Duty Session 155: Undead Defense Force

    Once again that time has come. Once again the undead are mustering to attack a small village in the Ninetails Dominion. And once again a hardy group of adventurers have come to stop them.
    Amalthea has rounded up any volunteers she could who were ready and able and up to the task of fending off the waves of the damned from rolling over the defenseless hamlet.
    As usual the village head emerges to give his thanks and explain that the undead have been seen moving around at night. Amalthea lets hime give his spiel about being able to use whatever resources are at hand and to please protect the village. Once he's finished and returned to his home the old Paladin turns to face her volunteers.
    "Alright. No beating about the bush. For those of you who don't know me, you may call me Amalthea. Tonight we're facing an enemy scourge the likes of which has been terrorizing the Ninetails Dominion. They use advances tactics and have us beaten in numbers alone. What they don't have is our will. Our grit. And our sheer tenacity. And they won't be expecting such a small number to be fending them off."
    She points a gauntlet-clad finger towards the main entrance of the village. "That lane. Will be our killbox. I want barricades set up so that they have to funnel through that avenue and come right to us in a bottleneck." She explains her plan.
    "And from there we do what we do best. We reduce the bastards to red pixels."

    Merek takes the time to put the usual attire on, from the beltcape to the scarf while he would begin to adjust it about him, white and black within tone, and he nods a bit to Amalthea. "Alright," he notes, then the man makes a way along to begin working with the defense forces. There's not a lot to really offer, especially after that recent mission into the cave. He doesn't talk a lot, and he seems to have not been eating a lot. He's tired. He still keeps on working.

"Glad my analysis of the area they're most often attacking was reasonably accurate," Shiruba's voice comes from the rooftop where she's been sitting on watch. "Made it easier to learn when this was happening and respond." Even now she's scribbling on a map, though this is a smaller one where she's been drawing out the boundries of the town. Unlike the first time she on the defense lines, she's come with a plan as well as persistance.

    The Baroness is, oddly enough, free to actually get 'kinetic' with some enemies. Today, The Right Clothes today are a mix of formal and straight-to-the-point functional. It's well-made, but form-fitting, with a dress slit on the sides and a long sleeve top, all of midnight blue.

    Her arrival is the norm. She simply strides out of a shadow. Sliding into a graceful curtsey, she says, "Amelia! Thank you for the invite. I hope you are doing well." Looking around, she adds, "Apologies, I am Baroness Wake. It's a pleasure to be working with all of you."

     One hand in his pocket. A smile on his thin, handsome face. He's pretty, in the way that an Isekai Protagonist is pretty - that sort of broad appeal to everybody, a mop of messy brown hair that just won't stay down, a pair of glasses that broaden him from 'hot-blooded dorkass hero' to 'hotblooded dorkass hero who also hits the older lady appeal spectrum', thin enough to look a little lanky and tall enough to be reliable but not threatening. His visible hand is scarred over, though, as if he's been hitting a wall for a very long time. Maybe he has.

     He needed to vent tonight.

     He's only barely listening to the plan. He's listening, but only just. His eyes are fixated on a point in the distance. He's looking at something else - something that has no bearing on the immediate area around him. He's seeing something that nobody else is.

     'Sorry I'm late, Hayate.'

     In his pocket, his fingers tighten, though the hand outside remains relaxed, and there's not a hint of emotion on his face besides that smile.

     He doesn't say anything besides his usual introduction. It's upbeat, as ever.

     "Hey there. I'm Shin Heno."

     "I'm a Hero of Justice."

    Miyako turns up, her guitar slung over her back as she wanders in. "H'lo all, hope you're having fun," she calls with a thin smile. "Misha-chan at the Guild mentioned that folks were still having issues with undead out here, so I figured I'd drop by and see what was up."

    She nods to Shin Heno with a tight little chuckle. "Ah, good, all is well, then."

    Waving casually to the 'hero', she steps over to join Baroness Wake. "A pleasure to see you again, Neighbor. I hope all is well for you?"

     "It is what it is!" Shin's answer is, as usual, evasively cheerful. He never says much about himself, does he, besides that line.

Gwen had come better prepared this time, she was packing various support supplies, some extra coin and was better aware of the undead's habits at this point. Gwen is looking pretty intense today she seme to be taking this utterly seriously as she listens to Amalthea.

"Right I also drafted an evacuation plan in the event we're over run."

She notes she looks to Shin, the simple phrase he says makes her smile.

"Glad to have someone like you here. We're going to need everything we can muster."

