Duty Session 602: Clearing Dragon's Eye

The desert area to the east of the mountains surrounding Dragon's Eye is the meeting point for the mission. The objectives are to patrol the surrounding areas and clear it of monsters in an effort to expose and eventually destroy the dungeon heart. The area is known to be patrolled by a variety of monsters. At low tide, the party is finally able to proceed. Time of the essence.

Staring from the outside of the mountains is safer in case Haru needs to run the party to the Chaos Gate to clear out. Yes, Haru has gotten two Chaos Gates working and linked to each other. Dragon's Eye and Carmina. Dragon's Eye, however, is far too dangerous to build infrastructure upon with the monsters that still reside there. As such he has put up several channels through the Hunter's Guild to get it cleared out. This one he is addressing personally, looking at a leather bound ledger that contains notes for the region and beyond. "We can expect there to be resistance on the way in," he says, eyes on his book as he lets the assembled know, "followed by a search and destroy mission once inside. Only one nest has been cleared. Several more remain." The book closes. "Any questions?" Serious man with a monocle. Though he is expecting very 'non' serious questions. Its Elder Tales.

    'That was soooo cool! Can we go again!? Can we go again!?' -- Yuuki, a couple of days ago.

    "No questions! Let's doooo this!" -- Yuuki, now.

    Yuuki is bouncing up and down on her feet, eagerly anticipating another run through the cool dungeon culminating in cool boss battle. Nothing ever changes with this girl.

Explore a new area? Hunt monsters? Clear out nests? Make room for future improvements? That's four of Shiruba's main interests right there ticked. So it's little surprise to find her amongst the gathering. "Do we know any particular weaknesses for the creatures within?" Nope, the serious hunter has serious questions to ask as she prepares, making sure her longbow is properly taunt and ready. Not that it really matters if Haru has an answer, she'll just analyze for herself when the time comes if it's necessary.

    Asuna, who has kinda just made the Dragon's Eye spot a big of a cozy vacation for herself, is happy to go again. Plus she has a mission! She's not part of the Olympus clearing effort per se. But she was enchanted by something she saw in Dragon's Eye on her first run. And she can't get it out of her head.

    She flicks through her menu as she talks (on a chim). "No, not that one. The jar in the second cabinet, lower level. Yes. Two spoons of that and the tea should be warm, not hot." A pause as responses bounce back and forth. "Yes. Oh perfect! Awww, did she? Tell her mama is so proud of her!" It's hard to leave home for The Flash. This is a kind of torture, really. "Of course. Okay, we're gathered up. I'll be home as soon as I can be. Yes. Love you, honey!"

    That conversation ends and Asuna sighs. She really has to get home as quickly as possible. But since she's hitting a dungeon, it's time to look the part!

    With a click in her inventory, she changes from Asuna the Flash to Asuna the.. cosplaying as Rydia from Final Fantasy IV. A moment later and her hair and eyes turns green to fit the role. That's... a new trick.

    "Sorry about that, Haru! Sorry everyone! I will not cause further delays."

    Sand, somewhere out there someone is making a joke about how they hate sand. How it chafes and gets everywhere. That it is a horrible grainy texture. The person making this joke is not Setsuna, he is only thinking of it as he approaches the group for a monster cleaing mission. In his new favorite lands of awesome too. As he approaches he hears Haru's request for questions, how could one resist. "As we progress through the use to be city could you point any property that may have a nice view, or perhaps something that is ocean front? It won't be for me but well I like to keep my eye out for good property opportunities. "

Schneider has arrived, and he's in full sorcerous splendor. If anyone doubted that he was an exploder wizard, it seems more obvious than ever, His time away was not long, and he caught the first ship back to the Palace Lands with an eye to settling some scores. When asked what would hurt Palace Landers the most, a fellow told him about a mission in Dragon's Eye, so here he is.

Embracing the wild look, his hair blows back in a breeze unfelt by others, because it looks cooler that way, and his formal coat and shirt, looking like a 17th century dandy, is now open to the waist, not that there's anything underneath to show off he's got a lean, bishounen build rather than the ripped warrior look. He looks around, nods a greeting, and says, "I'm ready to burn this place to the ground." This is Schneider, he is probably not being figurative.

Miho is happy to get out she's been working on some stuff for the landing as of late. Still it was good to get out and do this. She was also happy to see Yuuki. It been a very long time since she'd seen the most adorable blender in Yamato. She has long fallen under Asuna's sway in term of combat cosplay.

