Duty Session 115: Bun-Bun Festival

    Merek was around to assist in one of the duties, these plots seem to happen once a Year, which means that he would bring people to perform it with him. What better way to earn experience and awards within the Hunter's Guild. The man walks along with the party and wears what looks to be his usual dark attire, with a cloak pulled about him, and looking even as the Sunset begins to fall. "Alright, we will plant these herbs." The Lander would begin to work on them while Merek did as well.

    Even hardcore solo players and raiders needs to take a break. Amalthea knows this fact well and has taken the time from investigating Aincrad's fourth floor to just take some downtime and maybe enjoy the bun-bun themed festivities.
    "Merek, how are you doing?" The old Paladin asks, smiling warmly as she makes her way over to the excited Landers.
    "Ah, that's how they come now is it?" She muses, pursing her lips. Before she lightly taps her foot to the ground; a simple Earth spell shifting and softening the soil in places to make it easier to plant.

Perhaps due to his role as mentor, it isn't surprising to see Rylen throwing himself into one of the yearly events. Afterall, he might have to help newbies through it later. The Beastmaster stretches himself out, languid and relaxed as he leans against one of the fences around the farm yard. "After the last encounter with Bun-Buns, let's hope we don't run into any rabid ones, this time."

Wiggling the fingers on one hand, he laughs, "I'd like to keep my fingers, this time." As the Landers move to begin planting some sort of herbs, the Beastmaster pushes himself to his full height, stepping out into the fields. "I've got a little skill with earth magic. Let's see if we can speed things up."

Cracking his knuckles, Rylen extends his hands, pulling the dirt into long rows as he does so. There is an ease to it. "These events are usually pretty easy. But we'll have to see if it holds true going forward."

    It's an EVENT! An annual event? That's what she heard. Tenix had been underground for way too long. What better way to blow off some steam, and maybe practice her faster spellcasting, but by going to one of these little events?

    Gathered with everyone else, the firebird gives a wave, one to Amalthea in particular, and then her attention shifts to the landers. Plant things? She can plant things! "lets lure some buns then..

You would think the previous harrowing experience with the darker side of Bun-Buns would turn one away from dealing farther with this fluff coated holiday. But Kauchemar deals in the dark and unorthadox, so while it's definately an experience she won't forget... She's curious to see why the Landers put so much interest into this holiday in the first place.

"Planting? What do I look like, a draft horse?" A pause. "Actually, don't answer that." Snarking aside she turns her attention to the matter at hand, and with a few arcane gestures some of the rock and soil comes together to form a small Earth Elemental, which she sends along to punch holes in the ground with it's rocky fist-like limb for others to put the plants in.

    Baroness Wake is certainly not likely to be confused with a farmer, but she has enough familiarity with the magical workings of earth and soil to assist in this relatively simple task.
    For the duty, she has dressed a bit differently. After all, her normal is hardly fitting for most duties. Instead she wears a pair of form-fitting leather breeches and an off-white, long sleeve shirt, over which a dark leather vest hangs.
    She looks up to smile at Merek, "You know, I never really cared for gardening, but this seems comfortable enough." Noticing the gathering group, she slips into a curtsey that is more fit for a king's palace than the fields and says, "Nice to meet all of you. I'm Baroness Wake."

    Merek looks between the people while he begins to plant, gardening with skill. All of them manage to plant it properly with magic and with general skill, then when all of them finish and it becomes twilight, the Bun Buns begin to sweep around into the place. There's a sniff, none of them look to be like the ones that were dealt with before. These seem docile. Coming up to the next challenge, there's a few cages that are given to each of the Adventurers. "Alright, round all of them up! As many as you can!" There's a smile, "Nice day for capturing Bun Buns, heh hyuck!" He then does a little dance with both of his arms and motions them to do their duty. Who came up with this quest.

At one of the new faces offering an introduction, Rylen turns and gives a showman's bow towards Baroness Wake. "A pleasure to meet you, m'lady. Rylen Corvus. Mentor, entertainer, beastmaster, at your service." As he leans forward, his silver hair tips across his shoulders.

The sight of bun-buns beginning to show themselves has him momentarily wary, checking them for signs of agression. Luckily, these ones don't seem to be interested in attacking. "Come on, furballs. This way."

He raises his hands, pulling vines up from the ground that help to guide the bun-buns along a certain path to where some of the Landers have cages set up. The wall of vines keeps them from gathering in any one space, allowing some measure of safety.

"I like them a lot better when they are docile." Rylen adds.

    Success! herbs planted. Bun-Buns approaching, and Tenix is all smiles. "Good job! Lets see about rounding up what we can!" Seems for some reason the firebird energizes a blazing shield around her. Probably good for herding the critters toward the setup cages. Most beasts are afraid of fire.. yeah? Hopefully she doesn't traumatize them too much..