She looks to Shiruba for a moment and nods for a moment.

"Right I know what my role is, Amalthea."

    "Merek." Amalthea's greeting is simple as the man gets to work right away, her attention shifting. She looks almost as tired as he does.
    "A hero of justice, eh?" Amalthea muses, regarding Shin as everyone readies up and prepares to get underway. "Right now what these Landers need are heroes. So I guess that's us."
    Nevertheless, Amalthea nods once. "I'm doing well enough, Wake, but this isn't about me today." She says looking over Shiruba's map, patting the spell archer on the shoulder.
    She and Gwen have proven time and time again to be reliable in situations like these.
    "What's up" She replies to Miyako, "is we're going to have to scrounge for supplies. Everyone look for anything we can use to start making those barricades, on the double."

    Miyako nods to Amalthea. "No problem. We just need some of them to step up and be heroes, too." She smiles and walks off towards one of the barns.

    "Excuse me, sir, I'm sorry to interrupt. I know you're worried for your family. We're going to do our best to protect you here..." She smiles softly, putting on a proud face for him. "We do need some supplies to build a barricade, though. We'll be glad to compensate you, but we need any lumber or wire or the like you may have."

    Several minutes and a bit of haggling later, as she presses rather more coin on the man than he'd asked, she's walking away with a good stack of lumber and a coil of chicken wire to contribute to barricade-building.

     "That's me," Shin says.

     He heads off to go find some stuff to use for the defense. But, unsurprisingly, well...he's not finding anything right now. Can't imagine why.

     Not, again, that it's evident on his face. He just says, when he gets back, "This really isn't something I've got any experience with, so I can't really tell what might be useful or not." He dumps a load of stuff on the table - sorting through it would probably take longer than they've got.

    Merek walks along to a few of the Merchants within the village, "Would you be willing to offer a few supplies for coin?" he asks, offering that. He does manage well enough while he nods a bit, then offers a little smile. The man works on negotiation and takes a bit of the time to get to know people.

    Wake nods to Miyako, "I'm doing well, thank you." She notes the guitar and adds softly, "I have some questions about where you acquired your instrument. I'm in need of one of those as a gift for my fiance, and seeking a craftsman capable of making it. But it seems it's time to get to work, first."

    No time a story, sadly. Instead, she's off to negotiate. She's quick to the point, and returns with a rather shoddy cart. With a bit of bracing, it will do its job of taking up space for them.

    

The pat on the shoulder gets a brief tail wag from the wolven cait sith, but Shiruba isn't one to let the gratitude distract her. She lays the map out, using a few rocks to hold it open. "The barricades should be placed to keep the enemy from running straight for us and the town. That is the best way to keep from getting overrun by their numbers alone."

With that said she turns and walks into the settlement. This is one of those times where the mercantile graces and shrewdness of a cait sith do come in handy, and eventually she returns with a lighter coinpurse but an armload of tools to use. "This time I made sure to get a few shovels so we can dig the supports in and make the obstacles harder to simply plow over. Maybe even dig a pit or two for them to stumble in while focused on bumrushing us."

Gwen nods to Shin as he heads off, she knows what she's going to do. she's going to start haggling with the local merchants for supplies. She would pitch these items and material are being used to help defend both the people and their property. She's able to make a deal with a local lumber mill here to get the materials at cost. She doesn't push is farther understanding they need to think about the future and they were willing to cut her a deal she would get the supplies delivered as soon as possible.

    Everyone breaks off to see about finding supplies, with Merek, Wake, Miyako and Amalthea going from craftsman to craftsman in town to see what they can spare, while Gwen and Shiruba see what they can buy off the Landers. Even some of what Shin scrounges up can be useful, but now for the hard part... Building it all up.
    Amalthea is going over Shiruba's map once more and marking off the spots where she wants fortifications built but... The people of the village seem hesitant to leave the safety of their homes to help with any actual work.
    Night approaches... And they are rightly afraid to want to remain hidden in place.
    "Alright. It's about time we started on the defenses. What can we get?" Amalthea asks as she plucks up a hammer and readies herself for work.

     Again, Shin just *isn't* very useful at this task. He's got the hammer, he's got the nails - he can do the very most bare-bone basics (he's not a completely incompetent human being; he's probably put up a painting before or something), but this requires a *bit* more than that to be sturdy and functional, to be able to do what it's supposed to do.

     But that's fine, this really isn't where he shines anyway.

