Fields Ablaze

    Fields on the hills have been set ablaze, the smoke fills the air, blackening out the sunlight from above. Landers are quickly running from their homes. Some making it out, others nowhere to be seen.

The fire consumes their fields, it consumes their home, and all they can do is watch. Watch as three figures stand there observing their own work.

Though while two stand their gloating over their work, only one seems to be carefully watching. Her eyes glancing over to the remaining landers that they allowed to escape all the way to the fields burning, then her eyes drift to the road.

    "Quiet you two," The woman says, "The adventurers will be here soon enough and we need to deal with them accordingly. If we fail here, we can not return home. Only death will await us..."

"Meredith~," The other woman says with a bit of a laugh, "You worry too much my sister! I know you are the oldest, but we will be able to unleash our /full/ power on their souls!" This woman grins as dark flame ignites in her hands.

The other robed figure speaks with a male voice, "Eve is correct, for the oldest you sure do worry so. Have some fun!"

    Meredith turns to look at them both, "Joseph, Eve. This is no time for /fun/. You two continue to underestimate the power of the Adventurers and why the people depend on them so. They are not simple mercenaries." Her eyes return to the road once again. The wind causing a few locks of blonde hair to become visible behind her hood. "They are nearly gods amongst men."

Now the three await for the adventurers to come and for a battle, that at least one of them is fully aware there is no walking away from. There is only death that lies ahead...

Goldenblade has arrives to help out the citizens of this small town however she can. She does a lot of the helping out of Landers, and she's here once again, looking over the burning fields with a worried expression. "No fire brigades here?" Certainly no readily accessible fire hydrants, those would make this a much different problem. "We'd need to make a full civil plumbing thing, I guess, to really make that happen. Pumping water's the hard part, I imagine, pipes and things are just bending metal, after all. Romans did that."

The wandering kitsune ronin had spotted the smoke from quite some distance. Usually a column of smoke that big, and that color, could only mean trouble.

Having moved quickly towards the glow of flames on the horizon, she spotted several of the Landers running for their lives. She soon appears alongside Goldenblade, hearing her mention of a fire brigade, "Water magic does exist. But we would need several mages to quell these flames." She pauses for a moment as she looks across the field, eyes narrowing behind the expressionless mask.

"The way the Landers were running instead of attempting to put out the fires, these were no doubt intentional. Now where would the perpetrators be hiding.."

When Mikage had first imagined the life of an Adventurer, it had included traveling by mount across a fantastical landscape. So far, it had been boats. So many boats. At this point, the Ranger had had enough of boats for several lifetimes, and her experience with the foul things are likely nowhere near over, as they seem the only reliable way to travel across Yamato.

She doesn't quite look like her normal self, perhaps a bit thinner than usual from sea-sickness, but she is here. "You better invent those sea-sickness potions, stat, or you and I are going to have issues, cat." She mutters at Cyrus, who is likely the reason she had come back from Shibuya to Ninetails.

Her eyes look out at the destruction, "I warned the Alliance that they needed to set up guards and patrols, but did anyone listen? Nope." She's starting to sound like Xander...

"I have water magic. If we get close, I can help..."

"I think you underestimate the amount of civil and architectural works it would take to pull that kind of thing all the way to here. Instead, you might get lucky with a bucket chain from a well." Cyrus points out to Goldenblade as he arrives on the scene alongside Mikage, resting on his cane. "And that seasickness potion is coming along. The last one was a big miss though... didn't think that would end up being a /Vertigo/ potion. Why does such a thing even exist?" The youth breathes in.

"I've got some potions that can help with the fire. And I believe Mikage might have some water spells as well?" He's not sure - but Mikage does confirm it. He looks to the pale human form Were Fang. "Hrrm, I think some patrols are around. But I don't think they can cover this large of an area. The Ninetails Dominion is the largest of all the regions in Yamato. And to make matters worse, I believe these guys can travel through the earth. Remember how they ran from us that one time?" He asks Mikage.

The youth taps the cane to a nearby stone, then moves the cane up and grabs it half-way and rests the ornate top to his shoulder. "Want me to keep them busy for a bit while you folk take care of the worst of the fires?" He asks, while turning his feline gaze towards the trio.

"What's the point behind this fire anyhow? Last time they were kidnapping people. I can get behind that. But just terrorizing and burning down farms..." Pause. "Ahhh... starving people out. Probably."

He takes a few steps back and points his cane at the trio watching the fires. "Hey you three! What's the meaning of this!?" He demands to know. "Are you trying to start something? Come down from there and face us like proper Monsters! Cowards!"

Smoke on the horizon. Such a thing tends to catch the attention of many. One of those people, a cloaked and hooded Imp, looks upon the blazing fields with narrowed eyes. "Too much havoc..." She mutters to herself, and steps down the side of the hill towards the conflagaration.

Hers short time later, the Imp is seen stepping off the road towards the three, drawn to them by the simple fact that they're neither attempting to quell the flames, nor are they running about with their heads cut off. Proteus steps forward and looks them over silently, her demonic tail swaying back and forth behind her as she looks the trio over carefully.

And then she simply says one word to them: "Why?" The word is short, but heavy with intensity, a voice that carries with it the weight of deep anger... Not towards them, but perhaps searching for an outlet...

     "Oh my, my, my. You need water magic, you say?" Comes a voice from behind the party. Sickly sweet, cheerful, and... fishy. Yep. That's Fuka! She claps her hands as she looks over the blaze. "Someone must REALLY dislike farms, to be honest." Fuka comments with a chuckle.

     Of course, the blaze... is only of moderate concern to the Undine, as she begins to scan the area. Now, having the Ninetails Dominion in her debt? That would be deliciously helpful. Still. The amount of blaze that's around the area... hm. "At this point, we should be more concerned with damage mitigation over putting out the fires, even with someone excellent at the use of water like myself, this will be difficult to handle." Fukasa comments. Even as she does that, however, she lifts her spear.

