Meeting the Landers: Mizufa Trude

A few Adventurers find their way to one of the massive Colloseums within Breg Epona, and meet with one of the most important Generals of the Empire.

OOC: For people who have Mizufa Trude as their Patron, or have specific goals regarding her.

Liminality
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

There's a certain sense of anxiety within Breg Epona - though it's nowhere near as bad as it had been within the Ninetails Dominion. In fact, much of that nervous energy is being 'beaten' into combat preparation. There's multiple Landers all over the place in the various arenas and military courts of the Holy Empire Westelande. And though they are not sending any large body of army out, there is still this sense of preparation that is unavoidable.

In the midst of this strange nervousness stands a pillar by the name of Mizufa Trude. Armored, bold, red haired, and literally whipping her subordinates into shape. Those stepping in to the arena's open court would see a heavily armored Salamander being gripped by the ankles using that whip of hers, right before he gets pulled up and flung almost like a ragdoll, before the woman demands; "NEXT!"
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    How long has it been since Xander walked into this region? That he has graced this very place. Was all before the expansion and now here he was, after this expansion back in this place of the Holy Empire; Home of the Salamanders.

He had avoided the Landers courts up to this point. He wasn't for all this pomp and circumstance type talk. Kisses asses and everything else people do in the political world. That was for other players, other Adventurers to do, and yet-- here he was. Here was cause of the Tournament, but didn't mean he couldn't see if there was something tactically that could be done to soften the impact when that Hourglass hit 0.

When the woman with red hair yelled next, he knew he was up to have a word with her. He already did a quick inspection on the Lander to her name. Now, how would roleplayers-- ah the hell with it...

"Trude, Ma'am, are you the one I need to speak too on tactical and guard preparations when it comes to security of the Holy Empire's holdings?" Xander says walking directly toward her, but he also keeps some respectful distance.
Fukasa Yuri
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena


     Where else is a great place to practice combat skills... than in an arena? Fukasa was in the area anyway because of the impending wave of calamity, so she decided that it might be time to meet up with her .... .... ... 'friend'. Sure, it would likely involve another swift bout that knocks her on her ass, but those were honestly fun. But also, she was a possible source of information. ... Among... other things. "Why hello, General. We meet again." The undine comments, flashing a toothy grin. "I've come to wet your sands again. Maybe in time we can make them less... ... tan colored."

     Still, it looked like there was another visitor there first. Who had stepped up to the call of the General first, so ... with some vague sense of ... something? Honor? Amusement? Fukasa crosses her arms and steps to the side to let him get in his words first. She mostly was just there for her semi-regular 'come and check in with me so I don't kill you' meeting.
Liminality
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

"Ah, good! Another brave one!" As Xander approaches and says "Trude, Ma'am..." But in the midst of saying everything else, that whip sails right around his ankle, and he gets pulled on his ass into the ring by that whip. Sand dust drifting up rapidly, and the ground scraping at Xander's sides as the woman gets into a ready position. "Hurry up Adventurer! I've got others to train as well. Come at me when you talk!" She demands of him.

It seems that 'respectful distance' is not an option when dealing with Mizufa Trude. "And speak up when you talk!" She adds to that. Mizufa then glances at Fukasa. "Join in - Yuri - it'll take more than two of you to try and take me down. Maybe you'll even make me sweat!" Based on Fukasa's experience so far... probably not.

"I'm the General of the Holy Empire Westelande, of course I am /the/ person to speak to on the matters of security!" She then answers Xander finally, as she brings her whip up and tries to lash at his feet to get him moving!
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    The whip grabs him and he growls as his body slams on the ground. He actually chuckles a little. "Okay-- /Ma'am/, if that is what you want." He rolls around on his feet, as he draws out his sword and shield, as her whip cracks the ground near his feet once more.

His fiery, gold draconic eyes lock on to her own eyes, before he twirls the sword in his hand. Without a second thought, he moves in. His blade flashing with red runs, before he sweeps the ground, sending a wave of Fire in her direction. His voice carrying more of his old military bravado.

"General! Ma'am!" He says with only a slight beat. "I wish to discuss matters of moving civilians near what could be the Epicenter to the inner walls, ma'am!"
Fukasa Yuri
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena


     "...How would we even tell if you broke a sweat?" Fukasa asks towards the general, equipping her trident and giving a soft exhale. "I use water, remember? ...Then again that's probably why you like fighting me so much in this place."