Why do you ask? Because as Asuna is cosplaying as Rydia? Miho is pulling off Rosa. Well a shot Rosa, best not to comment on that. She seem chipperr though.

"I was just sold on her idea for this!"

We're lucky she didn't get the idea to do Rubicante.

She leaps back at Schneider arrives.

"Well hello to you too. Oh Shiruba don't you owe me a drink or two?"

Haru points to Shiruba with an ornate fountain pen, "Aquatic creatures, which are oft weak to lightning. Beasts hybrids, best shot at. Nests lean towards Mist, Ice, and," he squints his blue eye at the report he is looking at, "annoying." A head shakes, "For the last one, whatever you'd do to get a small, hyperactive Sylph in line during periods of chaos." There is a look to Asuna's cosplay with a 'what is going on here' but it is Haru. Best described as Snape-like 'yes, this is life, how did I forget that?'. At least the outfit looks good, he likes the Final Fantasy series.

A fountain pen motions towards Setsuna. Theres the non-serious question he was expecting. There had to be one. His benchmark calibrations depending on it. Otherwise this could all be a dream and nothing mattered! "I will, but Schneider is going to turn it to ash, so I hope thats the aesthetic you are going for."

The party finds themselves in a cavern lined with geometric patterns on the walls and ceilings, all formed by several species of bioluminscent fungus. There is a slight musty smell all around them, and it is evident that this cave is commonly entirely under water, depending on the tide of the waters - meaning that they have limited time to stay here. The low tide washes allows slithering Centicobras (poisonous snakes with centipede legs) to congregate, gorging on trapped fish. These bar the way through the cavern. No matter what time of the day, there always seems to be few at the entrance waiting for the patrol party. The monsters bare their fangs and rush towards the Adventurers as the first in many battles to come.

The Artificer paces from the middle of the group. Haru is too squish to be in the front, doesn't get an idea of what is going on from the back. He pushes up his monocle in a half-Shiroe. "Hmm, Centicobras," he says as he takes out his ledger, making a note of it as the four golf-ball sized orbs float lazily out. They go over one that chitters its claws(?) and fangs(?) at it(?). There is a hum and like a piston, the earth itself erupts in a spike to start skewering them. All while Haru is writing down notes. That Wave Arte has become like breathing to him now.

    "Hey Yuuki, you should look for secret doors again!" calls out Asuna. "Maybe slam your head against the ceiling this time, though. It looks like the fungus may be hiding something!"

    She weaves past the hordes of hybrid critters with practiced ease. Sure, it takes effort, in truth, but she makes it look easy. Which is a greater achievement, since her mind is on that mist creature. She imagines she won't be lucky enough to see it, this time. But she's alway painfully aware of that thing in her head that tells her she's going to have to keep trying no matter what.

Schneider smirks as Miho leaps back on seeing him, but he looks hale and not bothered by his recent death. He laughs with amusement as Haru correctly predicts his future actions, and he'd missed what Haru's comment was a response to, but that doesn't matter. Turning it to ash sounds like a fine idea! In a cavern with walls and ceilings tiled in geometric patterns, he peers at the fungus, but says nothing.

The centicobras to briefly get his attention, but he scowls and casts, "Fiery Power Blast of the Damned!" and gestures dismissively, sending a wave of magical energy at the ones closest to him, blasting them to so many pixels, and he strides forward undeterred.

Miho is happy to help this place be cleaned out, and doing it instyle. Doing cosplay runs with Asuna was honesly a good deal of fun.

"So if I get this right fire might be pretty good too?"

Goddesses help you all if Miho ever learns magic given the connection she has to fire as it is. Thankfully that day is not this day.

Oh god bugs freaking bugs, she did not like these horrible cross creatures.

"I got this."

She does a very unrosa thing and gets very physicla driving her Katana into the ground with such force its going to put them off balance so she can pounce on them. If anyone is paying attention, is she using some of the basics of how Souji fights? She may very well be looks like her training with him has paid off.

    Setsuna looks at Haru with a exaggerated frown, " I don't want it to be ash though. I was hoping for something that is less then a simple fixer upper." Setsuna finishes faking his whining by the time they get to the bug snakes and well he doesn't seem to be doing much of disposing of the monsters. In some ways he is simply leaping about but not doing much more then that. Every now and then he kicks another snake to help gather them all in one place for someone else to deal with.

