REALM OF THE DIG-LORD II

Att Syne discovered goblins in the forest near Alne excavating what turned out to be an ancient barrow. After recruiting a group of intrepid Adventurers to investigate and successfully raid the camp, they... accidentally sealed the ruin closed, with the goblin in charge and his skeletal minions still inside.

Whoops.

The ruin gets busted open and a bunch of skeletons, goblins, and probably goblin skeletons spill forth on THURSDAY THE 13TH at 7:30pm EST! Be there, or be... I dunno, safely ensconced in the tavern with a warm cup of cider, maybe? I'm not your boss.

(Prior attendance is not necessary to come to Part 2, but it would really help me if you tag the scene so I get an idea of how big it's gonna be!)

Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


It is a cool afternoon in Alne. The sun slowly creeps towards the horizon, but has not yet retreated, banishing the worst of the chill that threatens as night approaches. Even shadowed by the forest's leaves, the day is a fairly pleasant one -- a far sight nicer than the last time Adventurers set foot in force herein.

In the forest east of Alne, there is a barrow, an ancient burial mound resembling an overgrown hill placed there by a people long forgotten. The earth in front of it is torn up, a pit with sloping sides leading down to a man-sized doorway cut in stone. This pit in turn is in a wide clearing in the forest, goblin-made and left with hacked and burnt stumps around the perimeter, before trees and hills rise up again to surround it. On the north side of the clearing is the burnt-out shell of what was once a goblin camp, long-since cooled and surely picked clean.

The last time anyone was here in force, it was because of a quest-that-was-not-a-quest. Att Syne had put out word that he'd sighted goblins excavating in a spot that was never before touched in the pre-Apocalypse game, and where quests regarding them simply didn't go. A small group of Adventurers cleverly ambushed the goblins, discovered the presence of some kind of SKELEMANCER (on account of the reanimated skeletons doing much of the digging), and then... sort of sealed them in the tomb.

A big stone slab has been mostly maneuvered in front of the door from the far side. Jutting stone cuts through the doorframe and jams it up alongside crumbling masonry. A hole that a particularly small-statured person might be able to squeeze through is in the lower part of the entrance, but no one has been brave enough to risk getting murdered by undead while trying to enter. Instead, a number of traps and snares have been setup between the door and the edges of the pit in case any goblins attempt to get out, and the adventurers have resolved to wait until proper daylight to crack it open.

Today seemed the day -- but three hours ago, something started rattling the slab at the door. What sounds like a battering ram has been rhythmically pounding on the stone blockage, shaking it and slowly loosening cascades of rubble. It seems like the choice of exit time has been made for them.

Att Syne stands in the clearing at the top of the slope down to the entrance, arms folded and frowning. He's been here for more than an hour, watching and waiting. If they're trying to get out, it means they can maneuver the enemy where they want them. But why now? And why haven't they breached the door yet, when they're the ones who closed it in the first place?
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



     On the off chance they had to dig out their quarries, Pela had spent much of the earlier day going to Lander shops, purchasing supplies and making preparations. She had several ropes, about five pickaxes, and some metal rods to reduce the chance of collapsing, should they have to break into the tomb to remove the skeletal contents within. Hopefully she got enough for everyone, but if they didn't, at least she has enough for her and a few others at the very least!

     After a few other preparations, she shows up at the location of the tomb, where and when they'd planned to meet up again. The sight of Att gets a very slight smile. Good. A punctual party leader. She approaches quietly, eventually just standing next to Att. "Hello. Stuff happening. Interesting. Weirdly long amount of time. Wonder if they found what they were looking for?"
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Forgotten barrows? Skeleton minions? This sounds right up a nightmare's alley... Okay and the weird things with quests that aren't officially quests in places quests don't occur is interesting too... but the bardic summoner is mostly interested in the undead and the creepy atmospheric location.

As she crested the hill Kauchemar took pause, lifting her head a little and nostrils flaring to inhale. "Ah. The sweet stank aroma of untold ages underground still permutates the air here." An ear archs. "And the thumping within forgotten crypts, too." She taps a hoof, then makes a face. "Not the most synchronized percussion there is... Strange how this is timing up though, isn't it?"
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Whiskey Sour, Totally Normal Video Gamer, crouches on the balls of her feet, leaning against her length-of-wood staff that is planted at a slight angle against the ground. Sleeplike, her chest rises and falls as Att surveys the land.

Pela's question rouses the 'dozing' druid, picking her head up and pulling her cowl down to rest bunched around her neck. "They were looking for a battering ram, by the sounds of it. We can't really get in, without digging them out. They can't get out, without smashing their way through."

Rising to her feet, she rolls her neck with a slow, deliberate rotation that hitches at certain angles before her joints 'pop!' audibly. "Well, if they collapse this entrance, it means they have another way out, right? In either case, please take care of me!" She beams at Pela and Kauchemar.

"Frontal assaults are dangerous, so be careful, okay?"
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    A quest that's not a quest? Color Mizuki intrigued! (intrigued must be an amber-y shade of yellow)

    Actually as she approaches Att in the clearing, she's wearing a face-concealing, grey-black hooded mantle, and not in were form which makes her a few inches shorter. "Hey. You've certainly found something interesting, huh?"

    The hood turns toward the pit and the distant booming. "Do you think it's some kind of secret quest, or just that you caught a necromancer badguy doing downtime stuff that hadn't affected any other Landers yet?"

    Beat. "Well. 'Just'. If bosses are out taking the initiative to do things on their own now, that's a pretty concerning revelation."
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

In the creeping darkness, there is a being that lurks in the shadows. Purple eyes glint with dark intent from beneath its hood, a little sharp smile gleaming there as the being considers its next move. A sharp-tipped tail lashes back and forth, an infernal entity preparing to strike their prey as day inexorably begins to give way to night, the shadows long and terrible.

As the rays of light begin to disappear behind the treeline, the being strikes, reaching out to seize its pray and drag it towards that ever-hungry maw, clashing and gnashing its teeth upon the tender flesh before opening it once more to call out its dark screech...

*nomf* "... Wait, you mean you /locked it inside the barrow/?" Proteus asks Att Syne, while she munches on a baked potato and lounges around in the shade of a tree, listening to the rhythmic bashing against the seal. "... And you left a hole open, right?"

Proteus pauses, looking at the others present, and then in the direction of the barrow. "Tell me why we're not pouring a barrel or two of oil down the hole and setting it on fire?"
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

    Miyako has been a bit busy preparing for her trip, but when she heard that Att was planning to revisit the UnPrompted Dungeon, she had to make the time to go. She does hate to leave something like this unfinished.

    And so she arrives to join the rest, chatting quietly with Blackrose, her naginata held casually to use as a walking-stick and her guitar safely tucked away in her inventory. "So the bartender tells the guy," apparently the punchline of a joke she's been telling the other girl, "Ya know, Superman, you can be a real jerk when you're drunk."

    She grins and waves a hand casually as the pair approach the group. "Afternoon all. Everyone having a wonderful day?"
Bushi Kamuto
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

A mysterious tomb full of undead with goblin connections? This sounds like a job for a CHAMPION OF JUSTICE. It also sounds like a fantastic way to kill time. With the stars aligned for probable good use of his time, the Blazing Beetle Of Bravery makes his appearance. Not with any sort of fanfare or flare though, but as a normal looking man. Because you build up to the flashy crap, everyone knows that.

The take stock of everyone there, mainly Whiskey and Count V, before answering Proteus.

"You'll risk destroying and gear, and also there may be people in there we wish to not hurt... Well, the latter is less likely, but the former is probably true."
BlackRose
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

BlackRose was also a bit on the busy side as well, but an UnPrompted Dungeon situation was something she couldn't pass up. Besides, she would have plenty of time afterward to finish packing and whatnot.