    It seems, oddly, that yet more talking is needed. "You know, it's refreshing to use persuasion this much in a duty." And it is something that Wake is quite good at. So she sets out, knocking on a few doors to get help. She has a cart to turn into a barricade and someone has to help her.

    She's able to coax a few landers out of hiding, and under her watchful eye they set to work, using the raw materials the party has gathered to throw together a pretty effective barricade. Sure, it won't stop an army, but mindless undead are likely to struggle quite a while getting past it. Especially if Wake is there to reduce them to well-pummeled dust.

As the questions of what the build and how start Shiruba just smirks a little to herself. Because it's about the same time that several young strong looking farmhands walk up behind her. Someone was thinking ahead while she was in town.
"We don't know anything about fighting." "But we know lots about building grunty corals and cluck-cluck coops." "And building looks like what you brave folk need right now."
"For the right price of course," adds the one gal with them, winking at Shiruba as she walks over to give Shin a hand.

"Just got to know your demographic," Shiruba comments with a few wags of her tail. "Getting to know a region is also getting to know how the people work and live there." Most of what she's paid for stuff is probably going to go to rebuilding afterwards, so it's all too a good effort in the end.

    Merek does not really treat the Landers like Landers, the man sees them as people like himself, then he begins to stand up amidst the middle of the city. "Listen to me, people! I am from the Guild of Grandeur, you may call me Merek." The man is tired, but some things are more important, he then waits, "We have undead forces that will be coming to this city. We know you want to hide, we understand. Still, we want you to take the time to build with us! For your family, for the village. We will do what we can to protect you," he lifts up the gloved hand of his, "Come together!" He then nods, while he begins to get back to doing the defense.

    Miyako smiles lightly to Wake. "Oh, yes," she agrees. "To borrow a line, always better to jaw, jaw, than war, war." And she isn't much of a carpenter, so she's off to round up some help to build the defenses.

    Most of the locals seem unreceptive to her coaxing, however, those willing to work already following other adventurers who had the same idea. "Okay," she tells the last to decline. "We'll do all we can. Just... be ready to evacuate, just in case."

WIth the supplies in hand? Gwen will be getting to work to hiring some work crews to help, she manages to hire some of the people from the lumber yard.

"You won't be asked to fight, but we'll need to get moving now we won't have long to set up the defences." With that she'll lead them and get to work, with them on it. After all in the end sometimes money talks best, right?

    Shin and Amalthea have the basics of building down. But it's not until the others all manage to convince the landers that any real building gets done. Be it by paying for their services, or empassioned entreaties like Merek's the group swiftly erects a passable series of defenses before nightfall.
    But night does eventually fall.
    And with night coming on and the moon rising in the sky, the fog rolls in... Thick and unnatural, it seems to make the darkness even worse as it chokes off visibility. This is it.
    The Landers return to their homes, and quickly, the locking of doors sounds off, heralding a chorus of windows shuttering loudly as Amalthea takes to the fore of the defenses.
    "Gwen. Shin. You're with me up front. We're the first line. Merek, Shiruba, Miyako, Wake. You are the second line. Nothing gets past you, is that understood?" She says before drawing a slow breath. "In the event something does get past, Wake, you're probably the fastest one among us so we'll be counting on you to begin the evacuation plan. But let's not let that happen." She says turning and squinting into the gloom.
    "Alright. Let's get some lights. We don't want to be fighting in the dark, and it's going to be a long night."

    Miyako nods. She's rarely comfortable taking charge in some sort of strategic issue. (Okay, it's more an aversion to responsibility, but still.) "Alright. Let's see what we can do about lights."

    She walks along the perimeter fence, pausing about every ten to fifteen feet to scribe a few runes in the wood with a dagger. She retraces them with her finger, channeling magic into it, and an orb of light blooms above it, shedding light over the area.

    Merek looks then to Amalthea, and nods a bit, "Of course," he notes, then he takes a moment lifting the hand while he swings a fist into the ground. Flame would begin to shimmer along while it dances upon the field, creating a light, as well as making the place a field of flame for the enemies trying to get by.

     Shin whistles cheerfully at the 'you're up front'. It's a 'got it' sort of whistle, a good-natured wordless 'yep' as he heads up to stand next to her. He still hasn't said or done much in the way of, well, anything.

     Finally, he speaks, tilting his head at Amalthea. "You're used to giving orders, huh?"

     It's a completely neutral statement. There's no judgment, nor anger, nor rough 'well fuck your orders!' He's literally just making an observation as he shifts his foot to the left and stomps it once.