     "Devil Fishes of the Depths, Come Forth. Unleash thine spikes upon mine foes. ICY RAIN!"

     Uncaring of the possible crossfire, Fukasa begins to unleash a rain of icicles upon as wide of an area of the fire as possible, creating a field of icy sleet that might be quite difficult to maneuver in, as well as (hopefully) slowing the spread of fire.

     "Dear adventurers, you are being far too meek in this situation. It's honestly adorable." The undine comments, her voice a sicky-sweet saccarine.

    "No no no no no!"

    There's an awful feeling one has. When one has some manner of information, that should urge them to take precautions, take some kind of action to prevent something happening. And then, that something happens, whily you did nothing. It's a feeling that some get even when the information in question isn't actually good enough to prevent the particular event.

    But for Atif, wether or not this was preventable by him alone doesn't make the feeling any lighter in his heart.

    And it's the weight of that feeling that drives him to sprinting like a madman across the lands and the fields, to the fires causing the smoke he saw from the distance.

    It's a sprint that sees him approaching the gathered Adventurers in a blur, and being forced to a skidding stop so he doesn't slam into anything.

    "Ah--! Guys--!" He calls out, even if Goldenblade is really the only person present he really... well, *knows*. Briefly bending over, with hands on his knees, the Red-haired and -scaled, golden-scarved Salamander pants there in place for a moment while Yuri works the water over the fields of fire.

    And Cyrus' cane-pointing brings his gaze sweeping up to follow the Cait Sith's attention. To the three hooded figures. "It's--" He starts to say, as he brings himself upright, eyes squinting in an effort to peer through the smoke and the embers. "...The knight's not here?"

    Meredith spots the Adventurers coming, as her eyes narrow. "They are arriving as planned." She says calmly, though Eve claps her hands excitedly.

"At last! We get to actually tear them apart!" Eve says with her continue glee. Before grasping ahold of Joseph's arm, "And we get to show them /all/ our power!"

Joseph can't help but grin as well. "Indeed, sister," He says with that smile remaining. "And oh! I think I see that one that messed up our catch." He motions in the distance toward Mikage.

"And put us in this position!" Eve adds with a low growl.

    Meredith observes them both, before her eyes look back to the growing numbers of adventurers. Her hand reaches for the latch of her hooded cloak. "You two. Take this seriously." She unclasps her hooded cloak, allowing the wind to take it.

Her blonde hair held back in a bun, with a few bangs being caught on the wind. Her armor was that of leather work and reinforced leather, with two blades at her hip, along with a bow on her back; A huntsman. "We need to not give away--"

    Sadly the oldest is cut off as Joseph spots Cyrus, who calls out to them directly, "Him!" He growls out. "I'll skin that cat alive!!" Then Joseph charges directly /for/ Cyrus and Cyrus alone.

"Go get him brother!!" Eve calls out, till she spots the ice storm slowly getting rid of their fire, "Wha--! Someone is putting out our hard work!" The female vampire growls, "And how dare you call us monsters! Monster!" She quips back at Cyrus as she goes running down the hill as well.

    Meredith meanwhile goes to extend her hand to stop them both, but tsks gently. "... idiots.." she mutters to herself, before her gaze turns to the one asking why further away. "Perhaps I shall honor your question... Should you live." She then takes a hand on her bow, before dashing into the mist being created by the ice putting out the fire.

Now as the ice is doing a good job handling some of the flames, it has created a new problem. A thick haze that now moves over the possible battlefield, create a layer of fog.

From this fog, Joseph charges out trying to slash his vampiric claws right for Cyrus' face!

Then another attack comes for the other set of the group, being at least Mikage, Fukasa Yuri, and Goldenblade, as a three dark orbs come racing out from the smoke. Though to Atif's comment, the assailant can be seen for a moment after her attack, grinning at him. "Knight? What Knight? Is he handsome~" She teases with a cackling insane laugh that follows.

As for the others, no attack comes and Meredith seems to be missing for the moment from battle.

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Cyrus: +roll <evasion/shield>[with card] vs 6

Mikage, Fukasa, Goldenblade: +roll <evasion/shield>[with card] vs 8

The Imp frowns, her pointed teeth revealed as her lips draw back in a grimace at the response. "How very mysterious." She replies. And yet, her eyes follow Meredith, not Joseph and Eve. It's clear who the mastermind is amongst the three. She allows the other two to rush the other adventurers, immediately plunging into the swirling mist after Meredith, attempting to locate her position. Someone vanishing with a bow is always bad news.

It means a sniper is getting ready to do business. Her hand dips into her cloak, removing a small, strange mechanical device. With a flick and a whirr, it activates, a little beam of light sweeping out across the area and highlighting points... And possibly Meredith as well. "Consider me impatient." She says as she engages in her hunt.

     Really, fog was preferable than the likely heavy layer of smoke from the fire, so Fukasa isn't too saddened by the fog being there. Even if it is probably horrible smoke-fog that is absolutely awful feeling on her skin. Ugh.

     The shout from Eve gets a soft laugh from Fuka though. "I do rather prefer monsters to adventurers at time, though, you know. They're much more pleasant to interact with. You usually know roughly what they're going to do~." She says, as she quickly activates one of her defensive skills, the edges of her form beginning to blur and several layers of it making it difficult to determine exactly where she is, allowing her to slough off the incoming dark energy attack that's coming in towards her. And she begins to stalk forward, licking her lips. "Mmm. And I dare say, you're some rather lovely monsters, too. Perhaps I should make you Mine."

     There was still the problem of that fire though. But, luckily, there was somewhat of a solution for it nearby her! That being enemies. One of which had opted to be quite obvious, at that. That being Joseph. Yuri darts in suddenly towards him, her spear lifted once more.

     But it's a feint. As she stabs towards him, her spear would actually go far too wide to be of much help, as instead a scything jet of high-pressure water is unleashed towards the vampire minion from behind by that Monster Pufferfish summoned earlier!

