Duty: Threat to the Harvest

During the Harvest Festival, there are many who take to the fields to bring in the summer crops. However, there are also those who would like to claim those bountiful harvests for themselves. The Hunter's Guild has hired Adventurers to protect those Landers who have been tasked with working the fields. It sounds like a boring, simple task, but they wouldn't spend the money hiring defenders if there weren't real dangers looming.

As the end of summer falls upon Yamato, the temperatures have started to drop. Despite the sun still beating down from high in the sky, there is a cool breeze blowing, which seems a relief to the Landers who have been tasked with working the fields.

A wide expanse of crops needs to be harvested, largely done by hand orteams that work with grunty or pekos and crude, simple tools. It's a task that takes time, but the yield is important to carry the Landers through to the next Spring.

The Adventurers have been spread at the far edge of the fields, closest to where they run adjacent to the wilderness beyond. These are the most dangerous places, where they might come under attack from allmanner of threats.

Still, the adventurers are not so far away from each other that they are not within earshot. Nyanta himself, the coolest cat in ETO, is moving about the perimeter, doling out the closest thing to pumpkin pie he could make with the ingredients he had on hand, as well as something akin to apple cider, to each of the adventurers as they stand at their post. "I don't forsee it being an eventful evening, so we might as well enjoy ourselves, nya."

Soujiro Seta looks in his element out here in the field. Soujiro is a salt of the earth samurai standing vigil over his side of the field as if these Landers were under his protection. Something about him being there with his smile provides this inherant idea that things will be safe and also a little dangerous? Fun. Like scarecrows will pop out or dire onions. He spends his time in the present, having a conversation with one of the farmer's daughters. Then two. A few of the farmhands. Its really easy to figure out where Souji is by the small group around him now. Samurai Farmer Souji.

Yeowang is looking a bit disshevelled as she arrives in town, and when she asks to see someone, she's directed to come here, but the person she's come to speak with tells her, "I can't make any deals just now. We've got more important things to do. But I can talk afterwards, if you'll help us with this?

Yeowang nods slowly. "I can help." She has forgone her adventuring attire, and is dressed the way a banker or merchant might dress, a long kimono and her hair worn loose. Of course that doesn't really matter /too/ much. She draws her hair in at the nape of her neck and wraps a small cord around it, so that it's at least gathered in a long ponytail, and she rolls her shoulders to ease the formal kimono, looking around to take stock of the situation.

Syx is a farmer, and as such is helping to prepare his own fields for this kind of thing. Since his own farm has already been harvested, he's opted to help out where Landers are offering to pay for work, and get his own farm's name out there.

Daiyu is taking a break from her tutulage under Baroness Wake to visit one of the event locations of the ongoing Festival with two of her friends. Two of her longest standing friends amongst the Yamatoans at that. Even without it being a 'Fae Mood' she has really gotten into the cultural studies that have become a part of her overall instruction, and it shows in the way the quartet of tails sway contently behind her with her steps. With everpresent parasol resting upon one shoulder. She might actually use it for it's intended purpose for a change, being outdoors for this occasion. "I appreciate the accompaniment," she says to Miyako and Kotona with a smile. "Familiar faces at one's side always makes social gatherings easier to engage."

"I'm glad to be here," Kotono says as she keeps a steady pace as opposed to her usual ninja-like antics as she jumps from one spot to another. "I'm sure Miyako and I will enjoy this a lot now that it's three of us." She smiles a little. "Definitely, familiar faces make things easier to engage I agree."

    Miyako nods and smiles lightly. "It's good to have the chance to spend the festival with friends," she answers, sliding an arm around each of her companions' elbows to pull them close. "So," she says, catching sight of the little gathering of adventurers. "Who wants to join in the fun, hm?"

Miho had training to do, she needed to get out though and keep active. She had a lot of training under Souji to do. Also possibly doding antics from the Harem over this. Well they were creative at least and maybe it was part of her training? Who would know. She is trying to be more wary after the last time where she attacked the Farmer's guardian creatures.

"Well this should be good, right? I'm game lets see what we can do here."

