Duty Session 571: Hungry Like a Wolfgarm

There's wolfgarms in the woods, and the locals need help dealing with them.

Who's gonna stop them?

A group of adventurers, led by the ninja Spriggan herself, Kotono! The girl arrives dashing through the trees before dropping to the ground and proceeding to do some stretching, warming herself up for what should be a good quest. "OK, we've got work to do, and if anyone's afraid, now's the time to back out... not that I expect any of you to do so!"

    Merek is wearing his usual dark attire, and walks along with the party. He nods to Kotono, "I think I am good," he says, while he takes the time to check on his weapons. "What do you expect on this mission?" he asks.

Yeowang is not afraid, and says so. "I'm not afraid. My tracking skills are not as good as we may need, but I have a bit of skill." She's quite a good tracker for a college student. She looks around, not having spent a lot of time in the Tower. "This place is much larger than it looks from outside."

Llyn was eager to get some more experiance in with things in yamato and she smirks for a bit. "I'm not someone will have to glue you all back together and sing of our victory no?" She tils he rhead and looks over to Merek.

"I Suspect monters of some stripe honestly but I do not know the monsters of Yamato as well as the rest of you."

Daiyu strides up behind Kotono with her usual composed grace. "Fighting monsters for the greater good. Such is the way of the Adventurer." She closes her parasol and slings it to her back, so she can draw her warfans instead. And a wary glance is given in Llyn's direction. She's still not sure where things stand with the pirate but that's not important right now.

"I don't know," Kotono replies to Merek a little nervously, as this is her first time in this area dealing with wolfgarms. She then looks to Yeowang and says, "They usually are a lot bigger than they seem."

With that, Kotono attempts to see if she can track any signs of the monsters. "Hmmm, let me see here, I think I've got something." Kotono starts to follow what she believes are monster tracks...

Right into a nearby tree! (WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!)

"But mommy, I didn't chew bubblegum in the snow last night," Kotono babbles before she regains her senses. "Maybe that wasn't such a smart idea." She shrugs.

Yeowang is looking for wolfgarm tracks, yes? Well, she can track, sort of. It's heavily menu-driven, though, so not very good and not very efficient, and in this case, she can't come up with anything, frowning at her own failure. She may have to actually improve this skill, a thing she's thus far in the game resisted as there were priorities. She gives Kotono a puzzled look, but will follow the group, as there seems to be some sort of consensus.

Llyn is shockiungly paying pretty good attention to things. She will stop for a moment and start to kneel down and say "I think I found some tracks we should head this way." The blue haited Undine note with a grin. She also looks over at Merek.

"Merek right? Are you why Yamato has coffee?"

She's heard some things you see on that. She'll also lkook to Yeowang

"This way come on."

Before she looks to Daiyu and give them a little wave...

"Don't worry I have your back!"

A moment later the tree rustles again, but that's from Daiyu sprinting along the branches to get a better view. Shortly after she stops to perch on one, holding a closed fan up to shield her eyes and focus her gaze. "Ah! Over there." She points helpfully using a couple of her tails since her hands are occupied. "I can see signs of monster activities on the far side of the grove." She lets go of the branch and resumes moving.

    Merek takes his time to look to the Landers and then nods a little bit while he thinks about it, "Do you think that you could tell us which direction is the right way?" he asks.

The wolfgarms are here, and they don't look friendly!

Of course, the scouts haven't noticed the group yet, so there's always the chance they could catch them off-guard.

"Now's our chance for a sneak attack! Be careful," Kotono says quietly.

Being up in the trees gives Daiyu a vantage point to use. She jumps down to the ground, spreading her tails out and using her Were Fang nature to look more fierce!

Granted, the wolfgrams are also big vicious canines, it might not be as effective as it would be on other monsters.

"It's not a sneak attack we want, though?" Yeowang asks. "We want to scare them and follow them to their lair, right? If we're relying on me to track, it will be a long time." And so, in the interest of having the wolfgarm lead us to their lair, she pulls a signal horn from her inventory, takes a deep breath, and blows it as loud as she can. that ought to get these monsters moving.

    When they reach the next place, Merek looks along to the scouts along the trees, while he lifts up a hand and simply punches one of them, making every single branch in one of them begin to fall. The flames dance along the wood.

They're not trying to attack, just scare the scouts away. And that should be a breeze for Kotono, considering she's using an Air spell.

Conjuring up her runes, she brings forth a tornado aimed at the scouts to scare them off.

"Good job, everyone," Kotono says as they begin to take off after them. "This should bring us to their lair, but don't get too close." She remembers not everyone is as skilled at the ninja arts as she is.

Yeowang nods as the wolfgarm bolt off, and she runs behind them in pursuit. Not close enough that they might turn on her, but definitely close enough that they won't get away. She's a skilled endurance runner, it seems, and she eats up the ground with long, effortless strides, the distance passing easily as she continues.

The scouts turn and run, and Daiyu is quick to give chase. The quick-footed Hulijing doesn't take the direct route though, zigging and zagging off to the sides to keep an eye on the scouts while not getting directly into their view to keep them spooked and moving.

    Merek keeps running along, in the hopes that he can manage to follow the scouts. For the time being, he sweeps along and does his best to find a way, He does look to make sure where all of the party is at, "I'll follow, directly. If that's alright."