"And there are hundreds of thousands of players in the Alliance." Mikage quips back, giving a look to Cyrus. "It's not like we couldn't spare a few to set up a guard post in most of the towns ands till have plenty of people leftover." It's clear that she thinks leadership might have dropped the ball on this one. In fact, they seem more focused on the tower than anything else, despite the fact that there is actively someone, or something, killing landers in large numbers right here.

Seeing the familiar faces of the vampires, Mikage seems to rouse a bit, drawing her sword. She sees the incoming ball of dark energy, and a spark of lightning crackles around her feet, allowing her to easily avoid it.

It puts a bit of distance between herself and Cyrus. As she usually acts as his forward offense, her blue eyes flick back to make sure he's okay. Luckily, it seems like Fukasa is offering some back-up when dealing with the male vampire.

So, Miki crouches, looking towards Eve, instead. "Not so fast, my dear." She extends a hand, causing the ground beneath the vampire's feet to turn to ice. It likely isn't the most damaging of techniques, but it would at least prevent her from melding into the ground, or reaching melee range with the others. Potentially...

"I mean, you're not wrong." Cyrus admits to Mikage. "Could be an interesting thing to organize. We'd need to do some negotiation with the Kingdoms, but we'd basically become closer to their Army than the Hunters Guild with those kinds of positioons."

"You alright there? Familiar with these three?" Cyrus asks Proteus as they come forward, before looking towards the march of robed figures. Who seem pretty peeved with him now. "I mean, it does say you are a monster on my Inspect window and..." They probably won't hear him, because he's mentioning 'game' functionality.

"Whooah!" He quickly backs off and presses his hand against one of the potions, breaking it against his skin and causing flames to suddenly spring up about his body, which run towards his cane as he blocks the attack. Leaning in, his cane has caught the creature's both hands while he stares into Joseph's eyes.

"Even if you were not a Monster in this world, you are a monster for burning innocent farmlands." He growls to Joseph, before attempting to spin-kick him off of himself and then grabs a potion real quick and throws it right after the Vampire while backing off.

The potion, filled with a brilliant light. Cyris raises his cane, then lowers it, as if directing something. "PILLAR OF LIGHT!" As the potion shatters, and a brilliant beam blasts down from the potion towards Joseph's position with the power of Light!

He then nods to Mikage, having spotted her looking over. "I'll be okay. Let me know if you need support - I'll keep an eye out on your health." The youth calls over. Before glancing over as Fukasa supports him. "Thanks for the aid."

Goldenblade looks over to Tenko, admits, "I never remember about magic. It's not something I've ever had at my disposal, so I don't think to rely on it. But if you can make a magic pump to pump water, that might solve the problem." She peers at Mikage, nods about water magic. "That's good," she agrees. "I think we'll need as much of that as we can get." She nods to Cyrus about a bucket chain, and says, "That's certainly true now. I'm talking about a plan for the future."

And then Fukasa Yuri is accusing us all of being meek. But Goldenblade couldn't have done what Yuri did, with the icy rain. Well, if walking through fire is what it takes to not be meek, she'll have to be meek. "Atif!" she says as he runs out. "Good to see you. Don't hurt yourself, though." She follows his glance, wondering, "What knight?"

When the attackers come, she's ready, tumbling well clear of the dark orb, rolling back to her feet with a graceful ease she hasn't felt in many years and drawing both swords at either hip. Not quite matched, they're /are/ razor sharp, and she wields them with a deadly grace as she advances on Eve warily. It seems like a few have met these villains before. She has no clue, but she'd like this to be a last meeting.

Nobody attacks Tenko. The ronin stands firm amidst the chaos around her. She should feel offended that she's not considered to be a priority target by any of these villains, but at the moment she has no idea who any of them are.

Proteus appears to be attempting to track down the ringleader, while the others have engaged the minions in combat. Putting out the fire is important, for sure, but there's little point in quelling the inferno until after the threat that caused it in the first place has been dispatched. So Tenko follows Proteus, although her pace does not seem to express urgency.

    The Chaos of battle ensues.

    Thanks to his belated sprinting onto the scene, Atif was more or less left to the backlines of the other Adventurers. Which iin turn translates to him witnessing his allies clashing with the two vampires charging in.

    He has faith in his friends' ability to handle themselves with them. Much like Proteus, his eyes track for the one left behind.

    But ultimately, it's Proteus he ends up tracking, instead. The instant the Imp leaps into the mists to give chase to the huntress, the Salamander pounces into motion, around the two vampires locked in melee with the others, and after the friendly(?) Imp. He might not be able to track the vampire as easily, but he can follow the person who is doing that!

    "Here with you, Proteus--" he even informs her with a quick tap to the back of her shoulder, in hopes she won't react too aversely to another figure appearing within the mists. His eyes sweep along the light she creates, then -- with a scowl. Anyone who knows the Salamander would find that *incredibly* unusual for sure.

    "Your siblings seem way more reckless and worse mannered than you!" He calls out into the mists while he shifts along Proteus' perimeter in an effort to create a patrolling buffer field for her -- with his own body if need be.

    "And the horseman for that matter! Are you not with the same company?"

    Proteus attempts to track where Meredith has gone off too. The imps strange device is able to track down where the vampiress has gone off too. There she was with a bow in hand, an arrow nocked. She was aiming, but she has not full drawn the bow string back.

It was hard to say if Meredith was aware of Proteus or not, but her focus was fully on the battle that her siblings were caught in. Though why was she hesitating? Why not take the shot?

==============================================================================

    Meanwhile on the main field of battle, Fukasa manages to avoid the dark ball. Eve 'hmphs!' softly, as her red eyes glow from behind the hood. "My name is /Eve/!" She says quickly, "But thank you for the compliment~!"

This was enough of a distraction that when Mikage lays down the ice, Eve nearly trips up. Some of the frozen magic even finding her boots and piercing against her skin. This causing Eve to growl in annoyance. "Wench!" She barks out, "I'll bleed you dry!"