     A light rain sweeps away the mist around him. It's a little cold, and it'll probably rain on Amalthea and Gwen's parade, but with the absolute fire everybody else is throwing around it won't matter too much. The steam will wash away the mist nicely.

     "Did you get that way before or after you came in here?"

Of course once it gets dark and the mist starts to lurk towards the town the Landers take the rest of the pavement for their work, wish the Adventurers good luck, and head back into town hoping they will be safe for the night.

Shiruba can strategize and guide, but she's glad Amalthea is here to actually take charge of the matter and put their work to use. "Of course, Obachan Tanku!", the wolfgirl yips, trying to lighten the mood just a little by using her affectionate nickname for the older player.

She's also literally lightening the mood, as she uses her bow to fire several flame embued arrows out into the mist like flares.

    "Don't worry, if things go south, I'll get these Landers to safety." The Baroness looks out at the darkness, and she's none to fond of it. She needs shadows to work with tonight, not just a perfect blanket of darkness. She's no Prophylaxis, but she is capable of using fire to some degree. And as a bonus, she's never burnt a village down by accident.

    Wake's magic is subtle, consisting of tongues of flame that dot the area in front of the tanks, giving not a massive amount of light, but covering a wide range. She looks over at Merek as her work locks into place, a smirk tugging at her lips as she has a strong suspicion of just what is to come.

The work goes well, but soon orders are coming.

"Understood, Amalthea."

Shin alongside her and Amalthea? Good reliable one and all there. She would make ready but as things go on? It comes to the worst part, the waiting game. They have to wait, what was the saying about war? Long periods of boredom followed by short moments of terror.

This would be one of the ... long boring parts. AS she takes the position she'll start using fire magic to light torches and some brazier set up during the construction.

"So they will hit hard and fast and en-mass when they do, be ready for them to come as a horde. Watch for anything barking orders. If it seems to have a mind of its own you should want to take those out fast."

    Amalhea can't help but chuckle at Shiruba's nickname, the corner's of her lips briefly tugging into a warm smile. But it doesn't last long as she readies herself for the gloom of the night, crystal blue eyes falling half-lidded.
    "After, funny enough." She replies to Shin. "Before all this craziness... I was an accountant. A retired accountant, at that." She says, showing no displeasure as the cool rain patters off her pauldron and starts to soak into her surcoat. A little cold water never killed anyone and it's clearing up some of the mist, so she's not going to complain about it as the group quickly starts shooting flaming arrows ahead, light the field entirely ablaze, and start smaller fires to brighten the night.
    "Gwen's right. If you see anything that seems intelligent, kill it hard, kill it fast. They're going to send the cannon fodder first. Usually ghouls or skeletons, to try and wear us down. Don't go all out on them, save your big steam for the second wave. They may employ long ranged tactics to try and wear us down as well, so watch your heads and your HP." She says, drawing her blade and scraping it on the ground to kick up a spark, sword catching into a blazing fire in an instant as she does.
    The night begins to pass... Slowly, inexorably, the moon crawls across the sky as wind howls through the trees and rustles he branches... Before the first skeleton emerges. Wielding a sword and a shield, it's joined by more of its kind as they rattle and clatter their way in a charge across the field.
    "And here's the first wave! Remember, hold your steam!"

    Merek looks to the bone warriors that come with the first wave, then he takes a moment to draw his weapon forward. While he waits along the back line to protect the city, he sweeps up the weapon then a whole wave of Frost Shock, that magic beginning to shimmer along into the enemies while it freezes their armor, then it shocks the enemies.

     "An accountant, huh? You don't seem like it." Shin laughs, an easy, cheerful, good-natured laugh. One hand goes back into his pocket as they wait. "And you don't seem the type to retire, either. I mean, I've known you for all of an hour, though. What do I know?"

     Ah, there we go. This is what he's here for. This is why he came out tonight. This is what he's been waiting for.

     He holds up something in his right, waving it slightly. It's...a stone hunk? With a red jewel on the center? No...as he slaps it on his waist, it grows a belt around him. It's a belt buckle.

     His left hand goes up at twelve o'clock. His right hand at nine. They rotate around, until his right hand is at eleven and his left hand is at seven.

                                 "Transform."                                

     His right hand snaps across the belt buckle.

                        0 01 0
                      1 /----\ 0
                     0 /      \ 0
   ARMOR BEETLE    ====|  /\  |====  CODE: ALGOL
DEFENSE OF DESTINY ====|  \/  |====    COMPILE
                     0 \      / 1
                      1 \----/ 1
                        0 10 0

     Light.

