Duty Session 538: Travel with Triffids

The party has arrived at the beach where the Triffids were seen to come ashore. There is a heavy perfume in the air, denoting the passage of the Triffids through the area.

Soujiro has gathered a small party to go check out these Triffids. He has a good feeling that there will be challenging things to fight along the way. Energized by escort quests, perhaps? Such a lovable training fanatic.

Schneider is here because it's another fight against triffids. "This is one of the hardest missions," he says. "Harder with a small party." And he doesn't have a lot of the specialized skills needed. "But If you need something set on fire, I'm all GO." That's nearly his only skill, he's a One-Trick Pony. But it's a really good trick.

Daiyu sniffs a bit, the wrinkles her muzzle slightly at the aroma. Tails give a few flicks behind her. "So," she starts, "just what IS a triffid anyways? I do not think we have such a creature generated in our region."

Miho was happy to come back here for anotehr go maybe she could end up finding something new this time.

"So the Triffids again? Shall we get to it?" Her tail swishes a bit as she seems eager to do this. "You'll find out soon enough."

Starting at the water's edge and moving into the treeline are many twisted writhing marks from motile Triffid roots. Once into the foliage they become much harder to track. It will take some true skill to follow the path of mobile plants through a forest. Perhaps keen animal senses or a deep understanding of plants will help.

"Triffids are," Soujiro says as he thinks. When is the last time he actually SAW one? The samurai makes gestures with his hands. About yay big. Yay wide. Darkish lightish color. With this excellent representation, he goes out to use his worldly wisdom to follow Triffid Tracks. Hey, he at least looks like he knows what he is doing. Confidence that could lead people into the breach and back out again.

Miho mutters about the last time she was here as she forms up and start to look for any sign of the creatures, either she's not doing so well or not many have been through here lately leaving nothing for her to find, either way it goes pretty poorly for her...

Schneider says to the party, "The last time I went Triffid hunting was with a party of skilled hunters and trackers, but I'm not sure what it is they were hunting and tracking. I mean, it was triffids, but I don't know what specifically." He tries to recall as he scams the ground, but he really has no idea what actual signs he'd be looking for. 'Triffids this way' signs are probably too much to hope for, and indeed he does not find any such signs.

Daiyu tries to use her Were Fang senses to help Soujiro... but she doesn't know what's specifically Triffid to follow, and that unfamiliar aroma is making it hard to focus on trying to scent anything. In the end she just sort of sighs, disliking feeling less useful but accepting that one can't solve every problem themselves. "This is a peculiar event to base a duty around, truth be told."

The party approaches a clearing they think should contain the hunted Triffids. Instead they find themselves ambushed by the Triffids natural predator. A giant bun bun. This huge dire beast is clad in hexagonal plates of what seems to be basalt. A crown of jagged stone rests between the bun bun's long ears. Giant stomping rampage of bun might be held back enough to get in a good shot, or someone who understands the ways of armor can find a chink in the plating this beast has, and when in doubt giant stone clad beats might find themselves vulnerable to attacks that focus on that stone.

"But isnt that what makes it particularly fun, Daiyu," Soujiro asks as they 'track' the Triffid. "Not knowing exactly what to expect adds this anticipation into the air. Gives you this chance to hone raw talent," with a calm sort of enthusiasm that uses every opportunity as a chance to build upon his combat skills. Even with Triffids.

Like not knowing that a big ole Bun Bun is charging them. Didn't expect that. Soujiro is immediately in melee, katanas being unsheahed in a metallic glow to clash and hold the beast at bay with an intense aggro gain.

They don't find Triffids.

What they do find makes Daiyu's ears splay back. "Ugh!" She ducks out of the way of the charging beast. "Why did it have to be a bun bun? A GIANT bun bun!" This is like a nightmare for a fox, one of their typical 'prey' now big and fierce enough to be the predator.

With a huff she lobs a few small spheres into the air and uses her fans like paddles to turn them into projectiles, but she doesn't have enough time to properly engage their enchantment to break free the stone armor the creature is wearing.

"Good thing Bao isn't here to see this."

When confronted with the Giant Bun Bun, Schneider does not back down. He's a variable class, specialized in nothing, but quite a capable generalist. So he will choose perhaps an unexpected role and tank the Bun Bun like he means it. He's just finished some intensive defensive training, and he clearly needed it, weathering the attacks, but not by a huge margin, even with his magical defensive cape made of dragonskin. Or ... sort of dragonskin. It wasn't from a real dragon. But it was related to dragons, so that ought to count. It does seem to count for cape toughness, and flames fan out each time its struck, which is a lot.

Miho says "Well that can be tru abotu making it fun and I know what you mean about honing talent even if it's not with a blade like you but a forge hammer." She grins a bit as the group presses on and now comes the big old Bun Bun. She stops she has an diea and will seemingly make a strange strike but it looks like she's spotted a armor weak point and gone for it!

"We will never tell Bao about this!"

As the party survives the ambush of the stone clad King Bun it begins a process of charging through the party, turning and charging again. Evading these charges, falling back to take ranged attacks, or using some hunting knowledge to set traps for this energetic beast.

"You don't think Bao would love to know that there is a great Bao in the forest?" Souiji says as he crosses a katana over his back, holding down the weight a bunfoot as it rawrs at him. "Shenmi might like it too," he continues with a push off from the attack.