Shiruba gives a nod, appreciating the advice. "Thorough as always Haru, thank you." With that in mind she's ready to move on, taking towards the head of the group as the venture onto the duty proper. She's use to being one of the lead scouts and has little issue with taking the front, even if not the immeadiate frontline.

The first confrontation is with arthopodic vipers. "The combinations of this realm never cease to amaze," Shiruba murmurs, even as she's drawing back on her bow. Thundersnow Howl responds in kind, though not with electricity just yet. Instead what Shiruba 'fires' is a pressurized wave of air, directed at blowing several of the serpentine centipedes backwards away from the group, leaving them vulnerable to the attacks from others.

    As Asuna changes outfit, Yuuki is suddenly over and next to her. She leans in for a closer look, "Mmmm. Fancy. Very fancy." She proceeds to tug at the long sleeves, "Though you've gotta be careful not to get yourself tied up in these!"

    Yuuki then stands straight again and grins, "Naaaah. I'm pretty sure I was quite thorough the last time. This time it's gonna be different!"

    The group proceeds into the cavern. As the Centicobras come into view, Yuuki grins as she draws the Absolute Sword, "Hello, boys. I'm baaaaack!" Yuuki then rushes forward, running towards them.

    Yuuki's foot comes down on the still damp stone floor. And proceeds to slip out from beneath her.

    But Yuuki has learned!

    Yuuki plants her hand against the ground before she falls face first into it, pushing up with all her might and flipping through the air. She lands behind her target Centicobra, spinning around with a slash to explode it into pixels!

"Like in Wizardry?" Haru asks Asuna and Yuuki about the whole 'smacking walls' thing. Hey, he has played old dungeon crawlers. Is that what this is? A dungeon crawler? The things down her are certainly crawly. For Setsuna he makes a note in his book about the real estate request with the letters DNTS. Which is Haru code for 'Do Not Take Seriously'. "We will look into it," he notes as he keeps the ledger in his left hand as he walks. The benefit of having your 'weapon' float around you? Free hands. "Welcome, Shiruba," he lets the floof know, "and no matter how many times I run across them, the monsters here look like a developer went 'know what this creature needs? another creature'. The Chimera Lands."

The assigned patrol pattern has the party venture towards the western heart of Dragon's eye through the mountain barrier that seperates it from the rest of the land. So far the path is singular and uncomplicated. This simplicity proves to be its weakness as much as its strength as stepping outside serves to make the party a very clear target. A swarm of Kraithornets descend and attack. These unusual mixtures of snake and hornet are of the poisonous type. Generally they seek fish and other aquatic creatures that unwittingly exit the inland end of the cave instead of making their way back to the sea. Today the Kraithornets find no fish. Instead they find a new meal to dine on: all of you. The party will need to push past this choke point before they can hunt and clear the Dragon's Eye area within.

A singular path. Somethign simple. It is almost refreshing, cathartic even, to Haru. Like a hallway. You enter from one end, you leave the other. Of course it also a chokepoint that leads to... Kraithornets. When you need to smoosh a hornet and a snake together. "Like this. What possible benefit exists by putting a snake together with a hornet?" Scoff. Tsun. Burn it with fire. No, seriously, burn it with fire. He conjures up swaths of it like he was the Orkin man on a special mission to Dragon's Eye.

Schneider strides along with the party, looking aroud, seeking out things to explode. Snake-hornets looks like they need to be exploded, and with a curt shout of "Gunzenro!" several of them are consumed in flames that fill the air. "Gunzenro! Gunzenro!" That's his lowest level fire spell, so he can spam it, but it's /his/ lowest level fire spell, so it'a pretty potent, each burst taking out another approaching cloud of strange critters. "We need a can of Raid here," he comments.

    Setsuna chimes in to answer Haru's question as he begins to spread his own layer of fire out among the flying snake hornets, " Well you know sometimes when you want a pet you can only have one. Then you get into the whole decision making bit and suddenly you have yourself a problem. Which one! So you use some dark magic and poof you get two pets in one. " Taking another step forward he continues to lay down 'covering fire' to help hold back the Kraithornets.