Alongside Miyako, BlackRose listens intently to what Miyako is saying, apparently in the middle of telling her a joke. When BlackRose hears the punchline, she starts laughing hysterically. "Now that was a good one, Miyako! You should try doing comedy on here sometime!" She says as she checks the hilt of her sword for some reason.

Upon her arrival, BlackRose smiles a little and waves as well. "Hi everyone, going for another dungeon run are we? This should be fun!"
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



Count V-- is present, but he's not taking any sort of charge at the moment. He has a frazzled, just-got-out-of-bed look to him, and he's handling a water bottle in one hand with a flame in the other, his staff tucked underneath his left arm. As it happens, that raid combined with going quest running the following day had worn him out pretty good. He looks like he slept, got up abruptly to help with this, and didn't really /prepare/ for it as such. At least, not in terms of looking presentable. The man's pretty reliable about being ready for an encounter of any kind.

He holds the now-hot-water-bottle against his shoulder, and comments, "Arson /has/ been pretty effective for us, lately..."

Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    The hood turns towards Count V. "'Lately'? What'd you burn down?"
Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


"Yeah, it's pretty weird," Att murmurs in Kauchemar's direction. He seems distracted by something. He's examining the terrain adjacent to the entrance and the barrow with a slight frown on his face. He glances away from his examination of the terrain to the creeping Pela, giving her a little smile for a second or so. "If they did, I think we're in for a heck of a fight."

Boom. Boom. Boom. The rhythmic hammering on the slab continues relentlessly. It's loud, but it's so constant that it turns into white noise after a while. The eagle-eyed might spot a fracture in the stone slab very slowly growing over there. It won't be long now.

Att offers Mizuki a fistbump without looking away from the barrow. "I think if we assume all the stuff we can do is tied to quests, we're going to be missing out on a lot of new content. Or maybe defusing it before it becomes quests. Wonder if that changes things...? Anyway," he continues, pointing downslope and nudging Proteus, "they dug too deep for us to burn them out. Literally; there's a dip at the front door. It slopes from the inside outward. We could maybe fan smoke in and try to choke them out, but they're goblins in a human-scale catacomb, and, frankly, I don't know anybody willing to take turns being a manual fan for hours when they could be doing literally anything else."

Boom. Boom. Boom. Dust falls from the doorway. A few stones rattle loudly outside the entrance, in the rubble-strewn depression the goblins have excavated. Small rocks and clods of dirt roll down the barrow-hill's exterior. They're making a heck of a lot of ruckus.

"Wonderful and exciting," Att calls to Miyako and BlackRose. He starts sending out party invites to the gathering Adventurers. "I think we're about to deal with whatever our goblin pal in the barrow has been doing since we crashed his party." He frowns faintly. "Something seems off, though. I can't put my finger on it."

Boom. Boom. Boom.
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



"Spiders. Rat's nest. Another Rat's nest. Goblins. Gnolls. Kobolds." Count V goes down the list, dully.

Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


     "Anticipated needing to dig them out." Pela says to Whiskey, pulling out her pickaxes from her inventory. "...But possibly unnecessary." Oh well. It's good to have been prepared either way. She shifts down low to watch the doorway in a more stealthy manner. "...Will take care of you as best as possible. Careful, too." She adds towards Whiskey. Even if she's a bit awkward, at least she's reliable, right?

     Kouchemar, meanwhile, gets a bit of a Look. Pela doesn't really know her, so she just opts to keep an eye on her for now, rather than directly addressing her. That and like, she looks like a giant nightmare horse. "...Cool." She comments under her breath. A part of her kind of wants to sneak up and pet her ears but that would be rude and also involve approaching someone she doesn't know. So instead she kind of side-eyes her for a more or less rude amount of time.

     "...That is a concerning concept." Pela responds to Mizuki. "Do not like it." She grimaces. Aaand there's a Proteus here too! Woo~. Someone Pela actually knows and (preliminarily) likes. "...Barrel of oil, risks loot, maybe." Pela says towards Proteus, giving a small smile. "...Nice to see again. Welcome."

    And another three join. Pela is starting to look mildly uncomfortable. At least two of them she recognizes, but there's a ton of people here. She takes a deep breath, placing her hands in front of her as she closes her eyes, quietly centering herself as she waits for the mission to begin. Boom. Boom. Boom. Hmm. That makes it hard to center yourself.

     "...Shall we help them escape?" She asks simply, standing up and beginning to point fingers towards the door. "...Waiting is fine, but we have enough numbers, caution, probably unnecessary."
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    Mizuki smiles under the hood at the fistbump. "I suppose defusing situations before they become huge problems would be the more realistic thing to do, and the game's kind of... our reality now..."

    She looks back to V again, "I suppose solving all dungeons with fire is pretty realistic too..." She tries to breathe a little puff of flame, but it doesn't work in human form.

    She looks back at the pit. "D'you think maybe the necromancer prepared some kinda big undead boss monster? But then why not use its strength to move the stone aside instead of trying to pound through it?"

    The hood turns to Pela. And blinks. Someone shorter than even her human form by a fair margin! And who is dressed like a ninja maid. Akatsuki was also smol and a ninja. What is it with small ninjas in Yamato? "...What if that's what they want us to do? Maybe they've readied actions to shoot us as soon as we open the door."
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"As much as I enjoy burning up some tracks, let's not risk the questions the tomb itself may contain unless we come to no other option," Kauchemar replies, then nods to Att. "Hmm." She can't see the cracks, but she can hear the change in the sounds of the hammering as it gets closer to breaking through. "It won't be long now until show time."

She just smiles briefly at Pela. Which would be comforting, if it wasn't for having long narrow fangs like a snake and inordinately sharp teeth in general for a horse. "Keep it handy. We might have to do our own excavation afterwards, after all."

Then turns her attention back to the entrance of the tomb. More and more rubble clatters away from it. Idly she strums her lute like instrument a few times, little sparks crackling up and down the strings as she does so. "We're gonna have a bone to pick with them~"
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


"Forbidden!" Comes the declaration from Whiskey, arms crossed in a straight-fingered X. "No oil, no crawling. And no heroic risking. If you're so set on the reality of the world, deal with the problem realistically." Whis chides, largely aimed at Mizuki's comments by the end.

Kipping her staff into a single handed grip, she points at the hole. "If there's a whole battering ram there, we know they're doing something on the other side. So we'll set up an..."

She signs with her hands as she drawls out her idea.

"A-"
"-m-"
"-bu-"
"-sh."

She signs a heart at the end, fingers bridging over her thumbs, faulting onto one side with a 'bwah' as Kauchemar goes with her own pun. "H-heh, yeah, a bone to pick. Anyway! Let's have a realistic breakthrough: total victory - no survivors!" She sounds so cheerful. "Then we'll be able to loot that barrow and get treasure!"
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"At this point, if the loot burns, I probably won't care about it." Proteus responds to Bushi. "We need something better than crappy newbie gear and rations." A pause, and she rubs her chin. "The loss of books and scrolls would be a problem, though. I wonder if there would be any in here..." She sighs and shrugs at that, shaking her head. "And if there's any people in there we care about, they've probably been dead for a week or more."

The thing that clinches it, of course, is Att pointing out that the goblins actually HAVE PROTECTION AGAINST BASIC TACTICS. "Those clever bastards!" She clenches her fist in indignation, holding her half-eaten baked potato in the other hand. "We'll have to do this the harder way then, I guess." She folds her arms, pausing. "... You know, something DOES seem off about this..." Her Imp tail lashes back and forth as she thinks. "How are goblins managing to put together some kind of battering ram from the /inside/?" She asks...

But she does nod to Pela, giving the ninja meido a wave. "Nice to see you again. Glad to see you're here with us." She actually sounds like she means it, too. "Well, time to deal with this problem. Ready an alpha strike, people." While everyone looks at the situation, Proteus approaches the entrance and climbs on top of the barrow. This time, she mounts the barrow from above and pauses, listening to the smashing noise... And then before the next one hits, she times her hand to move in a swift series of actions: V S M

A moment later, there is an off-tempo BOOM as an Earth Pillar suddenly hammers the door open just off-tempo. Optimally, this will crush the door and make whatever is battering the entrance stumble through at the sudden lack of resistance.
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Proteus gets a light pout. "But if there's prisoners, it would make Bushi sad. Then you wouldn't get his commendation, Proteus!"