     A constellation. A constellation writes itself across his body. At its center - at the belt - is a red star. The red light spreads through the lines of the constellation. Each new star it touches turns red. The light walks into the wave of skeletons as the last star turns red.

     There's a burst of light.

     What emerges from the light is not Shin anymore. Gone is the goofy smile. Gone is the handsome face. Gone are the smart glasses, gone the mess of hair. The white scarf is the only thing that remains - and it has turned a blood-soaked red.

     What emerges from the light is a humanoid beetle. Red eyes catch the light as one hand grabs an undead and punches straight through its chest. Black chitin shimmers in the flickering flames. Mandible-blades extend from the arms and the legs, driven clean through the skeletons.

     The black-armored beetle man takes a stance. One finger comes up.

     "Masked Ranger, Algol."

     "The Demon Star will light your way back to Hell."

     Fingers flick across the belt buckle. It turns green. The buckle sings,
                                CODE: THORN                                 !

     And the green light spreads from the belt down his leg in a circuit pattern. His foot comes stamping down hard on the ground.

     The explosion of thorns has little effect. They catch a few of the skeletons - but the thorns largely stick through empty sockets, and the skeletons have no problem climbing through them, or tearing themselves off. Without flesh to hook onto the thorns don't hook all that well.

    Wake knows she's supposed to linger in the back, but she's not going to be using bows any time soon. Range isn't her thing. So instead, she'll slip out of the shadows right near the front lines, and in a flurry of kicks and open hand strikes she proceeds to grind the enemy to dust.

    It isn't long before she's laughing, rather enjoying this experience. "Don't worry, Amelia!" she calls out. "This is just a warm-up."

    When the enemy finally breaks (literally), she's withdraws behind the tanks once more. Or at least she might be back there. She's wrapped herself in darkness and silence, waiting for the next threat to manifest.

"This time we'll be ready for the ranged support," Shiruba murmurs softly. That's what got them when this whole fiasco started, unexpected advanced tactics and military formations. But not this time.

Sure enough, they send out a wave of frontline soldiers, abiet these being skeletons armored and shielded. Piercing won't do much against bones and armor with gaps between. But it doesn't deter Shiruba any, as she was prepared. She draws one of her special arrows, and as she pulls it back in her bow there's an audible hiss of air moving rapidly as it swirls around notched projectile. Shiruba takes aim, and fires.

Predictably the arrow thunks against a shield.

It's the rush of screaming winds that explode from the projectile at the impact that is the real threat, howling through the ranks of the enemy. Bones are lighter than flesh and meat, and the sudden tumultuous elemental fury tears into them like a tornado through a trailer park.

Gwen looks to Shin and then to Amalthea.

"An accountant? Huh, I wouldn't have figured that. Might need to hire you to look over my books later."

She almost answers about herself but she realizes Shin wasn't talking to her at least she doesn't think so. Gwen has fought these things before and it went badly, but this time? She has learned from the last time and puts it to good use as she will move into the enemy ranks using tanking abilities to draw them in for her allies to fight. Also for those, she can cut down herself, given what these things masters can do? There's a bit of zeal in how Gwen fights. Whatever is behind this undead army needs to be hunted down."

    An accountant? Miyako shrugs. "I was an IT tech, myself. Helldesk." She provides some quiet musical background while the group waits for the attack, to help keep people from boredom.

    When she sees the first swirls of mist indicating oncoming threats, she slides a hand across her menu, trading off the guitar for her naginata, and gives the polearm a twirl. "Right then, here they come." She snaps her fingers, and the blade is sheathed in shadows, to enhance its effects against the undead. "Come, children of the night. Let us /dance/."

    "I've been mistaken for a librarian." Amalthea notes playfully to both Shin and Gwen as she brings her shield to bear, the old Paladin takes a ready stance, sword resting on the upper lip of her shield as she stares down the approaching skeletons.
    "Accounting is no joke, though. How do think I got this scar?"
    That's enough chatter for now though as the skeletons rush the lines. Amalthea scuffs her boots once as she waits for them to hit the front line; Shin's thorns slowing them down enough for the group to brace while Shiruba peppers them with her magical arrows.
    There is a beat of pause as Shin -transforms-.
    "... Is that some kind of Ultraman thing?"
    Sadly, toku never really hit the states in her time very hard.
    But as the good Baroness says, this is just a warmup, and Merek's frosty assault slows the bones further, allowng for everyone to mop up the bones as they hit the first and seconds lines.
    But just as predicted... That was only a first wave. The second wave emerges soon after, slavering ghouls rushing the lines while skeletal archers try to pepper the adventurers with their arrows.
    "Second wave-- give them everything you've got!"

