Wave of Calamity: 5

The sky is blood red over Alne. Lightning is constantly being sent down, hitting the sides of the enormous pale tree that wraps around and makes up Aincrad Tower. The blue-purple swirls amidst the crimson spiral loomingly, confirming the centre of this Wave truly being Alne proper. Nobody inside of the tower has noted any reactions from the animals. But some of those with Spyglasses have noticed some 'changes' or 'activity' about the tower itself.

A violent torrent of lightning strikes against the Plaza, right near the beautiful statue of the Burning One, though the lightning almost seems to avoid the statue itself. It's but one of the impacts amongst many in the past few hours. Most people have been remaining inside. Previous Waves haven't had this kind of strange reaction.

The occassional reaction can be seen from some of the mages positioned near Plant Hwyaden and the Scale Emblem Alliance's headquarters, ensuring that the lightning doesn't cause any significant harm to their locations. Most of the Landers have either gone into the basement levels, or have moved out to Carmina Gadelica, and a significant portion of the newbie population has similarly gone into the basement level of Alne.

Most alliances have at least someone ensuring they have a countdown as it appears on the Hourglass at this time. A few Arbalests have been positioned on some of the flatter roofs of Alne at higher positions, ready to deal with larger monsters. Nobody truly knows what is going to happen when a Wave hits. There's speculations they might see Heroes from another world... others are expecting a massive wave of Goblins... but those never seemed to come out of nowhere.

The Plaza team is just one of many teams positioned all over Alne to deal with what is to come. The city is far too enormous to cover with just the squad here. But so many Adventurers have made Alne their home, that it is certain that this is the most collected that Adventurers have been in a while, at least in numbers.

There's a quiet that hits when people get the call. The clock has hit zero...

When monsters begin to suddenly descend from the various holes in the air. They are not many. But those present might very recognize them as they do descend. Wreathed in black flame, their white bodies descend towards the roof levels of various Alne Districts. Their enormous, almost fish-ghost shaped bodies with arms enough to alert those present of their power, as if the Orange level danger wasn't enough warning, along with their names:

<< SOUL DEVOURER >>

    Merek looks from that roof which he positions upon, scarf waving in the wind while he takes a look to creatures arriving with the wave. He nods to the people arming that arbalest while he takes a moment to light what looks like a bottle, then he chimlinks to the party. <"All those listening to Raid Chimlink, Waves are dealing with the forces that come from that storm, in addition, you will probably meet people from another world who will try to keep you from fighting. L'arc and Glass. Be prepared!"> He then throws that Alchemist's Fire which begins to explode into the enemies!

ATT SYNE, HERO TO DUCKS was standing by the statue when everything started to go to hell. It's a point of pride, and also, one of personal caution: he made this thing, and he was absolutely willing to sacrifice hit points for its continued survival in the face of some kind of overwhelming danger.

The lightning strikes. Att notes some minor damage from being close, but is otherwise unmoved. He touches two fingers to one ear, a now-partly-habitual motion when talking via chimlink to someone else. "What's the situation on the outskirts?"

One of the mages back at Plant Hwyaden's HQ reports: "Nothing yet. The Eyes are open."

"Cool. Keep me informed. Get ready to-" Att stops. The sky opens. Something comes out of holes in the sky with a danger level that sends a shiver down Att's spine. He raises his hand again as a voice comes over the open line: "We've got visual."

Att points towards the nearest. "Primary target! Fire at will!"

Blasts of magic and ensorcelled arrows fly from upper windows and rooftops. Att joins the barrage on the first and nearest of the Soul Devourers, casting blasts of dark power skyward. Whatever they're using to coordinate isn't immediately obvious, but it's providing targeting angles from all sorts of directions, and the first wave of attacks is just as omnidirectionally inclined.

If this works as well as it seems, Att thinks, it might actually have been worth the headache required to make it happen in the first place.

News of the impending wave had drawn Mikage back to the city of Alne, after many long months away. The Ranger had been spending much of her time tracking the movements of goblins from Shibuya to Mac Anu, but it had been Cyrus who was in the church when the sand began to fall, passing that information almost immediately to her.

In the days since then, she has spent a lot of time around Alne, getting a feel for the best positioning and the weakest defenses. Cyrus had set up in a field hospital somewhere in town, prepared to dedicate himself to support, while Mikage had taken a position here on the front lines.

Despite the lightning that has plagued the area, Mikage has set herself up on a rooftop, her bow held in one hand, her arrow quiver attached to her belt in a ready position for quick ranged attacks. It's a good enough position that she is easily able to spot the familiar look of the descending monsters.

"Not good." She swaps to the raid chimlink, reporting, "Be advised, these spit a dark substance that can taint the ground where it lands. Try to keep them away from open areas with greenery or easy access to water supplies."

Then, standing, she draws out an arrow, tracking one of the monsters as it descends, following the path with the tip of the arrow. Energy surges into the shot as she fires, creating a shockwave behind the arrow's path.

Schneider is one of the ones here on the lookout for the expected monsters. What he's been doing in the meantime is left unsaid, though he's here now and eager to help. This is his first big fight since joining Scale Emblem, and he doesn't want to look like too much of an idiot. Finally, after the waiting and the anticipation and the lightning, the clock hits zero, and enemies show up. Schneider breathes out calmly.

The sorcerer looks on as he sees enemies wreathed in black flame, and he casts, "Tai-to-ro! Blow this enemy away! Anthem!" And upon uttering that last syllable, flame shoots from his outstretched hands to strike the enemy, engulfing them in flames for a moment before the spells fade, leaving them to continue on with fewer HP than they had before.

    Setsuna added a new title to his list of things he was today, he earned the human lightning rod title. Doing his best to pull the lightning down from hitting anything of importance. He had been on one of the many Scale Emblem rotations and waiting for now to happen.
     The quiet was welcomed and at the same time unsettling, and then the devourers come. On some level they are almost cute and another day another time he might even try to capture one. The necromancer suspects though that a certain doctor would throw scalpels at him if he did. So the human lightning rod takes advantage of the highly charged atmosphere as he calls more lightning down onto the soul devourer nearest to him. "So this is it huh? I always thought the waves would be scarier."

"Oh, is it showtime finally?" Kauchemar's demeanor is almost too casual for the stakes at hand. But that is part of the Bard's job, keep the team emotionally focused as well as physically. They don't freak out until you start freaking out. That said she looks up, just to watch the monsters descending for a moment. Then snorts and gives a shake of her head to flick her glamrock bangs out of her face. "So it is. Raise the curtain and give the call, take the stage and give them our all~" Have a little witty battle chant while she's at it.

She follows Att's lead, but rather than strike directly she brings her Binder Shield to bear.. and sends the haunted weapon buzzing towards the ghostly fish-monsters landing in the square. With it's horizontal spin the shield is a hovering dervish, as much an obstacle to the enemy as an attack. "Time to take them for a spin!"

Prophylaxis, Doctor of Tolbana and recent recipient of a successful arm-regrowth treatment (read: a lot of healing spells and a few jugs of potions), stands near the Burning One's statue in the plaza. There's an argument to be made that he aught to be directing the defenses of Castle Reach at the moment, but the good doctor has made it clear that he intends to face the threat he is responsible for head-on this time.

Lightning pours down like rain. Fortunately, standing next to the statue seems to spare him from the worst of it. Good, they'll need their strength for...

Whatever this is. "This isn't normal," he mutters softly, his eyes scanning the churning, angry sky. "Were the clouds /red/ before...? Is this just because of the tower, or... Something else?"

There's too much about these waves that they just don't know. Too much that makes every single push deeper into Aincrad far more risky than it aught to be. If it weren't for these waves, they might have scaled the tower twice as high as they have by now, but...

There's no point in complaining now. The threat is at the gates, metaphorically speaking, and Prophylaxis wonders if they're about to see a deluge of goblins falling from heaven.

They do not.

What descends from on high is much, much worse.

"Don't underestimate these creatures, Setsuna," Prophylaxis scolds, a halo of electricity crackling atop his own staff. With a gesture, he directs a nimbus of blinding light and crackling electricity directly into the eyeballs of a nearby Soul Devourer. "Their difficulty rating alone should tell you enough about what kind of threat they pose. Stay on your guard, and prepare for the worst."

Whiskey Sour, out and about near the Alne Square center with her hood down and bunched like a scarf around her neck and a dead tired look dragging down her eyelids, observes the following, gormlessly staring at the sky.

"Well that doesn't look good."
SUMMARY, ft GHOST FLEXFISH: It wasn't.

But instead of standing there like an idiot, there's a sharp callout from a local raid leader.

'Primary Target! Fire at will!'

The involuntary parts of the brain, which largely handle survival instincts, decide that groceries have lost in lizard priority to DPS.

Swinging the bag under an arm, Whis starts dashing towards Att while hurling spears of water back at the called target.

"ATT! ATTTTTTT-SEMPAI I FORGOT WHAT TIME IT WAS!"

She may be crying while running, you can't be sure. No, actually, you're definitely sure.

Yobi was actually shopping for supplies to stock up the pantry for his duck pond guild.  It had been an entertaining day, up until the storm really started to get going.  Looking up, there was no way this could be mistaken for a normal storm.  

"Hm...you should take the supplies back to the manor, and then get into the lower levels for safety," he speaks to a maid that was helping him with the supplies, placing what he was carrying into her basket.  "Make sure nobody dallies either.  Att has put out a call to arms.." he says and starts walking towards the center square.  

Gloves are taken off immediately and reveal the claw-like features of the Salamander.  The older looking model walks with purpose, eventually leaping onto a roof as he closed the distance. With the reveal of the monsters and the sky darkening fully in an unnatural sense, he frowns.  

A flicker of movement later, barely noticeable and he is behind one of the Soul Eaters.  Hands catching on fire as he drives them towards the center of mass of the creature, aiming to try and steal its height advantage and send it onto the earth.

"My, how rude of you to show up and ruin a perfectly good day like this," he comments, his eyes fully opening in vorpal grandpa indignation.

Proteus barely had time to recover from the assault on the Tower before this started. The arrival of the Wave, nevertheless, is not going to be acceptable. Not here. Not now. This is Duck Town and there's little that anyone, raid boss or otherwise, can say about it.

The beginning of this is shown with Att's bombardment. Hopefully, the rest of their efforts will follow through. "We can't let them show us up." She says, looking up from the HQ, before she glances in Mikage's direction. "That's a problem." Proteus states. "There's a huge water supply right under Alne. If it can taint that..." She frowns. "It'll be something of a disaster. More than you know."

She turns back to the enemies, and clenches her hands. Att's selected the primary target and Proteus nods. "Right. Let's do this by the book." ( U

A beam of purple energy coalesces in her hand and lances towards the Soul Devourer. "... The fact that we're getting creatures like this makes me consider something..." She asides to no one in particular.

Estelle is... not entirely sure she wants to be here. But there's a potential for insight into some of her current topics of interest and investigations - and, whatever happens, it will change this world. Part of her just wants to witness that, but she can't stand by and do nothing. So here she is, having taken a position on one of the roofs with her silver wand in hand. She looks out over it all, considering everything prepared ahead of time; all the potential concentrated in one place.

She doesn't need to consult the Stars to know that this is a turning point. The lightning and crimson clouds tell her enough.

And then the Ways open, and foes come forth. She stares up at them with her silver eyes, her tails dancing in nervous terror behind her, her ears pulled flat. But she takes a deep breath, grips her wand tightly, and /breathes/. Whatever their origin, they can succeed here. She has to believe it, and to etch that belief into the world with her will and actions. And so she raises her wand, and begins her work.

"Corona Borealis, borne by the Princess of the North, your glacial winds I do call forth. Bring along a blizzard's ice, paying forth the tundra's price." She chants, swirling her wand to gather a ball of frigid wind and ice, shot through with glimmers of starlight. Then she makes a swinging motion with the focus - and it lashes out as a spike of chilling malice, slamming into the closer of the two and trying to pry apart its flesh to open the way for other blows.