Luckily, Nyanta had provided an entirely separate pie for Soujiro's fan girls, who he knew would be tagging along if Soujiro were coming. Their presence around Soujiro is like daylight to the sun or snow to a winter's day. Once serving is done, the Dandy Cat takes his own place at the perimeter, ready for work.

Once the Adventurers have taken their positions in the fields, the most keen-eyed might spot that there are already animals who have taken the harvest as an opportunity to graze on an easy source of food. An entire flock of birds seems to have landed nearby, taking advantage of easy access to the grains.

They seem to keep a distance from the Adventurers and the Landers, but there are large swaths of farmland that need to be protected from their greedy beaks. Even now, they seem to be gorging themselves wherever they can, landing and taking flight whenever someone takes notice enough to try to shoo the flock onward.

Someone needs to do something to keep them away on a more permanent basis, otherwise they are going to continue to be trouble for the Harvest.

Nyanta, for one, seems quite happy with the presence of the birds, his resting cat face moving to a slightly more excited grin, "Oh, myai. It seems as though dinner is being purrvided as well, nya. I have a purrfect seasoning for wild game bird that will make these intruders taste meowvelous, nya." He draws both rapiers, readying himself to earn his meal.

Yeowang's distraction is plain to see, she gazes more or less blankly at the farmland being devoured by birds eating the available grains. When it seems action is required, she will look up, and attempt quite a complicated gesture, that results in a soft zephyr of wind to roll over the fields. And that's it.

She seems to consider, and looks at her hands thoughtfully. She will rush towards a cluster of birds, but they all take wing before she gets there, and settle back among the crops away from where she rushed to. No amount of stalking seems to get her any closer to the birds.

Daiyu tilts her head as Miyako points out the gathering forming to deal with some matters. "Is this part of the event?" Pauses to nudge her spectacles into place. "Of little matter. It is a fine oppritunity to help endear our efforts to the Landers, is it not?" And she sees quite a few familiar faces in this gathering upon the fields, too. Such an interesting turn of events.

Though she sighs. "I shall not need to keep this out after all," she murmurs as she lowers her parasol, closes it, and sticks it into the ground point down. Then pulls her warfans from wherever she hides them and flicks them open. "This festival is -not- for the birds," she remarks, even as she makes a few broad sweeps with the fans to do what fans are made to do, kicking up several gusts of air to scatter the birds before they can peck at the harvest heavily.

Weird Moods happen in waves. Or like full moons? Soujiro is so pleasant its hard to tell he actually /is/ in one versus on another training montage. Threads. Threads everywhere. He offers a welcoming smile to Daiyu. Then to Syx. Kotono and Miyako are next. Yeowang looks busy but gets a smile of greeting nontheless. Big smile for Nyanta. Miho gets turned to last along with all the Landers around him, "Yes!" he tells her with the enthusiasm that says he doesnt look at training as a chore. Its fun! "We can go get scythes and plows and mimic the striking motions. Or cleave large swaths of grass in half strikes repeatedly." Works well for Link.

Souji is exceptionally clear on who is an enemy and who is a friend. He holds out his arms like a Disney princess and he gets himself a flock of of birbs chirping around him in song and sparkle. Just another day in the Soujiverse.

Kotono's smile fades as the birds suddenly appear, and they don't look like they're here for fun. It looks like they're going to cause some trouble. "We can't have that," Kotono says. "I've got just the thing!"

Bringing up her spell runes, Kotono brings up an air spell and casts the windy blast towards the birds. "You're 'air' today and gone tomorrow!" She says with a chuckle.

Syx has decided that the best way to take care of all those birds is by running around and chasing after them. He chases chickens on his farm all the time as part of his training, but these ones are a lot faster and actually can fly!

Well thing are going fairly well, and she owes Nyanta for distracting the sexy horde for a little bit with pie. That was some seriously good thinking there. She will have to thank the man later, for now they got a quest to do. She eyes the birds wondering if this is like last time. She will be attempting to use what she knows about animal to try and shoo the birds off in such a way they will leave without having to hurt them. Namely some harmless bursts of fire in trying to scare them off.