Whis continues to reference mechanics that don't exist.

"Also, it *would* be hard to make a battering ram underground, wouldn't it?"

Whis taps her staff to the ground. "Which means whatever is inside is 'like a battering ram'. Use your imagination."
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

    "Fire wouldn't do much to skeletons anyway," Miyako opines. "So their necromancer will still be a problem. So I vote against fire as well." She's about to propose something of her own when there's a huge crash, and she whips around to see what caused it.

    "What the bleep!?!?" she yells at Proteus. "Warn somebody before you decide to go all Leeroy Jenkins, damnit!" She twirls her naginata around until the staff slaps into her free hand, and she steps away from Blackrose to get room for them both to swing.
BlackRose
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"Not the best idea, I agree," BlackRose says. She's waiting to see what Miyako has to say, when the sudden noise startles the daylights out of her and she whips around to see what just happened.

"What's the big idea?!" BlackRose yells, one hand over her heart. "You trying to scare us or something? Have some common sense next time!" With that, BlackRose steps to the side a little herself before drawing her sword and wielding it carefully.
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"I DID warn you. Were you going to stand there and wait all day for them to break out or are you going to define the terms of engagement?" Proteus asks. "Now stab whatever comes out of there."
Bushi Kamuto
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"I'm more concerned about things like scrolls and magical equipment than the starter gear, yeah. Regardless, looks like burning the place down isn't exactly as valid as you'd hope." Bushi rubs his chin in thought for a moment. Just how BIG is the place that burning it out isn't valid? Well, at the very least, this probably isn't a royal crypt and more like a communal village one, so it actually probably means the loot isn't as good as one would hope. But that's just a theory...

A theory that he's going to keep to himself while he just trails along silently, the only occasional noise he makes is to readjust the scabbards on his side. The yelling and tomfoolery actually eventually gets him to chime in though.

"You realize that loud noises makes us a bigger target yes? I'm not afraid, but I assume some of you don't want to get back attacked."
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Kauchemar bobs her head in a sideways nod to Bushi. "What he said." She flinches a little when someone else throws down magic to smash the door open for the encrouching enemies, and taps her hoof a few times to resume her warm-up struming on key.
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

    Miyako clenches her fists around the staff of the naginata. "If you want people to follow along with a plan like that, /give them time to get into position/ before you start blowing up the damn doors!" She keeps at least one eye on the doorway, ready to engage anything that tries to come through.

    "Oughta just throw the idiot in the damn door and be done with it," she grumbles, under her breath.
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    "I'm not the one burning everything down!" Mizuki protests at Whiskey's directed chiding.

    Proteus says to ready an alpha strike. Mizuki transforms, although it's slightly subtler with the mantle on. There's the protrusions of ears inside the hood, she grows a few inches, and digitigrade feet are visible under the bottom of the cloak. There's the brief glow of flame inside her muzzle when she exhales, followed by tendrils of smoke rising from her hood. She jumps a bit at the sudden knocking-over of the door, but watches for an agressive monster to run out before spitting any fireballs.
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


"You can't say 'ha, we're immortal!' and also be a champion of 'realistic, realism'..." Whis complains. "And nobody's lit anything on fire, Proteus used another Earth Pillar. Do you live in a dream, so this seems real to you?"

Whis just shakes her head. "A-chaa... It's hard to be positive. I'm counting on you, you know?"
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



"Door paralysis is a disease of play style. Once something happens, adapt to it to completion. Address a preferred approach once the entire problem is solved, top to bottom. Not before, and certainly not at the beginning or middle-of." Count V says, untucking his staff from beneath his arm to lean against it as he talks towards Mizuki. He continues to roll his heated water bottle against his shoulder, back and forth, back and forth.

Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Arguing about the plan while simultaneously enacting the plan turns out to not be the worst idea almost entirely due to serendipity and preparedness.

The door shudders while Proteus' Earth Pillar hits it from the side. It grinds partly out of the way, and the next 'BOOM' strikes one side and practically folds the door in half along the line of the fracture, tossing a huge chunk of rock out into the dugout in front of the actual entrance. Following it is what looks like a wooden support beam buttressed by rope and slabs of stone, swinging forward and outward several steps with every heavy push that doesn't actually impact with anything. Through the inevitable billowing cloud of dust, skeletal feet can be seen below it...

...and that's it. There's no other parts to the skeletons. There's just the lower half of them, tied to the makeshift battering ram, running forward a few steps and then hopping back one, over and over again. They keep getting further and further outside, starting to go uphill like a runaway train of smashing. Behind them, a small shape wearing a too-big skull mask waves a staff made of bones, chattering at them in whatever it is goblins speak.

It stops -- and then it starts to charge around to smash people instead of terrain. It gets about three more steps before it hits one of U.L.P.'s previously-laid snares, toppling it long enough for those closest by to avoid being immediately run down. It won't keep it there for long!

That is not, however, the only issue the brave Adventurers face. While the exterior terrain is being terrorized by a now-sprinting Legged Battering Ram, there rhythmic 'BOOM, BOOM, BOOM' comes louder and faster than ever. Proteus finds her footing suddenly extremely unsteady as the ground cracks beneath her, the top of the barrow splitting, dirt and stone jutting upwards as it's torn out from the ground by something rising from its grave.

The creature is a literal giant. The skeleton is tremendous, rising up to loom above the barrow. Its arms are gorilla-like, ending in sharpened stakes for claws on one arm and a giant pillar of rock on the other like a grafted hammer. The head is a twisted mess of iron and masonry in the facsimile of a skull, glowing with violet light. The malevolent laugh of a goblin shaman -- perhaps the necromancer they expected in the first place?! -- echoes out of it. It draws itself to its full height, bellowing a bass-pitch roar and scattering the living denizens of the forest far and wide. Around its waist, arms reach out and grasp fragments of stone and wood, hauling them close around it to form armor. An army of skeletons are all knit together inside and out of this monstrosity, simultaneously making up its limbs and building it up as it wades through the wreckage of the tomb.

Its tremendous right hand sweeps across the ground. It catches the remains of the goblin encampment in its grasp and against its many-armed arm, and it flings it like a wave of wreckage into the Adventurers waiting in ambush!

                        _______________________________                        
                       /                               \                        
                                 Bane of Heroes                                
                           CHIMERIC GIGANT SKELETRON                            

                       \    party-tier * event boss    /                        
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


     "...Unsure they are aware of our presence." Pela states simply in response to Mizuki, giving a slight shrug. Kauchemar comments to keep the pickaxes handy and she gives a slight nod. "Of course. Not going to waste good pickaxes." She taps one of them absently. "... Though. Not good at mining, necessarily."

     Whiskey says that they should do an ambush, which Pela is fine-ish with... but at the same time... well, it's too late. And Proteus has broken open the door. "Arguing, throwing blame, yelling, useless. Waste of time. Breaking down the door, own element of surprise. Encircle. Front liners, get ready to engage. Back liners, take to treeline. Support."

     And with that simple statement of strategy, Pela darts around to the left, swapping out of casting form to her twin tanto. And... then... there was a battering ram. WHich wasn't a big deal, she could easily slip around that, but it is hard to avoid everything from a GIANT PILE OF CAMP. She avoided the worst of it, but there was definitely some rubble that hit her. Luckily, Twin Blade is actually somewhat of a tanking class, so she had HP to spare still.