There are no witty one liners or banter from the vixen; she's entirely in serious mode, watching reactions and studying the flow of both engagements from her vantage point.

Kaydon has been preparing for the attack since the hourglass appeared. After all, once they learned that the tower levels being cleared was causing these to happen, Kaydon swore that he'd never do another one of those tower runs again.

He's just finished sharpening his blade when the clock his zero. Things are about to get crazy, once again. Hopefully this will go better than the last wave. At least they've had more time to prepare, but there's no telling where these will pop up until it's too late.

When the Soul Devouerers emerge from their portals, Kaydon is quick to move, picking one of the targets that just emerged. With his blade already drawn it was easy enough to cross the distance between himself and the calamity boss. Kaydon jumps up to plant a foot on one of the stalls that's been abandoned by a Lander in the wake of the evacuation, and launches himself off of it in order to drop down on top of the Soul Eater with a massive blow from the base of his sword.

Gwen had been home when this was all going down, she'd been making new swimsuits for sale given the summer rush for them. She also knew what was coming too. She'd warned her Uther and Morri to go help where they could as she was heading to the frontline. She knew what she had to so and Gwen was getting sick of this other world's shit. She will be waiting in one of the more open areas of the town when the attack comes she lets out a call.

"You want some? Then come get it."

Also Gwen's accent has gone full Texan right now, She's not even noticed. So she's in the Palaz and will find that the second soul eater has gained her attention.

She chants as pell as she's yet to run into melee but she's working on trying to do that, but for the moment.

"ZAP"

She raises one hand letting a bolt of magic fly at the Soul Eater as she attempts to get it's attention. Oh dear god, she has to tank one of the few things that might be able to kill her for good.

         Sunshine - Charlatan

     A pair of leather boots touch down beside Att. The rustle of a guitar strap against a jerkin. Long blonde hair flowing in the wind, his clothes buffeted slightly by the passing of so many magical and physical projectiles all around, Sunshine has scarcely landed before he makes his contribution to the fight. With a polished bottleneck slapped around his pinky, the bard's fingers move dextrously across the neck of his resonator guitar, pinky bending the notes into bluesy twangs as he calls forth old hurts from within to oppress the next closest Eater.

     The air distorts from the head of the guitar, and twin orbs of darkness sail through the air to try and blind the ghostly attackers.

    Two days... just getting back down to the surface took longer than travelling between two cities. And once down here, Mizuki ended up helping those townsfolk who wished to evacuate to Tolbana. At least it was something to do. This isn't a game -- in some ways -- and she needed to physically be here for this event. Not like just having to sit in front of the computer and be ready to run a game, but actually be in the right place, travelling physically, and that means leaving some buffer time and getting there early.

    And getting there early means time with nothing to do but wait. No Nintendo DS to kill time with, not even a book to read. Just waiting. Thinking. People discuss rumors. What monsters will show up, how they'll appear, how they'll target the tower, the mysterious otherworldly heroes... the tense and the frightened have nothing to do but spiral.

    At least when PORTALS OPEN EVERYWHERE AND MONSTERS DROP OUT, there's no more wondering. Even if they look creepy and remind her of the fight she died in, it's something to fight.

    But... perhaps instead of charging in, she'll hold back and open with ranged attacks, and see how these monsters behave. She calls up a frost bolt, a series of icecicles conjuring over her head and flinging them at the nearest monster. Why frost bolt? For some reason, despite being a fire tiger, she apparently has an innate talent for it that makes it her strongest and easiest-to-use element!

As the Soul Eaters descend upon the region, magical blasts are unleashed all throughout Alne. Amidst the storm, it is easy to see all the fire, arcane, ice, lightning... all the magic being unleashed on the Soul Devourers' positions. There's the occassional light signal using the occassional mage, indicating process throughout the city that the Raid Leaders are able to keep track of.

But those present who were at the last Wave of Calamity may notice that these Soul Devourers are not taking damage as easily as last time! Amidst the second wave of attacks, Merek's bottle hits one of the two Soul Eaters who'd gotten closest to the Plaza, approaching from the east. Slowly floating down to surface level in order to get close to the various Adventurers present. Att Syne joins in amidst the first assault, blasts coming in from all sides, dropping the heal of the Soul Eater a bit faster.

Mikage gives a well served alarm of what these things are capable of. Those who have been in Eastal to deal with the decaying forest will no doubt know the kind of damage that even a single Soul Eater can do. Luckily, Alne is not known for being particularly filled with a lot of greenery, though it has plenty of water sources.

The tip of Mikage's arrow spears through the enemy, creating a red 'gash' through its body, but it keeps descending almost as if it was unable to flinch. No doubt some kind of status buff, which is causing a highly dissatisfying sense of 'reaction' from the being. Schneider follows with a blazing descent of magic, amidst Setsuna and Prophylaxis' lightning, causing a coalescing form of magic made of flaming lightning!

When the thing is finally low enough, Kauchemar has her chance to engage with it, slamming her spinning shield into its face and causing it to crash to the ground for a moment! Proteus' magic manages to lance out, piercing one of its eyes, causing it to roar, and the black protective arcane flames it possesses seem to waver for a moment!

The second one, coming from the West, seems to be coming down far faster than the first. Straight for the Hostess of Fertility! Some of Whiskey Sour's splashing spears of water cause this one to angle away from its intended target however! And Yobi Kin's jumping and flaming fist pushes it just far enough off-target that instead, it crashes into the house next door to the Hostess!

Estelle's magic serves to try and freeze it in place to some of the pillars of the house. The pale white stone of the Alne building helping with targetting the thing, what with the overcast situation. There's multiple fire spells going off constantly in order to ensure people are not blinded during the assault from the sheer amount of shadow being cast by the Tower and Clouds above.

Kaydon drops on it, driving their weapon down, pushing it further down into the building. One of the pillars sticking out from its body, the wound constantly aglow. He's forced to jump away as Gwen's lightning comes down, using their blade as a conductor for her magic to send the damage coarsing through its entire body!

Darkness flies out, forking from Sunshine and smash into either side of it, causing its dark arcane shroud to flare for a moment as it begins to suddenly thrash... and begins to glow brightly!

<< SELF DESTRUCT >>

Luckily, there's enough people in the raid aware enough of this kind of standard trigger to call people back in time, as the second 'Soul Devourer' suddenly detonates! One of Mizuki's Frost Bolts seems to delay the reaction just long enough for people to get away...

Before the detonation takes place, in a way that might remind people of some of Prophylaxis' Shaped Fireball attacks... as the detonation is adjusted downwards! Luckily, the Hostess of Fertility building seems to be largely fine, but there's suddenly a large hole in the ground right next to it. And while there is no more second Soul Eater...

A third suddenly seems to break formation from a nearby zone. It 'swims' at high velocity through the sky, right along with the first one, casting some kind of 'heat seeking' Arcane blasts that try to rush for anyone within the plaza - threatening to explode against their bodies. All while aiming to dive into the Sewers below together! Detonations of offensive magical riddling across its body as well as the other one in the zone that is still alive, both clearly wounded, as they manage to get underground into an area where there luckily is no water running...

<< Scene Change - Sewers >>

The Sewers feel foreboding and dark, but with enough mages on their team, the Plaza Team can no doubt follow the Soul Eaters, even cut them off. Most buildings nearby have some kind of access hatch into the underground. And there's the large hole in the ground they can access now!

The Soul Eaters seem confused as they get underground, shifting their heads around, trying to find a direction to go! Gathered up for the time being, they start expelling a dark miasma from their very presence, creating a damage over time aura around themselves!

    Merek takes a moment to look to sewer entrances from that roof, while he nods then begins following along with the party. The miasma begins to take away his HP, while he lifts a hand to blast the magical fireball into the creature.

With the arrow fired, Mikage lowers her bow for just a moment, casting a sideways glance in the direction of Proteus. "I know." Her expression shifts to a rueful one. "If we burn them down fast enough, it's possible they might not be able to use that ability, but i have my doubts." The previous one had used it as an area attack. Shaking her head, she seems to try to analyze the situation, "If we can keep it targeting us and stay on the buildings, we might be able to minimize it."

Then, she shrugs. The Were Fang not having the tactical knowledge of some others who might be actual soldiers in the real world. It's a tactical idea that gets thrown right out the window when the second Soul Eater begins to detonate. Mikage ducks herself down behind the edge of the building, rubble and debris flying by in the process. When she peeks over, it is to see that crater left behind.

"Shit." This is followed by a stream of more colorful curses. "I've never seen one explode like that before." What it means is that she needs to make a quick retreat from the position atop the building. Luckily, there are ladders nearby that allow easy access to the ground level.

Moving to the edge of the collapsed area, Mikage pulls another arrow, slicking back the feathers before nocking it into place. "Still have good line of sight on one." So, collecting magical energy at the end of the arrow, which seems to glow with white light, she fires down towards one of the Soul Eaters, the impact sending out sparks of light which linger in the air like wisps.

Major landmarks are getting saved by quick thinking. Att is proud to fight alongside these people. Proud, and kind of excited. He's been spending so much time in the workshop lately that a life-or-death struggle is exactly what he needed to get the blood pumping. Maybe those Scale Emblem guys have the right idea now and again: a real fight is way different than an economic battle royale.

"It's working!" Att plants his staff, drawing his sword and raising it towards the Eater. "Keep up the fire!" He glances to one side, casting a quick grin at the appearance of Sunshine, and then to the other -- and suddenly dashes a half-dozen steps over, interposing himself between Whiskey Sour and the explosive shocks.

"It's raid night," he asides. "You know -- Boss clear? Wave of Calamity?" He looks to the one at street-level, then to the hole. He taps back to his comm. "It's going underground. What do you think the odds are it's after our hermit acquaintance?"

Att moves on over and jumps down the hole after the subterranean one. He uses his wings to slow his descent, angling to land in front of it, throwing a few quick waves of iron-colored energy downward to establish some threat. He back-steps once he lands, facing off against it. His staff raps against the stone again.

"Let's see how that defense handles /real/ C.C. THORN BIND HOSTAGE!!"

An eruption of shining thorns comes forth! "Cut the thorns; take it out!"

The sky lights up with a combination of self-detonating monsters, and magic missile spam.  Yobi looks up and then down, considering his movements carefully as he flips into the air once.  His fits smack one of the magic bolts away, giving him just enough air time to avoid the explosion.  He uses this momentum to dash towards the ground, giving him enough time to move around the next few bolts.  

One narrowly gazes him, not directly hitting but enough to let him know those were very deadly.  He also is very grateful he decided to make himself very fast.  Of course, things are now changing as the monsters head into the sewers.  

Well, they certainly can't let them go where they please.  Leaping down after them, he falls from the sky like a stone.  A stone now on fire as it aims to try and send both legs right into the face of the newcomer to their fight, aiming to try and separate the two before the Miasma becomes a major problem.

There's something... vindicating, about seeing her magic pin an Orange Threat creature in place. It steadies her nerves, and helps Estelle focus on what comes next. Which is, in this case, watching the thing she just helped injure blow itself to pieces like a shaped charge, giving them access to the sewers below. "... Where are they going?" She questions aloud, ears flicking in curiosity, tails curling behind her. "To where the Tower draws upon the leylines below, maybe?" Myth and legend give her many ideas for what they could do there, and... few of them pretty. She hasn't studied the Tower much, after all, and it's the only thing of note she knows of it.

Still, the barrage of fire from the newcomer has her throwing up a shield of light, with a quick cry of "Scutum, Shield of the Skies!" It's a bit rushed, but she's been getting a... feel for it, of late. It's her fastest call for defense - and she only needs it to shield herself, after all. In its wake she considers those heading down below, and after a moment she nods. And then takes a deep breath.

"Hero of the Twelve Tasks, I call upon you as many masks." Strength and surety flows into those moving towards the new gap in the street, starlight shimmering around them and taking the form of... larger, superior versions of themselves, echoing their actions and granting them greater power. "Imbue their bearers with your might - oh Hercules, help them burn bright."