First snake centipedes, now snake hornets. "And with a name like Dragon's Eye I'm not surprised a lot of them are reptile combinations," Shiruba replies to Haru, smirking a bit at the sight. Even not in the thralls of a Hunting Strange Mood she was enjoying the kinds of challenges this realm continues to put in front of her to deal with. It was the kind of experience Hunters really lived for. New quarries, new challenges.

And this is one of those times she decides that maybe the best defense, is taking the offensive first.

Lowering her bow with one hand, Shiruba instead takes out her throwing glaive with the other, and hurtles it into the air. The defensive weapon ricochettes between several Kraithornets before boomeranging back into her hand, shielding the rest of the party by taking out the threat swiftly.

    "You know, why is it always such a... how do you say it, stuff of nightmares kinda result?" Asuna shrugs it off. She directs her attention forward. Though she will have to say to Yuuki, "I suppose I have to admit, that was a better way to do it. I appreciate how you still almost fell, but used it to your advantage. You really are a squirrel, you know that?" She can't call Yuuki crazy, though. Pot and kettle.

    She doesn't move ahead recklessly, but she is positioning herself in an off-tank role. Samurai life isn't all about the DPS! "Wizardry?" she asks curiously. She's a total poser as gamer's go. She barely even knows the character she's cosplaying. She just knows it has to do with a Mist Dragon and the fangirls think it's /awesome/.

    "Miho, that really looks good on you, by the way! Oh, and Schneider, nice job not blowing up the cave and burying us all. I admire your restraint."

    Oh and then there are flying terror bugs of doom. With.. snake features, too. Cause Asuna's nightmares needed more fuel. She focuses on protecting her friends, shoving back the enemies so others can take them down safely.

Miho pauses.

"Yeah that's certainly lioke in Wizardy to me."

She smirks a bit as she's standing over the fading motes from the last horror she's taken out.

She's looking about for a moment before she'll follow along.

"OR that the goddesses got really, really bored."

Could be all of the above eithe way she pauses for a moment at what they have to deal with now.

With out a word the blade come out and Miho becomes a tiny little blender along with a few very angry lzard noises.

Yes these things were a mistake that must be purged.

"Thanks!"

She calls back to Asuna from the fray.

    It's the Kraithornets!

    Yuuki taps her chin thoughtfully at Haru's question, "Maybe they wanted a flying snake as a pet? ... That does sound pretty cool. Though choosing a hornet for the flying part was probably not a good idea." Especially as the monsters proceed to aggro them and start trying to sting them!

    Yuuki runs between the flying snakes, sword slashing out as she goes to cut their wings off and provide an easier target for others to shoot or stab or whatever at!

"No, Setsuna, I don't know that situation," Haru responds to Setsuna and Yuuki about the pet issue, "I would simply get one pet. Of one animal. I mess with /plenty/ of things, but bioengineering is not one of them. Can you imagine what it must feel like to have an exoskeleton AND an endoskeleton?" He motions to Asuna, "Exactly. Nightmare fuel. Im not even sure Kau would use this to light a campfire, either." As for Wizardry for Miho and Asuna, "It was an old dungeon crawler. Forward forward, turn left, forward forward, random encounter. You could run into walls to find out if they were illusions or whatnot." He wobbles a hand at the idea. "Honestly making the maps was more fun than the game half the time."

After pushing through the breach there is a moment for the party to gather their bearings and pursue a more open pathing. The ruins that scatters across the area are wide. Paths stretch like old broken roads alongside even more broken ruins. Scouting out ahead would be the best option now to determine where the monster nests are in the area and how to start clearing them out without getting overwhelmed. Time for some advanced recon.

"Now we can really get to work. Keep communication lines open and don't spread out too far from the core group. Enough that you can pull back for support. Only /one/ nest has cleared so identify them first and as a team we will decide which to engage in. In the worst case scenario we abscond to the Chaos Gate and teleport back to Carmina," Haru says, looking particularly to Schneider on that one given the mortality issue is fresher than usual. He takes a deep breath in and exhales 'Focus' in a totally not 'The World Ends With You' Neku fashion. Because that isn't integrated. Womp womp. What /is/ integrated is Haru's Wave Arte that spreads darkness over several blocks worth of area around the group. "If you pass the Skyline," he says as the group itself are granted perfect nightvision in the zone, "you are too far out." The zone itself is very peaceful, not frightening at all.

