once he's already been found, it's not as easy to evade for him, especially when up against an opponent as tough as Middray. So Carbon gets kicked and sent sailing through the air, only to find himself saved by Soujiro's perfect placement. The cloaked cat flips backwards off of his samurai partner and lands carefully, before giving him a bow, "Thank you."

Once he's back on his feet, he tries to find himself into a better position, blending back towards the edge of the fight, but looking to pick off another one of Middray's compatriots. All he needs is an opening and he can loose a broadhead arrow straight into the heart of one of the Palace Land attackers.

"Then you have a lot to learn about tactics." Middray answers Goldenblade as the woman manages to avoid his attack by just a /hair/. The man stumbles for a moment, before glaring at her and feeling the hammer-like strike coming in right for his ribs.

The man lets out a grunt of a sound as he's pushed back, only to be protected by two Sword Arte users getting in the way, quickly launching a series of rapid attacks on Goldenblade to break the two up. Blue light flashing cut after cut, trying to slow down Goldenblade and catch her when she makes a mistake. If she makes a mistake.

He then looks towards Soujiro and Carbon, who had collided. Rushing back to Soujiro - who finds something else. The Katana swinging hard down towards Middray's shoulder, carving into his side and creating a region of red light where the blade has cut through, but that doesn't stop the Monk's motion.

He immediately tries to plant both fists right into Soujiro's chest cavity, followed by a BURST of flames! His health dropping, but he's keeping up with Soujiro rather well! Of course... Soujiro isn't alone!

Middray ducks his head to the side as Carbon's arrow flies past his position. Rushing straight into one of the Sword Arte users that is harasshing Goldenblade. This is immediately followed by Middray using a heavy technique. Stomping the ground and sending a wave of heat towards Carbon with enough force behind it to plaster him to the wall!

But it's clear he's not using his louder and heavier techniques.

"You have something against foxs?" Daiyu retorts drly. But then Gwen comes back on the offensive. How does a woman of that height in that much armor move with such sudden speed?! Though Gwen isn't the only one that can manipulate the Air element. But it's not with the typical thunder crack that Lightningstep creates. There's little sound at all as Daiyu uses more of a controlled burst to hop away from Gwen's thrusts. Or so that was the idea. But even as Daiyu jukes to the side of the final lunge, Gwen's blade manages to catch one of the sleeves of her kimono and pin to the wall.

"Now that is just rude. You know how hard it is to find an appropriate tailor in your lower class region?" It's a toss up if Daiyu doesn't know who she's talking to, or she does know and it's purposely insulting.

Either way, he skills as a former escape artist allow her to quickly pull herself free. And not without an unpleasant surprise, as her hand slips out of the sleeve to toss a bundle right for Gwen's face, to explode in an alchemical concoction of choking gas and hot caustic fumes!

Gwen grins "I have wonderful news for you! I'm one of the best if not the best living Tailor in all of Yamato! I am Gwen Pendragon! So you don't have to worry you found what you seek! No I am just amused there are so many fox-related Adventurers in this world."

So many Kitsune, so many...and now their mainland Asian counterparts.



"FROST ARMOR!"

Gwen is suddenly covered in ice which intercepts and keeps the strange chemical mix from even touching her. Thankfully by the time it has dropped the fumes are gone as well.

"mmm now how about this? DIVINE WIND!"

Gwen is really going to town here with the cutting wind, the gusts of it and her sword is just clothed in the very air itself.

Soujiro Seta trades blows with Middray. Fierce sparks of battle from blade and fist mark the titanic exchange. The Samurai does not work alone in this effort, but instead buys his companions time to position. Recovery. Exchange. Manage cooldowns. Switch. To be where they need to be to make their attacks matter without crossing paths with an ally, a key skill in coordinated close quarter combat. He adapts to the tempo, some he controls and some his dance partner does. Such as when two fists come right to his chest cavity. It is all he can do to get the flat of his blade there in time for a 'contest of opposed strength' that is cut short with an EXPLOSIVE finish that sends him sailing backwards.