     And now she had her target. She lifts her hand to her forehead, which glows a moment. "Arcane Eye." A third eye opens on her forehead, and she zeroes in on... the necromancer. Because what good are undead without a controller? She dashes in quickly towards the skeleton-helmeted goblin, her twin blades being struck towards an illuminated weak spot in the goblin's stomach, and the blades glowing as an Arte activates. "GUT RIPPER!" And she tears her blades out roughly and quickly, attempting to cause as much internal damage and bleeding as possible, with a side-effect of inflicting the POISON status.
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    It's... an automated battering ram? Huh. Mizuki's actually given enough pause not to fireball it... until it starts charging people! Then she spits a ball of flame that explodes in a huge fireball on impact, and tries to leap on top of the ram!

    She's not entirely sure what to do from there, but it can't attack her if she's standing on top of it, right?

    And then the door starts BOOMing again. "It's already open, what the hell?!"

    It wasn't the door.

    "SEE?! I CALLED IT! GIANT SKELETON!" Peripheral vision is important with multiple threats, so Mizuki yanks off the mantle and discards it for now. Underneath, she's wearing a ninja gi, a purple hue dark as night with a brighter purple belt. Now she can see more clearly...

    "a MECHA giant skeleton!!"

    She equips her scarf, which is bright red and somehow never gets caught on anything despite its ridiculous length. If she's going to fight an undead mecha she may as well look as awesome as possible, right?

    Before she can even attempt to Shadow of the Colossus this shit, though, it hurls a wave of wreckage at the party! Mizuki takes cover behind the battering ram. This may be a questionable life decision.
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

    Miyako hops back, out of the way, as the skelepederam rushes out of the barrow. "Gah!" She takes a swipe at it as it passes her, blade skittering off the bone and having little effect. She steps back again, just in case it should turn to attack her.

    But then the boom of /something/ pounding on stone echoes once again. "..." she says as it comes into view, her jaw dropping. "Loki, Coyote, and Morrigan, protect us," she calls as she inscribes runes in the air. Twin shadows braid around the blade of her naginata and she rushes forward to engage, trusting the magic affixed to the blade to do what was needed against the monster.
BlackRose
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

BlackRose keeps her mouth shut for now. She doesn't want to risk causing any more problems than there already are. She just keeps her sword ready, which is a good thing because there's more noise which draws her attention. "NOW what is it?"

Bad idea asking that question, BlackRose.

A giant skeleton, and not just any skeleton either. It's one that looks REALLY huge and quite uglier than your standard skeleton too. Which has BlackRose widening her eyes in disbelief for a moment before shaking her head. "Now is not the time for giving up!" She rushes in with her sword drawn, attempting to strike quickly before pulling back.
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



Count V simply looks exasperated at the continued squabbling, but he isn't about to keep lecturing through the fight. It's worse than useless. He gestures his staff in a sweeping, swirling motion as he spins, "Updraft!"

A warm gust of air carries him upwards, catching his wings and lifting him up to /what/ would be a dangerous height if he was not a Spriggan. Instead, once he reaches the apex that the updraft brings him to -- which is rather higher than the trees, the skeletal centiram, and a bit higher than the enormous skeleton -- he begins to float downwards steadily. His wings flap lightly with the effort of descending in a controlled fashion-- though it is just that, a controlled glide downwards. The altitude isn't all that good either, but getting above the head of a giant skeleton is apparently within its capabilities.

"Electrical Fuzz!" He calls, directing his staff downwards with a crackle of lightning. Perhaps he's hoping that electricity will work better on that huge metallic skull-- because ordinarily he'd try fire on a skeleton! Undead are usually pretty weak to that sort of thing, after all.

Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


"How realistic." Drawls Whis as a battering ram with legs does the full follow-through into victory lap skeleton drift around the area.

"You can't claim you called it when you guessed an undead would come out of a barrow! If anything, *I* said it would be a 'giant like a battering ram'..." The druid moves to pouting, as the massive chimeric boss skeleton literally called a 'Bane of Heroes' appears. Whis looks up (and up and up) at the skeleton as it scrombles bits of the terrain into armor that it 'wears' held like a bony lover entwined in bleached limbs.

"That's right, that's right..." She agrees, nodding knowingly as Pela starts rattling off orders - observations mixed in - in her clipped cant.

"It's fine. Real skill is being decisive in the scramble, right?"

Lifting up her staff, Whis incants, drawing out a pair if vials held between her pinky-and-ring and her middle-and-index, respectively. "The part that didn't change from the apocalypse, in this waking dream... is us. Spirits of the hearth, leap and dance at my song! Wildfire Weapon!"

Contrails of red magic twist around the party's weapons as they burst into harmless-to-the-user fire, a themed flame-element attack buff.

"And as for trying to use the land as armor, these enemies will never remember that the ones who control the elements -- those are us too! Flame Wall!"

Angling her entire template on the debris armor worn by the Bone Giant, Whis aims to leave a lingering field of damage not 'on the ground', but 'on the terrain the boss is wearing'.
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Kauchemar pauses in her strumming to watch the monster rise from the barrows. "That would be so cool if it wasn't going to try and kill us." She stomps her hoof and a pillar of rock bursts from the ground to intercept some thrown scenery.

She steps around it and resumes strumming hard, sparks flying across the strings and then leaping off the end to hurtle a bolt of lightning at the monster!
Bushi Kamuto
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"That's..."

The way that the battering ram is made gives Bushi some pause, but there's not a lot of room to say anything else. A series of events begin playing out at a rapid pace, culminating in the reveal of a massive, monstrous skeleton-like creature.

It's time. Even as the living battering ram and large amounts of wreckage are flung towards them, Bushi takes the time to be dramatic, slowly drawing out the larger curved sword from its side scabbard as he points the blade towards the ground. The entire motion is deliberate, like he's rehearsed it a million times by now.

"TRANSFORM!"

                          /=\
                          |O|
                          |||
                     /|   |||
                    / |   |||
                    | |   |||
                    | |  / | \
                    |  \- /-\ ---\
                    |     | |     \
                     \---\\-//--| |
                        |  |  | \ /
                        |  |  |  V

There's one last motion of hitting the sword's pommel, a heroic melody emenating from the blade as Bushi's character model is engulfed in white. Where there was once a normal man, there stands a massive knight-like bug. Red, white and gold chitin serving as armor, and wings serving as a cape. They remain A-stanced for as long as they possibly can, as if to bask in the reveal, before sprinting to action, though not before bringing their weapon up to help knock away some of the debris flung their way, grunting from exertion as they do so.

There's a mighty shout as they charge towards the battering ram, bringing their blade out as they begin sliding towards the skeletal feet. If Mizuki or whoever wants to use it as cover, it'd probably be better if the object itself was immobile.
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Well, the plan was good for what it was worth, but this is the problem with having incomplete information. As the makeshift undead battering ram crew are sent... stumbling outwards, Proteus points at the goblin with the mask. "KILL IT!" She points at the undead commander. She's about to make good on her own instructions, her hand already moving to input her next gesture commands when things get suddenly ugly.

Mainly because the BOOM isn't stopping. What she thought was a battering ram (and it was, just, not the ONLY THING) proves to be still below her as the barrow blasts open. "OH NO!" She yells as she is hurled aside by the giant skeleton rises, and Proteus gestures: ^ S O

Moments before impact, the Aero spell goes off, and Proteus air-techs, rebounding in the air to flip backwards dramatically on a wave of green swirls and land on a skidding backslide as shrapnel rips into her and leaves blood-colored trails gleaming across her clothing from flying camp chunks.

"Looks like we have another thing that's changed since the Black Wave... This one's new!" The thing is, however, laughing at them and seems to be driven with its own evil (evil as defined by 'trying to kill us all') will, however... And Proteus has a solution for that.

She quickly straightens up, spending a moment to gesture once more: N + , # A moment later, a sizzling blast of dark power surges around that laughing skull, seeking out consciousness and trying to blast it with a thought-shredding wave of umbral force.
Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


As it turns out, using the battering ram as cover is not actually a terrible idea -- at first. It blocks most of the wave of rubble, looking much like a stereotypical fallen pillar itself, and serves as a break point for the incoming attack. After that, though, it shakes off the dirt and ash like a wet dog, then quite unceremoniously flings itself into a sideways roll *over* Mizuki.