Schneider smiles to Asuna and says, looking at her hungrily, "Anything for more of your sweet, sweet cooking." Even if it was a poke, he takes it as praise, because why not? Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! But now the party needs to do some advanced recon, a task that Schneider is ill-suited for. He needs a nice clear target and a morally unambiguous fight, if he can get it, or at last a boldly painted bullseye. All this finding the target yourself business is outside his skillset, and he will leave it to others after making at best a cursory effort.

To Haru, he says, "Not before I drop the fires of hell on something." He got blindsided in the recent encounter, and he's looking for a fight, and he's not giving up without one. And it's going to be a very hard and ugly fight, to judge by his tone. If we're retreating, it won't be for lack of trying to melt this whole island to slag. He's going to hurt some people.

Ruins! Now Shiruba was really getting into it. She takes note of the boundry Haru has established for safety and starts prowling around. Though for once she wasn't looking for the runes themselves, but at what possibly has been passing through here. Putting the skills she had developed hunting various other Palace Land creatures to use tracks and such to get a better idea of just what their combination might be. Things that fly may not leave trails but they leave a presence when they land on something or such. Certain creatures leave certain scents, which can be hard to miss when two distinct ones are combined.

"This place is facinating..." she murmurs to herself. It will be interesting to look into more deeply once it is indeed clear.

Evetuanlly she returns to the central position near Haru, and scratches out a few arrows in various directions, and rough guesses at what kind of creature may be in those directions based on what tracking information she could gather.

    The group comes out into the ruins again. Yuuki considers once more going high... Though that may just lead to them ending up in the nest that has already been cleared. This time, she's going to have to try something different this time.

    So Yuuki starts wandering the ruins, trying to find a path through...

    And wandering...

    And wandering...

    Yuuki scratches her head as she finds herself in a dead end, "This is proving to be difficult." She goes to lean against a ruin wall while she tries to think.

    Yuuki's headband shimmers with a barely perceptible light.

    There's a loud cracking sound as Yuuki leans.

    She glances around.

    The wall behind Yuuki COLLAPSES and she falls backwards, debris piling up on top of her as a dust cloud billows out.

    A short time later, Yuuki's head pops up out of the debris. Shaking the dust out of her hair, she notices that the broken wall has revealed a new path!

    "Hey guys! I found something!"

    Setsuna chooses instead of spending time on scouting that he is going to creae paradoxical moments of time. Its just a quick peak here and there as he looks at each path for a moment and takes a peek behind the curtain on what he would see down each one, yet never actually travels down. In some odd way he is looking at the possible future of each one and then using that knowledge to eliminate that future. Perhaps that mean in a weird way he has killed himself for every path not taken. Either way he finally finds a path he likes and waits for the others to return to inform them of his choice on which way to go.

    Asuna knows /that/ look. "I swear, the only thing most people want to see me wear is an apron," mutters Asuna. "You know, I'm more than a meal plan! I'm can fight, too! And capture monsters!" And she's doing the hunting thing. She's working hard. After some work, she stops right by Yuuki and grins. And it's about that time that Yuuki falls through the wall.

    As if it were the best news ever, Asuna looks down to inform her friend, "I didn't find a single thing of value."

    She looks over Haru, "I can say I did not go too far! So that's a win, right?"

    Nailed it!

    "So Setsuna, if you wanted to, say, capture a creature that has a tendency to turn into mist, what kind of cage would you use? I'm thinking of something that uses air magic. Have you ever used something like that? I'm asking for a.. uh. Myself."

Miho is calling over to Yuuki.

"This is fun but I question their sanity on this! Well you would look good in one! Just saying!"

Miho is not helping and she knows it, but she could not helpping but now she's got osmething to hunt to seek out so she's getting to work as she keeps her chim link open. She's going to use her inate huntinf skills to help track their prey down.

Haru agrees with Shiruba about how fascinating it is. "One of my top three in research locations and topics. The potential here is high. It is the 'modern' architecture that has drawn a lot of curiousity. Once the area is secure, I bet archeological spleunking will yield interesting results. Assuming it hasn't all been burned down." Deep breathe. Yare Yare. "You are always a winner in my book, Asuna. Just keep it a secret or people will start thinking I have 'feelings' beyond eccentric chuuni ones." Wh..what? Haru is self-aware of his chuuni-dom?

