Peace Within Chaos

    Just south of the town of Tolbana is a fairly open forest. From time to time one can hear the cries of the Peko, as this is their part of the woods.

Walking, mostly somewhat patrolling, is Xander who is playing with a stick of all things, running it along the trees like children once use to do. Like he use to do as a kid. His mind on other things than just their current state.

Though it does sometimes wonder back to the battle of last night. Which causes him to frown a little in frustration. Though is attention snaps from his thoughts as he hears a snap of a twig, his hand quick to move the stick in position like a sword; Only to remember it /was/ a stick; So, he tosses that to the side and goes to summon his weapon, along with shield. Only to find a Peko staring back at him.

    The bird cries out before taking off and Xander stands there watching the large bird jump over a few bushes. "These birds are about as jumpy as you are, Marcus." he says softly to himself with a sigh, believing that no one is around to hear him. "... man your sergeant would give you crap for that."

KWNE. KWNE.

Such is the call of near-but-not-quite Copy Enfringement on the wing.

The Peko scrambles off into the woods, avoiding the clearing ahead that smells of vinegar and rot. In the middle of that clearing, Nureha sits in the middle of a nest of vines, snakes twining around the trees with their flowered heads rustling as they rub against the trunk. She looks distracted, murmuring the long memorized sequences without appearing to even be paying attention as she squints at the afflicted trees, then scribbles down something in the book balanced against her lap. The snakes evaporate as she lets the spell go, turning to vapor with a long hissing sigh like a very quiet tea kettle.

Nureha looks up from the book, and it's pretty obvious that, though her hair is neatly tied back, she's missing a chunk of it. She's also missing half an eyebrow in the bargain. "Good morning." She sets the pen inside the book and puts both back in her inventory.

    The smell doesn't hit him right away, but the sight of the vines does. Then he notices Nureha in the middle. First thought was that she was in a trap and went to step forward, before realizing-- He didn't have a good means to help her.

It is only when it hisses softly and the vines seem to vanish, does he get a better look at her. The chuck of hair missing, her eyebrow, just her overall look. ".. Nureha?" He asks her softly.

    He hesitates to walk into the space that had been slowly poisoned, rotting away by the magic, but he eventually takes control of his fear and walks toward her, placing the shield on his back and sword at his side for now. "You alright?" His eyes looks at the missing hair then back to her. "Did something--?"

A bright smile flourishes like mushrooms feeding on the decay of the surrounding forest. She picks herself up, self consciously taking out the hair tie and replacing it. This /almost/ but still doesn't quite hide the fire damage. And it does nothing for the burned off eyebrow, which seems to be slowly replenishing itself, though at a much slower rate than usual healing.

"That was a clever ploy, last night. Earth Pillar IS a rather efficient use of mana, especially seeing as there were several blackout spots along the ramparts. I confess I lost track of you after that, but I'm glad you've been doing well."

    Xander waits for her to get closer, or if she does get to close, he moves closer to Nureha. He raises up his hand and unless he stops her, he goes to use his light healing ability to help the healing process along.

"We needed to get control of the walls. If we didn't do that, then it would have been a meat grinder for our own forces, instead of theirs." He admits. "It was the tactical thing to do. Though..." His brows knit a little. "Between us, I would have rather done a pincer. We could have cut off reinforcements and crushed them in the middle."

Xander sighs softly. "People tackle this like it is still a game and don't weigh in real world tactics, but I guess that is what happens when people don't fear death." He frowns a bit. "... They don't take life seriously."

    He uses the chance to also check for any other further injuries that she may have, giving her a once quick look over. "Seems like you had a lively bunch on your hands from what I could see. Like they were having fun. How did they fare with all the chaos?"

Nureha looks chagrined but doesn't get in the way of the heal. When it's done, she inclines her head gracefully. "Old patterns are hard to break." she says softly. "..And we veteran players more than most should understand that." At the mention of the others, her smile becomes bemused if self-depreciating.

"They saw what they wanted and went for it. I suppose I can field no legitimate complaint to that. There were a few missteps, but in the end Tolbana was reclaimed, in no small part because of actions like yours and others who understand such things."