    "Rabid ones?" That's a note that draws Amalthea's attention, looking to Rylen curiously with a frown. Well, that's a problem for Future Amalthea to worry about as the little critters begin to emerge. Docile and cute is fine by the old Odysseia Knight as she draws her sword...
    And begins banging it gently on her shield as she starts herding a small group of bun buns about into a cage.
    "Heh... Actually kind of relaxing and fun." She murmurs.
    "A pleasure." That's to Wake. "The name's Amelia. But most call me Amalthea these days.

    For this part of the challenge, Baroness Wake is most grateful for the capabilities of her comrades. Her attempts to round up the creatures achieve little, indeed. Well, little except to cause them to scatter from her.
    "You know, I'm beginning to suspect these little things don't care much for me," she says. Still, with no limbs being lost, this failure simply makes her laugh at herself as she imagines how silly she must look, darting about after this creatures. She turns to Amalthea, "The pleasure is mine, Amemlia! I hope to be of more use in the remainder of this duty." The latter is pointed out as a bunbun looks up at her, then darts off again.

Kauchemar gives a brief nod towards Wake. "Kauchemar Tenebrae, wandering bard and muse for Plant Hwyaden." Then smirks at Rylen. "The strongman can vouch for me, I'm sure." With the herbs planted and the bun-buns on their way, Kauchemar makes a brief face. Normal Bun-buns are Animal, not Monster, so her Summoner abilities weren't really of use here.
Fortunately she came prepared otherwise, evident when she pulls out her lute and begins to play.

o/~ Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the Bunny Trail.
Hippity Hoppin' springtime's on it's way o/~

She's pulling a bit of a Pied Piper, helping to sooth the buns and keep them from clustering together in ways that are too much to be shuffled away into the cages.

    "I quite like to garden," Merek would note to Wake, though he seems a bit distant, and doesn't manage to catch a lot. There's a look to the fields while he does seem to content in watching people have fun, a nod to Amalthea's question before, "I'm doing alright, thank you." Then the challenge, when all of them have captured a few, would be to collect eggs, people coming to collect the eggs, all kinds of Landers seem to be having fun, while they dance around all of the Adventurers.

    Wait, eggs? Really? Who wants eggs?! Tenix searches for a few moments but doesn't really get very lucky. Instead she's drawn back to the Bun-buns in the cages, "They are So. CUTE. eeee~ "

    When it comes to searching, Wake's very reputation is on the line. Before she gets to it, she says to Kauchemar, "I very much appreciated that song. I do love music." Out of the corner of her eye she starts to spot the eggs.
    To be sure, the Baroness has done better searching, but rarely has she enjoyed it as much. Having not brought the ideal tricks to the challenge, she's also quietly grateful to the RNG lords for blessing her efforts so mercifully.

"Aye, m'lady." Rylen glances over towards Amalthea, nodding his head, "Apparently, when these little creatures get together in too large a number, they become quite vicious." Kauchemar's comment is met with a grin from Rylen, "Ahh yes, the lady Tenebrae. As beautiful as she is clever." He grins, offering her a wink.

As the Landers set to the task of searching out those hidden eggs, Rylen moves to join them... only to get latched on to by two children. "Snow us the trick!" One chimes, another answering, "Yeah, show us!"

Thus, rather than contributing in any meaningful way in the search, Rylen is left to the task of entertaining some of the nearby children. Handstands, flips, and even balancing on one arm, it's enough to draw out grins of joy from bystanders, even if he doesn't end up finding a single egg in the process.

"Alright, alright. Go find some eggs, kids." He laughs, trying to shoo them off into the fields.

Kauchemar continues to play, providing a nice and relaxing backdrop to the event. Even as the kids do anything but be calm as they're rushing out eagerly to find themselves some eggs.

Magic vapors whisp around her eyes, taking an appearance of flaming spectacles as they do when she's using her Divination abilities. It lets her see where some of the more elusive eggs landed in hard to see spots, and without missing a beat with her song direct her Earth Elemental to go gather them for her.

    "Good to hear, good to hear." The old Paladin says when Merek says he's doing just fine.
    Annnd then it turns out they lay eggs.
    "... Huh."
    It really is an Easter festival isn't it?
    Well, Amalthea casually kneels down and plucks up an egg chuckling.
    "Got one." She says with a chuckle before passing it to a small Lander child.
    Though she makes something of a face at Rylen's explanation.
    Hopefully that won't be a problem for Future Amalthea to worry about.

    And it's time to prepare each of the meals, be it cooking, brewing, and hunting preperation of the animal meat. Merek walks along to the concoction in the cauldron and begins to sniff from that, "Interesting, well you all take your stations." The Landers begin to find places to settle in to wait for Adventurers to make the food. Unlike before, in the distant past, while the twilight of the skies shimmers, these faces look a lot like they truly want the food made.