    Merek looks to the next wave, and with no mana it looks like he will engage with the weapon. With the fighting, he does try although he doesn't do perfectly well.

As the last of the first wave of bones fall Shiruba pauses, then turns and sprints back a few steps, jumps to kick off a tree and land on a rooftop. She knows she's going to need a better vantage point for what's going to come with the next, more fearsome wave. Ghouls rush rampant out of the mist, but those aren't hers to deal with. The Tanks and Beetle Battler will handle that.

She's got her eyes on farther back, where the skeleton archers will march out while expecting the Adventurers to be occupied by the swarm ahead of them. The lead bone archer stops and raises his bow overhead to signal for the others to stop and ready their weapons.
Time seems to stop for a split second as a streak flashes through the air over them, a shot almost too fast to see before the arrow imbeds in the ground behind them.
Followed by the bow dropping.
Then the arm that had been holding it, as the high velocity shot had smashed right through the lead skeleton's shoulder! Rendering him incapable of using his strategic weapon.

Several more such shots follow, as fast and furious as bolts from a thunderstorm, as Shiruba aims to break bows and boney limbs to nullify the enemy's support fire.

     'Algol' doesn't answer. People used to 'Algol' know he doesn't talk much when he's fighting, short of his intro line - he's extremely focused. As Shin he's kind of got that unfocused Isekai Protagonist Energy. As 'Algol' he's a gunshot. Straight ahead with no deviance whatsoever.

     The second wave emerges. By this time 'Algol' has some red lines across his body. He explodes into sparks whenever he's struck. It's easy to see how much damage he's taking by the number of sparks flying about.

     His Code: Thorn may have failed, but his fists don't. He smashes through a skeleton's entire skull with one hand. Fragments rain onto the next skeleton as he swings the skull like a bludgeon. His foot sweeps out under another to kick it into the way of Miyako's naginata. A backhanded blow shoves a skeleton into the path of some of Shiruba's arrows. A shove in the middle of an attack hammers a skeleton into Wake's attack pattern. A whirling kick pushes some of them into the freezing path of Merek's ice blast. He slips around Gwen to elbow something into her path.

     Shin fights like he's playing around. 'Algol' fights like he's a machine. Every blow is meant to amplify the team's own successes.

     The second wave.

     Again, 'Algol' moves right into the thick of it. Toku sparks fly as he's struck. He weaves in and out of the ghouls, knees and elbows and punches and headbutts, a storm of weaponless energy. When he's got a moment of clearing, however...

     'Algol's hand slams onto the top of the belt. The red jewel lights up. He keeps hammering on the belt, over and over; red light starts spreading to his leg in the same circuit pattern as he leans back on one leg.

     The more he hammers the belt, the brighter the pattern.

     Finally, he slaps his hand across it. The belt sings out.

                               CODE: BREAKER                                

     'Algol' leaps. It's a very high leap. His arms spread as he flips forward. His feet are a blazing red. As he comes down, his foot sweeps out in a kick.

     The kick plows directly into the horde. It leaves a trail of red starlight behind, digging into the ground behind him. For a brief instant 'Algol' is a shooting star coming to earth. A trench of land is carved away. Ghouls go flying, exploding into bursts.

     He comes out the other side of the horde. One hand steadies him on the ground. His legs are spread. His free hand comes up.

     Snap.

     Explosions burst through the field as the ghouls he struck directly fall over dramatically and die in Proper Toku Fashion. 'Algol' stands, his scarf blowing around him, tilting his head backwards at the horde he just cut a giant swath through.

    The Baroness waits and watches the enemy's strategy play out. It's a pretty decent approach, of course. Throw a bunch of grunts up front with archers at the back, mass volley, the usual thing one would see in medieval warfare pretty much throughout the world. While it is effective, it's really dependent on a non-mobile opponent. Also, it's clear very early on that the bones are filtering forward as the frontline thins.

    With that in mind, Wake focuses on an all-out attack. When she's got the will, she can still pull a few moments of sheer brutality out of her bag of tricks. The best part is, there's no moral ambiguity here!

    Bodies are broken, withered skulls are crushed, and as the frontline is shattered, the archers have to come forward to avoid being utterly overrun, and as they do, they are all within easy reach of the tanks that Wake ducks behind just as her MP starts to tick a bit low.