She gestures around at the quiet woods. "Taking a moment to reflect after our recent conquest?"

    Xander falls quiet for a moment, his hand moving to relax on the hilt of his sword. "Yeah. Reflecting." He admits closing his eyes. "I am not really happy with my performance on the last half."

Xander looks at her. "Because of that exact thing you said. Patterns. When I was handling the situation like it was the real world, things with well, but as soon as I went into, 'Okay! Time to be a tank!'," he tsks, "That is when I got smacked right into a building and lost half my health."

The Salamander shakes his head. "So, sure, I got the threat pulled, but... Should have done it where it didn't almost cost me my life." He looks off to the distance, "Got careless and getting careless could cost someone their life one day... and even if we respawn, there is no reason to chance that."

    Xander then laughs gently and grins a little. "Or maybe I am just being to hard on myself and maybe I /should/ be like everyone else and not worry about getting myself killed!" It was hard to tell if he was being serious or doing a dark joke.

Either way, he extends his hand and goes to rest it on her shoulder. "I'm just glad you came out alright, Nureha."

Nureha takes a step back to hide the flinch. She stretches her neck with one hand and leans over to retrieve her staff. "I don't think you should worry about it so much. There is so much we don't know that chasing our tails.." her eyes crinkle with bemusement as her tail flicks to one side.

"might not be the best use of our talents. Tell me about Uta. How is she holding up under the strain of this environment? It reminds me.. I should really look in on Crescent Moon and see how their newbies are handling all this. See if there's anything they need."

"You, in particular, look like you want to hit something. So why not use me?" she smiles. "You'll feel better. And perhaps I can dissuade you from being careless in the future."

    Xander misses the flinch, but his hand hangs there for a moment as she goes for her staff, as it slowly then goes back down by his side. "Yeah. I agree... and I hate the fact we know so little and everyone seems content with that. Things are changing, I heard someone bring up that the monsters are actually showing more advance AI than normal."

Xander shifts his weight a bit. "If they are growing because of our actions, the harder we push, the more dangerous we could end up making this world for everyone." He then looks off to the side, "And Uta? She is fine I guess. Probably gonna take her and another new player, maybe even several of them, and try to get them adjusted to actual combat."

He looks back to Nureha, "Like easy stuff though. Nothing to difficult and then have them turn in what some of those NPCs called Landers need. May as well make use of them right?" The Salamander though doesn't seem to answer about hitting her, instead he turns the topic away from that, "How are things going with those ships?"

Nureha goes still for a moment as he talks and then chuckles quietly to herself, fingers going taught around the staff. "Those quests have proven to be useful, haven't they?" she turns away, starting to pick her way through the forest with the staff in front of her to probe for weak spots or keep from tripping over any particular knobbly roots.

"The preparations are nearly complete, thought I doubt any of us will be prepared for what will happen once we truly begin the evacuation. We'll have to take every able soul that we muster and remember the risks. Until we reach the port at Carmina Gadelica, every refugee we lose is one going to a Cathedral that no longer exists."

    Xander goes to follow, listening to what she has to say. "... Wait? Cathedral that no longer exists? You mean their respawn point is bound to that place?" He looks away. "That makes things more complicated alright."

"My guildmates tell me the situation is contained, but we don't know how long that will last. The corruption somehow affected the game's procedural generation system." She stops briefly, investigating a tree. She takes out a dagger, slamming it down and skittering across one side and examining the red slash in the bark.

"Like you said. Much has changed. We cannot sit on our hands and wait for the corruption to slip it's leash. Somewhere in the Tower or in the Fields or in the Sea itself. There is an answer." she mutters softly to herself. "..There has to be."

She spins around, dagger still in hand and a smile as sharp on her face. "I'll leave you to your reflections, Xander. I hope you find something useful from them."

    Xander watches her cut the tree, then watches her spin around, still holding the knife. "Are you sure it isn't /you/ who needs to let out some steam, cause you know, pointing that dagger at anyone else."

He goes to place the back of his hand against it; Carefully. "Probably get you both marked." He then goes to step up toward her, "So, what is really eating at you or should we just stop talking and try to make one or the other eat dirt?"