     Fukasa chuckles but... once she steps into that ring, she's down and moving in a much more ... professional manner. She KNOWS who she's dealing with. She's had her butt kicked by her before. "You. Other adventurer. I'm Yuri. Hunter-summoner." She gives a simple nod, and then rapidly incants, stabbing the floor of the arena. "Give her your all. She's stronger than most adventurers."

     A magical circle briefly appears, and a large anglerfish monster comes out from the ground attempting to entrap the general in its translucent stomach, which was completely full of water. After its attempt, the summon would disappear, leaving behind that floating sphere of water! "Drown." ... What? She may be in an arena, but this is a fight not worth holding back on. "I'll support you, adventurer."

     Aaaaand then. He's using fire. ... And she's using water. "...Oh dear goddess we're incompatible element types." She mutters. "Just my luck. Oh well, I know how to deal with this."
Liminality
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

The woman moves aside and cleanly moves her whip between her hands for a moment, and then has the thing sail to the ground. It hits the gorund right in front of the flame, where it connects with the tip. The sonic sound blasts the sand up and breaks the fire-wave with a single and very /loud/ *SNAP*.

"There are no notable civilians near that region. Certainly no walls." She answers Xander with a nonchalant approach to the situation. "If a large scale army of monsters wants to approach us, they'll have to do so through the desert, where our scouts will see what direction they mean to move."

The woman then spins around and snaps her whip right at the magical circle in the midst of creating the summon, ripping the enchanted circle apart and in the midst of the monster appearing and creating that sphere of water, it splashes apart. Not a second later, the woman then swings her hand cleanly, and a sweeping blast of flame rushes out towards the two of them like a high tension firewall - threatening to burn them.

"I hope you'll come up with better questions than that!"
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    Xander only glances over to Yuri, but he doesn't actually acknowledge her beyond the look over and minor head nod. What he would rumble is that he doesn't do anything 'half-assed' or even 'lightly', however that comes with the fact of how focused he is on the battle at hand.

What he was not expecting was for Yuri to actually /get/ involved and there was a slight hint of annoyance in his eyes, a near territorial sneer that almost creeps on his lips, but it was minor; He reigned it back in.

    He hears what the General has to say. His brows knit a little in thought. He hrms a little, watching the whip come around, he attempts to use his shield to block the strike, but the sheer force sends him skidding back, more importantly; It clips the edged of his cheek, right before he onyx black scales start.

This only causes Xander to just grin a little, but his tone goes back to serious, "The monsters probably will move for a civilization. The people should be kept from traveling in that direction as the Adventurers attempt to hold back the horde. However," Xander goes to charge back in, this time his sword changes color, as he swings his blade around, to clip the dusk, from the dust comes several spikes of rocks heading right for Mizufa.

"You probably already have plans for that, correct, ma'am?" He asks with that military tone still holding and actually with a voice still of respect for someone of her station.
Fukasa Yuri
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena


     "Alright, tactic change then." Fukasa mutters to herself under her breath. "Hey, General, so like. Would your people be ticked if I made a colliseum on Aincrad Island eventually? Since, y'know. You guys have the whole royal arena thing going on."

     Her magic circle had been torn apart before it could even cause problems, likely just giving the general a refreshing splash of water. Geeze. And it's followed /immediately/ by a wave of fire. She quickly ducks under it, but isn't quite low enough to completely avoid the fire. Okay... barely even avoid the fire. ... Yeah she's on fire. A quick channel of water later and the fire is put back out. "I almost forgot how quick your responses were, General."

     She lifts her trident, throwing it at the general's chest with a quick thrust of her arm, followed by immediately equipping a secondary trident as she begins to approach the general.

    "I think you're worrying too much, adventurer. This place is... well. There's plenty of combat-ready landers here. Don't you see what she's doing? She's training people. We're just a bit of a distraction for the moment. The armies of the holy empire certainly won't just stand idly by and let us adventurers do all the work." Yuri's tone is... almost mocking towards Xander.
Liminality
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

"It's just nomads clinging to the old ways out there." Mizufa Trude answers Xander. "Luckily, we have you Adventurers now - as well as the Hunters Guild Landers. We invest a good amount of money in to you through the Hunters Guild to help us deal with such a monster invasion so far from our normal borders. Some of our best Champions will no doubt show. It's far safer for you and them to travel there, than for us to send a slow army out there." She points out to Xander. She's not being non-chalant about it, but is rather speaking cold hard fact.