    Miyako chuckles lightly, her wings flickering briefly as she watches the birds gather. "Winner winner, turkey dinner," she says as she watches her friends at work. Then she adds her own burst of air magic, using a set of fans just like Daiyu's (after all, she stole one of them from the fox in the first place).

The adventurers do their best at tackling the bird problems in their own way with mixed success; Nyanta himself sets about aiming at the necks of each of the birds as they land with a practiced air slash. With teamwork and the power of friendship, the birds have either fled or will soon be in the adventurers' stomachs.

However, the birds seem to be the least of the problems that the farmers face with the harvest. While dealing with the feathered pests, a few figures can be spotted, crouched low and moving amongst the edges of the field. They seem to be sizing up both the Adventurers and the Landers, getting counts of how many are here.

The scouts seem to be only an introductory party, likely readying the way for a larger incursion against the harvesting crews. They need to be eliminated or at least scared off before they can gather information to take back to their leaders, but the hardest problem might be finding them.

They seem to move stealthily through the taller reeds and plantlife, sometimes vanishing from sight and making it quite difficult to track them.

The tall werecat gentleman, Nyanta, is gathering the bird meat drops in the meantime, humming to himself thoughts of the feast that will soon be delivered after the quest is complete...

Yeowang seems a bit distracted as Seta greets her, and while she would normally return the greeting politely, she seems to be mumbling to herself and pondering something that's taking most of her mental energy. This may be why she looks a bit different than usual today?

Birds might be a problem, but infiltrators that are people are not a problem for her. Whether through craft or training, she is able to locate these invaders, and a quick karate chop serves to send them retreating. There is always another one close at hand, but her senses, distracted as they are, seem to guide her to each target and they are sent scampering off with brutal punches, because she has a first like a hammer.

All that stealth is no match for Samurai Deeper Souj(iro Seta). His clear, bright eyes lead him through the threads of fate themselves and right to where one of the scouts is sneaking. They part the tall grass aside and see Souji there staring right back at him. They slowly close the grass like a curtain and decide to try to fade away. Nope. Just nope. Do you see that guy? He has, like, twenty birds on him. Its time to retire being a scout. Maybe be a farmer. The scout wonders if this particular farm is hiring.

Meanwhile Souji feeds one of his new birds, already starting to name them. This one is Birbalina. This other one? Squawks.

Long ears twitch at movement at the edge of perception. Hearing steps very different than those of animals, the faint swatch of the reeds despite efforts to move stealthily in the long growths.

Bandits hunker down, watching, waiting... until a sudden *click* of a warfan being snapped shut is followed by the *WOMP* of it being used like a blackjack, and one of the bandits ends up face down, out cold, with the hulijing that had searching him down standing over his prone form. "Hmph. Ameteur." Hardly a challenge for an expert scout as herself.

When it comes to searching for things, Kotono's on the job!

"Let me take a look here, hmmm..." She bites her lip as she looks around before her ears seem to perk up. "I've got it!"

Eventually birds seem to get the idea that Syx is going to chase them if they show up, so they stop coming around behind him. This leaves him standing near the edge of the fields, where he spots some movement. He stomps a foot on the ground, sending a pulse of earth through the ground to give himself a quick look at what's nearby.

A couple of bandit scouts that had been nearby are picked up by him. Syx jumps and then lands behind the pair of them, towering over them, "Hey gents. You know, these folks work hard for their harvest, and now you're here trying to steal it. So I'm going to make -you- work it."

And then Syx does, throwing one of them through the air over the field with a hip toss, while the other one gets suplexed into the dirt just outside of the field.

    Miyako nods, smiling lightly as she paces on with Kotono and Daiyu. It seems there's definitely -someone- mucking about and causing more trouble. "Ahh, the basic bandit, in its natural habitat. Let's poke it with a stick and see what it does." She grins wider as she watches Kotono and Daiyu make their attacks, before adding her own -- a simple rap with a folded fan, right to the back of one bandit's head.

Miho is lucky to not be alone in dealing with the birds, it would have gone very badly for her, had it just been here. With the Avian menace handled she tries to make it look like she meant to do that. She fails for she is not some kind of cat girl in the end. Nope she went for a Lizardish one. With this in mind they head onwards.