"Cooking? Stew? Oh! I know! YOU NEED THE FIRE LIT DON'T YOU?!" ... Oh no. No no no. Who told the firebird a fire needed lit! Wait, where did she go? Why is there a dust cloud where she was?! WHERE IS THE STEW?!

One will find the firebird not far from where the stew is. Glowing a bright red. Energy flowing off of her as she's quietly, eyes closed, canting. This isn't fast spellcasting! Oh wait. Twilight? Crimson? Power grows? Oh god. She isn't casting that for just a stew is she?!

        FIREBALL!

Yep. She is.

This is the point where Rylen simply lacks the skills to be of particular aid to the Landers. He had proven, time and time again, that his skill in the kitchen is fleeting at best. So, he does his best to try and stay /away/ from doing the actual cooking.

Instead, Rylen finds a place where one of the Landers looks to be chopping meat and sets to trying to help with that. However, the knife he is given is just about the dullest thing one can imagine. "Do you happen to have a sharpening stone, my good man? No?"

So, he sets to at least attempting to make something out of it. Then again, the chunks of meat are badly cut, enough so that the lander just flat out takes the knife back from him and points away from the cooking station.

Raising his hands up, Rylen laughs, "Yes yes, I'll go... guard the bun-buns." Because that's a useful task...

Fires for cooking stew. She can do that. Kauchemar buts her instrument aside and rubs her hands together....

And then Tenix goes for FIREBALL with such intensity even Kauchemar steps back, brows raised. "And people call me excessive..."

She looks at the cooking fire that's now more of a bonfire thanks to the firebird. Looks at the fireball formed in her hand... and with an "Eh" turns and walks away, tossing the flames haplessly over her shoulder as she does. "Not worth it now."

    Right, things to get for a meal preparation. Wake has seen her fiance do this so many times. And she has gathered plenty of herbs and spices herself. From their garden. So off she wanders a touch, to find just the thing! But you know, when you are in a bit of a hurry, one thing looks like another.
    A short time later, Baroness Wake has returned, carrying a bundle of greens. A more expert eye might recognize what she's gathered as an actual herb. Not the kind you'd normally use for cooking, but rather something used to loosen the bowels. Without pause, she offers it up to be added to the meal. "It's not much, but I am sure it will add a bit to the overall experience," she declares.

    Oh dear.
    Amalthea has to help prepare the feast?
    This is awkward.
    "Ahem. I probably shouldn't touch the food." She admits. "I'd just make it taste like Actual Depression."
    Of all the skills she has cooking is not one of them.
    So instead she goes to deal with the meat.
    "Hmmmmmm..." Mused thoughtfully before...
    The old woman draws her sword.
    A few deft quick and flashy slashes and--
    She cuts the meat into various sized appetizing looking chops.
    "I cut the meat!" She says holding up a hunk with a grin-- that falters when she sees the chaos all around her.

And, well. All of them except for Amalthea manage to mess up. And in that way we mean that meanwhile all of those on the stew, while it's shot with a fireball, and with a combined mixture of each Adventurer's work, the entire pot of stew manages to blast into pieces, striking the party with the shards while the liquid splatters all over everyone's faces. The cauldron Merek was working with blasts off right into the sky upside down before it spins around and smacks the Were Bun, which only makes it roar as it comes in, a few Landers watching while laughing, then beginning to make their way away.
    The cauldron, whatever it was, makes the place fill with acid which dissolves the wood it touches. Although, there is always the fact Amalthea managed to prepare the animal meat to make.

    A lander comes by, while taking that meat from Amalthea, "Why I appreciate it, thank you!"

    "Yep." The meat's handled at least, and Amalthea looks pretty pleased with herself.
    Even if there is chaos all around her.
    Especially moreso when something spooks the Landers. And a great big beast of a bun bun emerges.
    Blade still drawn, Amalthea steps forward ahead of the group into Tanking position.

    "ANCHOR HOWL!" She declares challengingly.

    A bright flare of light envelopes the old Paladin's body as she stands at the ready, challenging the beast to attack. Because if it attacks anyone OTHER than her it'll suffer some pretty severe penalty damage.

    Well, after the fiasco of a banquet is sprayed all over, Wake is rather looking for some means to redeem herself. Thankfully she doesn't /eat/ any of the exploded food as a form of penance. Instead, she directs her attention towards the rabbit. "I wonder if I will ever have an adventure again that doesn't make me think of Elmer Fudd."
    Joking aside, she vanishes into the darkness for a moment, and then a second later she bursts out of the darkness, unleashing her blades in a succession of brutal strikes, each finding their mark.