The freeze spell does it job though, leaving Eve unable to defend herself as Goldenblade comes in and cuts her blades across her body. The young sister let's out a scream in pain, before she gathers up dark magical energy and then blasts it outward in all directions around her.

Everyone but Proteus, Tenko & Atif: +roll <evasion/shield>[with card] vs 9

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    Joseph growls as his attack his hand is parried away. "We do what we do to /survive/! For our country! For our QUEEN!" He roars the last part as he tries to give chase after Cyrus, only to have a vial thrown in his direction.

This causes Joseph to hold up suddenly, "Oh Bal--" Then with the flash of explosion he roars out in pain from the light, reeling back, which then makes him blind to Fukasa's water blasting attack from her summoned minion.

Though as he hears his sister's scream he suddenly goes, "Shit!" and gets blasted back by the dark wave, nearly falling down to his knees. "Eve! You bloody idiot!" He barks in her direction. The sheer force was enough that it knocked off his robed hood.

Behind there is a young man, with a bit of scruff, dirty blonde hair, kept back in a slight pony tail with bangs hanging over his face. Those red eyes wincing a little, as he is now not doing so hot.

[No Attack]

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    Back over to Meredith, when their voices break the silence, she quickly moves around aiming her bow in their direction. Her eyes narrow sharply. "It affected us all differently." She says to Atif. "Undeath... can do strange things to the mind. It is easy to lose yourself. Lose your humanity." Her words are spoken calmly.

"But we have our orders... And should we die here on this field of battle. At least I know I will die with some honor." With that Meredith leaps back into the mist, but from there, three arrows fire out directly for Atif, Proteus, and Tenko.

Tenko, Atif, & Proteus: +roll <evasion/shield>[with card] vs 9

     Poor Joseph. It seemed like he was doing /so/ poorly. Fukasa actually almost looks sympathetic towards him, even as she responds to Eve. "Eve, is it? Ah, such a lovely name. You may call me Yuri." She says cheerfully towards her, and then, well, that wave of dark energy. Fukasa puts up a token effort to evade it, quickly activating a spell to slide around on a brief wave of water -- that may also assist in putting out some more of the fires, but but really she doesn't seem to care much about that.

     As she begins to walk towards Joseph, motioning towards Cyrus to back off for ~just~ a moment. "Oh, my dear sweet undead creature. You seem to be suffering so much right now. Come here, let the Lily of the Depths soothe you."

     She approaches Joseph, even as that wave of darkness rolls over her, reducing her health somewhat dramatically. There's a wince, but she's focused on her prize. She attempts to quickly wrap her arms around Joseph as if she were welcoming a good friend home, smiling sweetly as she does so. And she goes in for a kiss.

     It would last but a moment, if he doesn't evade it, and as her lips broke away a trail of incanted words follow it. And a strong temptation to just relax and trust this woman begins to take hold. Everything is fine, after all. He's in the arms of the lily of the depths.

"I prefer pain in the ass." Mikage replies, flippantly. The Ranger doesn't seem at all frightened by the vampires, perhaps because of her earlier encounter with these two. They had shown their colors back then, and neither came across as a real threat to her.

When the magical energy lashes outward from the female vampire, Mikage is balanced up on her toes, allowing herself to roll backwards with the force and land in a crouch. There might be a few scrapes from the rough earth, but her health-bar doesn't show any noticable damage.

She looks to Goldenblade, who has joined her in the fight, giving the woman a nod before adjusting the grip on her sword. Mikage propells herself forward, her hand moving with remarkable speed, pouring some sort of liquid onto the blade. It is obviously one of Cyrus' poisons. The tainted weapon is lashed out in quick motions, seeking any vulnerable locations on the female vampire.

Then, as she draws back, there is a quick glance over her shoulder towards the others, only to see Fukasa moving to lip-lock one of the vampires. The expression that the Were Fang girl makes is ... well one of mild shock hinted with disgust.

The kitsune is not fast enough, despite her usual abilities. The strike comes out of an unexpected place, and her reaction time is just a fraction of a second too slow, as the arrow finds it's way in between the armor plate on her shoulder and the soft leather underneath. The arrow pierces through and sticks in the flesh of her shoulder, but that's hardly something to deter her, not while their target has finally made its presence known.

She launches herself forward, her katana coming free of the scabbard in the blink of an eye, as she moves to strike with a fierceness that she reserves for moments like this. She tends to project an air of calm and confidence until it is time to strike, and then the kitsune ronin will unleash her full fury.

As the battle is joined, Goldenblade attacks with a headstrong fervor, but not with abandon, retaining sufficient presence of mind to avoid the dark magical energy blasted toward her by Eve. She nods to Mikage, and lashes out with a new series of stabbing thrusts, fiercely attacking Eve's guard, hoping to confound it and whittle that HP bar down. In the occasional fistfight she's been in, in real life, you never knew how much juice an opponent had left. Here, it's pretty easy to see, and oddly satisfying to see yourself getting closer to victory. When you're getting closer to victory. When you're not, at least you know to change tactics.

"Setting farms on fire is hardly required to stay alive!" Cyrus counters Joseph's retort. "But tell me more about your Queen. What's her name? Where does she rule from? Because I don't think these are your lands." The Cait Sith pushes, as he moves along towards Joseph, cane at the ready, looking to finish things when Helena sends him that signal.

He backs a bit to the side, and then watches as she tries to... 'Embrace the Vampire'. He supposes the vampire isn't horrible looking, if a bit Western. "Okay... ehmm... you just deal with that I suppose." Cyrus remarks to Fukasa, as he moves to support the others.

It seems Eve and Joseph are currently handled, but Meredith is making peoples' lives harder. Just before she can jump back into the air, she might spot something sailing over her head suddenly.

Cyrus hand outstretched towards the potion, his throwing hand down, in mid-step as he calls out; "ELECTRICAL FUZZ!" Trying to tag the evasive Vampire with the debuff spell, so that the others will have an easier time countering Meredith's actions.