She knows the earth well enough and will be able to suss out where they are going and will head after them.

Nyanta seems to have only noticed the scouts after the party has taken care of them, but division of responsibilites is important for any quest. Nyanta's current responsibility is loot gathering, and his companions have the scout issue well in hand (Or fist, in Yeowang's case, or a bludgeoning fan in Daiyu's and Miyako's).

Though it is against his nature as a cat, he lets Soujiro's new animal companions live; they are Soujiro's friends, so they are now his as well. Friendship has a transitive property, after all.

As Syx hurls one of the scouts away from the field, he in fact successfully strikes two avian thieves with the human projectile: two birds with one scout? Smashing!

The scouts are not the end of the bandit troubles that seem to be facing the farmers. It isn't long until the main group of Bandits make their way out of the nearby trees, armed with swords, crossbows, and cudgels of all sorts. They are dressed in simple armor, likely not expecting to face the sort of resistance that Adventurers usually bring with them.

They head straight for the largest group of farmers, likely intending to capture or slay as many as they can in order to seize control of the fields for themselves. There is a war cry from a heavier armored bandit at the lead as he raises a sword high, rushing into the fields.

It's up the Adventurers to stop this attack and protect as many of the Landers as possible.

With the meat gathering all handled, Nyanta is well and ready, as are his companions, to handle a small band of thieves. "It is time to work up an appurrtite with some excersize, myai friends, nya. This should not take too long, nya."

"So, I have to work up an appetite, huh?" Kotono says as she draws her blades with a huge grin. "Well, that works for me, as there's nothing like a good workout to get the stomach ready for a meal!" She pauses a little. "Although after I'm done I'll need a few minutes to stretch."

Shrugging her shoulders, Kotono says, "Well, enough musing, it's time to go!" Kotono rushes in with a determined look on her face. "Yah! Slice 'n' dice! Slashy slashy!"

Yeowang indeed has the bandits well in fist, punching another pretty mercilessly in the face. When the bandits are joined by allies, she doesn't change her methods at all, continuing the brutal pummelling, and while she may seem distracted, she looks like she's got enough experience punching out people that she could do it in her sleep. She will occasionally spin around to kick one of the bandits, but that's hampered by the kimono she wears, and so it's mnostly punches as she savagely beats down more bandits, neatly evading their counterattacks with absent-minded shifts of her stance.

The scouts have been rooted out and dealt with, so here comes the actual gang of bandits. Without nearly the advantage they expected to have when they come across not just a bunch of Lander laborers but a fully prepared band of adventurers. Daiyu pauses a moment, doing a rough estimate of visible men and women. "Well, Miya-chan." The tips of her tails start to glow in an eerie ominence. "I think it is time to put this technique of yours to the test..." With that said, the one fox woman takes off into a sprint towards the bandits.

But it is -four- of her that make a leaping lunge into the fray, almost impossible to tell which are just the reflections of the Phantom Mirror technique.

A whirlwind of motion follows, and while the dopplegangers eventually poof away when struck a few times, they are a distraction more than long enough for Daiyu and the rest of the party to do their duty to this Duty of dispatching these desperate delinquents.

It does not appear as if Soujiro is taking this too seriously yet. All in good fun. There are hungry birds and sneaky scouts. This changes completely when the raiding party begins to target the farmers. The birds fly off of the samurai and begin to peck at the bandits as he leaps into action. His katanas draw so fast the its hard to see when it happens, slicing off the hand of a man who went to grab one of them. Before there is a scream out, the pommel of his weapon strikes his neck. He doesn't even break a stride as the fast warrior makes his way through three, four, a dozen bandits until he reaches the armored leader. Kogarasumaru, the holy blade, begins to glow a pale white light. "Sword of Vows," he says as he launches into an iconic Omnislash against Banditroth. "Protect those that cannot protect themselves," he cleaves out the first half of the strikes, "Avenge those that have been wronged." By the end of it, he is sliding his katana back into the saya. Its over for you!

Well there are bandits, she does not like banditss. she' going to deal with the Bandits are they going after the Farmers, she knows what she has to do. she's going to get in there and run interfearance wirth them attackinfg the farmers but she's going to get swamped and into a good deal of trouble as she ends up outnumbered. The smole Smith could use a hand...