    Setsuna looks over at the doctor and seems about to debate the ease when a self destruct alert is called over the chim link. It is just enough time for him to magically shift the earth under his feet and out of the way. Sliding to the stop he cast a look at Prophlyaxis, "Fine you're right. Can't underestimate them. " Seeing one of the ghostly fish things go to the sewer he begins to make a dash to follow, "Have fun up here doc."
     Sliding down into the hole and landing with a thud he spots the escaping soul eater, "Hey you can't leave yet. You didn't pay your check." Summoning up a small ball of fire he throws it at the soul eater making sure to get its attention.

    Self-Destruct? Yeah, Mizuki's glad she stayed back. But that doesn't protect her when another of these monsters shows up. She tries to dive behind cover while invoking the stoneskin ninpo, but the shot curves around and slams into her before she can finish the hand seals. "Ngh!" She's sent flying, tumbling across the flagstones before pushing herself up with a grunt of annoyance -- more at the missing section of her health bar than at the dulled pain from the explosion. And then... they dive underground?

    "Why are they going underground?" Whatever it is, it can't be good. She runs up to the hole and dives after them. Scarf flowing behind her, daggers drawn... this probably would look pretty cool if it were an anime! She tries to land on one with both daggers, dig her footclaws into it... and then leap away to the walls of the culvert, to try and not stay too close. She can only HOPE that a magical self-destruct won't obey laws of physics about explosions in confined spaces.

Schneider calls out, "DAMEDO! Magic Shield!" and a magic shield springs up just in time to shield him from the self-destructing creature. He still flinches, he's not as confident as he'd like to be. What he is, is hurling even more fire at his target, following it with insistent fire attacks, changing up as it moves to the faster casting, "GUNZENRO!", slamming it with fire over and over, a stream of it, like a firehose, sort of literally. The second soul eater exploding is worrying, but he's entirely tied up with the first one, slamming fire into it every time his attack comes off cooldown, which is pretty fast. It's not his highest damage spell, but he can cast it over and over, and the DPS is respectable for the repeatability.

The best way to deal with acane blasts and the ground being blown up is simply not be on the ground. Kauchemar recalls the Binder Shield to herself and then flits away, casting Airstep long enough to give herself a boost off the pavement and leaping away from the creatures coming down and the explosion.

And then the other creatures lunge into the gape in the surface being made. "Well, that's not good." She peers down for a moment. "Well, I guess there is only one course to take." She uses the lingering effect of her Airstep to leap back down and into the opening to keep on the creature's tails. Do they even have tails? Whatever. They need to be stopped before they get too far into the crazy underground sewer system.

Even as her hooves hit the damp surface before Kauchemar is preparing her next move. The arcane flames in the shape of spectacle flames form around her eyes as usual when she's conjuring some of her stronger powers into a disruptive spell to help stall the monsters' advancement. She chants in an almost playfully singsong yet haunting tone while weaving the cast.

"o/~ Slow Down, Tick Tock
Time Out, Clock Block
Full Stop, Dead Lock
After Thought... MIND SHOCK!"

And unleashes the mindnumbing curse at the creature to muddle whatever little brain it might have.

Things look like they're going well, but the alterations to the enemy defense causes Proteus to grimace. "What is this super armor bullcrap?" She looks to Att and yells, "Att! We need more firepower! Did you invent cannons while we weren't looking yet?"

A moment later, the Self Destruct begins. Proteus blinks, and she yelps. "NO!" She's too close to the enemy. + U K

Desperately, she tries to parry through the explosion... And as the blast fades, Proteus is missing. Well, crap.

As the Soul Devourers descend, a pile of rubble erupts and Proteus makes herself known, her entire body fading with crimson damage marks as she grimaces through the pain. "Not... so fast...!" She hisses. "WE HAVE TO STOP THEM! THEY'RE NOT AFTER THE WATER!" She yells, throwing her hands forward as Att locks one of them down. She angles straight for it to exploit the Thorn Bind Hostage combination damage. ) X

A moment later, there is a brilliant explosion of light as she releases a blast of close-range energy from her hands to crash into the Soul Devourer before it can get to the next detonation point, damage aura be damned.

"I can think of at least three targets, but two of them are in the same place." Proteus responds to Att. "This is bigger than just contaminating the water table, but that might be a bonus to them. We need to stop this before it goes completely pear-shaped."

Great, underground. Kaydon should do okay, in theory, in tight quarters, but he prefers having room to move. When someone posits the question of why they're going underground, Kaydon suddenly has a stark realization, "Most of the Landers are hiding in the basements!" He calls out, before he leaps down into the newly formed hole to go after the Soul Eaters.

Once he lands, his blade will still be able to be swung. Spotting the Eater in front of him, seemingly confused, Kaydon takes advantage of that situation and launches forward, swinging his blade with enough force to generate a whirlwind, sending it sailing towards the first of the Soul Eaters to try to sweep it up.

     Self-destructing enemies aren't the sort you want running around in a crucial part of a city's infrastructure. You especially don't want them doing it in range of you, however. Sunshine watches his handiwork with a cocky grin. Guild chimlink's going off, telling him to back up. But... he's the sort that sometimes doesn't do it right away. He's halfway through the riff for a Flashstep, indeed, the afterimages already forming as he backs up. But he should have had it ready sooner. Mid-spell, he's blown backwards despite the icy arrow having bought him some time.

     Thrown onto his back, he has just the right vantage point to see the Eaters disappearing into the sewer, and the other players pursuing.

     By the time he gets back in, both of those that fled to the sewer appear to have been dealt with. He's quick to regroup with his guildmates, and eager to contribute in some fashion. He improvises a sprightly folk tune on the heels of Kauchemar's Mind Shock spell, working a runspeed buff out for her and the other Hwyaden members in the sewers. "Somethin' tells me we're gonna need this!"

Bolts of arcane wrath scream through the air and plow into Prophylaxis, spearing him where he stands--

No, wait. The thing that looked like Prophylaxis disintegrates into thousands of tiny glass shards. A mirror duplicate, placed specifically to distract the creatures from the magus' true position.

The good doctor may have never dealt with these creatures himself before, but he knows of their reputation. The vileness that had corrupted those woods is not something that he wishes to see pollute Alne or its surroundings.

For better or worse, this is their home away from home. One of them, at least. Technically speaking, Tolbana is more /his/ home than Alne, but that matters little. They need to protect it regardless, for its strategic importance if nothing else.

And for a time, it seems almost as though they're going to have decent success in the attempt. At least, until it becomes obvious that the creatures' intended target is not the town of Alne itself. Not directly.

But rather, what is hidden underneath.

Prophylaxis swears softly and colorfully as one soul eater explodes and opens a path for two more. "They're trying to get into the waterways...?!" He growls, sprinting for a nearby well. It's one he's used before to tackle the slime problem. He thought it had just been a cholera outbreak waiting to happen. But now...

Now he's glad that there happens to be a nearby garbage well that leads directly into Alne's sewer system.

"No you don't," Prophylaxis snarls as he falls into the dark. His staff strikes the stone, a pillar of rock erupts from the wall near the bottom of the well, sending him hurtling in the direction of the Soul Devourers' retreat. He emerges from a side-tunnel in mere moments, his staff now raking across the sewer floor, causing yet further stone pillars to blast up and into one of the strange beasts, pummeling it with pure seismic force...! "Are they heading toward the water supply? If they can taint it, then..."

It's going to be a humanitarian nightmare...

/And/ they'll have to probably deal with /even worse/ slimes!!

But, no, Proteus knows something. "What," the doctor asks, staring her way. "What are they after? Do you know something about their goals?"

"Raid night? I wasn't told about this!!!" Whis complains.

Narrator: 'She was.'

Having to book it back towards the prepared defenses, Whis heaves her canvas bag of groceries through a window and shouts: "DON'T BRUISE THE VEGGIES, HA-SE-O!" before spinning around and facing back to the fight. Att intercepting fire for her gets a big grin from the short druid, summoning staff to hand. "I had to put the groceries away, did I miss anything good?" She asks rhetorically, as the SELF DESTRUCT alerts start popping up. An aquatic barrier manages to soak the backblast from the otherwise-avoided AOEs, leaving just the swooping ghost fish in the sewers--

"I swear to every Goddess, inclusive, that if these ghosts of hotpots past haunt the new bathtub I will--"

She hangs her shoulders. "I don't know, actually. Be really mad? Someone figure out a good revenge, okay?!" She asks her surroundings as she hops off Att's thorny binds with fists of surging waves.

Can you kick a fish with the ocean? In MMO's, you can.

"It's going to blow!"

Gwen is falling back at this point and will move to grab another Adventurer who was a bit too slow who gets Princess carried over her shoulder. Once clear she set them down and turn her attention on to what's happening next. With one Soul Eater gone? They are lucky as they hey have to deal with the one in the underground she has some ideas of what is down here.

"They have to die....fast."

If she's recalling her last adventure with the diving bell right. Or worse the water supply.

With that she'll bolt after the third Soul Eater of the day. She's lucky she was able to use Divine Shield earlier to keep herself in good order but now she's closing in.

"GALE OF SWORDS!"

She launches into a blaze of wind elemental themed attacks on the soul eater.

Prophylaxis makes the mistake of asking Proteus what's going on, causing the dreaded ANIME EXPOSITON TIME. Proteus flips backwards, and points at the pair of Soul Devourers.

"The Waves of Calamity are forced being sent from another world. When a Tower is cleared it triggers a cross-world reaction from another land. They believe that their world is going to be destroyed by people from our world so they're trying to stop it before it happens. They seem to be able to control and influence powerful monsters to attack or they come on their own." Proteus explains to the Shady But Completely Average City Doctor.

The exposition only continues. "So they found out fast that there's thousands and thousands of Adventurers here that can stop them, so they changed tactics. Instead of just trying to kill all our Heroes..." She frowns. "It looks like they're trying to break pieces of our world now to induce apocalyptic events. They might be after a seal below the city. If they destroy that... I can't imagine what will happen."

"You got Proteus started!" Whis side-comments. She may be shouting out of the sewer at this point. It is animation-unclear.

"You can't mash through it! There's no pause button! And a message recall? As-if! You're going to have to ask the owl to repeat it!"

Also from the Sewers in a nebulous animation budget. "Whis, who did you leave the produce with?"

Whis grimaces, now in an omake panel frame. "Haseo. I think. He had one of those 'don't talk to me, I'm DPS-ing' looks he gets sometimes. So Haseo's voicemail."

Yobi makes a face, "You know he's going to bring them back all bruised, right?" he says with a sigh.

     "That owl gets a bad rap," admits Sunshine under his breath. Speaking up more clearly, he says, "I saw somethin' last time I was down here! There's a part of these sewers that's older and bigger'n a sewer ought to be." He lifts a hand up high, palm flat, to illustrate a high ceiling. "Maybe that's where that 'seal' is!"

Mikage's arrows descends on the closest one she can still see from aboveground - she can feel an aura wrap around herself as she does so, as Estelle's magic overcomes her - empowering the shot of light. The arrow makes contact with enough power that it's pressed down to the ground of the Sewer for a moment, before it bounces up again and lets out a painful screetch!

Almost in unison with Mikage's arrow, Yobi Kin comes down upon the other one, similarly wreathed in light and fire, slamming his fist into the ball shaped thing, slamming it into the ground for a moment and breaking a few sewer tiles, before it bounds up again and grabs at Yobi, aiming to backhand it into a nearby wall.

A second screetch follows as Merek's Fireball hits Mikage's target - Schneider following this up with a rapid barrage of flaming strikes. But it's at this point also, that the Soul Eaters seem to pick up on something. They lick along their ugly wide fishshaped toothy maws, as if they just found something incredibly delicious. Setsuna's blast of flame similarly lands against Yobi's target, but while it chunks into their health, they seem to...

Well, not quite ignore them, but they seem more focused on other things. Anyone or anything that gets in their way will most certainly get dealt with!