"Oh, this?" She seems perfectly sincere as she gestures to the knife before making it disappear back into her inventory. "I'm only making progress with my continuing studies. You have to examine a system carefully before you can understand it."

The unwritten. 'or control it' also seems to implictly go along with that statement. "I certainly didn't mean to alarm you. What is this you are saying about being marked?"

    "Well," Xander crosses his arms over his chest. "Remember that girl I killed?" He frowns a little. "That apparently was a player and it got flagged as a PKer... for like three days."

He then opens the menu and goes to examine Nureha, "Pretty much, if someone uses the check feature, they can see if someone is flagged as orange, which is a law-breaker, or red... a murderer." Then he closes down the menu.

"So, if we got into it without a proper duel request sent, we would probably get flagged as orange or red by the end of it." Xander then shrugs. "Besides, your my friend. I rather go beat up a tree or monster, then like, actually hurt you, unless, you know, you really wanted to fight."

Nureha listens to him talk. "Interesting." she twirls the staff around once before leaning on it again. "I'll have to keep that in mind. But I won't pry. I can understand the reasons for your recitience. I was simply offering an outlet for such feelings, since you seemed more likely to stew in them than out."

    Xander stares at her and presses his lips to one side. ".. You know, I know you picked a fox... but you are so much more a cat. Your coy, witty," Then a pause, "... I guess that does make you a bit of a vixen after all." There was a silly grin that follows his words.

He then leans down slightly to get eye to eye to her. His fiery golden, draconic eyes meeting her own. "So," long stare, "Want to go kill a few low-end mobs to blow off some steam... then maybe go get a drink outside of this tower?" Then a soft smile, "My treat!"

    Then there was a pause, a raise of a brow, "Do you really want to duel. Here... and away from all the eyes, voices, people, because if you say yes. We can."

"We are all defined by our choices." Nureha says with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "But.. I don't know. I'm sure we can come to a compromise." She grins, showing a little bit of fang. A duel request appears in front of Xander. "..and when you lose, it really WILL be your treat."

    Xander blinks at that comment at the end 'your treat'. He raises a brow and stands up, taking a step back. "Oh, and what if I win?" There was a smile there, a very boyish, devilish smile. "What will be my reward?"

He holds off hitting that button, be he hasn't declined it, his hand is over there, waiting for her to say what his reward would be if he won. Though as soon as she says it, he will hit that button to accept, even if its something stupid.

Nureha looks amused. "Oh dear. It seems you've stumbled on ANOTHER mystery. They do clutter up the place these days. I suppose you'll have to find out."

    Xander chuckles a little and grins as he then accepts the duel, "Woman of mystery and keeps helping them pile up." He inhales deeply and steps back, taking his shield and sword in hand, "Well, lets see what you got."

Then waits for her move.

Nureha leans against her staff, taking some items out of her inventory, palming them inside her volumunous sleeves. She takes two steps to the left and dives for the cover of the nearest tree, firing a stream a fire from around the corner.

She immediately retreats and then doubles back, darting behind another tree and smashing a vial against the ground as she does so.

The air fills with a dark, putrid miasma from the curious little vial.

    Xander watched her move and while he attempted to block the fire damage and his natural resistance helped deal with it, some of it clipped through his defenses, causing a slight glow burn across his exposed skin.

However, this did not slow him down, moving through the poison, that was creeping into his system, he went to slam his shield into her and try to smash her in to the ground or against the tree she was trying to play peek-a-boo around.

Xander's shield smashes through thin air as Naruha disappears, flickering back into existance a foot or two behind her previous position.

A red glow marked her shoulder where the shield ALMOST started to impact, the Cait Sith switching the staff to the other hand as she smiles coyly.

She gestures behind him with a lazy circling gesture, murmuring words under her breath.

It suddenly feels.. wet behind him, a large sphere of watery substance hovering in the trees. Nureha throws another tiny vial, turning the huge sphere a sickly purple as it drops like a stone.

    "... fast little thing..." Xander murmurs to himself, even with a bit of a cough to follow as the poison tries to do its work on him. Slowly ticking away at his HP.

His shield slams into the tree, as he tries to turn himself around quickly, his heavily scaled tail sweeping across the grass. His eyes spot the bubble starting to form.