The woman then looks to Fukasa Yuri. "Who's going to fund something that absolutely enormous? Gilgamesh? I don't think he'd care enough about a Colliseum to fund it, that old fogey." She calmly raises her hand, and in the midst of the rocks coming up, pillars of flame rise up, eradicating the stone columns while she moves closer towards Fukasa.

"These responses will not dull until I've reach a significantly older age." She points out, as she quickly moves her whip and grips it with both hands, catching one of the forms of the Trident, which just /barely/ fails to scratch her. Tearing a bit into her clothing! The second getting snapped away with a lash of her whip before she comes into full close quarters with Fukasa, tries to pull the whip around her throat, and uses her back to try and throw her /over/ her body and towards the edge of the ring, before spinning once and kicking up towards Xander's face with a spewing jet of fire at the tip of her toes as she reaches the climax of that movement.

"If we let you Adventurers do all the work, we'd never advance in our own skills. But if we don't observe you, we'd learn nothing! And you people are delightfully full of ideas!"
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    Xander continues to ignore Yuri's jab, his eyes focused on the General still, watching how she moves, where she goes. Including listening to what she has to say. "What are the plans should we, the Adventurers fail? After all, we are not perfect, no soldier, warrior, or individual is, Ma'am."

Xander continues to watch as Fukasa takes a hit from the Salamander General, so when she turns that momentum in, he is ready for her. He allows his shield to take the hit, as he turns himself in time with her motion, before he brings his blade around with a swift uppercut strike of the blade. "So, what is your back up plan, General, Ma'am?"
Fukasa Yuri
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena


     "Whaaat? Fund it? That'd be me. I'd be the one getting it put together." Fukasa responds with a soft laugh, as if funding such a thing is the easiest thing in the world. "I mean, not that I'd say /no/ to some help in the long run~." She flashes a grin towards the general, as if she would /ever/ fund such a thing.

     Aaand... her trident was just snatched out of the air. Along with the one /in her hand/ being knocked off of to the side. And a whip wrapping around her neck. "Ohgoddessnotthisagain." Yuri manages to squeak out as she's physically lifted and FLUNG off to the side of the ring, landing hard and rolling with a grunt and a grimace.

     She gets back up to her feet, grimacing in discomfort from the impact. She gives a slow exhale, steadying herself for a moment. "This is what I get for moving even slightly close to you." She shifts her hands quickly, incanting very quickly as another pair of magic circles appear.

    "Rise ye forsaken souls, allow thine presence to balance thine Mistress' battle." She slams her fist on the ground, and a pair of undead pirates crawl out of the magical circles, their hair flowing unnaturally as if they were underwater. "DROWNED WIGHTS!" Immediately, the cutlass-bearing undead move to engage in melee with the general, each one taking two swipes with their cutlass towards her legs and torso!

     "If we fail... that's... less than a pleasant thought." Fukasa mutters. Something that even a horde of adventurers can't handle? That's... honestly pretty dangerous sounding. "But, well. Even if we fail, we'll probably have weakened things enough that... things will be less... disastrous. ...Probably." Hmm. He was right though. We do need backup plans. We know a horde is coming. "Any time the tower is climbed, we need to be ready first, instead of after, now that it's pretty much confirmed that defeating the boss is what triggers this nonsense."
Liminality
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

"Ah, but I have full faith in you Adventurers succeeding." The woman answers Xander with this subtle suggestion of a sly smile. "After all, you are undying. A trait I certain wish I shared." There's this strange hunger in her words as she says this. An earnesty that is undeniable, but also very... specific.

"I won't say I don't have a backup plan. But I hardly believe it's necessairy to consider it, knowing the sheer skill and unique tactics your kind comes up with."

The blade comes up, and he slices at the woman. There's a sudden red mark across her form as some of her HP drops. It's a small sliver, he may notice on Inspect. Such a small sliver it's almost like it didn't move it all. "Good! You actually touched me. You should come around more, Adventurer. My men could learn something from you." Which gets a few groans from some of the armored Salamanders nearby.

It's a good thing of course that this arena is enabled for this kind of conflict. It'd been bad had the Guardians shown up. The woman then glances towards Fukasa, who follows up in the midst of her talking, the two undead getting near her, cutting at her legs and Torso. Notably, the woman moves forward - letting the natural 'cutting' motion of the undead move through her and damage her, right before she sweeps one hand up. Again, her HP bar doesn't really seem to move... but those red marks clearly indicated she took damage. Right?