Mizuki descends, slicing into the arm of the one targetting Yobi, redirecting the blow and protecting the battle butler, before distancing herself enough to get away from the damaging aura! It's not bad enough that a healer can't help with the situation luckily!

One of the creatures suddenly looks odd though, as Kauchemar's Mind Shock strikes, causing it to momentarily forget its target. And when Mikage's target suddenly attempts to rush off down the halls, Yobi's target remains at the location in confusion, seeming turned around!

Proteus' sudden blast of power slams the first into the walls of the sewers, ensuring it can't retreat too far. But with the distance building, it's clear that the party is about to get split up! Kaydon joins in on the earlier confused Soul Eater, and slams it closer in to the other side with their blade, carving a fierce stroke of its health away as Estelle's buff empowers him!

A runspeed buff spreads out across the region, ensuring that the teams present have an easier time chasing the First Soul Eater. Prophylaxis no doubt gives Proteus a moment of hope, as he comes out from a side passage and cuts off the First Soul Eater with her and slams that stone pillar into it, slamming it into the ceiling of the Sewer and halting it for a moment with all that pressure, before it lets out a screetch and suddenly rends the stone pillar apart with arcane power - enough that it cracks the ceiling of Alne's sewers... but it holds.

Landing down below, Whiskey Sour surges upon her opponent with watery pounding fists, slamming the confused Soul Eater - the third one - right as Att Syne's Thorn Bind climbs around its body and tries to fight through the health-devouring aura around it. It's slowly eating at the thorns, but it's holding... for now.

Gwen comes in with her Gale Swords, cutting into its body, before she's force to retreat due to its damaging aura. The thing flaring at her, putting its arms together and starting to shake. It's not charging a self-destruct, but rather some kind of spell.

Further in, the 'super armor' Soul Eater similarly begins to charge some kind of spell... before it suddenly releases and bounces through the sewer like some kind of wreckingball, forcing that party to chase it. It is not seconds later that they hear a scream from a few Landers and Newbies down the halls of the tunnels, who'd been looking to use it for a safe zone! Worst so, while it's bouncing around like a bouncing-ball, it's leaving behind black stripes of corrosive substance that, as a few slimes happen to hop into it... suddenly seems to turn the slimes into DARK SLIMES, which then proceed to attack the Chase Party.

The one being held in place by Att Syne and Kauchemar suddenly moves its hands out, and then slams them down on the ground of the Sewer, causing it to start breaking! It doesn't look willing to detonate, but it's clearly looking to go /down/. Each slam of its fists sending a shockwave out the likes of an earthquake, causing everything the quake near them. Pillars of stone blasting up near their positions!

    "Right, ranged offer support from the flank," Merek offers to the party, while he takes a moment to then work another spell, "Firebolt!" The man wanders along with the party and blasts magic into the party one enemies, then he begins to draw both of his twin blades.

After the empowered arrow strikes home, Mikage is left staring in the direction of Proteus. Clearly, she knows something about what might lie beneath the city that is unfamiliar to the the Were Fang Ranger. The exposition only helps a little, her brows furrowing, "I don't know if you're right, but we have to stop them either way."

Shouldering her bow into a holder strapped across her back, she reaches for her sword and hops down to join the others, racing off after the one that had gone further into the sewers.

"I'll see if I can slow it down a bit." Not the fastest of runners, Miakge stops briefly, charging energy through her sword as she slashes it through the air once, twice, three times until three glowing lines hover in the air in front of her. They seem to gather water from the environment, causing small storms to form along the condensed wind blades.

Then, pressing her palm forward, she launches the three blades towards the legs supporting the creature, trying to take one out or at least slow it down enough to hinder progress.

The Soul Eater breaks the ground apart.  It is definitely trying to dig somewhere, but fortunately, Yobi was aware of his surroundings enough to see the bits of the environment coming.  A single kick sends the largest of the bits at him, and some quick maneuvering prevents the rest from hurting him.  

His eyes narrow, if it wanted to go down, then the direction it needed to go was the reverse...but he did not have a flying spell.  He only had the body he had honed up until this point.  So with a narrowing of his eyes, he takes the butler's coat off and tosses it off.  With a vanishing of the coat as it probably just goes into his inventory.

He runs at the creature, head first even though the earth was trying to strike at everything around it.  His arms move to attempt to GRAPPLE the creature...and starts attempting to lift the creature upwards.  He strains against the massive creature, heavy and weighty.  However, Yobi will not let it get what it wants.  An aura overtakes him, magical reinforcement of his body shines as he attempts to enforce his will on the monster, and attempt to just lift it STRIGHT UP.

"There's a /seal/ under Alne?" Prophylaxis looks... almost as though he might have just imagined that there was in fact some kind of anti-tower of aincrad pointing directly down into the earth and that they were actually on floor like, two-hundred or something right now.

Don't worry Whiskey Sour, this shady doc is as much of a loremonger as the highly suspect imp. He has absolutely zero regrets about revving up Proteus' motormouth. Information dump complete, the doctor is left to stare into the middle distance with his eyes agog, "My God... If something is sealed under there, and they release it... All of Alne could collapse, nevermind the tower...!"

"We have to stop it," he decides, turning to chase down the escaping Devourer. "Whatever we have to do, we have to stop it--"

But first they need to deal with the thing that Prophylaxis feared would stand in their way.

D A R K S L I M E S.

Panicked screams only add to the feeling of desperation creeping down his spine. Flickering embers of kindling flame had begun to accumulate around the head of his staff-- but with those screams... He can't risk it. Not now. But the way that thing is bouncing all over the place, charging from wall to wall, it's trying to cause as much chaos as it can, throw them off its tracks.

But not if he has anything to say about it.

"If it keeps bouncing around like that, we're just going to get bogged down with slimes," the magus murmurs, motes of flame being replaced by a thick miasma. Said slimes throw themselves bodily at him-- and are rebuffed by the sudden interposition of a glimmering barrier. It holds, barely, and gives him time to finish his cast. "This might dissuade it from charging ahead so recklessly. Seal my enemy's fate, o' ancient of ages. With your grasp, ensnare destiny itself!" He sweeps his staff forward, a nest of glassy, violet vines lancing out to wrap tight around the escaping Soul Devourer! THORN BIND HOSTAGE!"

Technically speaking, thorn bind does not actually bind something with thorns. But what it /does/ do is enact a curse that causes any incoming damage to be multiplied many times over.

Like, for example, damage caused by hurling oneself into a wall at high speeds.

The tactic worked, stalling the creature long enough for others to try and move into position on it. Now it's mad, and it's turning to fight them instead of rushing farther into the sewers. We will call that a success.

Of course there is the fact that it is indeed attacking them, slamming its hands into the ground to make it shake and send chunks of rock blasting out of the sewer surfaces to do so. There's rumbling, rock pillars, dust and... the Nightmare is gone. There is no tombstone so she didn't get smacked or crushed. She's not the sort to just run off without warning...

There's a flicker just on the edge fo the field of vision for those in the same group that is vagely running equine shape. But somehow difficult to look directly at and see.

She didn't run, she's doing that sinister creature thing of stalking at the fringe of awareness like various creatures of lore and urban legend are known for doing. Kauchemar outmaneuvers the ground pounding by doing so, and eventually comes back into visual status on the exact opposite side of the monster.

A hoof plants into the ground, the Nightmare opening her mouth wide as she can, and unleashes a deafening vocal onslaught of sound in an effort to farther daze and confuse the creature with her powerful voice!

Schneider wraps swirling winds around him, it sweeps away the slimes attacking him, brushing them off as he chases after the Soul Eater, ducking and weaving as he rushes to keep the target in sight. And if he can see it, he can burn it. "Burning in the depths of darkness ," he chants, and some other scary-sounding words that are lost in the shouting and confusion, but what happens is clear enough: He lobs a bolt of raw, elemental fire at the Soul Eater, and it streaks toward the target. With the targets erratic movement, it looks like it might miss, then veers, self-correcting at the last moment to strike true with a viscious laugh. "Got you!" sneers Schneider.

Whis might joke about Proteus' propensity to JUST KEEP TALKING, but it's a joke because it's ALSO TRUE.

"We have to get these damn things out of the sewers. People are down here!" Proteus declares, the cries of Landers and newbies only adding to the chaos. "Force them upwards where you can! Push them back out into the upper city!" Kauchemar's run buff causes the Imp to whip forward, grimacing as the DARK SLIMES appear. There is a moment where her hand hestitates over the immediate impulse to pull out a jar to grab one, but there's bigger problems at hand.

It's not like the slime is going to go anywhere. At the moment, Proteus leaps forward, rolling before lunging past the corruptive streak of gunk. "GET BACK HERE!" She yells, promptly getting separated from the rest of Plant Duck as she gives chase. As she estimates she gets in range, there is another flick of her hand as she enters: ( | S

A moment later, Proteus blurs forward, striking at the Soul Muncher with a Shadow Plunge. It doesn't go so well.

Estelle has, by now, moved towards the hole in the ground - even if she's trying to keep to the rooftops, and thus out of harm's way. The angle it gives into the sewers is... passable, as she plots and considers, sorting through constellations and the spells she's lumped beneath them. She settles on her next angle of attack with a faint nod, drawing a deep breath to invoke it...

... and then the rooftop collapses beneath her, as the Burrower starts slamming his hands into the floor, throwing up pillars of rock that destabilizes both the floor and her perch. Her shield keeps her from the worst of it, but she hauls herself out a pile with a hiss of breath and a frazzled tails. Frazzled. Tails. They lash behind her, every motion laden with violence, and she takes a deep breath, considering the fleeing one, and the group after it - and the one in front of her, who dragged her down here with it.

She goes for something short and snappy, even as she mimes holding up a bow and drawing an arrow. "Sagitta strike hard and true, as if by one of the mighty drew." A bow of starlight draws itself in her hands, just long enough for a single, astral bolt that strikes straight and true in a flash of silver light - aimed right for one of the damned thing's eyes.

"Their actions are ill omens, and it is time to purify them."

    Setsuna got pretty much ignored , however its because of that the damn Soul Eater got caught by the others, followed by the thing throwing a temper tantrum and he activates one of his emergency speed buffs to move around the pillars of rock. "Hey no temper tantrums, you got caught thats all there is to it. " Those who followed all seem to be moving in he begins to cast, " No doc around to tell me I can't keep it this time. I summon the chains of earth it self to bind this creature" Vines come out of the walls and floor trying to best contain the monster as he speaks over the chimlink. <<"This is Setsuna, I think we have this one contained">>

Gwen is doing pretty well all things considered she hacks into its body pretty good. Yet she's forced to fall back the thing goes after her it's not trying to kill itself but some kind of spell? Oh, this is not good this is not good at all. The slimes around here change into very bad slimes. These are slimes that Uta would not want and should not get her hands on, Gwen things. For now, though she triggers another ability to try and keep herself in the fight.

"Repelling SHIELD!"

Which end sup working pretty well for her. She's got other things to worry about as things are starting to shake with the pinned Soul Eater.

"Att Kau good thinking."

She's still gone full Texan at the moment at least she's not dropped into slang from there, yet.

She's aiming to get back into the fight again charging in fast.

"Sonic Lunge"

She throws herself at the monster for a quick attack once more before she'll fall back.

She worries though about what is down here and what people could uncover. For now, though this Soul Eater has to die.

     "Uh-uh, now," calls Sunshine towards the Soul Eater which Whiskey and Att are engaged with. The sound of his guitar reverberates all around, the resonator doing well to carry it above the din of battle. "Some fishes say this town don't look good like so/Y'all don't care, I know." His voice joins the sonorous, happy melody his fingers coax from the instrument. The air around him shimmers with a faint magical shield, the bard keeping his distance to stay away from the worst of that flung rubble, his quick reflexes allowing him to juke and weave around the rest as he sings.

     "Howdy there Eater, my name's Suun-shine/ an' my hair is longer, my will is stronger, than mooon-shine."