"Careful, this one is the smart one of the three." He points out to Tenko, Atif and Proteus. "You can cut loose, I'll keep you supported with healing when you start dropping lower." The latter no doubt aimed at Tenko.

Proteus shakes her head to Cyrus. "No. I've never met them before." The Imp says. "But everything happens for a reason, doesn't it? Still, these seem to need to experience some defeat before revealing their master plan I suppose." The Imp eyetwitches a bit at that. "Good luck meting out discipline."

Proteus, meanwhile, is not extinguishing the blaze for a simple reason: She doesn't have the tools to do so at the moment. So she focuses on what she can do, which is what she does best: Attempt to discover things, and usually end up getting her face kicked in for it these days. The massive level loss she experienced continues to be a thorn in her side, especially after recent events...

Thankfully, Atif and Tenko seem to be following along. Proteus nods to them as they join her. "Atif. Tenko. Good to see you both." Of course, this is where she locates Meredith. "You could always tell us who your master is." She says to Meredith. "If we removed your master, perhaps you might have the will to choose your own path." A pause. "Then again, undead don't have that luxury, do they?" She shrugs...

And then swipes her hand across as the arrow fires towards her, attempting to catch the projectile midflight. It would look really cool if she didn't COMPLETELY MIS-TIME THE MOVE. Thankfully, Atif is right there to back her up. "Thank you, Atif. I owe you another one." She says... Before she crouches and lunges into the mist, the air blasting around her as the cloak whips backwards, revealing her body clad in hunter's leathers. She plants her hands on the ground and vaults, spinning in the air to suddenly go aerial to close in on the speedy archer. As she flips in the air, her hand sketches several lines in the air, forming shapes: ) - O

A moment later, she dives downward at an angle, her foot igniting in a white streak that, for a moment, interrupts the crimson flame and smoke with a brilliant burst, the Holy strike crashing down towards Meredith. The moment she impacts, she is already twisting, spinnning around to continue the assault with a brutal second high kick, the momentum ongoing as she moves low to sweep, then rush forward in a burning tackle in an attempt to send the archer tumbling.

    "You make it sound like you don't have a choice in doing this," Atif rumbles to the voice calling out from the mists to them. "But there's *always* a choice!"

    He probably expected the answer to his words to come in the form of arrows, too. The Salamander quickly flips himself through the air -- just narrowly swishing past an arrow meant for him. but that's not what he was truly focusing on either, no. The flip through the air carries him towards Proteus, and as his trajcetory takes him through the air just in front of her, his hand snaps out to grab the arrow flying for her by the shaft.

    "Hey--!" He chimes out when he lands on his feet in a crouch in front of the imp, sending a quick flash of a smile to her over his shoulder. "I didn't even get hit this time!" Small victories.

    The instant Proteus leaps up into the air, Atif runs into motion, too. Dashing across the ground, following her lead -- and soon enough bounding into the air, the weight of his body turning to guide him feet-first towards Meredith in a fierce dropkick. "D'RRRYYYAAAAH!"

    Lily of the Depths indeed.

    Jospeh growls at her, then raises an eye brow, "What are--" Then he gets kissed and his just blinks, before seeming to get washed away in it.

When Fukasa moves her lips away, he /almost/ falls over, before grinning toward her, "I'll do whatever you wish... sweet Lily~." He almost sing songs out. Toward Cyrus he chuckles a little. "You, sir, are not the boss of me!"

He looks over to Fukasa and motions to her, "Her however. Oh yes." Giving a devil smile. Whatever was going on in that head, who knows. Probably not a place even the greatest warrior dares to tread.

    Eve however-- is not amused. "Joseph!" She barks over at him. "Snap out of it!!" then lowly growls, "... where the hell is Meredith..." Then her eyes go wide. "She has left us here to die!"

Though the female mage vampire points her finger at Fukasa, "And you! You, known as Yuri! Give me back my brother! You--you... witch you!"

This little upset was enough to give Mikage an opening, as her blades cut across Eve's backside. The Vampire arches in pain and goes to spin around quickly. "Graah!" She lets out in frustration.

Though soon as she tries to retaliate, there is Goldenblade. The woman cuts those swords into and through Eve. For a moment she stands there. Her eyes go wide, what looks like a tear of blood could almost be seen in her eyes. "... sister... why..." Before she falls toward the ground and vanishes into a poof of wisps lights that fly toward the sky.

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    Meredith is on the move, moving between the slowly drifting smoke. For those who have been dealing with her siblings might be able to at last see her. Worse is that the sun is starting to find its way.

She is running out of time.

Tenko though is quickly on her heels and the Kitsune unleashes her own blade attacks, while Meredith attempts to draw out one of her swords to parry. The Kitsune is faster and knocks not only the blade out of her hands, but also places several cuts across the female vampire's body.

As she tries to move away, a vial comes in her direction, before an electric current is sent out thanks to Cyrus. It causes Meredith to slam into the ground, rolling a few before getting back up on her feet. "... Is this..." She whispers out, but only to her self.

    One more she attempts to move, sending now an arrow this time for both Tenko and then for Cyrus, but this also means that it gives away her position from those chasing her, as Proteus catches up.

One kick knocks the bow out of her hand, the next slams her back to the ground, where she impacts hard yet again, rolling along the smoldering fields, before leaping back up to her feet. This was just in time to see Eve getting killed. "Eve!!" She cries out in that direction, before her teeth grit tightly.

There was pain in her eyes, a look of almost betrayal. Though the look quickly fades as she draws out her second blade, moving swiftly back for Proteus and taking a quick swing with the blade. "All you need to know is that because of our failures," She then takes another swing with the blade, "We were sent here to die."

That is when Atif comes out of the sky and drop kicks the female vampire directly into the face, she reals back, before with a loud battle cry goes to drive her sword directly toward him as if trying to impale the Salamander on her blade.