"I should tell you what I used to do if we live through this, You will have to share the story with me on this."

She grins. "Shin's a superhero it seems."

Then comes to the second wave and it's time to five into it. Gwen will go to where seemingly the thickest, with that she goes. Gwen then triggers it.

"ANCHOR HOWL! SHIRUBA SNIPE THEM!"

She calls out as the green wind and energy flows off and the undead pile on to Gwen and she gives them pain in return if they can still feel it.

"Don't let any one of them through!"

    Miyako leaps about the battlefield, her naginata trailing a wake of shadows behind her as she twirls it in her hands, slicing up one undead after another. She actually laughs for a moment, leaving a trail of pixellated dissolving remains behind her.

    "Come and play, then!" she calls, as she leads them back towards the walls, "We've got plenty of ways for you to die!"

    Reaching the wall, she leaps atop it and turns, looking out over the field. Ah-ha! There they are, the skeletal archers. Right then. Time for more fun.

    "Oh, the weather outside is frightful," she sings as she inscribes a new set of runes. "But the fire inside's delightful, so since we've no place to go..."

    And then, with each repitition of the final line, a new burst of icy spikes rains down from the heavens at impressive speeds to smash into the undead.

    "Let it snow... Let it snow... Let it snow."

    Everyone fights, and everyone fights hard. It's all Amalthea could have asked for as Shin-- no, Algol rushes the assaulting force and starts a swathe of all out decimation. His fighting fury could serve as an inspiration to all as he takes that gallant leap into the air and comes down in a blazing kick of stardust, heralding doom as he lands knee deep in the dead.
    Merek, blade in hand, fends off a cluster of ghouls, while the good Baroness unleashes her own destruction with grace, finesse, and brutal efficiency.
    And then. Then Shiruba happens.
    It's as the skeletal archers are readying for a volley, drawing back their bowstrings with a slow creak in unison that... Their volley never comes. Payback is the ultimate bitch, and the magical archer unleashes a volley of her own that effortlessly snipes each and every one of the archers in a hailstorm of deadly reprisal. Miyako is no slouch either; naginata flashing deadly in her grasp before she traces new runes that calls down those deadly shards of ice to finish off the archers where they stand.
    It's a long, harrowing battle, but the sun is beginning to rise on the horizon... And then...
    Amalthea is right next to Gwen in the chaos.

    "ANCHOR HOWL!"

    Such is the old Paladin's own declaration as the two share a massive amount of aggro, holding the front lines and not allowing anything past them until the last of the undead is little more thana dissolving putter of red pixels.
    A slow breath and Amalthea embeds the point of her sword in the ground as the village elder peeks out of his house.
    "That's the last of them." She mulls for a beat amid the Lander's words of praise and thanks and the other villagers begin to emerge and start thanking each Adventurer in turn for their noble efforts in protecting the town.

     The last of the undead falls. 'Algol's blazing red eyes dim as the fire of combat does the same. His hands go to the belt and snap it from alternate angles. The belt pops open with a last tone.

                                END OF LINE!                                

     'Algol's armor flakes away into green 1s and 0s. Shin is left behind, standing there, a dumb grin on his face.

     He walks back over to the party and winks at Wake, Shiruba, and Amalthea - the people who haven't met him before. The Isekai Protagonist Energy is back. Like he just...flips a switch and goes from 'kinda dorky cute guy' to 'Kamen Rider' to 'kinda dorky cute guy' with nothing in between.

     "So that was fun! Nice getting out of the hall." Shin straightens up and stretches, hands above his back. "Kinda wanna go do something else, really! I'm all fired up now!"

     "Or maybe just go get something to eat. Anybody wanna go get something to eat?"

"And that is the -true- strength of an Adventurer," Shiruba remarks as she finally lowers her bow after the last shot, by this point just plain arrows as she's burned most of her MP, as been fired and the last of the undead are now redead. "Sometimes even we don't always win... but when we do lose, we get up, we learn, and we come back even stronger than before to set it right!"

Followed by a pause, and then a long sigh as she realizes just how tired she feels once the adrenaline has started to run off. She hops down from the rooftop perch and trots back over to the rest of the group admist the emerging Landers and their accolades. Though her eyes are on Shin for a moment now that she's got a chance to actually appreciate what had just been happening. "I don't know how you recreated that style of hero, but that was -awesome-."

     "I don't wanna ruin the magic!" Shin replies to Shiruba cheerfully. "If I told you how it worked, then you wouldn't think 'wow, that's amazing,' you'd know the trick and it'd be boring, right?"