     His pleasant tenor drawl mingles with the music to call upon another spell. "Y'all gotta go/I knooo-oo-ow." His strumming builds up to an energetic chorus, and as he strings together a narrative of peace and freedom, "Arcane Shots all through the air/Through the air/" Inarticulate vocalizations call forth the spell during the bridge, somehow managing to harmonize with Kauchemar's scream. Purple lances of energy towards the bound creature, racing alongside Estelle's arrows waving around Yobi to strike as he lifts it. Why support when you can DPS?

     Setsuna's vines do give him pause, and he lifts the guitar. "Say what?" he asks. "Y'say 'keep?' As in... /keep/ keep?"

Now, one may assume that when <An Attack> is levelled at you, when you use <Defensive Ability>, you are defended. Safe assumption, right? Well, you see, not all defensive abilities are made the same.

The noble Bubble or Energy Coat works by just ablating force and reducing the damage you take. Rock Cradle, while also ablating damage, functions differently.

Rock Cradle and variations is a cradle of rock.

When the groundslams start, the thoughtless and automatic reliance on the defensive nature of earth constructs to ablate damage does not help Whiskey Sour one bit as she gets DK Ground-Pounded repeatedly, pebbles and shards of her rock barrier not smashed into by the waves of pressure but her own stubborn forehead as she's rattled out of her Safety Rock.

"Sweet guitar!" She calls to Sunshine as she leapfrogs off his shoulders for airtime to deliver a slicing spin kick with a chasing blade of water at the Soul Eater's charging spell (and the rest of its body, by proxy).

"Gimmie that cast, fishy!" Whis kiops for flavor, because all cut-in attacks need voice lines.

    Whatever the monsters are going for, it's important. At least following them and stopping them, might lead Mizuki to learn something important!

    Indeed, Proteus is shouting that she knows what they might be after. How does SHE know?! Mizuki needs to step up her investigative game.

    But right now, the monsters are... splitting up? One's been confused and is staying in place... which is good, in that the monsters' objective is delayed, but doesn't give any more information. The other... is fleeing.

    She's got to chase it, right? There will be plenty of people to fight both of them. But by chasing, maybe she can learn what it wants... and she can help stop it!

    Run speed buff! Yes! And she's already a cat ninja. She speeds along the walls, running up them and across the ceiling to avoid the sudden DARK SLIMES.

    This is now one of those running boss battles. Like in some Sonic games! Unfortunately, with it taking everything he has to chase, it's a bit hard to activate any ranged sword artes, let alone magic spells. Maybe she could eventually catch it, but... there is one other option!

    Mizuki opens her mouth and spits fireballs at the fleeing monster!

Not willing to let the Eater get away, Kaydon is staying on top of it. As it begins to slam into the ground and send out shockwaves, Kaydon moves off to one side, jumping up and planting his foot on the wall, kicking off of the wall and twisting through the air.

He unleashes a massive two handed slash at the Soul Eater as he sails past, landing and rolling onto the ground a couple of times, "Don't let it get any further!" He yells out at the others in his group, "Hold it down and keep it there!"

FUN FACT: Thorn Bind Hostage is both a damage boost *and* a powerful Root. The reason it's so rarely seen as anything more than a magnifier for damage is largely because people pile on so fast that the Root effect just doesn't stick for long enough for anyone to notice.

Att noticed.

"Woah, woah, woah! We're holding it, but it *really* doesn't like it!" Att gestures sharply to the left, then sweeps his hand right, calling, "FLAME WALL," a curtain of dense orange-red springing to life in a semicircle around him. The stone pillars that jut out of the ground run into it and immediately get their tops sliced off like it was a cutting torch, scattering the space around him with debris.

It's smashing through the ground. They have to do something about it. They cannot DPS race something of this difficulty and expect to keep it there. He takes a half-step back, looking around frantically. Stone, stone, stone...

Wait. Stone. Four words come forth unbidden, conjuring a most puissant and terrifying magick:

"I have an idea!"

Att passes his sword into his left hand, staff slung over his shoulder, and reaches into his tunic. He draws out a leather-wrapped bundle with a flat metal piece on the back, thrusting it into his belt. A flap flips open, small objects of gleaming metal revealed. Another quick motion, briefly crossing his arms for no reason than he saw Shin do it once, and he draws... a chisel?

For the briefest moment, that chisel glows with an awesome power.

Att Syne activates a Sword Arte with silent motion-input. He dashes past the monster, right hand held low to the ground, leaving a slash of white-blue sparks and kicked-up dust of suddenly-pulverized stone behind him. He dashes again, and again, ending up back where he was, leaving a hazy cloud of rapidly-clearing dust, spreading away from the floor underneath it. The floor it was breaking.

The floor that is now a gorgeous stone tile, intricately inlaid, polished... and returned to full hit points as an art object.

Att's Inspect info is briefly more verbose.

                         Att Syne / Spriggan Mastermind                        
                              Guild: Plant Hwyaden                              
                           Unknown Moonlight Sculptor                          

Merek joins the chase along with Mikage, Proteus, Schneider, Prophylaxis, Kaydon, and Mizuki. Firebolt, he calls out, burning away at some of the pools of black ooze being left by the Soul Devourer, freeing the way for his allies and singing the bounding enemy!

Mikage's clawing tempest attacks unroot it from its directions, forcing it down a different route and protecting a small group of Landers who are staring with fearful eyes at the thing that suddenly comes bouncing past! Another glowing line pins it against a wall for a moment, giving the rest of the team a better chance to target it!

Thorn Bind Hostage! The attack curses the enemy as it tries to move away from Mikage's pinning attack, hurting itself in its confusion... and because of the curse itself! Fierce chunks of health draining from its healthbar!

It bounces away, finally released from Mikage's pin, only for Schneider to cut it off and stepping in front of a group of newbie Advenuturers down one of the sewerlines. His Fire Blasts sending the thing back against a sewer wall and getting it /stuck/ in a smaller porthole. A few more blasts bury it a bit further for a moment. Its arms flailing around, pushing itself out of the too-small-sewerline and tries to go forward again!

Proteus zips in, her Shadow Plunge spearing one of its arms onto the wall, instead of getting its body stuck. She doesn't manage to keep it stuck permanently, but she most certainly slows it down. Enough time for another group of Landers nearby to quickly dart down a different sewerline - having come looking to see what all the noise was about. Kaydon steps in the way, stabbing their blade into the other arm!

A firebolt suddenly blasts against it when it finally breaks free, both of its arms now destroyed, halting it from moving further for a moment. Then...

"FIREBOLT-O!" As one of the newbies steps out from a crowd of users. The Firebolt blasts against its body, and /chunks/ its health suddenly with far more force than a newbie should be capable of! Next to that, a door has opened. A door that Proteus would recognize without the shadow of a doubt, as a black haired young woman, on the short side, in a frilly white dress steps out alongside the newbie.

"Get him! He ruined my beauty sleep!" She demands. Upon Inspect, the youth with white hair looks to be just another Adventurer, just his name shows - Bell Cranel. The girl standing next to him however, is more notable. A Black level named 'Hestia', with the Wings, I, and a mysterious 'D' Symbol under her name. "Get him Bell!"

"FIREBOLT-O!!!!!" Another blast slams against the Soul Devourer, searing off part of its tail. The thing then begins to freak out. Its eyes go red, and it lets out a loud screetch, right before it begins to foam at the mouth, and begins to spit these tar-like black GLOBS at people. At first, they seem like they'd be harmless. But the moment they impact on a wall, it's clear that these things are made of /powerful acid/ that eat at the walls with scary ease.

In the meantime, back where the tunnel collapsed...

Yobi Kin rushes beneath the Soul Eater that is trying to burrow down. His immense strength aiding him in lifting and grappling it by one arm slightly, lowering its effective strength significantly! It tries to hit with its other arm onto Yobi, trying to get released. But this just gets the others a proper chance to focus the Soul Devourer!

A flash of light suddenly SEARS through the arm it was using to beat on Yobi... ripping it apart and eradicating it with light, as Estelle brings her bow's light down upon it. Only for the arm to start regrowing again moments later. But it gives Yobi some reprieve! Thick black goop drooling from its arm as it respawns from that red damage-light.

More vines eminate from the walls, grabbing hold of the Soul Devourer, Setsuna trying to keep the thing in one place! A Sonic Lunge later, and it's lifted further up from the ground with Gwen's help, her shield added to assist in the lift for a while - before the damage aura forces her to retreat temporarily! Sunshine's lances of energy pinning it further to the ground... right before they shatter and the thing begins to lower upon Yobi again. Its eyes turning red, as some kind of enrage mechanic seems to activate!

A blade of energy rips apart the arm that Yobi is holding, forcing the combat butler to grapple for a different part of its body! Its slamming attacks getting harder and harder to hold back against. The ground cracking beneath the butler...

Att Syne begins to not so much 'repair' the floor beneath them, as rework it entirely. But he has to do so under the threat of the Soul Devourer coming down on his head any moment. Just then, it looks like Yobi Kin is going to give out, and Att Syne is going to get crushed just before the work finishes...

When Yobi Kin suddenly feels like he's not having to push as hard. "Need a hand?" A man is suddenly standing next to him, having come out of nowhere it seemed. Not 'he came in real fast' or 'he snuck behind him'. But proper /seems to appear from out of nowhere/. Though it's a question if that's as shocking as the fact that the man talking to him literally is wearing an Elephant Mask. The black haired and incredibly muscled man then begins to lift the Soul Devourer further...

"I'll keep it rooted. I can't do more than that to interfere. It's up to you Adventurers to finish this thing off while it's thrashing." The heavy spoken elephant man declares, as the thing he's holding opens its maw, and literally begins to fire a /black laser/ or some sorts from its maw, trying to eradicate anyone close enough by with enough force to risk taking away all of their health in just a few seconds if they stood in it long enough!

Those who inspect the 'grappler' would notice that this individual's a danger rating is Black. What's more, his symbols are I, D, and Wings. His name, to some, may be rather telling: Ganesha.

    Merek looks along to Bell while he nods to the man, "You make a fine choice in magic," he notes, then he begins to lift a shield to protect him from the enemies. "Rengeki!" He then walks forward while he begins to swing into the ooze and along to the boss monster if he can. "TWIN DRAGONS!" The twin blades which he wields begin to sweep into it.

The sudden appearance of individuals who might not quite have normal INSPECT results gives Miakge a moment of pause as her sword lingers, raised in her hand. The abilities they are using are foreign to her, so it's not surprising that she stares for a long moment. "What the..."

And yet, the monster is not downed just yet. As it starts to foam at the mouth, Mikage raises her sword in defense, "This is what I was worried about. That stuff is noxious!" She warns. Dodging out of the way of one glob, the Were Fang curses again, though this time it comes out more of a grunt rather than a string of colorful phrases.

"Let me see if we can't stop some of the acid..." Mikage channels energy again into her sword, causing it to glow faintly blue. She touches the tip of the blade into the ground, causing a creeping sort of frost to arc towards the Soul Eater. The intention, had been to try to freeze it's jaw shut, but with all the fire going around, it seems to have trouble doing more than climb over some of the creature's form.

"Shit, I should have brought Rama, he could have helped." Her lynx had been suspiciously absent, likely kept protected somewhere else.

Gritting his teeth, he throws his strength against the monstrous strength of the Soul Devourer.  Though to the trained eye it's more than that, it's a fight of leverage and position between the two.  Thankfully, people are continuing to put attacks into it's back.  That will make the process ever slightly easier for him.

Att goes for a daring plan, and Yobi keeps the fight on as long as he can.  He's about to fall, and right before he does, the mighty meat miracle comes in just in time to help prop the creature up.  Taking over lifting duty for Yobi.

"A timely entry," Yobi says to the man, before nodding once.  His hands flaming again as he unleashes strikes, aiming to try and tear through what he can in the time they have.  Of course, the strain might blunt his blows, given he had just put everything into holding the fat creature up.