He wouldn't be able to escape it, but he can at least make her life trouble. His shield glows gold, as runes flash across the metal ring outside and he slams it into the ground, which causes the earth to quake right for Nureha!

    As soon as the earth quakes, he tries to bring his shield around to block some of the water that surrounds him, using his sword to reach out trying to clip through to get her. Then he does it again trying to break his way out and reach her with the blade of his sword.

Xander was, if anything, a very stubborn man.

Eyes widen as the shockwave slams through the forest, a ripple of force that knocks Nureha clean off her feet. She lets out a tiny yelp as she lands on her tail, wincing from the discomfort. The shield seems to add as an adequate shield against the poisonous water, but it ties up his attention.

The sword has more luck, chasing her as she rolls to one side into a kneeling position. She bites her lip, watching him approach. Her eyes glitter as an explosion of flaem rockets outwards from her silohuette just as the sword is coming down. There are two separate flashes of flame, the sword turned aside just enough to leave thin gashes on her shoulder and left arm with much of their momentum blocked.

Nureha tsks softly. "Charging blindly at the opponent again, Mr. Cyber Command?"

    Damage over time was a problem it seems and Xander wasn't really built to deal with it. Worse part was, even though he created an opening or what should have been, he was slowly struggling for air and losing health thanks to the poison.

The Salamander cursed silently as he would have to turtle down in order to survive this assault she was giving him and break free of the water effect that kept trying to hold him down.

    This is also when he catches a glimpse of her own weapon of choice coming for him, so he uses the shield to break the bubble, and attempts to use his own sword to parry her blade, which nicks him across the arm in passing.

Though when she brought up 'Mr. Cyber command', he then raised a brow. Did he tell her about his former job in the real world or-- was she alluding to something else? Either way, he had no response to her, beyond turning to try to keep his face toward her. Watching her actions.

The water finally subsides, the shield breaking the surface tension and the poisonous fluid turning to motes of energy as it rains down and evaporates. Nureha begins to circle him, wandering close to a tree and then away in what seems to be a deliberate attempt to bait him into closing.

As she passes behind a tree, she doesn't come out the other side. There is a sheen of dark energy over her face, a mask bearing a single stylized eye as she raised a hand and casually flipped a coin into the air.

The coin turned dark red as it landed in her outstretched palm, shooting towards his left leg like a bullet.

    Xander uses the moment he gets to cast a light heal on himself as he continues to watch her, trying to use the heal to work through the poison once he gets up enough mana energy to actually cast it.

He was debating on returning the favor in her direction for poison, but that would need to be waylaid yet again. Nureha was doing a good job keeping him pinned in place as he has to hunker down.

So when she throws the coin like a bullet, he uses the shield to take the force and instead of moving toward her, he was holding his ground; Even grimacing a little.

Nureha continues to poke and needle his defenses. The coin shatters off the shield, ricochetting off it in a spray of sparkles. She walks slowly and carefully, each step calculated as her sine pattern of drawing closer and moving away falls into a lulling, steady pattern.

But there is no telling if this too, is by design.

The next assault is a wave of darkness that ripples and distorts the surroundings it passes through, leaving a purplish tinge behind and it's victims slowed. This is followed by a Arcane bolt of pure energy racing towards his head while Snake-flowers bloom at his feet, attempting to dig in their fangs and tangle his footing.

    Xander watches the dark wave creep and his eyes narrow, along with his brows. He watches her walk calmly and debates on just what was she planning. As he does this is boots dig into the ground, as his sword starts to glow. Though it wasn't red, but that of a golden hue, much like his shield did earlier. The rune patterns were like the shield, but slightly different.

Xander's shield was also starting to glow, though an aura moved around him, almost tracing his body with edges that could remind one of a reflective surface.

    He then at last made his move, first using his shield with the barrier to reflective send back her attacks like ghostly daggers across the distance, before he took his sword and slammed it into the ground, just as her vines went for his feet, so did the slithering vines go for her. "... Two can play this game." He says with an amused; Even though painful; smirk.