Pela's attempted murderization of the skull-masked goblin goes pretty well. Red marks appear up its midsection, splashes of disintegrating color marking where the damage and the DoT take effect. It howls in pain, staggering backwards, and then swings its bone staff down at her like a sledgehammer. An aura of inky violet erupts around the rattle-like bone head of it, exploding into a shockwave of darkness on contact with her or the ground!

BlackRose finds that attacking the giant skeleton is pretty difficult without climbing the remains of the barrow. Its lower body seems pretty much rooted into place, if one even exists, so to go in and out for springing attacks will require repositioning to make it effective. Still, she and Miyako get in under its guard and attack, blades enchanted with shadows and Whiskey's flames cleaving into bone and rock like it was particularly stubborn monster-flesh!

...which isn't entirely inaccurate. Damage definitely mounts, with the telltale red lines of effect appearing on the boss-monster's frame, but they only linger for so long. Naginata and heavy blade carve off chunks of rock, revealing the skeletons jammed in underneath. They counterattack with swipes of their own, grasping hands trying to grab the Adventurers and haul them in against the skeletons -- surely a place of certain doom!

Magical energy crashes into the menace. The Electric Fuzz aimed at the head makes dancing sparks and arcs of electricity leap from metal plate to metal plate, an almost squawking shout coming from inside. The follow-up psychic blast tips it (whatever 'it' is; maybe a DPS minimum?) over the edge, and a 'DISORIENTED' debuff appears on the boss's status bar. Whiskey's Flame Wall leaps into sight along its side, its hammer-arm dragged through it each time it goes to wind up for a swing -- like it does right now, apparently deciding that she is a nail that needs to be hammered directly into the dirt with a pillar bigger than she is. The debuff makes it a slow wind-up, grinding through the Flame Wall longer than ever, but the delivery isn't any less swift. Watch out!

Another lightning bolt strikes the Gigant Skeletron, bits of burned bone raining down from above. A countdown appears on its status bar, and an intensifying flicker grows behind the crude faceplate's eyes. The cast bar flashes briefly, [Eye See You] all the tell that you get before a diffuse wave of darkness-bolts spew out of the eye-holes like the fire hose of the damned. It sweeps its gaze across the airborne V and the ground-bound Proteus and Kauchemar, with the unfortunate template-size even edging near the heroes trying to take down the Battering Ram on the ground.

The front half of the Ram dips when Bushi Kamuto, Ally of Justice, hacks through the front legs. It flails wildly, swinging its 'head' from side to side and charging blindly through the field. Standing still makes it reorient on a target before charging at them, forcing combatants to stay on their feet and on the move, while the skull-faced goblin being menaced by the tiny ninja tries to simultaneously throw out a shielding spell on the Ram. Nearby, Att Syne brings up a Flame Wall to clog up the door behind the skull-goblin, preventing further reinforcements from rushing through -- for now. This must be what they call an add phase...!
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


     Pela had been expecting a counterattack, though not necessarily from the staff. Still, deflection and evasion are her specialty, so she is able to do that quite handily! She lifts her tanto to quickly deflect the staff, moving it away from her body to allow it to hit the ground ... she expected harmlessly. But no, it explodes into black energy and a shockwave of darkness, which hits her and makes her stumble a couple of steps away, grunting in mild pain. Well, it was closer to what she expected at least.

     She exhales, her blades beginning to glow red again as she dashes in, first for a quick strike with one blade, attempting to gouge deep into the side of the goblin to inflict the BLEEDING status effect, followed by a couple of quickly spoken words. Her blades are engulfed in wind, and she quickly follows up the gouge with 3 wind-sped attacks, two aimed for its chest, and one right through the skeletal eye of the skull it's using as a helmet. "Gale of Swords!"
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Well if Kauchemar wanted to get it's attention, she certainly succeeded. But it's going to be very bad attention if she doesn't so something quick. The nightmare's eyes flicker eerily as she uses her summoner abilities to give herself some much needed protection. Fate must be kind as just the one comes up that she needs, instantly draping her instrument back into inventory and bringing her hands up in a quick flurry of gestures that end in a defensive stance.

Just as the attack fires from the monster's eyes a shield appears... not quite in her hands as the Binder possessed weapon floats just in front of her. The massive eye beam sweeps by, slamming across the haunted shield. The force of the blast is enough to shove it backwards, knocking it into Kauchemar and sending both tumbling over backwards as the wind is briefly knocked out of her. A moment later she groans, a few injury lines flickering about her form. ".. This is why I need to get your a stronger shield to haunt .." Well, it still took most of the hit for her, now wobbling next to her a blackeded disc of metal. Saved her ass, even if it couldn't completely negate the damage. She'll live.

Kauchemar gets back onto her hooves, rolls a shoulder and then crinks her neck. She's hurt from that, but not drastically so yet. She draws her whip, snaps it taunt between her hands... but then flips it over to hold the handle upside down like it was a microphone. A bit of smoke flares from her nostrils as she inhales deeply.

Then sings-slash-SCREAMS at the top of her lungs for her utilization of Splitting Bark. The words not really disconcernable but not important either. It's the discordant, sinister tone her voice takes thanks to the melding of bardic and dark magics, and producing a disorienting, bone rattle, blood curdling bellow that would put any Death Metal rocker to shame.
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Sometimes, you're the hammer.

Right now, for Whis, she is absolutely the nail, and even worse - the nail that sticks up.

The Bone Giant makes to Japanese Corporate Culture poor Whis, the hammer coming up.

"Rock Cradle!" Whis incants, spears of rock shooting up from the ground around her, a trio making a bracing tip just below the hammer's arc--

And are smashed through. Whis makes an odd noise, a combination yelp and fright-shock.

"Aegis of the faithful -- Divine Shield!"

A dome of golden energy forms, emblazoned with a generic cross at its center. The barrier clashes under the weight, sparking sunlight as the impact grinds into the barrier.

At the last second -- perhaps before the last, panting and exhausted, Whis lets her arms drop, tumbling down the light hill and coming to a rest, prone, on the ground.

"I thought it'd be easier to stop!" She complains, insensate for a moment as she recovers.
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



"Aero!" Count V has put himself in the unenviable situation of being airborne and relatively immobile in the middle of a template effect. He wraps himself in a whirling gale of a shield, which surrounds him with a characteristic WHOOSH. There are two problems that follow-- the first of them is that it doesn't stop him from taking damage entirely. A good ten percent of his HP bar is taken off by the gaze effect, but it's not /entirely/ because of the actual attack itself. The whirling winds of the shield cause the 'impact' of the template attack to add some direction to his movement in a proportionately incoherent sort of way.

Which is to say that he goes ricocheting from tree-to-tree in a great burst of movement that does a fair amount of colission / falling damage.

"Dark Stormcloud!" He calls immediately afterwards, a pitch-black but conspicuously fluffy cloud coming into existence around the skeletal giant's head. Count V has a /theory/. Undead ordinarily wouldn't be all that bothered by dark-type effects, /but/, V suspects that the fact that there is a person inside this one -- necromancer or not -- that will make a dark-elemental blind effect remain useful in spite of ordinary convention.

He is, unfortunately, still airborne in a more-or-less uncontrollable way just now, though.

Bushi Kamuto
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

"Leave the oversized door opener to me. Go!"

The newly transformed Bushi stands his ground, even as they take damage from the massive skeleton's attack, though they only tumble forward a bit.

It's fine, he can deal with that. The real pressure comes from when the living battering ram starts flailing wildly. There's an attempt to block the flailing head on using his sword and his large stature, but he's sent skidding back several from the impact, his guard broken. Some quick thinking by jamming his sword into the earth below him saves him from being sent flying any farther, but it's definitely not safe for him to attempt something like that again.