    Setsuna was not expecting the elephant man, he wasn't here before and now he was , given recent events he instantly pops up inspection. At least the elephant man wasn't a monster, though it appears that might be a matter of opinion given how he is fish handling the soul devourer. It looks like he isn't going to get to keep it and his voice takes on that sound of magical casting, " This sewer is dark and deep and it likely has secrets to keep. Bring forth those skeletons in your closet to protect such secrets." The summon spell finished as his skeleton minions charge in to attack the Soul Eater, and wasn't expecting the black laser. Setsuna reacts pulling the earth around him to defend himself and shouts, " Why does it have a laser breath attack!"

Schneider throws up another magic shield to deflect the acid orbs coming his way. They splash off, leaving streaks in the stone behind him, but the sorcerer no worse for wear. His long hair fluttering in a breeze that seems to be only around him, he draws his sword, which lights up with flames all up and down he blade, and he wades in after the monster, having spent all his big ranged spells.

A series of quick thrusts with the flaming blade, hoping to steal the last of the monster's HP, and he swirls around with dramatic strokes of his hand-and-a-half blade, alternately slashing and stabbing like, well, a flame wizard trying to set someone on fire a lot.

The sudden appearance of new fighters doesn't concern him so much because it seems like they're on our side, and that's fine by him. There's some kind of dynamic going on there, but he doesn't have the time to delve into things because he's DPS-ing just as hard as he can trying to put the enemy down.

That's... surprising help, to say the least. There will probably be more to say about it later. Right now a very peculiar Inspect will have to do, because this thing is still trying to take them all down with it. She can't pull that amazing dodging technique so quickly in a row, and there's a massive black beam being spewed around as the monster continues to spaz.

Neither does she have to, as her Binder Shield comes up in front of her, charging itself with supernatural energy to intercept the beam and keep it from blasting the Nightmare. Binders can be fickle spirits, but this one seems to at least accept the summoner-monster dynamic for both their well-beings.

"Well then, shall we bring the curtain call upon this matter?" Having a shield that can operate for itself is also useful at times like this, allowing Kauchemar to focus entirely on her more potent Dark Wave Artes that require the intricate somanic inputs and chanting to be effective.

"My haunting voice you shall hear; as shadows coil a binding shell
Even corpses still can fear; as they're cast back into Hell
Shatter bone like hammer and spear..."

Kauchemar ends the chant with a dramatic flick of her arm and snapping her fingers. Enervating dark energy swarms at her command, conjealing around the soul eating fish-monster and binding it in a vagely spherical swirl, that keeps clenching down tighter and tighter upon the fiend to help rend it from the land of the living.

"Crushing darkness," and her voice distorts into a ominous demonic reverb "NIGHTMARE SPHERE"

There's satisfaction at blowing the Burrower's arm off with her arrow, even if she /was/ aiming for its face. That's soured when the arm starts to regenerate, of course - but Estelle knows how to deal with regenerators. Lots of legends cover it, and the purifying power of fire. Still, as it's bound in place and Att does his surprisingly tasteful art, she does notice the new arrival. That mask, the Black rating, his name... "I thank you, Shri Ganesha, for your intervention and aid." Her voice carries; she knows how to speak.

But she also turns her gaze away from him; she can petition the Lord of Learning for his wisdom and knowledge in her queries later. For now... She brings out the metaphorical big guns. After she swirls to the side, briefly incorporating into starlight to avoid the entropic beam.

"Oh Symbol of the South, with your wings aflame, I guide you now with mortal aim. Cast down crimson feathers with searing blame, and show the world your boundless flame." Her hands clasp at her chin, as she petitions the Southern Constellation, the Lord of Summer, in his Season. Her tails have fanned out, her ears pulled back, and her gaze turned to face the southern sky - even through all the barriers in the way. Then she raises her hands in supplication - and a small rain of firebolts sweep down, taking the shape of sharp feathers, to try and burrow into the Soul Eater's back.

With what Att Syne just did will have fallout from Gwen. One she's amazed two she now seriously owes him one and he's getting several pulled pork sandwiches or whatever meat that can fill the bill for that later. Honestly, the rest of this team will likely get some food treats from Gwen. For now, though she's staring at the horror. Someone else shows up as Yobi Kin gets some serious backup, from an unknown man. She will inspect him without thinking about it and stare. Good god, it's just like inspect of the woman she met in the depths far as Icons go. Also, she looks at the name which is god damn telling.

"Another of you here?! I won't say no to the help good sir! ANCHOR HOWL!"

She tells Ganesha before she triggers an Anchor howl to help draw agro off the party a bit and also keep herself safe. She keeps track of the rest of the party good they are not letting up at all.

"I have something new here..."

She starts to chant a bit wind forms about her and then Gwen charges at the Soul Eater again. This time it's clearly more powerful than the attacks she's been using so far.

"DIVINE WIND!"

She just starts trying to rapidly lash the monster with as much wind channelled magic through her sword as she can before she'll fall back.

Proteus had alluded to the fact that people are down here. She just didn't give specifics about the details. The sudden followup Firebolt causes the Imp to turn and look over at the one who did it. And the door that cracked open. "You... You're..." Her eyes widen as she finally gets a look at the woman... And more importantly, her Inspect information. "I knew it." She smiles in that sharktoothed grin as she sees the Soul Devourer get smashed.

But there's no time for that. The sizzling blobs splash out, and Proteus darts in. "I'm not going to let you go any farther." She says, her arms slashing out with precision to crash into the acidic glob. With a THOOM, the Deflect triggers, repelling the blob as Proteous immediately action cancels into as spinning kick into the ghastly thing's head. The impact rebounds her into the air, and she flips, hitting the ground and skidding backwards to an optimal distance. "We've found the solution for the likes of you. Initiate the first alignment..."

Her hands snap out, withdrawing a gleaming dome, an array of silver triangles arranged on wire tracks in a three-dimensional puzzle. Her hands flick, the puzzle pieces clicking rapidly as the array changes shape. Click click click... And as she does so, the window pops open, the next Ability entry performed while she is fully engaged in the overwrought activation sequence.

                                   + ) |                                    

The puzzle snaps into place, the dome blossoming open like a flower to reveal the seething energy building within. As a final flourish, she pulls out an ornate focusing lens, putting it in place before the energy emitter, and thrusts it forward. "Now cast open the gate of light! BANISH!"

A moment later, the Empyrial Arrow fires, the burning beam of light exploding forward through the lens and being sharpened to a annihilating point to lance straight through the Soul Devourer.

"Damnit, it just doesn't stop, does it!?" Prophylaxis snarls, bounding neatly over a section of buckled stonework. The way that monster is throwing itself at the walls, it's a wonder this part of the tunnel hasn't collapsed too! At least they're doing a halfway decent job of protecting the landers and newbies... But then, just as the thing breaks free, something fiery slams into its side, and Prophylaxis does a double take when he finds the one responsible.

"You..." He squints at the white haired youth's status readout. Then squints /harder./ Because the effect that spell had on the creature and the one casting it just do not line up at /all./ "Are... are you one of those people who shoved all their points into firebolt because they were trying to go for some meme synergies or something...? That--"

There's someone next to him.

Someone that makes Prophylaxis' jaw snap shut.

'Hestia.' Like, the Greek Goddess Hestia? "You..." He whispers aloud, but just faintly enough that you'd have to strain to hear him monologue, "That name's just a coincidence, isn't it? It's got to be."

Another FIREBOLT causes the devourer to go absolutely ballistic. Globs of caustic-smelling ooze soar through the air, but...

Prophylaxis knows his weakness chains. Everyone knows that to neutralize acid, you use--

"Rock Cradle!" A field of stone erupts out of the ground around him! The acid globs splash against walls of pale, chalky matter as acid meets base and the two hiss and sizzle and turn to inert salt and water. Prophylaxis dispells the barrier, but when the curtain of stone falls...

He's already casting.

That young man was throwing firebolts. Prophylaxis is not going to be shown up. Embers rise, gathering around the head of his staff as he raises it high. "O' lady of the hearth, heed my call. Within the earth I stand, flame held aloft. In commemoration of the feats of ancient man, I tear through the veil of time, I part the mists, and scatter the darkness with the same fury of flame's first ignition!"

He points the staff at the devourer. His eyes blaze with castigating certitude, as he speaks the final words of power...!

                                 FIREBALL!                                  

Fireball ensues.

In a place as narrow as this, it may be a bit risky... But if he wants to be certain the monster doesn't get back up, then the added force of the backblast recoiling off the tunnel walls can only help him.

Att very nearly gets crushed into goo. It is not a good time. He ends his mad dash right underneath the thing, looking up in sudden alarm -- and then Yobi and the Mystery Elephant suddenly are on the scene, holding the thing up before it crushes him. "Phew. Owe you two!"

He dodges, ducks, dips, dives and dodges. He's found that his movements are largely in time with the rhythm of the bards' musical stylings, and then as soon as he realizes it, he falls out of it like an idiot. At the last second before he loses his footing and has to actually dodge roll, he invokes a defensive cooldown, the golden accents on his clothes and armor brightening significantly and making him skip across the now-worked surface of the subterranean battlefield.

Att rotates as he stops in a three-point crouch. He gets up. "That's the right idea," he asides to Setsuna. He draws his staff back out, swapping hands again, his sculptor's tools once more secured. He raps the bottom against the floor four times, because it's Japan. "Gods below, surrender your subjects! GRAVE CALL!!"

The dead are blessedly not waterlogged, but instead look like they're climbing out of buried crypts and caskets instead. All of them start to pile onto the creature, heedless of damage auras and danger. Att Syne, Part-Time Summoner, Full-Time Tank, makes it abundantly clear they're with him by way of leaping in to join the dogpile.

'Why does it have a laser breath attack' Setsuna asks, muffled by the earth.

"Because!!!" Whis rallies, stepping forward as coils of thick treetrunk-like vines roll through the sewers around her, coling like a bed of giant snakes beneath her feet. A wall of them rise up as she gestures with her hand, crossing before the laser beam and smoking as it passes, the Druid unharmed.

"It's fine if you can just make sure this thing doesn't infect my tub, Elephant Man!" Whis calls, audibly delirious as she sways and is buoyed up by a cloak of thorns.

"Wrapped in the embrace of the forest, the cold is known by the branches and the frost of the floor."

Her staff comes into her hands, untrimmed and leafing as she holds it high on the length, hoverhanding the crook as ice-blue light charges within the curl of wood.

"Come, icicles of despair, come and venge me upon my foes."

Her cast is accompanied by the ice-freezing crackle as the thick defensive vines sprout thorns of frozen water from where the laser hit.

"Rain down -- Ice Calamite!" Whis finishes, and the waves of frozen thorns begin barraging the Soul Devourer.

Keeping these things from getting to the Landers is Kaydon's top priority now. So stopping them now has to be done. Kaydon knows that he's gonna have to step in and keep things from going too far.

Without stopping, he repositions again, and then once he plants himself in a solid spot, his Damascus blade flashes in what little light there is from the various magical casts going around.

He rushes forward, blade pulling back to his side as he runs, and then he unleashes a rapid series of immensely powerful slashes, combined with the blade intended to break other blades, and cut through steel, he's planning on cutting the Soul Eater down to nothing.

    Mizuki winces a bit as again and again the fight goes past groups of newbies and landers who might get killed. She can only speed on past, chasing the monster. Until it's cornered by a group of newbies and... something else? Which do incredible damage with their firebolts! Before she can ask questions though, there's acid to dodge! Which, uh, she manages handily this time. Ninja and all that.

    Mikage mentions not having Rama. "There's no pet summon skill?"

    Prophy says one thing they're thinking. Mizuki suggests an alternate hypothesis: "Maybe this monster is just weak to the specific spell firebolt? When in Rome..." As soon as it turns its acid on someone else so she doesn't have to dodge, she holds out her arm in a spellcasting stance. There's a brief shimmer in the air around her from heat, her fur and hair moving like flame -- before all the heat energy gathers in a ball in front of her outstretched palm as she calls out in her best engrish imitation, "FIYABOLTO!"