The party finds a herd of Elkwolves walking through the overgrown 'streets' of Dragon's Eye. They may be the output of a nearby nest or simply a wandering feature of Dragon's Eye. Clearing these out and would go far in satisfying the requiresments of the job. These creatures are aggressive and blocking the way to stronger monsters in the area. Break time is over, time to get to work and clear out these monsters! With enough pressure the leader of this particular cell will need to show itself or face its domain being crippled through loss of monster-power.

Haru motions to the elk wolves. He likes elf. He like wolves, "One is an herbivore and one is a carnivore!" He points out. "What kind of twisted Young Adult fanfic novelist bioengineering creation made that?" Ok, the antlers on a wolf are cool. The benefit of Haru getting 'so worked up' about it is that he has Mana to spare. He casts a mana-sharing Enchanter buff that keeps the fighters in the fight longer without wasting as much of their own energy. "Burn it, burn it all, Schneider," he throws his hands up, book in one hand, "its a mercy, really. A mercy to these things. A part of is /was/ thinking 'wow, are we causing long term ecological damage by clearing out an area here'? And then. These. No, I don't feel bad at all now. Not even a little bit." But the wolves give those puppy dog eyes. "Ok, a little bit." One bites Haru on the forearm, "annnnnnd.... its gone again." He starts shaking it off with this noodle arms of his. Halp.

"Not to mention one half is the predator of the other," Shiruba adds to Haru's analysis. "The antlers look cool but that's just so many levels of twisted." The wolf in her might feel a little bad about having to shoot something part wolf, but it's more likely a mercy. So she nocks up and does just that. At least her shots are swift and precise, so the bizarre creatures don't have to suffer in their death.

Plus the weird combinations always seem to drop just as weird loot. Curiousity trumps concern there.

Schneider shrugs off Asuna's protest. "/Anyone/ can swing a sword," he points out, having forgotten about Haru for a moment. "But a good meal here is rare and wondrous. Never stop doing what makes you special." Though it might be kinder if he were thinking of something other than pizza and pork dumplings.

Haru's call to burn it all draws a negligent gesture and an off-handed, "Fiery Power Blast of the Damned!", which buffed by the buffing power he's been buffed with actually turns several elkwoves into cutlets and chops. He glances at Asuna, but if she's going to complain about him appreciatng her, he won't say a word.

Miho says "I'm certain those who have better skills in that area will have a field day here!" She thinks for a moment as she tils he head for a moment.

"I wonder if there might be anything on weapon crafting in here..."

Elkwolves? Okay what kind of divine crack were the Goddeses smoking when they made these things? She has no idea.

"I have no idea but this is some kids high school sketch book level stuff."

She will now readie her Nagtiona as she dives in with a fury that would be impossible back on Earth.

"STREET SWEEPING!"

    Haru needs help, and Asuna is going to be the one to supply it! She rushes in, smashing the beast with the hild of Lambent Light. "Bad dog..deer.. whatever you are!"

    While Asuna did not mean this to be a taunt, it seems to have functioned as one, cause the creature lets go of Haru's arm. TRIUMPH! And then bits her ankle.

    "OUCH! Go eat yourself, you stupid, rotten, mother-rejected piece of ^!^!*^!" She uses several choice words that her daughter is thankfully not around to hear.

    There's a kind of inspired take on the Shibuya Shuffle performed before Asuna is able to get away again, her pride and HP both damaged in the process.


She pauses when Schneider turns the beast that had been bothering her into a steak drop. "You know, Schneider that's... actually a really nice compliment. Thank you! I will keep at it." And she will take the steak, too.

     What? It's a good cut of meat!

    Setsuna looks at Asuna as they move down the path and considers the question for a moment, "I'd use a jar. Even a clay one would work. Wait till it turns to mist and funnel it into the jar. There you go a captured mist monster." Without knowing more it is his best idea he can come up with. Still he is willing to keep it up until he gets distracted by the pretty elkwolves. "AAaaaawwww! How cute! I should have brought demon, they haven't got to hunt wild game in so long." For a moment Setsuna even considers dragging the Drake out to go stomp something one day, he really needs to get his monsters some exercise. Still though he is loss in thought for a moment until the elkwolves have turned and become aggressive. In response Setsuna's eyes glow with magic as he begins to throw precision aimed magic attacks.

    A Yuuki-head poking out of a pile of debris looks up at Asuna, "Well then, you could try finding me some help out of here!"