Nureha's blast of dark energy ripples across the golden shield and then rebounds, straight into her chest knocking her flat against the nearest tree. She looked dreamy as the gouge of red stained the front of her chest, smiling with fond nostalgia at some inner vista as she planted the staff in the earth, pulling herself back to the present.

"but sadly.. only one of us will be able to keep up."

A flash of flame blackens the snake vines that approach her, though they still get a good strike into her mid thigh before they crumble to ash. The sphere of liquid appears between her hands this time, stretching and contorting like taffy before she fires it at him like a water balloon launched from an invisible slingshot. A single later, a blast of arcane energy trails behind it.

    The dark wave still hangs over him, but no matter how much Nureha poisons him, it seems Xander just keeps fighting through it. It was slowing him down, as he wasn't moving with such feracity, but he seem to refuse to forfeit to the drain on his life.

Xander then watched the water sling his way, he slammed into it with his shield, still feeling the sting on his legs from the poison vines. As he comes down, even as the water tries to take away his air, he slams down the shield, sending another earth quake in her direction.

    Following that he swings at his sword, still carrying those same ruins. The vines from the earth do his bidding as they leap out from the earth at last-minute and with their snake-like thorns try to leap out for her and grasp ahold.

Though Nureha could see it easily; He was wearing down.

The water slips and pours over the shield, exploding in a wave that crashes down on him a moment later. His shockwave causes Nureha to dive behind another tree, tripping over a root as the terrain ripples in front of the path. With her foot caught, the vines easily find her, binding up her limbs while poison courses through her system.

She laughs softly, beginning to grin even more as her HP begins to steadily chip away. "You aren't going to last much longer. Are you sure this is all you are willing to give?"

She seems unshakeable through the pain, burning the vines with another flare of punishing flames. It was as if she got MORE confident as the danger increased instead of less. She presses harder, a bolt of searing flame pointed at the greenery at his feet, causing a flare to break into his sight line abruptly, followed by another coin rocketing towards his throat.

    Xander pushed forward breaking the water bubble trying to hold him down. He continued to hold up his shield, as the flame slammed into it. The explosion sending licks of flame to singe his skin, and he tried to raise it up once more.

The bullet coin impacting the shield and broke right through, breaking it condition and it exploded in pixels of wisps. Redirecting it and slamming through his shoulder and right out the other side, leaving a gash of red on the front and back.

    Xander grit his teeth together and nearly went down on his knee, before he forced himself to stand up, holding his sword in one hand. His eyes still looking ever as determined.

He still would not surrender.

"You are more than just a tank." Nureha chides him, continuing her pacing predatory circle. "You are more than who you were." She grins. "Though right now, who you are is a person who owes me a drink."

Her stance relaxes and she taps the staff against the ground twice. A window comes up in front of Xander. Player Nureha has voted to end this duel. It will be recorded as a draw. Proceed?

    "You should just keep going." Xander snarls back at her, it is obvious that though they don't feel the same level of pain as the would in real life, he is hurting.

"I don't care... what shows up on my damn record." His eyes narrow. "But no one, no fucking one, is what we were when this game started. Thus fucking expansion fucked /everything/ over and my life was already pointless!" Maybe it was the poison getting to him or the lack of ability to move his shield arm.

But he motions for decline and readies his sword. "So come on already! Finish this! Because if we were not in a duel, you'd have me dead to rights, so just do it already!" Did he have a trick up his sleeve? Was there something he was holding back?

Or did he honestly just want to be knocked down pointlessly. The frustration was obvious, but surely it was the physical pain that was talking.

    "... because if you don't make that move." His eyes narrow dangerously. "I will!" He doesn't even seem to wait for her answer. Instead he casts a light healing spell on himself, healing the wound on his arm, before he attempts to slide in and strike her with his sword.

However unseen with his steps was something being summoned from the ground. Soon undead holy warriors appear and charge in for her as well, trying to swarm her with their own weapons.

There we go.

She figured if she pushed that particular button, she would break through his mental turtling and strike the raw flesh underneath. The man had to do a better job of protecting himself, and not just in the sense of the physical mechanics of the system.

She /IS/ a little surprised by the summoning, however. She mentally catalogues that as she gets instantly swarmed. However, just like Dodongo Dislike Smoke, -- The Undead don't particularly care for fire.