     The laser is more than Sunshine can handle, just on reflex alone. Having ogled at Att's Inspect info, and then Ganesha's, he eats it, with all of his defensive abilities on cooldown. Health warnings display on the party interface, as his HP is rapidly chunked before he can leap free of the laser. This would normally be where he'd sling that guitar around his back, say his goodbyes, and peace out.

     But he can't--not when the tower is at risk. Not when Alne is! Who knows what could happen if these things have their way? Besides... knowing what they're after is valuable information. Gritting his teeth and getting back to his feet, "...fire and save matches," he says, the first part of that colorful aphorism drowned out by the sound of Whiskey's ice spell. Okay. He might have been a little overconfident in his abilities, but if he really takes this seriously, wisely manages his cooldowns, keeps his eye open... he might just be able to get out of this with some information, the one true currency.

     "Buster, I've had just 'bout enough of you," he says to the Eater struggling in Ganesha's grasp. The bottleneck on his pinky makes a gritty bent note as he forms his anger into a lance of darkness before the head of the guitar. A twanging, accusatory kind of folk-blues riff hurls that energy like a javelin.

Rengeki! Merek's twin blades sweep across the oozes, and occassional visits the Boss - while Mikage is protecting the sewer. Splashes of ice cold magic freezing the corruptive and corrosive bile, stopping it from reaching further through the walls and touching the watersupplies! A second splash of ice creeps over its body, partially slowing it, but with the earlier barrage of Firebolts, it's not able to affect it as fast as it should!

Schneider and Kaydon proceed to cut at the thing, using their individual weapons to carve more and more chunks into its health, while being forced to constantly duck and move about to avoid that acid spit coming their way!

At Proteus' half-finished sentence, Hestia crosses her arms. "Yeah yeah... it's me. You happy now?" She asks him. She pouts a bit. Or maybe... not so much pout, as something else. Almost something akin to a jealousy?

Whatever the case is, after Proteus' initial kick bringing her up, there's another gulf of FIREBOLTS that crash into its body, in the midst of which she fires her Empyrial arrow, ripping through that fat spirit-fish's body, clawing a fierce chunk of its health away!

Bell Cranel then shows this big grin at Prophylaxis. "I don't know, I just always thought Firebolt was the coolest spell there is!" Is his simple answer to that question. Only for that FIREBALL to slam into its body, getting this wide-eyed look from Bell Cranel...

Wide-eyed... because he just ran through all of his Mana and kept casting a bit too long, and is now under a nasty debuff for doing so, falling back onto his ass. Luckily, Mizuki is there to pick up the slack! FIREBOLT! It blasts into its body, ripping apart one of its eyes! And then one more. FIREBOLT! Before it sinks into its centerpoint, and detonates the thing!

At which point Hestia grabs Bell under the arms, and tries - with some difficulty - to lift him and start dragging him towards that door. "Okay... th... huff... thank you for your help." She mumbles, glancing around her at the black Slimes that approach her.

Back near the caved in part of the Sewer...

Ganesha holds the creature as well as he can, his fingers clasping into the thing's skin as Yobi Kin begins to slam upwards into it. Flaming fist after fist hitting its body, bubbling at its skin and blasting away its arcane shroud that is keeping it protected! Skeleton Minions then join Yobi, almost comedically punching alongside of him with their bony hands, crushing themselves into that shroud and further dulling its protections!

Suddenly, its shroud is worn away further, giving Yobi and Setsuna chance to properly start doing damage, as Kauchemar's Nightmare Sphere surrounds the entire body of the Soul Devourer, ripping away at its health and lowering its defenses! And it's moments later that Att Syne's Undead follow up, some of them even wielding bone daggers of some sorts, stabbing into the thing with slow, but measured motions! Stabbing its health lower by the second. There's even a Skeleton Dog that jumps in and bites its tail, literally making it a dogpile.

"Don't worry about it lady, but I do hope you hurry up, it's hard to keep this wriggling thing in my grip." Though he doesn't seem to be having any notable problems at all.

Firebolts rain from above, pushing it down, while Yobi and the Skeletons push it up, sandwiching it between magic and physical force! The thing expells another angry laser, but it can't seem to find a proper target. Squirming to try and get out of this grip, but it just can't! And with the Anchor Howl of Gwen's pulling its threat, the others are being protected that much further.

The Divine wind cuts through its body, ripping another chunk down from its health,

Icy Rain blasts amidst the firebolts coming from above, steam explosions ripping its body open further and further, until finally, Sunshine's lance SAILS through the air and through its body, tearing away the last chunk of its health, and bursting it apart!

At which moment, the skies above seem to start clearing.

Ganesha sighs and pats off his clothing, and re-adjusts his mask, before putting his hands at his hips and declaring; "Well done Adventurers! You've protected this old Traveler's city." As he... starts to fade from view. Almost like he's slowly becoming see-through.

Ganesha fading into the realm that Friend Supports go earns a quick reply from Whis:

"Thanks for helping yourself, Elephant Mask! Nice fighting." She signs a heart with her hands, staff leaned against her shoulder. "Anyone who protects my tub is a friend."

Sighing, Whis melts into a toppled-to-her-knees sit.

"Okay. I'm tired now. I didn't want to..."

"... try... today. Commends for everyone, except Haseo. Haseo's goes to Elephant Mask also. Two for him."

    "Alright, please don't give Uta the black slimes of poison," Merek mentions, while he sighs. Then he points to Prophylaxis, "The new explosive looks to be a success, I will bring you a recipe." The man then takes a moment to swing his twin blades along into the slimes that want to approach Bell along with Hestia, "Thank you for assisting. Anyone that likes to use fire magic is a friend. I will teach you a few cooler things," the man offers to Bell.
    Then he speaks, "Merek. You from the Guilds?" the man asks.

    Setsuna tilts his head at the fading traveler as the elephant man fades away, somewhere in his mind the necromancer feels like he would be able to tell if he just saw a ghost or not. At some level there is a giant curiosity about what is going on, at the other level it would have to go on the list of unanswered questions as well. Looking at his fellow sewer mates he adds, " Do you think we should get up top see if they need any help with clean up?" Without really waiting for an answer he starts to go back to the hole, figuring it would be the fastest way up.

Through teamwork and sheer stubborn effort, they've defeated the creature. Estelle gives a long sigh, as she finally lets herself relax as it bursts apart, and without any others around. Her tails and ears droop a little, grip easing on her wand. She turns a congratulatory smile around at everyone else, opening her mouth to follow it with words.

And then Ganesha speaks, and drops a word that has her Attention. Her ears pop back into a full perk, her tails snapping up in an excited swish and flick. "Wait! Shri Ganesha, I have questions about Travelers, and Artosh!" She stumbles forward, over the broken and uneven ground, towards where he's vanishing. "Knowledge of it is buried deep, and hard to find. Could you please stay awhile, and answer my questions?"

"I mean, firebolt's a /classic/ sure, but, like... Fire/ball/ is more fun to look at?? I mean I guess it depends what you're going for." A barrage of those fireballs is all that seems to be necessary, it seems, to tear the extradimensional monster apart. Prophylaxis frowns as Soul Devourer Goop goes everywhere and does the predictable thing of Spawning More Slimes. Slimes which are now... surrounding the apparent goddess and her... Servant? Favorite adventurer?

BOY-TOY!?

Prophylaxis reaches into his pocket and retrieves two little vials of brightly colored fluid. One is a rich cyan, the other is a chalky white. "Hup," he hups, uncorking the white vial and, with the same motion, splashing the contents over the lingering slimes. The liquid is... Apparently some kind of potent caustic. A very powerful, highly concentrated base. Sodium hydroxide, in another world, at a very high molarity. Even if they're not made of acid, that much caustic will do /awful/ things to the cohesion of your average cell membrane.

And the other vial...

Prophylaxis moves to press to the downed newbie's mouth. "Drink," he instructs, "It's an MP potion. Using that much magic without the necessary reserves will drain your stamina and consciousness something fierce. This should help."

It tastes like blue!!

With the Soul Eater no more, Mikage's main concern is trying to keep the acidic substance from being drawn into the water supply or causing major damage to the underground. Her mana running low, she seems to focus on trying to form ice around the affected areas, hoping to shield them from further damage until a team can come in and clean the place up. Anything that would prevent the same sort of environmental problems they encountered in Eastal.

Wiping a hand across her forehead, she checks to note that the others are more than capable of dealing with the slime problem. The Were Fang's voice can be heard in the background, talking on her chimlink, trying to arrange volunteers to help the cleanup problem.

Remember, a Bard is not dangerous because they can hurt you... They are dangerous because they can help others hurt you -more-.
That is the dark beauty of something like Nightmare Sphere. It's a chunky MP drain to cast, but it makes everyone -else- that more efficient once it blisters away that shroud protecting the monster, and the combined efforts finally obliterate it.

Kauchemar reclaims the Binder Shield, giving it a pat on its... upper curve, in lieu of having an actual head. "I know someone who is getting an extra buffing tonight for a job well done~" Then turns her attention to the Elephant Mask Man. "And you, thank you for the timely assistance. Though why is a question yet unas--"
She pauses and raises a brow as the man starts to fade. Or be drawn somewhere else? "--And I guess it shall remain so."

Things just get curiouser and curiouser...

Yobi draws his jacket out of storage and places it back on, slowly putting his gloves on as he turns away from the despawning monster.  Cool guys don't look and despawns.  However, to the Elephant Man, he gives a nod.

"I appreciate the assistance.   Who ar-" and then he starts to fade away just as quickly as he appeared.  So he did just appear...wild.  

He isn't sure what to say now, so instead moves to give Whis a gentle pat on the shoulder.  "Well I'll make dinner for us all and that should make us feel better."

Schneider grounds the tip of his sword, and the flames slowly gutter out. He looks around, and while a couple people seem worse for wear, it doesn't look like anyone's been killed. That's good, he's pretty sure. "I sure which I actually understood what all happened," he says hesitantly. "But it seems to have ended well, right?"

He looks to Proph, who's an important guildie (which is sort of all he really understands about who's who here), and hesitates, because he's dealing with the other two, and the kid looks kind of rough.

The chemistry lesson is an interesting one, and makes him wish he'd paid better attention in class. "Everyone's OK, right?" he checks.

Kaydon spins his blade and sheathes it across his back once the day is won, "There's gotta be an easier way to do this. Is there no way for us to predict where these calamity waves will show up every time a floor is cleared?" Might be something to pester the guild to look into, he thinks.

There is a certain amount of confusion in the Imp's gaze upon seeing the way Hestia is responding ot the Imp. But she can't immediately ask what comes to mind. There was a raid boss to slay.

And it gets promptly slayed with the power of Adventurer Overkill and tons of Firebolts. Excellent. In the aftermath of the Devourer being slain, Proteus returns the ersatz combination of Elemental Machine parts to her cloak (and inventory) before she sweeps in to up take up Bell's legs to help Hestia move the mana-drained newbie. "You're welcome." She says to Hestia, and looks over her shoulder.

"Merek! Prophylaxis! Cover us while we get back. Clean out the dark slimes before they can taint the water supply!"

This also acts as something of a cover for her helping Hestia back into the room. "So." She looks down at Bell, then up to Hestia. "Is this supposed to be who you were looking for? I thought you said he was going to be blond-haired."

Bell Cranel accepts the potion, which does help a bit with the debuff. He groans, rubbing his head. "I guess that is what happens when you overspend your mana." He groans. Hestia helps him up, while Merek and Prophylaxis ensure the Slimes don't get too close.

"Thanks... this Traveler appreciates your assistance... I suppose." She glances aside for a moment, then back to Prophylaxis again. "And don't think I didn't notice that." She then points accusingly at him. Squinting.

Bell then shakes his head. "Nah, I didn't really want to join a Guild back then. The whole Ezzo mess was..." He suddenly gets pulled at by Hestia. "You're coming with me, we gotta make sure you get healed up properly." She tugs again.

"But I wanted to talk to him about Firebolt!" Bell demands.