As soon as the group of bandits make themselves known, Syx goes straight for the biggest group of them. His strikes are precise and focused as he weaves through the group of bandits, slamming bandits down here and there while filling the gaps with strikes and blows.

    Miyako pauses while Daiyu makes her attack, watching attentively as her student (of the moment, at least) demonstrates her skill. "Excellent work!" she says, grinning, and then there are four of her as well, dancing amongst the bandits with bladed fans slashing out. "Now, Ko-chan, you need to master this as well...."

"All right, I'll try to master that when I can," Kotono says as she returns to her ready stance. "Looks like fun after all," She adds with a smile, but that smile soon fades as she realizes things are not well.

A stampede is coming. And it's coming fast.

Kotono is faster than that... or so she thinks.

Unfortunately, Kotono isn't quite as fast, and she gets caught in the stampede. She disappears for a moment before leaping off of one of the random monsters using its shoulder for propulsion, before landing out of the way, albeit bruised and battered. "That was NOT supposed to happen!"

Nyanta, too, has been surrounded; he and Miho are, in fact, back to back to prevent the encircling bandits from adopting a flanking maneuver. Though their HP bars do take a bit of a licking, the two adventurers come out on top in the encounter. Meanwhile, Yeowang handles several by herself, and several Daiyus handle several bandits together. Just a short distance away, Soujiro is harvesting bandits as if they were wheat, a fitting practice for the season. Syx takes to a large grouping of bandits as if they were a mosh pit, blood and teeth flying from within like confetti. When all is said and done, the end result is the quiet following a battle.

Once the bandits are dispatched, things seem to quiet across the fields. There is a feeling of relief that spreads through the Landers as they return to their duties. Long hours pass without much activity at all, only the occasional animal that wanders too close to the edge of the fields and has to be shooed away.

Then, there is a strange feeling, like a trembling of the ground. It starts with one large thump, followed by another shortly thereafter. Then, everything nearby goes quiet. Out of the nearby forest, a series of lower level monsters begin fleeing in the direction of the fields. They don't seem to be concerned with attacking the Landers or with the food.

Instead, the Stampede seems to be caused by something else, causing the smaller dire creatures to run for their lives. This is just the sort of thing that could cause irreparable damage to the fields! The stampede needs to be diverted, either by clever use of monster control, or creating barriers to prevent them from getting to the crops.

A short distance away, Nyanta has already started to marinade the birds... And he is not about to let these monsters ruin their dinner! "To arms, myai comrades! To battle, nyaaaa!" He raises his rapier high, and then brings it down and forward to lead the charge!

Soujiro Seta steps out to the stampede as he does. All calm and ready for action. "Wow look at that," he says as the telltale signs of his Weird Mood show up. Its a constellation of Cows! A gang of Grunties. A band of birbs. Its beautiful. It is also coming right for him. Annnnd... through him. Training demands sacrifice!

Daiyu can briefly be seen darting through the group, a furry elegant blur as she zips by. She grabs the handle of her parasol where she left it jabbed into the ground, doing a hand spring off of it, and pulling it from the ground as she does so. She lands, turns, and pushes up to reopening the parasol. Then hold it in front of herself as a plow of sorts, stepping out of the way of some monsters while using the open acessory to force others to angle off into different directions. Trying to break up the flow of the stampede so it isn't in one large chunk.

"Be ready," she remarks. "Someone or some THING has stirred these creatures into a panic."

Yeowang is smashing bandits one moment, and being overrun the next, but her calm, collected demeanor doesn't shift one iota. Whether a function of her mood, or simply her intense martial arts steadiness, she seems to take a poised stance and shifts minimally to avoid being overrun, striking one fleeing animal to send it off in a different direction, stepping aside from the ones she can't divert, never looking panicked or in any way not composed.

Syx needs to stop the stampede, or at least help redirect it. He knows a good way to stop it thouigh, as he runs straight into the head of the stampede, ramming his head into the creature's and driving it backwards as he locks horns with it.