"Your chants are still too slow!" She reminds Fukasa as a sudden series of circles begin to form under her and Xander. Almost like homing reticules, they follow the two of them seperately, causing enormous gouts of fire to burst up each time they get close enough to their centerpoint of gravity.

But then they mention the Tower.

"Ah, keep on climbing! I welcome the challenge of those monsters! Though I am certain there are other Kingdoms who will not favor such deeds by the Adventurers." She notes. "Come on, keep running faster! Weave in some quick attacks!" She notes as she begins to spin her whip around her like a whirling shield.
Fukasa Yuri
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena


     "Hmm. I suppose it's time to keep up my end of our deal as well, though. You don't just converse with us to give us help, after all." Fukasa says, her eyes glowing faintly as she enjoys the sight of the general taking her knocks. Aaah, sweet sweet not really victory but at least successful hit. Some sort of revenge for being thrown into the corner. "I'm developing a new skill." She says, lifting her hands.

     The comment on her casting gets a grunt, "You know we're still low level, it's not like we can suddenly fix our chants! That requires skills that are at level 30 or higher! I don't have Fast Chant yet!" She protests. And then there's a magical circle under her feet. "...I hate you so much, Trude." And she knew what the response was going to be. 'Excuses excuses' etc. etc. Ugh. Regardless, it was time to run. She knew this spell. She'd fallen prey to it before.

     As she runs, she equips another trident, grimacing in annoyance as she continues to sprint, trying to escape that gout of fire. And... she pauses, sweeping her trident to summon a water bubble around her! And... it's... not really enough. Nope. As she's consumed in fire, she's DEFINITELY taking a pretty big tick off of her health from that. "...Alright you know what it's time..." She snaps her fingers, and leaps into the air. "Let's see if I can do anything with this." Water magic gathers around her. There's... no chant for this one? "Drowning Fields!" She yells out and... ... ... water sprays out, but it doesn't seem to actually do anything. "...Dammit. Not ready yet. Oh well, it was worth a shot." She lets herself drop to the ground, slamming her fist to the ground. "DROWN!" Rather than the drowning field, a standard drown summon is cast, once again that giant fish coming up to attempt to engulf the general again! Still, her health is starting to get dangerously low. Probably... no more than one more good hit and she'll be out. If that.
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    Xander glances over at Yuri, his eyes tell the story if she dare catches the look, a gentle: Thank you, but his focus was quickly back on Mizufa Trude. He didn't like the sudden reticule under him. Nor did he like the sudden burst of flames. As he tries to move, the flames catch him and even as he tries to use his shield, the fires engulf him.

When it subsides he growls out lowly, "Cute trick." Under a painful breath, but that doesn't seem to give him pause to stop, even as he shakes off the pain. The flicker for flame though, that glow of red. He had to fight off a memory as he went on the move, even as his HP dips from the burns, he doesn't slow down, with the glow stick on his cheek and the glow of the damage from the burn marks.

    His eyes look directly at Mizufa as she compliments him, "Ma'am, My name is Xander Scaleharth, and I understand death." His eyes for a moment almost lose light. "I lost people to death. Brothers in arms... And if I could trade my life for theirs,"

He moves his blade shifts slightly in his hand, along with his shield as he keeps on moving. He watches that whip spin around her like a shield. "I would!" With that last part he charges in, timing it with Yuri's attack, as he attempts to use his shield to act like a momentary means to break the inertia with a bit of a bash against the whip, as he then attempts to slide in his blade like a jab. "I just think it be a smart idea to come up with a back up plan, where the outer layer acts like a hold and the citizens, should it come to it, are moved to the inner layer."

"After all, you are right. We are undying, but the people, the woman, the children, these men. They are not. We might be the swords for the Lander's attack, but we can not always be the shields, Ma'am. Just something to consider... General, Ma'am."
Liminality
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

"Excuses excuses! Less complaining and more moving, Yuri!" Indeed, Fukasa was right. At her comaplins, all she gets are those 'encouraging words' from the General of the Holy Empire Westelande. The woman then looks... surprised. No, excited as she hears 'drowning fields'. "A new magic!?" She asks... but it fizzles. "Ah..." She looks disappointed.