WHOOOOSH. A torrent of flames pick up as they batter her arcane shielding, too stupid and too slow to do anything to continue to attack. The Iron Wave slaps her hard, opening up red gashes of light across her midsection and face.

"Be thankful this is a teaching moment, raider. Sometimes, it is better to learn from defeat than push for an impossible victory."

The snakes are back, a blast of fire lashing out from her shields as they attempt to crawl over him and pull him down to the forest floor.

    Xander's eyes in that moment were almost lifeless as the warriors he had summoned. Something had snapped in this fight, some part of him snapped. A devil he had held back with his laughs, winks, and friendly smiles.

A devil created by the real world that haunted him every night that he would lay his head down to rest. Voices, cries, a terror he could never break from.

Nureha's slow beat down reminded him of his life. Of what he struggled with every day. What he watched his own team suffer till their death. That slow, agonizing feeling as the air is taken away, the body out of control; A losing war.

    The vines do go for him, their poison barbs pumping their vile substance into him as another status of a dot crops up on his HP to slowly eat it away, but for the most part some of the undead act as a barrier, as the vine only gently gets across his already breaking down armor.

His lifeless eyes burn with rage as she talks, "SHUT UP!" His voice cracks out, the lisp heavy. "You can't hear them! You never /heard/ them! There is no way to ever STOP!"

    He summons another light healing over his body to keep him going, to keep fighting the battle. Before swinging his glow blade up in the air and trying to call upon the very earth to not only knock her up, but then crush her back down to the earth below if she can't correct herself quickly.

For a moment Nureha was saddened that this was a formalized duel. If this was a simple PVP bout, she could have crushed him and sent him to at least twenty four hours of peace. At least, that is what she hopes would happen.

More research was required.

Her expression has gone dead, as though she were dealing with a rampaging Crocmen basher or a simple Gnoll warrior rather than a fellow player.

She steps to the side, the earth pillar RUSHING inches to her left and sprinkling stone dust over her shoulders and hair. A few errant sharp pieces cut through her arcane shielding, but the rest is avoided.

A wind kicks up, blowing petals and sticks around her, her hair and clothes floating as she casually gestures towards him, another ripple of darkness permeating the clearing.

    The poison was moving through him, but he wasn't stopping his assault. Even as she dodged his attack for the most part, Xander continues to go after Nureha.

The Salamander may as well be a monster right now, as whatever darkness was in his heart had fully taken control for all to see. Thankfully-- It was just Nureha, or perhaps, that was also now a curse.

Speaking of curses! The dark wave washed over him, making it hard for him to see her, but he follows her silhouette in the darkness. Leaping out for her with fist to try to connect with her, before moving himself around to summon a brilliant light to blast directly where he thinks she will end up going.

Nureha moves little. It seems impossible but instead of retreating, of teasing and baiting, she steps INTO the attacks. She leans INTO him, grabbing for his collar and flaring arcane fire straight into his face.

It obviously hurts, but the pain seems to enliven her while for Xander he loses himself in the maze of his own thoughts. Her eyes glimmer with amusement, the mask slipping for just a moment to reveal something alien. A being driven, fueled, by purpose and need and hope twisted up by the pain.

She raises her hand very intentionally and fires an Arcane Shot full into his face at close range before blinking out of his grip, flashing FORWARDS through him and turning to fire another red-hot coin at his back.

    Xander grits his teeth, his vision was getting blurry. The world felt off, like mush under his feet. It didn't help when Nureha got in his face. The attacks hit pure and hard.

Both impacts knock him back, thankfully the duel system keeps him from dying, so when the victory takes place, the system announces it! However, Xander just lays there.

His eyes closed, as if wishing he was dead. "... pathetic..." he whispers to himself. "... you couldn't save them... you can't even save yourself in this new world... demon shadows haunting... hunting..."

    His eyes open slowly, one single tear rolls down his eyes, as he just, stares up at the forest above. "... I can't even have peace here. Lucky they say..." He then slowly closes his eyes once more.

"... I am only lucky when I die." He says softly before he says to her directly, though not looking at her, "... But you did a good job... and I'll honor my deal... once I am done making them all shut up."