He has to deal with it though, the faster it's taken care of, the faster people can focus at the actual boss. As he stands up, he removes his weapon from the ground. Earth cakes the entire length of the blade, as the bug knight holds it overhead.

"This ends NOW!"

They swing the sword down in front of them, the earth caking their blade breaking off as large columns of light begin sprouting and traveling across the ground, making their way towards the undead battering ram in an attempt to engulf it in holy energy.
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

        "Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky,
        "And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
        "As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back --
        "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

    Miyako chants old poetry as she dances back and forth around the skeletal giant's feet, her blade lashing out whenever she spots a target, shadows cutting deep as she pours her magic into the blade. "Fall, damn your eyes!" she shouts at the creature, hopping up to jab directly at its face, bouncing off its shoulder and down again before a swipe of its foot sends her flying across the field.

    She catches herself with a flick of her wings, directing her flight to hit a tree feet-first, her knees bending to take the impact and launch her back towards the monster for another round.
BlackRose
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Unfortunately, BlackRose's wings seem more vestigal than for flight. Nonetheless, she does her best to avoid the attacks from the skeletal giant, although she does get nearly caught by one attack, which sends her off to the side a little. Still, it's not enough to keep BlackRose down at all.

The poetry chanting is an interesting method for Miyako, but BlackRose simply decides to add some dark magic to her blade as she looks for something to climb onto then jump off of with a huge slash as she attempts to hit higher this time with her sword.
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    Mizuki can't help but mentally laugh at the way the skeleton ram shakes off like a wet dog. She almost doesn't realize what it's about to do when it doesn't turn to 'face' her, but as it starts to fling itself she dives under it, slipping by before it hits the ground... almost. It lands on the end of her her tail and she yowls -- the game seems to take that as a sort of glancing hit damagewise, since there isn't much tail to crush, but it sure hurts as much as any other wound in this game! She stands up and turns on the battering ram... but something's putting up a shield spell. Dammit! She looks back at the source, that goblin caster down in the pit. And then the eye beams hit the ground nearby and she looks at the skelemech.

    When this battle is over, which one is going to be cooler to remember fighting?

    Yeah.

    The cat-ninja runs for the Gigant Skeletron, and leaps! Aiming to land on some of the wood/metal 'armor' so she can avoid being grabbed, then trying to climb up towards its head with claws, ninja acrobatics, and air-magic jump-assist skills!
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Things just go from bad to worse as Proteus gets caught up in the massive template attack. "INCOMING!" She yells as the signal goes out and the enemy cast bar appears, and she's immediately calling up a Waterslide with a quick > S. Liquid splashes up and around her, creating an impromptu Slip 'N Slide across the ground in an attempt to vacate the blast radius.

It's not all that successful. Proteus is sent tumbling back again as red splotches flash across her body, and she groans, skidding to a halt and smouldering. "Ugh..." Slowly, she levers herself up and shakes herself out, even the reduced pain enough to make her wince from the potent attack. Nevertheless, she gets back up and gestures. "Fine, enough with the subtlety. Die in a fire." She gestures: + <

It's a simple, quick thing but the effects are immediate and profound as a massive Fireball belches forth to slam towards the Skeletron, trying to incierate the menagerie of undead trapped inside that ribcage. Well, and everything else. Fireball isn't known for being discriminating.
Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


The goblin Pela is mauling is in dire straits. It can't fall back to its fellows, and the rapid infliction of overlapping damage-over-time effects makes its health bar drop to terrible levels. Its response is quick and immediate: it dies to the stab to the eye, a burst of multicolored bubbles and breaking polygons heralding its defeat. It collapses in a pile of... bones? Greyscale bones, a piece of battlefield clutter, joins all the rest.

Meanwhile on the ground, Bushi Kamuto, Defender of the Innocent, faces off with some kind of Batterskull. Columns of holy light erupt from the ground and immediately bisect it, burning through its structure with a 'RATTLErattlerattle' of skeletal torment. Legs get reduced to dust, and the wood and stone body of it comes apart where it's struck. It's split in half, nearly destroyed... and then the bones from the skull-masked goblin get pulled into it like it was magnetized. The legs break off, and it turns into a whirling cloud of skeletal bits around two poles. The broken halves of the ram rise up with a rattling sound, and then hurl themselves across the battlefield, one at Pela and the other at Bushi, rocket propelled grenades made of evil skeletons. At least they won't get up after such a suicide attack...!

The huge skeleton drags one squat leg out of the mound, kicking dirt and stone across the clearing, a random hazard rather than an aimed one. Whiskey gets clipped by it, but her layered defenses really just make it an annoyance rather than a real threat. Just as it's about to get completely free to rampage, Kauchemar's shriek and Count V's cloud manifest, suddenly staggering it with the reverberating force and the strangely-effective blinding spell aimed at the crude head stuck up top. Despite their assault, they don't seem to be immediately targeted by it, with only the occasional scattering of party-wide debris-flinging damage making its way to them!

Miyako is not quite so lucky. The enchanted blade bites deep, spilling skeletal foes out from within, leaving them for her and BlackRose to deal with as they pool on the ground near its feet and then rise up to terrorize the two of them and anyone else nearby, interposing themselves in their paths and climbing on one another to attack them like unliving waves. Getting up higher gets BlackRose mostly near its hip and lower back, and her leaping attacks cleave through armor plating and scatter boulders all around it. It adds to the sheer chaos of being in melee range of the thing. Each time a significant portion is blown off, it just makes it harder to stand near it!

Proteus' fireball incinerates a huge chunk of the skeletons inside the monster. The combustion also scatters the bone chunks all around it in a spray of flaming debris, the wide-ranging template attack clearly representing some kind of Thorns effect or damage aura. It's pretty BS, and it makes Mizuki's climb perilous, even if it simultaneously removes a lot of the grappling claws that would otherwise try to get her when she has to get past blown-open armor. The midsection of it is now burning, with huge gaps in the armor -- and the enormous claw hand is swinging down to try to grab Proteus and a huge chunk of ground around her, crush her and the earth into a mudball, and spike it into the rubble-pile it just emerged from. It would be a marvel of boss animation if it wasn't happening directly to her.

The boss's HP is dropping, though. They're taking it down in a fast, frenetic exchange of fire. The sunlight doesn't reach its cloud-shrouded face, but a burst of foul, greenish smoke -- some kind of necromancy-flavored wind magic? -- erupts from the thundercloud, clearing a gap for the eyes. There's definitely someone or something inside the head of this thing!
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


     That final stab, and the mage is down. Pela gives a simple nod at that, inhaling slowly. She pulls up the party menu to check on the status of her allies briefly... glancing around to take stock of the battlefield while doing so. Aaaand.

     Huh. Look at that. She doesn't have to decide her next target. In fact, it's coming to her! She actually... smiles at it, her arms spread out as if to accept it into a hug. As her feet begin to glow, and she begins to walk in the direction of the charging battering ram. Each step sends a shockwave of earth magic towards the battering ram, one... two... three... four... five steps of destabilizing shockwave. Which rapidly speeds up as Pela runs towards the battering ram to meet it.

     At the last second, she just about disappears into a sonic BOOM! of her Lightningstep, grazing along the side of the battering ram to turn around, several small damage indicators appearing on her sides. She shifts into casting stance, proceeding to make several hand gestures and speak some quick words of power. A pair of flaming kunai appear in her hand, which she throws at the legs of the back skeletons of the ram. "No."
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Having gotten that out of her system Kauchemar recomposes herself. She's had her fun and amusement, time to do what she's suppose to be here to do -- support the party like a proper bard. There's a poof of green flames as she stows her weapon and resummons her instrument into her hands.

The nightmare runs fingers across strings and starts to play once more, this time with thick, sturdier tones as she slides into the chords of a Guardian's Song, projecting it towards Proteus to help endure the boss's retaliation for that huge chunk of HP that got blown off by the fireball.