    A short time later, Yuuki is free again. She's dusting herself off. Though when Asuna speaks up of catching something, Yuuki appears beside her in a flash move and whispers, "No spoilers!" Though then a little more loudly, "Though if you do succeed, you gotta let me ride it!" Yuuki grins at the thought.

    It's the elkwolves again! Though are these ones a little more wolf than elk this time around? Admittedly, Yuuki can't really remember...

    ... But as she bounces around from one to the next in an erratic display of crazy speed (in both senses of the phrase), it doesn't really matter! While she does so though, she counters to Schneider, "Swinging one /well/ is another matter though!"

    "A jar? That's... so much simpler. Thank you, Setsuna!" Asuna will make a note of that. Jars. She can get those easy enough! The Flash is already focused on that and forgetting all about how she just got bit nearly to the bone by Rudolph the Red Fanged Genetic Mistake.

The Artificer continues to flail as he replies to Shiruba, "Does it eat itself if it is hungry? Would that even be considered cannibalism? I've never looked at my own arm and went, 'Wow, I am biologically wired over generations to want to sink my teeth into this. I hope I dont get a craving for a slice of myself later on'." He then adds, "Don't read into that. Too easy of a setup." Thankfully Asuna is there to rescue him. "Thanks Asuna. Play nice with the buck... floof... thing." This whole thing is messing with his brain.

The party got the attention of the monster's overlord. The air itself becomes frosty as a draconic creature stomps from around the corner. A head peeks around. Then a second. A third. The blue scaled hydra roars in a chorus as it engages with its many snapping maws. The party has the prize in sight. To win they will need to apply constant pressure and not let those frosty faces multiply. The healers will be stressed by the need to abandon defense while keeping anyone from going down during the fight that would further delay pressure.

Haru looks at the Hydra in disbelief, "Ok, where is the rest of it." He waits longer. Creature roars. "No, I refuse to believe you are just a single creature. Is your tail a snake? Are you hiding wings? Are you one third kangeroo on your father's side?" Roar. "Don't you roar at me! This is the new 'normal'." He points at the Hydra, "You stop lying to me and show me whatever weird psuedo animal amalgamation you are hiding." Roar! "Ahhhhh!" Thats it, the hydra broke the nerd. "Terra. Magna. Fortis. Trabem. Conuenerunt. Tenebris. . . Annihilatio!" He starts running at the Hydra as he chants a Wave Arte that makes the earth itself tremble in as much as an angry young summoner might after losing a parent. A creature of earth and stone erupts, connecting arms and legs. A ramp? A cockpit? Haru grabs the controls to what can best be described as a four meter tall earth titan as he starts in on the Hydra. "You." Smack. "Will." Smack. "Tell." Smack. "Me!" Roar!

"Now you're thinking too hard about it Haru," Shiruba quips over her shoulder. Fortunately there is a distraction presented to them in the form of an angry misting hydra. "From what I've seen from my safari, the combinations are mostly beasts, and Dire beasts. Other kinds of monster don't necessarily follow that weird quirk." Then thrusts her hands overhead briefly. "Also, whoo, finally an actual dragonic monster for this dragon land."

Okay, back to business. She reachs back to draw an arrow from her quiver that is so thin it's hard to see, and almost impossible to tell it's actually made of some manner of earthen crystal unless you've got really good ideas. Except for Haru, Haru will realize exactly what it is.

It is just as hard to see in flight, seeming to almost disappear from her bow and reappear plunging into the hydra's scaly hide, digging a deep wound meant to offset it's regenerative abilities. The only real indicator she fired it at all was the howl-like whistle that accompanied her doing so.

    Setsuna watches the elkwolves scatter about as a new predator enters the field and it is not the adventurers. No instead it appears that they have awoken a hydra, and also Haru's inner rage about something. The necromancer is a bit concerned about the magic caster for a moment before he shakes his head. Better to focus on the now and the now, well they need their own firepower. A knife is drawn and blood is spilled as the ground devours it and a summoned demilich arrives. This time it appears Setsuna got a rather handsome male vampire dressed in a suit as he looks at the Hydra and charges in to fight it on behalf of it's master. Until the summon timer runs out at least.

Miho says "That's is something I have to wonder Haru..." Either way she will be just ifnishign up the last of the monsters until she has to lookup. She looks way up and the grin on her face isn't a nice one.

"Well now, there you are! TIme to purge you from this city as well. Your kind has no place here."