Oh look there's what the party is hunting os jere she will chase off after it trying to track the thing down as she calls out.

"Running will do you no good!"

They're running fast, but Kotono isn't willing to let them get away. She decides to make her own shortcuts by leaping from tree branch to tree branch. Yes, she's really doing it, and no she doesn't need a stunt double!

Finally they arrive at the den. If it weren't for the scouts, they might have missed it. Unfortunately, it looks dark inside, so care must be taken for going in!

"Looks like we found their main den," Kotono says as she looks around. "We're going to have to proceed with caution."

Yeowang has followed the wolfgarm to their lair, it seems, a small hole in the ground. If she's the scout, it's her place to go in first, and she will do as Kotono advises and proceed with caution. "It's pitch dark inside," she calls from just inside the entrance, and will quickly go through her supplies to find a light source that will shed some light on the situation.

Daiyu's erratic strategy was questionable at best, but all that matters is they found the cave. The fox woman pauses, considering. Then reachs for her alchemical supplies, and throws several farther down the cavern to ignite like flares. Just don't get too close to them, the fumes are pretty strong.

    Merek lifts up both hands after he finally catches up to the group, then he nods along to the places that can be lit. "I am going to light a flame, I am hoping that will aid us," the man offers to the party.

"Let there be light," Kotono says as she conjures up a light spell using her runes. She manages to make herself an improvised magical torch to guide herself and the others through. "Let's get going..."

Then they arrive in what could easily be described as the part where they have to get really lucky. The Alpha Wolfgarm is here and it does not look friendly at all! It's going to take a bit of strategy here!

They found the Alpha!... and almost immeadiately Daiyu's keen vulpine senses pick up on his edgy nature. He seems smarter than the average monster boss, knowing picking a fight with some adventurers is likely to go bad with him. "Stop him from making an expedient departure." She throws another one of her alchemical bombs in his face to try and disorient the monster.

This is a huge monster, but Yeowang is pretty fearless in a fight, she's got complete confidence in her martial arts skills. The rest of her game skills are meh at best, but the fighting she knew how to do before entering the game, and her confidence is rock solid, and she enters hand-to-hand combat with the huge monster and will fight savagely for as long as she can, trusting the rest of the party can support her.

    Merek takes a look to that Alpha, and he seems to consider his options. The man nods, before he draws his weapon and lets the dark blade shine. The man takes the time to approach.

They gound the Alpha okay now it's one and she smirks a bit as she looks at this creature. She'll chase after it channeling a stupid amount of holy power as she does so and lets rip a powerful Sanctuary it becomes healing ground to her allies, and lehtal to the undead. That's not the reason she's using it but its so darn bright ... it could very well blind and stun the boss who wasn't expecting it!

Slash and dash goes Kotono! It's what she does best!

While the group tries their best, it's not quite enough.

Now the whole den appears to be alerted, and they're not pleased at all. It looks like they want the group for dinner! Not to mention, the way to get out is becoming less and less available as time goes on.

"Think fast, it's now or never!" Kotono yells.

"Well." Daiyu strikes a ready pose and snaps open both her warfans. "This is still an oppritunity to reduce their overall numbers." Try to make better of a bad situation if nothing else.

This is where she utilizes a new enchantment to her warfans, locking them together at the handles and then spinning them quickly like a larger fan. It creates a forward funnel of wind to blow back wolf monsters while catching up rock debris from the cavern to pelt them with while forcing the monsters to stay at a distance.

Yeowang blinks as no one has moved to keep the alpha from escaping, rendering that whole fight a waste. She grumbles, but now there's a crapton of wolfgam coming out of the woodwork, or out of the earthwork anyhow, and it's a frantic fight to kill them before our faces are eaten. Yeowang centers herself and focuses on maintaining her complete perspective on the whole chaotic melee, such that no bite or claw is a surprise. Every move is forseen, and every attack is stepped clear of, affording her the opportunity to strike the wolfgam down one by one with deadly stikes.

Llyn has put a lot into this, and she looks around for a moment as they are surroiunde she'll ready her staff. She spins it and will then dive in ain a very unhealer like way then again? As she slams her staff to crack the earth. It might just be she's trying to prevent damage from occuring in the first place!

"Well then let's get to it!"

    Merek looks to the place and nods, while he draws his weapon and begins to swing it about, assisting with fighting the path to get out of the place, and taking his time to make sure everyone else is safe.

Kotono thinks she's got this, and she draws her blades...

But she's not quite good enough.

A few wolfgarms are driven off, but a few more bite and claw her, leaving her feeling a bit worn out.

The Alpha Wolfgarm got away, but at least some of the wolfgarms themselves have been defeated, so that's something.

"I need a drink after this. I'm going to find Miyako," Kotono says with a sigh as she finishes things up.

After the long culling fight Daiyu slinks out of the caves with the others. "That was... an experience." She wipes off some wolfen drool with a look of disgust, smearing it off her hand on a tree. "Another attempt on the Alpha will have to be made later."

    Merek looks around and nods a bit, while they take their time to move away from the place, with a sigh, "Well, we did alright, we'll need to come back to do more likely at some point."

Yeowang just looks around, collects one of the broken-off spikes, ands places it in her inventory. The fight has left her tired and dissheveled, and a bath and a sleep at an inn will fix that. We came through a town, hopefully they will have something.