Without missing a beat so to speak she shifts her focus, her gaze spies Mizuki making her way up the skeleton in true ninja fashion, even as parts of the beast are set on fire. Weaving one bardic craft into the other as her playing shifts to directing the invigorating Hero's Song at the cat ninja to ensure whatever she plans to do, it does it very painfully to the monsterous Boss.

Meanwhile her haunted shield has gotten back off the ground and is floating around her, almost in a dance of it's own as it bobs left and right to deflect bits of stray debris being kicked up by the Boss so it doesn't disrupt the bard's performance of passing out buffs to her allies.
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

    And a wave of skeletons pours out over Miyako! Now she must abandon her quest to bring down the giant, to stand where Jack once stood upon the cloudy castle wall. Now she must leave that to others, twirling about as her naginata sweeps at one and another skeleton, and another, batting some aside, cleaving others in twain, as slashes of red light accumulate upon her form. Too many red lights. And still, even as half an eye watches her HP gauge dwindle, she chants, she pours her magic into the blade to cut through her foes.

        ./~ We have fed our sea for a thousand years,
            ./~ And she calls us, still unfed
        ./~ Though there's never a wave of all her waves
            ./~ But marks our English dead
        ./~ We ha' strawed our best to the weed's unrest
            ./~ To the shark, and the squealing gull
        ./~ If blood be the price of Admiralty
            ./~ Lord god, we ha' paid in full!
BlackRose
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

While Miyako goes with her chanting, BlackRose simply sticks with what she's doing best, and that's trying yet another attack. Her HP is also going down slowly, but she's not giving up without a fight.

"We can win this!" She yells as she attempts to attack again, this time from the back. "We won't back down!"
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    Mizuki climbs her way up the GIGANT SKELETON as chaos surrounds it from all the people fighting it from the ground. It is chaotic, and ridiculous, and challenging bullshit.

    And OMIGOD IT'S SO HECKIN' COOL!

    In any other game, this would be an unplayable cinematic, one of the ones that makes you go 'Oh my gosh I want to PLAY that why isn't it PLAYABLE?!'

    Adrenaline courses through her, her heart pounding as she leaps from handhold to handhold, barely dodging debris and attacks she doesn't have time to see if they're coming from the skeleton or her allies.

    And then a damage template appears. She can't dodge it without abandoning her climb!

    Screw giving up now! She hangs upside-down by her toeclaws to free up her hands for hand seals. STONESKIN! The armor hardens around her just in time, and the bones mostly bounce off painlessly, although they still do some chip damage.

    Just a little further...

    Mizuki climbs up to her goal: The head. She tries to claw her way up the visage of wood and metal, stick her face in one of the eyes, open her maw, and

                                   FIREBALL!                                    
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

There's a sense of satisfaction in Proteus as she incinerates a bunch of the boss and the things inside it. Really, arson just has an emotional attraction to it, a visceral pleasure that might explain why Plant Duck tends to solve problems by setting them on fire when possible.

Still, something seems amiss, and that something becomes readily apparent as the massive boss tries to straight tankbuster the offensive support mage. "IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR ME!" Proteus yells, suddenly realizing that she's topped the aggro chart with that Fireball. "WHERE'S THE TANK!"

Oh, they don't have a tank.

The shield comes just in time as Proteus augments it with a series of quick gestures: ^ S O ( U

Proteus launches upwards on an Aero spell, the massive skeletal claw scraping across the barrier from Kauchemar and allowing her to barely escape being grabbed and spiked like a sassy football. As she hangs there in the air, she flings her hand forward, and an Arcane Shot bursts forward, the ball of dark energy firing for that grinning skull to join all the other attacks raining on it. Sadly, it's all she can muster at this point, having had to spend a lot of her time on the defensive.
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Laying on the ground gives Whis a very unique experience.

"Wow... it really is softer than a bench. Maybe this is a Druid class perk?" The dazed, exhausted Whis grass-angels as everything goes to absolute double triple hell around her.

A battering ram with legs drifts around the battlefield. A weird cat does their best Attack On Titan reference a whole year before the series comes out.

Half-lidded eyes gaze up at the cold, wintery sky above the barrow den, and Whis breathes an odd sigh of relief. "Ahh... maybe it wouldn't be so bad. To live the fantasy..."

Proteus hollering her head off brings Whis back to reality.

< Where's the tank?! >
"Stop calling for a tank!" Whis shouts, hand thumping to the earth to grab up her staff, the Druid kipping up to a crouched stand from flat-backed on the ground. "Be more dignified -- and call for a Healer."

Levelling her staff at the center of mass of the ossified bone horror of terrain and grasping limbs, as it bears down on the hollering caster, blue-white energy gathering at the tip. An Arcane Eye flares to life like a holographic scope along the levelled length, allowing Whis to close one eye and lean her cheek against her bicep to aim.

"But not for us." She finishes, as her charged Empyrial Arrow surges into being -- a coruscating column of energy to backshot the bone giant's center.
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



Count V finally lands, a few yards away from ... well, most of what's actually happening! He's lost a little more HP from getting nailed by debris from the peripheries, but as he wasn't directly targeted again he's pretty okay. If a little more frazzled. As if sensing an opportunity to be /cute/, he meanders back in towards the ongoing battle-- only to hear the word 'Healer' come from Whiskey's lips. As it happens, he IS a healer, even if the Diviner class has a tendency to spend a lot of its time acting like a better-armored Enchanter.

"Fairy-- Healing?" He trails off awkwardly as he finishes the name of the spell, helpful sparklies surrounding Whiskey Sour as she delivers her threatening catchphrase.

Bushi Kamuto
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Dodging the attack for Bushi out of the question. Letting the suicide attack miss might mean it hits someone else in the group, and that's just unacceptable. So they hunker down where they're standing, a protective bubble of wind engulfing the Beetle Were Fang as they brace their sword to help block the attack, their hand pressed against the flat of the blade for additional support.

Bits of explosive EVIL shrapnel are blown away by the wind, but the bit of split wood and the residual splash damage slowly but surely chip away at their HP. A near full bar drops to a third, causing them to drop down to one knee. Not like this. He's not going out like this. A white light flashes over Bushi as his HP is restored a bit, as he starts forcing himself back up.

"I. Am. A. HERO!"

The word hero's basically roared at max volume, as he puts his entire weight into throwing aside the remnants of the battering ram, letting it dramatically explode behind him as finally fully stands and looks over his shoulder.

"Hurry and finish this!"
Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


The two halves of the Skeleram are immobilized by their charges. Blowing them up is almost trivial. Refreshingly so, maybe; the rest of this fight is just total madness. Did nobody go look at the Nero visual guide to the fight before coming here?

(oh, right)

On the ground at its feet, Miyako hews away at the seemingly endlessly-created skeletal horde. The more HP that is depleted, the more of these minions seem to spawn, hacked off the main body and left to reform and attack. They don't do much damage individually, but there are just so many of them that it's impossible for it not to add up. It's impressive that she manages to keep them under control in the first place. Meanwhile, BlackRose has broken off to go for a back attack, red marks appearing over the Gigant's spinal column as she wears it away. One vertebrae shatters, and it falls down onto the next like a pillar in a 2D puzzle game, chunking its HP bar in the process.

Kauchemar's songs bolster allied efforts. Proteus is kept intact by timely shields, and Mizuki's offense is bolstered up high. An arcane shot wizzes up to the metallic skull, punching through the clouds lingering around it and ringing the head like a gong. It tilts backwards, the entire body straightening up out of a hunch. It makes it easier for the cat to continue her ascent without having to perform any /more/ acrobatics.

Just as it's about to bring down the literal hammer again, an Empyrial Arrow springs into sight, banishing the shadows within the grove's interior. The beam strikes through the hole made in the back armor by the prior spinal attack, causing the interior to light up like an incandescent bulb and then explode out the front. Flaming bits of wood and smoldering stones rain down through the nearby forest alongside pulverized skeleton-parts, momentarily turning the mecha-skeleton into some kind of xenomorphic horror victim. The HP bar is low, so enticingly low, teasing the party with the idea of just going all-in against it instead of keeping tactical. Abandon the defense; go on offense; burn the boss!