He rolls over the top of the creature, turning around in midair to lock his arms around it's waist, and hauls backwards through the air, twisting and slamming the beast into the ground with enough force to throw up a wall of dirt that'll force a huge portion of the creatures to redirect their run.

Plus he can collect the meat from killing the beast.

    And the bandits are dealt with. But there's noise... and - "Oh damn," she mutters, and her duplicates gather together to toss her into the air just in time! She arcs above the onrushing horde of animals, as her duplicates vanish back into the shadows they came from. She bounces off a tree limb and finally reaches the ground on the other side, posing briefly before sagging and wiping her forehead with a "Phew!".

Miho is battered and beaten yet she's alive and thats due to not being alone as she's back to back with Nyanta.

"Good to be fighting along side like a legend like yourself."

She grins she's somehow fallen in with two of the most famous players in ETO and she's manged to not go squeeing fangirl.

The fight is over they think it's done.

Then comes the rumbling and she just gets this look of horror.

"Oh no..."

She'll be quick to use Earth techs to pull some EArthbending bullshit to give the party some cover and funnel the creatures away from them and the farmers.

Nyanta's strategy this time around is to use himself as bait, giving a few of the monsters in the lead a good slash on the nose before darting away from the field, ensuring that many of the monsters follow. He expertly dodges the monsters' strikes as they try to pay him back for those lovetaps he delivered to them.

With teamwork, and a bit of old-fashioned coralling, the party is able to STEER the stampede like cows (heh).

It isn't long before the source of the stampede becomes obvious. Trees are toppled over in the path of an absolutely massive creature which lumbers out of the forest. The massive thing seems to wobble back and forth on stubby legs, it's exaggerated cow-like features emphasized by enormous buck-toothed fangs.

It doesn't seem interested in either the Landers or Adventurers, only the food. One massive mouthful takes out an entire swatch of crops as it begins to chew noisily. Anything that isn't eaten, will surely be stomped under enormous feet.

Something has to be done about the massive grunty menace before the harvest (and the currently marinating game bird feast) is ruined!

Oh hey. There is a Grunty the size of a house. This begs to be engaged in combat. For TRAINING! Soujiro does just that, rushing on in with an endless reserve of energy and excitement to try more martial moves that one can shake a stick at.

Daiyu lowers the parasol as the source instigating the stampede tromps onto the scene. Her brows actually raise a bit above the frames of her spectacles. "That... is a very big Grunty."

She closes the parasol, flicking it around to reverse the grip, and stabbing it once more into the ground. Then grabs the end and pulls to drawing the Chinese dueling sword from within the shaft of the parasol. The blade starts to glow as she does so... and by the time she is on the move, holding it back to her side in a two handed grip, the glow has become a hot burning orange. Quick and graceful, yet tenacious and precise, as she uses the momentum of her dash to leap upward, spin around for even more momentum, and bring the blazing sword down in a strike against the beast's rugged form with a thunderous blaze!

Bruised and beaten, Kotono is not down for the count yet! In fact, she's only getting started!

"Time to slice and dice some more!" Kotono says as she brings up her blades again. "I'll make you regret messing with us!"

Yeowang will step up and confront the massive grunty with a calculating expression. The distracted gaze begs the question is she calculating interest, or actually planning the attack, but her martial arts moves ... well, don't actually make that abundantly clear. She might still be mulling over inventory issues in the department store she's building outside Dun Loireag, but as far as the fight goes, she's 100 percent paying attention, delivering hit after hit after hit, and she changes the attacks up, just to break any pattern, punching as hard with her already-extended arm, adding a second blow just after one loanded, then switching fists, the attack combos mounting.

Miho looks up to see what comes she stares for a moment then she starts to salvating.

"MEAT! BBQ! MEAT BBQ! ITS ON THE MENU!"

With that she's charging for the Grunty she inend to bring it down she wants big freaking BBQ a slab of meat that's Fred Flintstone would approve of. She does not seem to be holding back as her armor's powers triggers with a golden glow and a dragon's roar!

    Miyako grins as she sees the giant grunty, and starts laughing. "Who's up for gruntburgers?" she calls out. Gruntburgers -with cheese-, please!