Schneider looks relieved as he no longer has to tank the heavy hits, but now the Bun Bun is zipping around and targetting it is super hard. He falls back on one of his quickest casting spells, shouting, "Zako Damero!" over and over, but his blasts are always just a bit off, either behind the target, or leading too much, or it's turned away from where he aimed. He's not very effective, it seems, against this boss in this mode. Give him a nice stationary target and he will obliterate it!

"That's what I'm worried about," Daiyu retorts, even as she leaps out of the charging monster Bun's path. Her feet connect against a tree trunk and she uses it like a wall-jump to get out of the creature's reach and higher into the branches above. "That it would give them -ideas-." Surely Shenmi's hat isn't -that- big on the inside, right?.... Right?

Miho says "I was more thinking about the killing of it than it knowing of a bigger Bun." She notes as they now turns their attention to the King Bun as it's not even done yet. She mutter something before she'll make use of what she knows of these thing to quickly set traps notably a very quick and dirty set of spikes which she'll them use to bait it into coming at he and leap out of the way leaving it to get the point.

As the party finally gets the Bun King down below half health, a small white streak bounds from the woods. A small white bunbun bursts from the trees zipping quickly past the party to boop the Bun King on the snoot. A burst of light magic causes its HP bar to rebound, then bounces out of sight. This happens each time the HP bar drops below half. The party will need to manage to take out the fast little healing bun, do enough damage to start the next stage of the battle, or a good poison can keep pace with the heals.

"Bao living their best life is best. We shouldn't be afraid of a little growth. We will just have to make more room for the new them!" Souji says. Also he is slashing up a bun so the message comes across a little cross. His strikes include a backstep and lunges to keep up with the speed demon.

Schneider shifts his focus to the little healing Buns, casting, "Zako Damero!" as quickly as he can, but as fast as he can snap that spell out, the Heal-Buns are faster, and his attacks scorch the ground behind them over and over. He's getting desperate now, looking somewhere between frantic and constipated as he growls, "Hold still you little pests!" But they don't.

Foxes are natural climbers and Hulijing are no different. It's from her vantage point on the branches that Daiyu spots the smaller healer bun darting between the trees to support the larger monster. A scowl creases her brow. "Who does he think he is, trying to drag out this conflict? There will be none of that." She takes out several of her alchemical gas bombs and throws them upon both buns, cutting off the healing effect with the choking, burning fumes.

Miho is just being rather spooked and impress at how durable this King Bun is. The fight is causing a good deal of havoc, Miho is keeping on the move but it's nog going as well as she'd hope as she get out her bow but just can't seem to get shots off while trying to dodge...

Once the party has either killed the white bun healing the King or dropped the King below one quarter HP the King enters its final stage. The plates drop away from the bun falling to the ground with heavy thuds. The great grey bun bun enters a rage moving even faster than he did before. The crown of stone atop its head glows with elemental power. This last bit of the fight is hard, damage from the King is heavy and his speed is great. However his armor drops greatly and his healer is gone. Time to finish this fight.

Body is lower to the ground. Soujiro has that stance about him. That token Samurai 'finish it in one strike' air about him. The slow build of power and then... don't blink. You'll miss it. He motion blurs so fast it looks like he breaks light, teleporting to the other side with his two katanas outstretched, one bathed in holy white light.

Once the stone armor drops off the King Bun the oppritunity to strike comes. It being faster and angrier doesn't save it from the fleet footed vixen flitting from branch to branch. Before finally leaping down into the fight, flames and frost igniting around her warfans as she spins through the air, slashing across one side of the monster repeatedly before landing in a crouch, arms crossed dramatically with weapons held to the sides as the elemental enchantments flicker and fade.

Miho is aiming to help tank this at this point she will charge in trigginer something with her armor, if anyone had taken a close look the thing's shaped from a single massive dragonscale and it still holds the power it did when it was on it's owner as she dives in with her Nagtina to one impale the thing and two keep him distract for everyone else. The bun is also unable to touch her as they clash.

When the stone plates drop away from the Bun Bun, it leaves itself vulnerable to Schneider's big booms. With no insane healing factor, it can add up, too. He casts, "Deep Doomsday. To the spirits of land and air, bound by the pact, fulfill your obligation now." Finally, he strikes a pose, pointing at the Bun Bun and chants, "MEGADETH!"

The collosal explosion engulfs the target, and it looses nearly a whole bar of HP from the huge damage and subsequent burning, while Schneider continues to pour in the DPS as hard and fast as he can. This leaves a mark.

Once the party has either killed the white bun healing the King or dropped the King below one quarter HP the King enters its final stage. The plates drop away from the bun falling to the ground with heavy thuds. The great grey bun bun enters a rage moving even faster than he did before. The crown of stone atop its head glows with elemental power. This last bit of the fight is hard, damage from the King is heavy and his speed is great. However his armor drops greatly and his healer is gone. Time to finish this fight.

Loot! Soujiro collects loot from the shower of victory from a boss battle. "Another well won battle," he says with a calm, yet genuinely happy, smile on his face. Now it is time to celebrate. Likely with a cup of tea.

Loot! "Nice," says Schneider as he snags one of the stone armor plates the Bun Bun dropped prior to the final phase. "That was a tough duty, but I'm glad we were able to succeed finally, if only at the secondary objective. I do wonder where the Triffid is..."

Daiyu closes her warfans once they've cooled off and tucks them away. Then walks over to pick up one of the chunks of the King Bun's discarded armor bits. "Hmmm. Will have to examine this farther to see how it became so durable." Some tea would also be good.

Miho does not get any loot but she seems pretty thrilled they wone she did get EXP after all.

"Very nice for you all I'm glad we were able to pull this off we should go find something to eat!"