The boss aims to burn you first.

The creature rears back, tilting its head and dragging in the clouds around it through a skeletal grimace of a face. A tremendous orb of roiling necro-fire builds in its midsection, visible through the holes just punched into it. It casts terrible shadows, the glow eclipsing that of the sun and somehow making the entire battlefield seem to be underneath the beginnings of an eclipse. A cast bar grows steadily. Bushi Kamuto inexplicably ends up facing off with it directly, his heroic glow fighting the oppressive shade that is the [Annihilation Sphere] growing within the body of this corrupted construct.

Then the cat finally arrives. Mizuki scrambles on top of the buckling mask of the thing's face. Looking down into it, she can see what is definitely a goblin shaman surrounded by some kind of crimson death-aura in the middle of the head, tugging on cables and on skeletal hands turned into levers. He looks up at her, his maniacal expression turning into one of sheer puzzlement.

There's a big, hollow 'boom.' Smoke billows from the skull. The growing necro-fire ceases, and then shrinks down to a tiny point, vanishing with a sudden wash of real sunlight to banish the encroaching darkness. The whole thing tips over backwards and, with the slow, grim certainty of veteran's trip through Toto-Rak, it falls. It crushes trees and collapses the barrow with its sheer mass, and then explodes into a tidal wave of bone and stone. Colorful lights shine up from it as parts of it derezzes, leaving behind the bones of an ancient and headless giant, seated in its sunken throne in the wilderness.

If the victory fanfare isn't actually playing, you can be certain it's going through all your heads.
Kauchemar
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

Don't worry. The victory fanfare is playing.

Because Kauchemar plays it herself, the lute making it sound all the more appropriate to the theme. Then thrusts one fist in the air after the final chord. Just as the dust is settling from the monstrousity collapsing. "Yeeeeah! Nothing says showstopper like killer pyrotechnics!"

Then a moment later promptly plops down on her rump and exhales. This is a lot more exhausting when everything is extra real. But also more thrilling. We'll work on finding a happy medium when less tired and hurt.
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


     Mage is down. Battering ram is down. Now just hte giant... skeleton... that is gearing up for a superhighdamage attack. Pela glances at her health bar. Nope, not enough to tank THAT. So she'll have to... what? Run? Try to help burn it before it can get off the ski-- BOOM.

     Or the were ninja can explodes its face with a fireball. That works too. Seems like a victory! Probably! Pela shifts slightly, moving towards the corpse of the giant skeleton in a guarded stance. And she waits, watching. But... no new movement. Okay. She gives a slow exhale and exits her stance. "So... who wants a pickaxe to pick apart the metalhead?"
Whiskey Sour
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Whis lets her staff drop, and flops back onto the ground, tired. Victory fanfare plays in her head, and then audibly, thanks to Kauchemar.

"Commends for everyone!" Whis wearily calls, holding up her hands, fingers bridged, thumbs down in a heart-shape.

"If you find loot, just... divide it into equal shares and drop it on my chest or something."

She drops her hands. "Thanks for the healing anyway, V. Even though I said the thing."
Mizuki
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


    Mizuki has to be kind of focused on her climb, but she can see song buffs in her HUD and someone's attack from behind chestbursting the giant mecha-skeleton! This is, after all, a team effort!

    After she fireballs the pilot inside his cockpit, the last HP bar is down, and the giant topples over! Mizuki rides the skull down. "YEEEEEEEEEAH!"

    Her tail may be twitching excitedly and uncontrollably, but people probably don't notice that, of all things.

    She leaps off at the last second, white hair and ridiculously long red scarf trailing after, and lands in a ninja-looking stance right in the middle of it just after it starts derezzing. It's not quite cool-girl-not-looking-at-an-explosion, but the effect is similar.

    The end of that scarf slowly flutters to the ground as Kauchemar plays the victory fanfare. And then once the music has stopped, and the glowing lights have begun to fade, she runs out towards the group and raises her hand, high-fiving or fist-bumping anyone who seems up for it. "Yeah! Good game! That was awesome!" etc. She's still kind of full of adrenaline and excitement after that.
Proteus
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

The boss dies in a most dramatic fashion. The last Goblin is destroyed. The Database is at peace. Whis calls out commendations for everyone, once again referencing a party mechanic that doesn't exist in this game.

Proteus is all right with this. She hits the ground somewhat intact and with a dangerously low HP bar, but low is not empty. The only HP that matters is the last one. "Ugh. Well, that was a thing. Good work, everyone." She says, and then meanders forward...

And walks right past the boss, intent on dipping into the now-exploded barrow to begin scrounging about while people figure out loot rights on the mecha-skeleton. Att's probably done exterminating the adds and zombie eels by now. Should be safe enough.
Att Syne
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


Att Syne drags himself out of the collapsed barrow entrance. He has a bunch of things that look like snake skeletons clamped onto his clothes and armor. They're pretty dead, but they're just kind of stuck. "Tag in," he sighs out, bopping Proteus lightly on the way past. He makes his way up the slope, across the grass, and then flops down in a passable imitation of Whiskey Sour nearby.

"Adds suck." His eyes track across to the seated giant skeleton, sans head. The big metal one got blown up when the boss died, disintegrating into scattered loot and experience points. "That's kinda cool, though."
Miyako
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

        ./~ Here shall no graver curse be said,
        ./~ Than, tho ye are quick, that ye are dead!

    And with the finale of her third quote, Miyako downs the last of the skeletons that spill from the monster's chest, standing amidst a pile of bones that are slowly fading away as monster remains do.

    She wipes her brow with her sleeve and looks about, checking to see if anything is left... "... oh. All gone. Good." She tabs a control on her menu and the naginata is put back into storage. "That was... well." She takes a look up at Blackrose. "You okay up there, Rosie?"
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0


     Right after Proteus is Pela, wielding a pickaxe and holding one out for Proteus in case they need it to dig out areas of the barrow to make them accessible. ...If they do end up having to mine, however, she proves... not that great at it.
BlackRose
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

When all is said and done, BlackRose is a bit worn out but none the worse for the wear it seems. There is a victory fanfare in her head, but all that matters is that the battle is completed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," BlackRose replies to Miyako with a slight smirk. She proceeds to give Miyako a fistbump after putting her sword away. "We did well there!"
Bushi Kamuto
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0

The fight is over, the day is saved. While everyone's out talking about loot and celebrating, the massive beetle man finally takes a moment to relax, squatting down like someone of Slavic ancestry as they look down at the ground and let out a sigh.

It'll be a bit before he can partake in the looting, because throwing out your chest and constant A-stancing takes a toll on your body after a while, but at the same time it's definitely worth it. They aren't completely out of it though, as they seem aware enough to raise a hand to give Mizuki a high five when they come around for one.
Count V
Overworld - 7 - -1 - 0



Count V doesn't have much to do with the direct destruction of the enemy mecha-skeleton, its master, or any of the surrounding adds. He makes a mental note not to experiment as much as he did, even if it /was/ a good way to get away from a giant enemy for a little while. Floor zones of bad still apply to the sky above them. On top of that...

He picks through the trees, and lifts a broken glass bottle off the forest floor. Sighing, he tucks the basically-ruined bottle away. Oh well. Glass isn't that great for heating up with liquid in it anyway. It'd be nice if he could figure out a way to make plastic, but that opens up so many different problems, he doesn't even want to think about it.

Blearily, he makes his way back to the group proper, blinking at exclamations of commends. Yellow eyes linger momentarily on Mizuki, and then-- and then he goes and just sits down on the ground next to Whiskey Sour.

"Skeleton centipede battering ram..." He mutters to himself, before laying back on the ground and staring at the canopy above.