It is impressive enough to see someone soar backwards while their body is twisting about. Even more impressive is sticking the landing! Souji's feet finally hit the ground and he spins slowly as if on ice, body lowered until he is in a sprinter's stance, eyes keen on the Salamander Monk. The impressed one is actually Souji, to be able to witness such a technique. He responds by straigtening up just enough to settle into the classic Samurai 'I will finish this in one blow' motion. The samurai is down a katana, putting his hand over the empty saya. With a gesture he equips one of his replacements, hand resting on the grip as his other extends ahead of him in a counterbalance that causes light to glint off of the edge towards the monk. Don't blink, you'll miss it.

The sound of metal slicing happens with the blurr of speed that marks Soujiro's cut-across-the-enemy slash. Somewhere in the motion he drew his second blade and attacked with it, ending up paces past Middray with the blades extended at the end of a full stroke. There is that tension in the air where the wonder of 'what happened? did it connect?' dramatically lingers.

"Well, that's as may be," replies Goldenblade to Middray. "I'm a bricklayer by trade. Bricks don't need tactics. But you have a bit to learn about hard work and perserverance, so allow us to school you." She avoids his counterattack with practiced ease, using an advanced evasive technique to predict the attack, or so it must seem from how wide he missed her by. Perhaps she's got him flustered to the point of making mistakes? That would not be a bad result.

On the other hand, the attack he sends at the already-wounded Carbon -is- a problem! One she solves by continuing her evasive path around to his position and physically body-checking him clear of the attack. "Heads up!" she tells him urgently. "This is serious business!"

Serious enough for her to break out her tactics, anyhow. Or, rather, her lack of tactics. She mentioned being a bricklayer, and the attack she delivers wouldn't be out of place on a wooden training dummy. On the other hand, there's novelty value, because most adventurers will use something at least a little complicated. Goldeblade, on the other hand, just swings for the bleachers.

He was trying to get a perfect shot, he thought he could wait it out, block it at the last second. Carbon stayed down on one knee while aiming for far too long, and he realized a moment too late that there was no way to escape the range of that attack.

Thankfully Goldenblade has decided that he deserves to be saved from being finished off by that blow, as he gets knocked out of the way at the last second and rolls clear, "Shit!" He'll give her an apology later, once they drive these invaders out.

Back on his feet, he opts not to go for the shot this time, because Middray is still dodging. So Carbon will instead close the gap, dropping in with his twin blades, the shadows he used to cross the distance whipping around him as he drops down onto the Palace Lander monk.

Goldenblade manages to get Carbon out of the way, and is hit with flames for her trouble. This gives Carbon a moment alone with Soujiro...

The Samurai's speed is highly and legendary, rushing for Middray as his fist comes forward, fully intent on blocking his blade with his iron strong knuckles!

The two meet. Fist glancing across the blade. The slice cuts...

Middray halts behind Soujiro for a good moment, grinning. A red light shining along Soujiro's cheek.

Before the man suddenly goes down, as the red light belatedly shows up along his body, dropping his own health rapidly. Quickly, a few Wave Arte healers start trying to raise his health, but Middray knows that they cannot continue this battle like this. They did not bring enough experts for this. Their timing was flawed.

"Daiyu, we are falling back." Middray remarks. "No use falling now if we can't get the package delivered." The man remarks, as Goldenblade comes in. Two Sword Arte users quickly get in her way, using their swords side-by-side- to halt her blow. Sparks flying, and her second blade cuts into one of them, cutting them down as the Stone Wall gets dropped behind Middray, and the man starts falling back.

Only for Carbon to get in there, coming right for the Monk from above and cutting across his body, the slashing motions pushing him back and sending him tumbling out of the combat region - forcing his retreat along with his men.

Eyes narrow slightly behind the spectacles on the bridge of her muzzle. Though before Daiyu can make any sassy remarks on the bragging she's looking annoyed as Gwen uses a cold defense to neutralize her alchemical grenade. Hmh. Formula must still need tweaking. And why is this woman doing the thing where they shout attack names? This was an RPG game, not an anime.