Cyrus & Tenko: +roll [with card] vs 10

Proteus & Atif: +roll [with card] vs 9

     The responses are... more than mixed. Okay they're mostly negative. Fuka winks at Cyrus' response, giving him a thumbs up behind the vampire's back as he runs off. Confused and horrified looks are just given pointed looks back. She could explain later, right now she had a more important thing to worry about! That being that she now was hugging a vampire and she's only half-certain that she's not going to get eaten here or something. Luckily, however...

     Joseph seems to be under her spell. She lifts her hands to gently begin to soothingly caress the vampire's head, speaking gently towards him. "Dear sweet thing, tell me everything. Why have you done this? Why do you consider US to be the monsters? I know that we fight the undead, but it is largely in self defense." She says, her tone still that sweet saccarine, soothing and calming. Hopefully she can extract as much information as she can before her control fades.

     Eve gets a small smile from Fuka in her last moments. "I haven't taken him from you. I intend to return him when this is all done." Is said in that soothing tone. But of course, Eve is gone moments later, so her words are all but wasted. Maybe it makes that last moment less painful for her? Fukasa honestly doesn't know.

     Meanwhile, her summoned begins to float around, spraying jets of water over the fires and work on slowly beginning to get it under control. She's taking no aggressive actions directly towards anything though, just in case enmity triggers break the temporary bond she's formed with Joseph.

When Meredith strikes at her, all she finds is Tenko's afterimage, the kitsune ronin finally finding her footing and able to use her speed to her advantage. She appears to the side of the vampire, and conjures a ball of flame in her left hand, figuring that, for the moment, it's not like her fireball will do MORE damage to the fields.

"You were sent here to die, yet you persist in fighting a losing battle. One of your number is dead, the other looks soon to follow. I offer you a chance for surrender. Face justice for what you have done here today. Not the judgement of us, but judgement by those you have wronged."

Goldenblade's opponent is down first, it seems, leaving her puzzled. Usually she's not that good. She takes a quick look around; it looks like Fukasa Yuri is ... making friends with the one fellow, or at least encouraging him not to be a bad guy, but the rest of the party seems to be in a pretty hoy fight with Meredith. So she will rush over and attempt to help, coming up behind Meredith and hauling off with both swords behind her back, coming down like a hammer, trying to blindside the enemy. It works in real life, hard to say if it will work in VR, she's noticed some things make it more likely to hit, and some don't. There don't always seem to be facing modifiers.

After the her target is dispatched, Mikage lifts her head to look in Fukasa's direction, making sure the woman still has control over the male vampire. It looks like her charms firmly have a hold of him.

With Goldenblade moving to join the others, Miki turns her attention back towards the village. She decides to take the time to make sure the fires are well and finally put out.

She reaches skyward, summoning up dark clouds from moisture in the surrounding air. Then, she begins to weave magical energy between her palms, forming them into discs that crackle with water and electricity. Drawing her hands back, she flings the discs towards the growing cloud formations, that magic adding to what is already there.

Lightning crackles, thunder rumbles, and then a steady rain begins to fall.

"Does it? I suppose I never was that kind of guy to think that things must happen for a reason." Cyrus finally remarks back to Proteus, having joined up with the party - right before putting up an immediate wall of fire when he spots those arrows coming for him, incinerating them before they can reach him.

"It almost feels unfair sometimes. We're all Immortal... we will come back no matter how many times we die. And these Monsters... well, we kill them once, and that's it." Cyrus remarks, right before a drop of rain falls on his head. Then another... before the rain comes and descends upon them.

He raises his hand, and then looks back to Mikage. "Ah, you mastered that technique?" He asks her, as his Fire Wall is extinguished along with some of the other fires, before more rain falls. Thankfully he is wearing his hat, but there's still hair that sticks out enough that quickly gets drenched and starts slicking to his body.

He glances back as Meredith's blade makes it to Proteus. "But I suppose it's made a bit more fair, since they are stronger than any individual Adventurer most of the time." Cyrus then decides, "Sorry lady. But your failures are a result of fighting a superior enemy. We protect these lands now. Before, we might have ignored you. But now that we are forever stuck in this land... we will properly defend the Landers."

As he points his cane to Meredith and tries to fire a few quick-fire Shock spells after her, trying to get her to hold still in the midst of attacking his allies!

Meredith did this to get this very response. She refused to explain herself. And as such, can she truly be surprised when it occurs to her? No, not really. She's not surprised at all. "You're caught between a rock and a hard place." Proteus says simply as Meredith provides some more details of her situation. The blade comes in fast, and the Imp attempts to lash her arm out to rebound it off of her guard, but again she botches the defense, a sizzling-red line of pain carving itself across the Imp and forcing her back for a moment, giving Meredith a valuable moment of respite... From the Imp anyway.

"Someone sent you and the other two here to die, didn't they? How cruel. But you senselessly took from the Landers their food and their home. In that cruelty, you created cruelty for others." Proteus states, rubbing at the damage-line on her arm. "Tell us the name of your master and where they can be found, so we can put an end to this. Your death means little in terms of atonement. You are undead, after all. If you require more convincing, however..."

Proteus leaps back into battle, skidding in with a low sliding strike before twisting upwards in a double upwards palm strike to try to send Meredith launching up into the air. She follows immediately afterwards, spinning in the air to spike the undead woman back towards the ground... But before she lands, Proteus is already gesturing in the air once more. V S M

As she is driven back towards the ground, a pair of deadly pillars of rock slam together in a clapping strike to try to catch Meredith between them, simultaneously with Proteus' own movements while she descends.

    "Oh shi--"

    Atif sees the blade coming for him while he's still in the air, rebounding from the dropkick. He sees it coming, but can he really do anything while he's still in the air?

    Apparently, he can. Just before the tip of the sword sinks into him, an explosion of heated air blasts out at his feet, launching him across the air and out of the way of the sword. Another flip through the air guides his feet down onto the ground, skidding along it.

    And then -- though he had been uncharacteristically scowling before, he actually looks... sympathetic to the woman now.