"Levels are not what it's about. It's about inventiveness! It's about strength, experience." The woman's spinning whip slashes the drowning bubble in half, causing it to bloop onto the ground and splashing Xander as he manages to get under it for a moment, before the brings her weapon up and then down again, lashing right at the incoming blade and snaps it at the last second rather close to her, causing the blade hand to be bent out of the way in the midst of that jab, and barely cause a scarring along her hip while she steps in and comes to stand right over him with this...

Devilish.

Grin.

"Yes... I can see it in your eyes. You /have/ seen Death." She looks excited at this prospect. Smiling at him. In that moment, he can see something unnatural there. A hunger. A kinship to that word. He might very well, for a moment, remember those brothers in arms...

Right before her hand comes down towards her head, and he is pressed down to the ground. His head just slammed into the sands with enough force that the sands splash upwards around him, and there's a small pit there. His HP left in the red, as she suddenly rushes over towards Fukasa. Almost like an enrage timer being hit, it seems they've worn out their time. "Don't seek to lecture me about risks and my people, Adventurer. I'm not some dolt who's just started being a soldier." She demands, as her foot kicks off and she makes it to Fukasa in that single leap...

And taps a single burning red 'coal' of magic to her chest, before it detonates and launches her right into a nearby wall, right in the midst of the other Salamanders that have been watching. Cracking the wall and leaving a small pit in it.

"Lesson dismissed! Get someone to fix the ground and walls!" She demands, and then winds up her whip and prepares to get going. "We're going to the next arena!" As if this were a barcrawl.
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    Xander stares right back into her eyes, but when her hand comes, he wasn't ready for it. The General of the Holy Empire slams him hard into the sands, his HP dropping like a rock and while the pain is not as bad as real life-- It is a minor bit of a flashback to his own training; In the real world.

The Salamander lays there, as he listens to the General's angry words, and he waits for a moment before he rises, shaky at best, but he still comes to his feet.

His fiery, gold eyes look directly at her. "No ma'am!" He calls out to her. "You are not a dolt ma'am! You are the General!" Though the next part he doesn't yell, "... and a damn fine one..." He then looks at the hole she created with his head, and slowly reaches back there, as if expecting it to be bleeding just out of instinct.

Xander then turns his attention over to Yuri, "You alright?" He asks her, before conjuring up a minor Fairy healing spell to at kick some of his HP back up, before he rubs the bridge of his nose. "... going to be seeing stars still for hours..." He mutters to himself.
Fukasa Yuri
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena


     Yuri's seen this. Time and time again. As she moves suddenly to knock out Xander. And then comes right towards her. Yuri actually... flinches, lifting her arms up defensively as the general comes in. And then that tiny coal touches her chest. Oh maybe the general was taking it easy on-- *boom*. She hits the wall. Hard. "Ugh. Anyway... I'm... just... inches away from that magic." She says, just sitting there against the wall. She was rung out anyway. "It's... p...pretty simple really, just... taking Drown and... t...turning it into a wave instead of a bubble. Maybe your mages can manage it before I can." She says towards the general.

     She glances towards the other salamanders that had been watching, lifting a hand casually. "Yo. You get your asses kicked this hard too, right?" She chuckles, shaking her head. "It's fine. I probably deserve it anyway." She rubs her cheek.

     "...General Trude. I still hate you. But thank you for the lesson." Yuri... bows? Yeah. She can accept and understand strength. That's worthy of respect. Which looks weird from her just sitting there on the ground.

     "Yeah. I'm fine. She kicks my ass like this regularly. You get used to it." She chuckles absently, reaching her hand out towards Xander, as if expecting the hand up. "Hah, you're lucky it's just stars. She beat me within an inch of my life the first time we met. I don't even know /how/ she managed to set me to exactly 1 HP."
Xander
Breg Epona - Dragon Palace Arena

    Xander does extend his hand out to Yuri to help her up to her feet, and uses fairy healing as well on her to get her HP back up.

"She is just a General, which means a leader first, soldier second, maybe some thrills third, sociable forth.... and being a civilian?" Xander chuckles. "Something tells me that was beaten out of her a long time ago if these Landers act anything at all like we do. She probably rather go out with a bang, than that of a whimper-- and I can't blame her either."

    The dark scaled Salamander's tail flicks gently, "And I have a pretty thick, stubborn skull. Probably comes to many times being hit in the head." He jokes. "Come on, lets go find something to eat and drink yeah? I'll pay." He gives her a gentle pat on the shoulder and goes to walk in the direction to find the nearest Tavern to do so.