    The Spriggan leaps into the air, a flick of her wings guiding her back to a tree-limb, from which she can make her attack. "Let's see," she muses, retrieving her warfans. Once the grunty approaches, a pair of lances of black unlight lash out from her perch as she makes her contribution to its demise.

Oh man a giant grunty. Think of how much meat they'll be able to get off of that, which Nyanta will probably cook! Syx is going to help by making sure the Grunty is taken down for sure, moving around the outsides as others attack, before he waits for the health bar to drop low enough to know he'll be able to finish it.

He rushes in and flames encircle him, as he drops down and comes up underneith the Grunty, hefting it up onto his shoulders, before the flames spread outwards from him, and he launches the grunty into the ground with his signature special move.

The attacks from the Adventurers seem to do little to move the health bar of the enormous grunty. It seems to have extremely high stamina and defensive stats. It isn't until it has lost almost a quarter of its health that the creature even seems to realize they are there, lifting a head and chewing before giving a somber sort of moo-roar.

Then, it burps loudly, sending spittle and foul breath through the edge of the fields. Apparently, their attacks had given it an upset stomach. Wobbling on those stubby legs, the creature turns and begins to toddle off towards the trees again, it's cow-like tail swishing behind it.

Thankful for the aid, the Landers share tales that the grunty had been a problem in years before, almost eating them out of entire fields. The Adventurers certainly pulled their weight in keeping the farmers safe, so they offer up some of their vegetables to go with the veritable feast of game bird from the flock earlier and grunty steak from the monster stampede later.

The resulting dinner that is before the adventurers and farmers becomes a small harvest festival in and of itself.

Yeowang is somewhat disturbed that our massive outpouring of DPS was so slow in denting its HP, but it's fortunate that it was more interested in crops than in eating players! But with the grunty driven off, the Landers seem quite pleased, and she will turn to seek out the Lander she spoke to before, single-minded in her pursuit of whatever business deal brought her here in the first place.

Soujiro Seta heads over to Miho after the battle to let her know how the training situation went. "You did good. Im seeing solid improvements," he says as the Kaiju Grunty grunts itself away. Live and let live. For now!

Well they didn't fell the giant grunty but they did drive it off before it devoured everything.

And there is plenty of OTHER meats from the previous occurances, Nyanta already having done a lot of the prep work.

"That was... honestly, rather exhilerating." Daiyu gives the blade a moment to cool from the enchantment as she walks over to retrieve the parasol, sliding the sword back into it's place. Reopens the parasol and puts it upon her shoulder. Everything is as it should be. Her tails sway behind her, clearly pleased with both herself and the excitement for the night. "And now we can enjoy the festival for what it is meant to be," one tail curls around Miyako, the other Kotono, while Soujiro gets a wave, "together."

    With the battle completed, it's time for the picnic! "That's the best part of a festival," Miyako agrees, snuggling into the floofy tails. "Having fun with friends." With a delivery of gruntburgers made to the trio, she layers cheese onto one and adds some lettuce before digging in. "And no one expects you to get up at any particularly evil hour of the morning."

Gruntburgers, how tasty! Kotono tops hers to her liking before nodding to Daiyu and Miyako. "Now that things are taken care of, we can enjoy some time together!" She grins, putting her burger down long enough to do a few stretches to make sure she doesn't get any cramps. "I really worked up an appetite!"

Syx is of course more than happy to get his hands on all the roasted, delicious meats they've managed to collect from the various beasts they've had to slay during the harvest. But the feast it all provides in the end is sooooo worth it.

Miho is looking heart broken as the massive Grunty gets away. "BBQ bigger than I am....." She's just utterly crestfallen and she's also very hungry now. Oh so very hungry.

Luckily for Miho, not only was her training a success, but Nyanta is also STILL providing barbeque from the fallen grunties of the stampede. He even makes steaks to order, though when one of the farmers asks for his steak welldone, Nyanta keeps saying, "My apologies, nya. I did not hear you. How would you like your steak prepared?" Until the farmer gets the hint and asks for his steak medium well instead.

When all is said and done, a good deed is its own reward. That, and meat. Meat is a good reward, too.