"You shouldn't break wind in public," the fox chides sharply. "It's unbecoming of a lady." And then she's lunging away of the holy airblast, with such agile speed and grace that she seems to simply not be in the same spot at all where the attack would of struck.

Paws flit across the ground. Tails lash to keep her balance... as Daiyu leaps right past Gwen's shoulder. So close the woman can easily see her reflection on one of the warfans that is >this< close to her neck... but not an actual strike. Not when a withdrawl has been called. It's just a warning. For next time. To watch her back.

Because you know how they say rogues like to do it from behind...

Instead the wily vixen darts after Midday and the others, dropping several smoke bombs in her wake to farther cover their exit.

As our combined attacks drive back Middray, Goldenblade comments, "Thus always to tyrants." Though what she probably said was 'Sic semper tyrannus', which is the classical phrase, and it got autotranslated. As the smoke from the smoke bombs clear, she says, "OK, that was good work, everyone. They'll be back if they get the chance, and they'll know that we're ready for them. But we've proved our defenses are good enough they can't just waltz in here." Not that they're waltzing, per se. "Next time they come back, they'll bring more, so we need to be ready for it." Pep talks are clearly not her forte. On the other hand, a solid victory does wonders for morale. "If we can get our ship ready, we may be able to hurt their mobility. If we can keep them bottled in Mac Anu, that would be nice, then winkle them out like a limpet from its shell."

Soujiro Seta flicks the imaginary blood off of the edge of his blade. Without actual blood it is more a gesture of respect to his weapons that fought hard at his side during the conflict. He stands there watching the Palace Landers with the red damage line across his cheek. Is Soujiro the kind of person to chase after them? Cut his enemy down with his legendary speed? Yes. Is he the kind of person to overextend an assault? No. Those smoke bombs from Daiyu make it clear as does the awareness of the damage they have taken. Soujiro loves combat, but is not a victim to the adrenaline high of a bloodlust. Today he fights to protect this area and, selfishly, to test himself against a very skilled combatant. The theater will close with more experience under his belt and whole new moves to consider. He looks forward to meeting them again on the field of battle.

The Palace Landers that would stay as a retreating vanguard would be dispatched before he gives his katanas a rest back in their sayas. "You are a tough one," the samurai says, giving Carbon a smile for the brutal endurance that was shown back there. A turn of the head to Goldenblade as well, "You should all be proud of yourselves for this victory." The young man's words are short but have this light of sincerity to them. Like he is talking to each person individually when he speaks. Acknowledges their struggles and shares in their successes. Struggles with their challenges together. Something in the way he talks. Confident yet humble. Soft yet fierce. Elegant like a warm spring wind. He offers a hand to help one of the guards up and starts into offers to get some tea going for everyone. Have to stay hydrated after all that heat and the regeneration buff is nice, too!

Gwen was taught she needed to shout out her attack names top trigger the mgic, you can blame Uther for this and sGwen's not caught on.

"Everyone sadly does so. Anyone who says they are not are lying."

Gwen will keep after Daiyu for themoment as she keeps going, but Daiyu is just faster in an all out run also the smokebombs help to delay Gwen just enough for Daiyu to get back here.

There's an odd shift in Gwen's tone of voice a very strange accent is now very apprent.

"GET BACK HERE YOU VARMINT!"

Carbon drops to a knee after landing the shot that knocks Middray out of the fight. He was pretty much out for the count one way or another from that one. He rises back to his feet after a moment, looking to Soujiro, "Nowhere near as tough as you are." He says, giving a grin to the samurai, "Thank you, Goldenblade. I apologize for being out of position."

Goldenblade nods to Carbon, but says, "No need to apologize. We cover each other, when we can. It's the 'when we can' that's variable. This group was a bit overconfident and didn't realize how tightly we'd played this. They won't make the same mistake again, and they'll press us harder. But keep training and keep working with us, and we'll express these scumbags back to the Palace Lands via their churches."

She considers, "I wonder how many of them bound in Mac Anu? We may need to have a separate plan for them." But she can only speculate wildly on that subject. "I suppose that will be dealt with in turn."