    "It doesn't have to be this way!" His voice sounds almost *pleading* now, while he looks up to Meredith, amidst the continuing assault of his allies. "No one else has to die! You don't have to do this! Not... not for someone who would just throw you away like this!"

    He springs up from the ground then, and runs right at the woman. When that sword is swung for him, he-- of all things, launches his fist in, with a burst of red energy around it, aimed right for the blade. Slamming scaled knuckles into the blunt side of the piece of metal with what's at least intended to be destructive force.

    "Please!!"

    Fukasa asks her questions and Joseph gives her a pleasant smile. "Many years ago, our great king and queen held this land. I was one of the queen's favorite secret holders." He gives a wink at that. "Good friend, helped make sure her maidens had everything in order for her."

He hrms softly, "Then... something tragic happened. The princess grew horribly ill. Many blamed the queen, given that was not her natural born child." He shakes his head, "Oh King Lethe was so beside himself."

Joseph blinks and grins, "He was a greater fighter you know! The king! He loved to charge into battles alongside his soldiers!"

    Joseph is so under Fukasa's spell that he doesn't even register his sister's death. "King Lethe was a great man. Not to take away from the Queen.. But these /were/ his lands, and hers now with his recent death. She wants them back and so..."

Then he blinks, he brows furrow. "... and so.." He steps back, his hand coming to rest on his forehead. ".. Eve?" He spins around at last realizing that his sister was killed. "Eve!" Then his mood shifts as he growls lowly at Fukasa.

Her hold on him was broken, "You vile creature! You distracted me so you could kill my little sister!" Then he goes to grab her neck with his clawed hand. "I'll send you to grave myself!"

==============================================================================

Meredith dodges the fireball that is flung by Tenko as it seems to go where she was, but not where she ends up now. The woman gives the Kitsune no reply. This however leads her directly being slammed down by Goldenblade.

The female vampire gives a fierce slash back toward Goldenblade in retaliation, but something is off. She is slowing down as more of the sun starts to find its way out of the haze caused by the dying fire and clearing smoke.

    For while Mikage douses out the remaining fires, that cloud cover is not doing Meredith any good, but it will do wonder for the land and the people of this farm area!

Cyrus sends out an electric current and Meredith quickly flips around to avoid the streaks of lightning that fly by before landing on the ground with ease. She twirls her blade, before dashing toward him and moving her sword in an uppercut slash.

Though even the Cait Sith may notice that her movements, while fluid, are being drained down. The sunlight seems to be playing havoc with her ability to keep fighting.

Then Atif comes in and slams into her hand. This punch, with the flames, causing her to drop her sword. She has to do a quick few steps back, grabbing one of her arrows as the only weapon she now has available.

    Meredith tries to recompose herself, only to glance over to Proteus, "I am the huntsman of the queen. I will not betray her, even if she has sent me to die. For it is a death deserved and I rather end my undeath here on the field," She watches the imp carefully, perhaps even answering Atif as well. "Then to simply waste away forgotten!"

Once Proteus makes her move, the female vampire goes to leap away from the attack, but instead the rock slams around her. She grits her teeth, but no matter how hard she struggles the rocks bind her in place. Meredith then closes her eyes, "Auther.. Hector... It is up to you now... Serve her well..."

Cyrus & Goldenblade: +roll <evasion/shield>[with card] vs 6

This battle is already won, Tenko is sure of that. Though from the way they are talking, these hostiles must have known this was the outcome as well. Why would they draw the group of adventurers out here? No time to think about it now, however.

From her position, the masked kitsune can see that Joseph has broken out of his thrall, and is taking out his anger upon Fukasa. The kitsune moves quickly, leaving Meredith in the capable hands of the others, she moves to save the undine, whether she needs the help or not.

The ronin appears, practically out of thin air, next to Joseph, and brings her katana downwards, right around the elbow area of the extended arm holding Fukasa, aiming to sever it from his body.

He won't have to worry about not having that arm for long, however, as a quick change of stance and flash of the blade has the katana aimed for his neck, intending to sever that from his body as well. The motions are quick and practiced.

After the second strike, Tenko turns her blade and slides it into the scabbard, probably before Joseph even realizes what has happened.

The undead is caught. Meredith rejects the offer of surrender, to find another way to atone for her crimes. The Imp steps back, holding back her followup, and then nods. "I understand. Then I will give you the valiant death you desire." The pillars fall away, returning to the earth whence they came... But at the same time, Proteus spreads her hands apart, a complex object appearing between her hands. It looks like a domelike grid formed of triangular-shaped tiles arrayed in a matching mesh. The tiles are each inscribed with unknown runes, clicking as they shift to unknown forces. Click. Click. Click. "The first alignment..." Proteus states, her hands twisting in the air, shifting as the clicking in the air intensifies. Clickclickclickclick. The puzzle mesh spins, twisting and reconfiguring itself rapidly as gleaming symbols begin to appear, orbiting the object: + ) |

Finally, there is a final click, and Proteus spreads her hands. "Cast open the door of light!" She states, and thrusts the object forward, the splayed triangles blazing with reflected glory as they splay out like an origami lotus.

A moment later, a burning, screeching spear of light blasts forward, punching through Meredith's position with overwhelming force, ripping past in an echo of blinding force and thunder.

Goldenblade's sneak attack having scored on Meredith, she prepares to deal with the retaliation. When it's slow, Goldenblade is momentarily puzzled, but does not question her good fortune. Rather, she continues to apply the heat, so to speak, penetrating thrusts with one blade, then the other, planned to bypass the creature's evasive maneuvers. The vampire seems to see her end coming, that's good. She sees the same end as Goldenblade is trying for. Working together to achieve goals, that's a good, modern mindset. That's probably a mark in her efficiency rating.

"You know, it's really rather typical for Management to decide that their employees are not doing well enough, and instead of enabling them to be a better version of themselves, just sends them down to fail." Cyrus grunts, clearly having lived the corporate life. "I guess you can't avoid that even in this world."