Luckily, Rylen has backed away before the food begins to all out explode. He does manage to get a bit of the splatter, but it's mostly against his back rather than directly to the face. "This is why I leave the cooking to other people." He shakes his head, obviously amused by the strange quest.

Now, when it comes to the large invader of the banquet, that is much more up Rylen's ally. He strikes one fist into the opposite open palm, "You won't be ruining the night for these Landers." No, apparently that's up to the bad cooking of Adventurers to do that.

He is better at punching things than he is cooking, thankfully. Using that same sort of strange earth magic, Rylen strikes his hands outwards, causing a huge pillar of stone to lash out towards the massive rabbit, slamming it away from one of the baskets of eggs.

    SUCCESS. "Fire's lit, yo." The phoenix declares, even as the cauldron's rain down like meteors and the stew spatters on her armor. Nothing seems to be ruining her mood tonight. NOPE. She has SUCEEDED at THINGS. That is all Tenix needs. Even Amalthea gets a big thumbs up for the cutlets.

    Wait. Were-rabbit? "Oh sweet this is perfect, I can do the thing!" The red firebird is suddenly enveloped in BLUE energy? that's odd. She throws an arm out, a spell is cast! -- and fizzles right into the ground.

        Blink.

    "AGAIN?!"

Kauchemar pulls the hood of her cloak up over her head as bits of kettle and stew splatter from the skies thanks to the overabundance of FIRE and other less than amniable ingredients. "This is turning into a bad episode of Iron Chef."

Then someone shouts about were-rabbits. "Wait, what? Why did someone use rabbit and not bun-bun?" The nightmare turns to look, and gets her answer as a giant bun-bun comes rumbling out of the forest. "I take that back. It's turning into a bad replay of Night of the Lepus." Pause. Then a faint chuckle. "At least it's not Bunnicula!"

Eyes glow beneath the raised hood, giving it an all the more eerie feel as Kauchemar raises one arm towards the giant bunny. After last time with the rabid horde? There's none of the flashy theatrics for a change, she just points and utters in a haunting reverbant voice "Mind Shock" as she bombard's the behemoth bun's mind directly with her dark magic.

    With the Mind Shock on the whole of the Were Bun, it waits while the party begins to fight it. Merek swings his weapon but doesn't manage to hit, as does Tenix. Amalthea, Wake, Rylen, and Kauchemar begin using all of their abilities, and eventually manage to take the creature down, while it begins to sparkle into red glowing shimmers. There's a swinging field which notes on each HUD, noting they've won.

Kauchemar lets out a sigh of relief when the massive lapine goes down. "Thank the Goddesses. Looks like that monster got..."
Pause for effect and to consider the faux holiday in play.

"ExEggCuted."

    "Th... That's it?" Amalthea says, having expected a much harder boss. The old Odysseia Knight looks flummoxed at first. And then a little sheepish at having gone All Out like that.
    Rubbing at the back of her neck, she realizes she may be getting too used to Actual Life Or Death Boss Battles over in Aincrad.
    "Kinda wish I could have dialed it back a bit, now." She murmurs, blinking owlishly.
    Before she turns to just stare at Kauchemar.
    "I take it back. I'm glad the poor thing is dead and didn't have to suffer through an attack like that."

In the aftermath, Rylen is more than a little hesitant to join in the banquet, knowing just what sort of chaos they had made of the food preparations, but he seems willing enough to accept the reward that is offered out, quickly stowing the little package into his inventory.

"That wasn't too bad, all things considered. Though I'll have to make sure the guild knows to be prepared for the cookin challenge." He strokes at his chin, thoughtful. "Still, easy enough that the newbies should be able to handle it." At least, this is his appraisal of the situation.

"My thanks to you all." He smirks in Kauchemar's direction, amusement still written on his features.

    It's dead? Good! It can stay dead! The phoenix gives a cheer, pumps a fist in victory, and then promptly returns to adoring the bun-buns. So. CUTE.

    With the were-rabbit reduced to a quivering pile of blasted fuzz, Baroness Wake relaxes. She takes a few cautious steps away from the creature, her last step punctuated with an unpleasant, squishing sound. She stepped in a larger glop of whatever hellish concoction the group send skyward. Wait, no, that may have been a were-rabbit eye.
    "Not only will I never live this down, I fear the smell may never come out," she mutters softly. She puts away her weapons and says, "Still, a victory is a victory, yes?" When a lander waves her over for food, she gently turns down the offer, "Oddly, seems I've gone and lost my appetite."

    And so, another adventure in the duty quests completed. Merek would nod a bit to people, then he would take a moment to bring up his inventory, placing items from the pack into it. Then he walks along back on the way to Carmina Gadelica, the city whose fields of farming this was from!