    Merek would look along to the field while they won, then he nods a bit, sheathing the weapon. "Alright, thank you." The man nods to the people, while he makes a way along, waving to people.

    Miyako stands there perched on the wall, watching the ice-shards rain down on the undead, a little smile on her face as the carnage concludes.

    "Well," she says, turning to hop down and join the others. "That went /much/ better than the last time."

    A look is cast over at Shin Heno and she chuckles lightly. "Oh, I can explain it," she assures him and his questioner. "It's ..."

    She leans close to stage-whisper to Shiruba, "... a secret."

    When the battle is clear, Wake lets out a soft sigh. She doesn't say it, but there's a sense of 'play time being over' in the her expression and posture. It's communicated in a straightening of the spine, her smile shifting from one of amusement to something more calm, more practiced.

    "I wonder how many are left now," she says to Amalthea. "I think it's time I directly get my eyes on just what these armies have left in their ranks and where there leaders are now." Not to mention determining just what they are up to.

    "But I can't get too far ahead just yet. That was a perfectly executed battle! Well done everyone, and thank you, Amelia, for taking the lead." Barones Wake looks towards Shin, "And you are a very interesting man with a most remarkable style. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance."

Gwen does not relent as the undead come agians her they are the wave and she is the shore. While the sea will break the shore in the end? This storm does not have enough to break her, air and fire magic are mixed into her normal physical attacks as she seeks to cut the attacking forcing down. If they can influct heavy losses without them getting anyone to covert. They will deny them troop replenishment it would be an added bonus. When all is said and done, they seem to find that they have kept them from the villiage, and she laughs.

"We don't stay down, we get back up and take another swing, again and again."

She grins at Shiruba for a moment.

"I know right? Shin you really put your money where your mouth is today. I have no doubts about what you say you are."

"There are more Baroness but we prevented them from turning the villagers as replacement troops, this should hurt them, we need to keep it up."

Shiruba laughs. She perks an ear at Miyako.. only for her to say it's a secret anyways. "Ahaha, okay, you guys win. No revealing trade secrets." That's only fair.

Shiruba puts her bow away, and pulls out her map of the Ninetails Dominion region, and a quill to mark it. Fortunatelly this spot gets a X, which are starting to outnumber the X ones.

She then holds it over to Wake to see. "See? It's like I said, they've been focusing a lot on this farming dedicated area. If you want to search for intel, this and the nearby areas would be the most likely to observe them, if you can get by the mists." She frowns briefly. "Still haven't been able to pin down where they're basing out of though," she mumbles.

    Plucking her sword from the ground and slipping it back into the scabbard, Amalthea can't help but smile as the mists give way to a brand new day.
    "You all did very well. I'm proud to say I fought beside you all tonight." She says before stretching her arms over her head.
    "I could very much go for something to eat." She decides, before glancing over at Shiruba's map once again, nodding approvingly at the increasing amoung of green ticks over red. That's a good sign at least. "Do what you can to find out their numbers, Baroness. You know where to find me for when the next village needs defending."

     He scratches the back of his head. A blush joins his dumb Isekai Protagonist grin at Wake and Shiruba and Miyako. "Ha, ha. Thanks. I don't feel like I earned that kind of praise from such beautiful women, but hey."

     Shiruba takes out a map. Shin peeks over her shoulder (he's quite tall) to look down at it.

     "Huh," he says, "So they're just coming out of the mist, right? What kind of base would they even have? Do they have, like, a boss skeleton or something? Like a...a big skeleton?"

     A beat.

     "I'm kinda new at the whole video game thing," he says.

     The hand in his pocket relaxes. The awkward flirtation, the outright violence, the transformation...yeah. He feels better, now.

     He feels a lot better now.

     Weird, how relaxing just falling into the role o Shin Heno is.

"There's a castle, that was likely once the center of the Kingdom Helena and her husband the King ruled in the past," Shiruba explains to Shin. "But the times we were there, it was by a mysterious portal, so we don't know where it is actually located, other than near a coast. I've been trying to triangulate from sightings to get around the mist issue.. But no luck so far. I'm starting to think they may have a hidden base camp somewhere nearby, and that is throwing off the attempts at calculation."

Gwen looks to Shin for a moment and grins a bit.

"You'd have fooled me but glad to have you here again Shin. So now this is over lets see what I can find I'm going to make us all dinner with no fashion involved."

She notes as she looks over to Shiruba and then to Amalthea.