With that she'll take a deep breath. A very deep breath and then breath a massive gout of fire like she's some kind of tiny little dragon. She very well could be a 10 pound Dragon in a 2 pound bag.

Schneider peers at the hydra, and as Haru has pointed out, something is off. It's not a Hydrapuma or a Elephydra, so there's something missing, or something wrong. Schneider has a solution for something wrong, and involves purifying with flames. Because everything involves flames.

"Spirits of sorcery, fangs of vengance, pinions of sinew and steely resolve. Once bitten! Great White!" His flames play over the beast, and while they do far less damage than his spells do typcially, one critical injury is inflicted. The party would have noticed the creature had a powerful regeneration capability that made their jobs harder. Emphasis on the poast tense. It no longer has this power, and is burned down much more quickly for that.

    There's a stomping sound. And soon there's a giant head looking at them! And another! And another!

    "Well... They DO say that three heads are better than one!" Yes. A common saying.

    Still, it's something different this time! Fun. Yuuki starts chopping away at the Hydra. And while it's pretty easy for her to take out one of its heads... One always seems to grow back. You know what this calls for?

    More speed!

    As Haru is busy smashing at the Hydra with his titan, Yuuki jumps up it several times before leaping towards one of the heads. She strikes at it, before bouncing to a second and striking that one too. Then she jumps towards the third, stabbing it! She keeps repeating this, jumping off one to the next, going faster and faster. Until it looks like there's two Yuukis bouncing between the heads, cutting them to pieces all at the same time between everyone else's attacks!

    Oh! Oh! Oh!

    "Ah crap, where's the Mist one? Friggin'..."

    Asuna does grin at Haru's antics. But yes, there's fighting and blah-blah-blah take all bosses seriously! But really, everyone is hitting it so hard that it hardly even seems to matter! Still, she is supposed to do her thing, right? And so she will!

    Asuna draws on the power of sword artes and launches herself skyward. Once there, she projects blasts of water and light at the enemy. It is a pretty impressive display! But there's a problem. The Hydra is dead. And now all Asuna did was manage to damage the foliage.

    Nobody noticed, right?

    "Well... that's... that's it, I guess," Asuna murmurs. "Great job, everyone!"

At this point Haru is beyond thinking it through. He needs to work out out of his system. Fortunately he has a giant earth summon named Terra to help him through.

Victory. The final head of the hydra is removed from the stocky, frosty body and it shatters into fractal dust before a new one can reform. The party is too fatigued to press on further. It is best to regroup and let another team handle a sweep another time.

Its dead, Haru. Its dead. "I guess it was just a singular creature after all," Haru says as the Earth Sprite begins to desummon. He walks off of the hulking creature like he was dismounting a mech, taking out his ledger. "That is two nests down now. Making a note here. Ice. Hydra. Vulnerable. To. Blunt. Force. Trauma."

    "Everything goes down if you hit it hard enough!" Dramatic sword sheathing sound from Yuuki.

    She then looks at the strange item that dropped from the Hydra... "Ew. Maybe not doing that one again..."

    Asuna feels good. She is learning to accept it when she fails. At least she thinks she is getting better. She's using all her power to not critique her hunting attempt. Because honestly, other than 'learn how to do it', there's nothing much she can add. She has to accept this. Not so much for her sake, but for Yui's and Klein's benefit.

    "Well, looks like I'm still at this for a while! I have a date with a mist creature and it seems that the world of random stuff is not on my side."

Schneider says to Haru, speculating on the monster, "What if it was half-Three Head Hydra and half-Four head Hydra?" He can't count the heads now that it's despawned, but that sounds about right. "Yeah, let's get out of here. I need a beer and a burger." The heartstring is looked at skeptically as Yuuki comments, but it's not the most horrible treasure he's received.

Miho is happy once the fight is over she's grinning like a kid.

"I shall not forget it and well that's one less pack of monsters here at this rate the city will be reclaiemd in no time, right?" She's beaming and looking to Asuna.

"I'm glad they don't bleed... or this outfit would have been ruined." She looks a bit sheepish.

"Food sounds great!"

Shiruba's tail gives a few flicks back and forth. "That was a good hunt. And another nest clear. We'll have to keep working at it." She glances back to Miho. "You said something about drinks earlier?" She doesn't clearly remember, but she needs a few moments to come down off the hunter's high.

Miho Says "I did and you owe me one I shall collect tonight if that works for you!"