The youth backpedals rapidly as Meredith continues to chase. Using his cane to deflect her blade's uppercutting swipe, before noticing that Fukasa is under attack and taking significant damage. "Hold the line." He calls to the others, before he brings his arm back...

And goes for a real long distance throw with an expensive healing potion. It sails through the skies... and then shatters right against Fukasa's head, causing her health to suddenly shoot up. "No dying on my watch!" He calls out to her. Indeed, true to the Astrologian style, he heals when she's almost in critical red health. But the healing effect is certainly quite impressive!

     And in those moments for the vampire, Fukasa listens intently. It's honestly a rather wondrous story, one that Fukasa enjoys. "It does sound like they are quite the wonderful king and queen. And they took such great care of you." Fuka says sweetly towards him.

     "Morale must have been high when he charged into battle with you, as well." She continues the comments, legitimately interested. And then the control begins to falter. She frowns slightly as he calls out Eve's name. Ah. Family, unfortunate. He steps away from her, too.

     When he goes for her neck, she... actually doesn't fight it. Letting him grab her and begin to choke her. She ... doesn't... seem to fight it that much? There is legitimate care in her eyes for this vampire. He is, after all, one of her cherished monsters now. Even if he doesn't realize it yet. "Oh... dear... sweet.... boy.... I did not... kill... her..." She manages to get out, it's struggled because of the obvious grab and strangulation of the adventurer.

     Her HP is beginning to drain from the strangling, but she's still not struggling, just letting him hold on as she lifts her hand up to attempt to caress his cheek. "...You shouldn't... have done this... my summon... will now... protect me..." She murmurs. And then, well. Then there's a kitsune there. And her blade goes snicker-snack, freeing Fukasa. Right as her summon had turned, its eyes turning red as its aggro changed. Only for it to resume its job of blowing water on the fire as the target seemingly immediately disappears.

     She gives a small smile towards Joseph, "Rest well, dear creature." And then, well. A healing spell breaks over her head! It's warm and sparkly. Also she might be bleeding a little now. She waits until Joseph is gone before she reacts to it though, her gaze flicking over to Cyrus afterwards. "...Ow. That hurt. But also thank you." A sigh. "...I never bothered to learn his name. Too bad I couldn't form a summoning contract with him, you can't get a good intelligent summon often."

In the aftermath, as the rain falls, Mikage turns back just in time to see the two vampires meet their ends. "They aren't the only ones..." She murmurs, looking towards Fukasa. "His name was Joseph. Cyrus and I overheard their names the last time we encountered them." She explains.

"I'm not sure which one the dark knight is, but that's certainly one of those who they mentioned." Water drips her hair to her face as she wipes a bit of moisture from her forehead.

"At least the fire should be out, but this town is going to need a lot of help..."

    Meredith is freed from her rocky prison and as Goldenblade comes in for an attack, the vampire attempts to deflect the sword woman's attack, but she gets more and more cuts with each attempt.

This all in time for Proteus to make her own final attack. An attack worthy to an end. As the light shimmers into shape. Meredith looks at Proteus, "... Thank you." She says softly. "I am one of honor, so I say this." Meredith turns to face the attack, no fear in her eyes.

"What you seek are on these lands but fear Auther. He is the Queen's head knight, he rides on the mists, and while he may give audience, even test your strengths or mind," Her eyes close. "He will never let you reach her, while he rides." Then she vanishes into wisps of light as the attack slams into her, burning her away with only those words being her final.

After all, she did say that if she was defeated, only then when she give some information, and it seems that was the information she was willing to give.

    As for Joseph...

His hands stay on her neck. "If you didn't try to take control of my mind! I could have defended her! I could have defended my little sister! All we had to do is /beat/ you damn adventurers and her majesty would have forgiven us! She would have /forgiven/ US!"

However that is all he gets out as a blade slashes by like the breeze. His eyes go wide, before his hands loosen on his neck. His mouth moves. Words trying to be spoken, but all that happens is he falls back and vanishes into a mist of wisp light.

Th farm has been saved. The trio of vampires have been defeated, and while the homes may need repairs. The people were now safe.

    Though watching in the distance, a slow fog rolls mixed with the smoke. An armored figure sits on an armored horse. A horse with green flames for a mane and flames at the hooves. The knights glowing red eyes seems to observe the group, before the figure rides off into the fading mist and smoke.

    After the sword's sent flying, Atif... doesn't actually go for another attack. He backs away a fw steps, keeping a few paces' worth of distance to her while he steps along around her perimeter, with his hands held up.

    But wahtever diplomacy was going to be attempted, she throws right back in their faces.

    And Atif? He actually looks almost *desperate* because of it.

    "There has to be a better way..."

    The words by this point are so quiet that he might well be the onyl one who hears them. Even of he had spoken them louder, the continued assault on Meredith would likely drown them out regardless.

    And once the blades sink into Meredith? Atif takes a single step back, expression crestfallen while he looks upon the vampire taking her last motions.

    And he, too, falls down onto his rear on the ground.

     The rebuffing from Joseph does somewhat linger in Fukasa's mind. That kind of desperation, anger, hatred. "...It's hard to believe that this is just a well-programmed game sometimes. The writing is so superb and realistic." She looks up towards Mikage as she tells her his name. She gives her a legitimate, gentle smile. "Thank you. Joseph, hmmm. A very western name." She muses out loud.

     Hmm. "Well, we got some decent information out of them." She nods simply, "I'll do something to spread the information. I'm thinking... maybe... of contacting bards, yes."

Tenko offers a bow to Futaka after Joseph has, unfortunately, had to be destroyed, "I do not relish in killing, especially those who may have once been People of the Land." She says, softly, "However they make their choices, and we must make our own."

Should one life be considered worth more than another? She isn't the right person to answer that. She rests her hand on the hilt of her daisho, and looks to the others in the group, "Perhaps with this information that was gathered, we can learn more about their ultimate goal."