Tug.

But before she disappears, she does not at Proteus. "Yep, and you can't have him!" Before she pulls down her right eyelid and sticks out her tongue at Proteus, and then comically dashes through the door, dragging the miracle rookie with her, and closes the door behind her.

---

Elsewhere, Ganesha rubs his head a bit. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't talk about that kind of thing with strangers. The others will no doubt yell at me if I do." He tells her. "Artosh is a really sore point for most of us." He explains though.

"I'll see to making sure you all don't get badgered by monsters for a while." He does add for a moment, before he fades completely. Those listening closely enough might hear footsteps though. It seems he's just invisible!

     "Thanks, Ganesha," says Sunshine. Blinking, watching as the elephant man disappears, he scratches his head. "Whew. How's that for 'things you didn't reckon you'd say a year ago?'" The bard chuckles.

     Well... how about a song to lift spirits? He takes a breath. Which one? Ah, yes... there's one he can think of. It's more suited to a steel guitar than a resonator, but he's always been a pretty talented improviser. A happy tune in the instrument's upper register, working its way gradually down and back up, like someone merrily hiking along a bumpy road.

     "You/ who are on the road,/" A subtle nod downards, the hand on the neck pointing down with an index finger. His way of saying, with without giving it away to Estelle or Setsuna, that he'd like to come and check out the undercity soon. "Must have a code/ That y'can live by/ And so/ become yourself/ because the past/ is just a goodbye!/"

     He leans in near Yobi and Whiskey, a scrap of paper conspicuously hanging from the messenger bag at his hip. He nods towards it. "Teach/ your children well/" He sings, indicating something of import on that scrap. The melody as easy to follow as the guitar's accompaniment, the bard making use of that bottleneck on his pinky to give it a pleasurable twang. "..their fathers' hell/ did slowly go by/ And feed/ them on your dreams/..."

     If either of them takes him up on it, or Att, for that matter, it's a crude drawing of a large chamber found beneath the city during a quest, with some scribbled notes. "The one they pick's/ the one you'll know by.../"

     A wink. "Don't you ever ask them why/ If they told you, you would cry/" Keep quiet about the note 'till we're clear! "So just look at them and sigh/ and know they love you." Another wink, and a solo making good use of that bottleneck in the instrument's upper register, before transitioning to a contented end.

"Notice what?" Prophylaxis answers with an expression that can only be described as 'catfais.' He straight up goes '=3a'. "Well, I'm sure I'll see you two around, I suppose. Come visit Tolbana sometime, it's a nice place--"

Hestia zooms. Prophylaxis shakes his head.

"You met her before, huh?" He asides to Proteus. "Is she really... what her name suggests?"

Proteus ends up staring at a door since Hestia yoinks Bell out of there, her expression falling a bit as she grimaces. "WHY WOULD I WANT HIM?" She yells at the door. "I WANT TO TALK TO /YOU/."

Frustrated at the bratty Traveller, Proteus turns around and flops, sitting on the floor and putting her back to the door, affecting a sulk of her own as she crosses her arms. "Damn it all, why does everything have to be so difficult? Who the hell do I have to poke to get a straight answer for once?"

The Shady Doctor, of course, is too smart for the basic distraction of slimes, and so he asks her a question. Proteus shrugs. "Yes. In a manner of speaking. And as far as I know, maybe. There's someone I need to talk to in order to get more information on that. If you want in, we can talk."

    Merek does look to Hestia when she speaks mentioning Traveler, then he watches while she takes Bell. "Wait, you're a Traveler! Aren't you... Hey, you know why we're here! YOU KNOW!" he then tries to take himself up to that door with a look to it. He then adjusts the hands upon the twin blades, then he shifts a little bit and looks to the slimes, beginning to clean up, "Why is there always another mystery. Why can't they admit anything!"

The battle is pretty serious though the entire power of the party with help from Ganesha? They are able to bring it down. Minions spells and blades are brought down against the Soul Eater. The full might of the party thankfully they have enough power to bring this thing down. She would cut through the Soul Eater's form as she pulls back as more attacks rain down and she keeps the thing on her she is getting a bit beat up by this point and she's been damn lucky to get off so lightly when all things are considered.

She looks to their unexpected help.

"Thank you for your help, sir."

She grins a bit at Whiskey Sour's comment then Estelle for a moment and thinks she's got a good point.

"I have a few questions...another time then. Take care, sir."

She won't press thing it would be foolish to do so and she looks over to Sunshine for a moment.

"Thanks for the support and the music Sunshine."

"..." The vixen stares at the space where Ganesha was, even as she hears the footsteps - her ears perking, twisting, as she tries to follow after him. "There are temporal and dimensional effects in play. Bits and pieces scattered around. Please. I just have some simple questions...? Do the others have to know you answered them, even?"

She isn't a tracker, though, and she slumps part-ways down the sewer tunnel. Grumbling to herself and her Chimlink, tails lashing irritably behind her. "So close, and yet so far. I guess I'll just need to poke around. 'This Traveler's City', huh?" Her silver eyes, that almost seem to be shining, turn to scan the area around them. "Perhaps I should put some time in and investigate Aincrad more."

Excuse you, Prophylaxis was more than distracting slimes, he was CHEMICALLY DISSOLVING THEM. Chemistry did all the work for him!! "Sure, sounds like a plan," he answers with a nod, then... smirks. "It's 'cause she thinks you're going to steal him away, I'd guess. Ah, young love..."

An ear flicks. There's footsteps. Oh, he's just being elusive like she does at times. Not really disappearing or such. But those icons... something to discuss another time it would seem.

"Some hot dinner after a big victory is always a good idea," Kauchemar finally replies to the Battle Butler. Then joins in with Sunshine on his song, and help keep the group motivated long enough to get back to the street level

Schneider utterly clueless, not old enough to get obscure old people references like Sunshine's classic song, not sure what was going on with Bell Cranel and Hestia. The levels thing confused him, and the flags. Now that they're gone, he can ask Prophylaxis, "What's actually going on?"

Proteus gets a sympathetic nod. "Tell me about it. I mostly just blow things up when people point me at things, and try not to get slaughtered." So far, so good, at least.

Kaydon shakes his head a bit at Merek, "If it was that easy we wouldn't be stuck here in the first place." He says, softly. He pats Merek on the back as he walks off. Nobody's paying him for cleanup, after all.

    It FEELS like this monster died faster than the giant worm. Did it? Mizuki can't exactly remember, without nero videos to compare.

    But perhaps that's due to this mysterious Hestia and her team helping DPS away the last couple of health bars. "Thank you. But... why are you helping us?" She throws some Double Strafes, Firebolts, and Cold Bolts at the slimes as the skills come off cooldown. "Usually when strange people appear during the waves they're here to... well, stop us."

    And then Proteus walks up and acts familiar. "Wait, you've met her before??"

    And then Hestia refers to herself as a Traveler, and Mizuki bristles at the realization. Spatjahr said Travelers were incredibly powerful, and given deities were also mentioned in the same conversation, Mizuki took it to mean Travelers were the more powerful of the two.

    "Ah... she's gone." She turns to Proteus. Who she still feels a bit negative towards after first impressions, but... curiousity overcomes. "I heard Travelers were incredibly powerful and dangerous. How do you know one??"

    Setsuna catches Estelle's words as he walk back to the hole, sound travels so well in the sewers. Making his way back up to Sewer hole and looks at the damage the self destruction he frowns at it for a moment before making his way towards the group that doesn't smell of sewer. A lot had happened but still more work to do it seems like as he looks at the damage to Alne as he approaches the group, " So that was fun, who wants to chase the next baddie that shows up into the sewers ? "

"... Not I." comes the vixen's soft response, on the topic of chasing things into sewers. She's in a brief, contemplative mood - and it's shaken off before too long. She straightens up, and tucks her wand back into her inventory. "And while a meal would be appreciated, Kauchemar, I think I'll head outside and watch the stars instead. I have some thinking to do. Some divinations to perform. Questions to contemplate."

Her tails settle into a more normal rhythm behind her, and she moves to dust off her outfit and (try to) pat down the worst of the frizz of her tails. "It was an honor to fight along you all, however." She turns, and gives a bow to the rest of the Burrower Team. "Perhaps we'll see each other again at the next wave."

Proteus glances over at Merek. "I can /deeply/ empathize with you right now." To Schneider, Proteus also nods. "And you too. Maybe it would just be better to stop caring and focus on figuring out how to just blow everything up." She sighs, muttering to herself a bit. Prophylaxis' comment gets a shrug from the Imp. "Whatever they do in the comfort of their own house is none of my business. The only thing I'd want to do with a newbie like that is recruit them. They seem enthusiastic enough, they just need to be taught. And we're good at that." She arches a brow then at the Shady Doctor. "Unless you're inferring that's my type, in which case I would have to inform you that they absolutely are not. There's no time for love, Doctor."

Mizuki then starts asking her some questions. The Imp looks up and arches an eyebrow. "All that and you didn't even make one cat noise. I guess you chose to be a person, then." She claps her hands together. "Excellent. Then I guess we can finally move on from /that/ one." She gestures to the Were Fang. "I know a lot of things. Maybe you know some things I don't. Maybe we can trade?" She smiles a bit. "But not here. This is a bad place for it. Seriously, I am just /done/ with sewer levels right now, and now there's a huge hole in the plaza. This is going to be a pain."

Proteus stands up, then, and glares at the door behind her for a moment before she shrugs. "Anyway, I'm going back to the guild house."

    Mizuki crosses her arms, frowns, and her ears flatten back against her skull. This is why she doesn't like Proteus. "Yeah. Maybe. Guess we'll talk later." She answers a bit more gruffly.

Schneider hrms to Proteus, and nods as she works out his current plan. "Well," he backtracks, "I -care-. But it's hard to /do/ anything about it when no one will explain things." In small words, for a preference. Mister basketball-brains is not the sharpest tool in the shed. He does make some spectacular explosions, though.

But it looks like we're breaking up, so he, too, will head back to his own guild house. "Uh, anything left here?" he asks, eying the wreckage. "Are we responsible for repairing it, or do the Landers fix it?"

    Merek does take a moment to nod along to Prophylaxis, "I have succeeded in creating a magical explosive, I will offer you information upon it when I've time to write it," he notes, while waving.

"Perish the thought," Shady Doc answers with a chortling laugh. "I was just admiring that young man's situation. He's got a goddess pining after him, I'm a little jealous. But also worried," Maybe he can trade cheap curatives to those two in exchange for Deep Traveler Lore? But maybe if it was so easy to buy that kind of thing, there really wouldn't be as many mysteries in the world to uncover.

Ah well, wouldn't hurt.

Beat.

"Now that you mention it..." Prophylaxis adds, thoughtfully, "I don't think Mizuki has done even a single hit of the nip since that night in Dun Loireag. That's an impressive abstinent streak. I'm impressed! We /should/ definitely get out of here though. The less sewer gas I breathe the better."

He looks to Merek then, and nods, "Sounds good. The more firepower we have access to, the better." Maybe he can figure out the Goblin Slayer's demolition charges while he's at it?

    Mizuki turns to ask Prophylaxis about his research into explosives. Science is interesting! As she turns away from Proteus, her eyes and expression brighten and her ears rotate forwards, and she raises a finger and opens her mouth--

    No, not Prophy too?! Her fur bristles and she lets out a bit of a hiss involuntarily before clenching her fists and stomping off. Splish splish splish. Then she speeds into a run, and then finally decides that running in a sewer going splishsplishsplish is already undignified and scampers off on all fours, using the additional speed to run along the wall and stay out of the water. Not because cat haet water but because ew, it's sewer water. Which she just now realizes she's been walking in in bare feet. EW EW EW. Time to find some fresh water and use the cleaning menu.

Proteus watches Mizuki literally get Cat Angry and run off.

She looks over to Prophylaxis and shrugs, sighing. "You know, I had such high hopes for her." She asides, then walks off.

"But you *really* didn't," Att asides from just out of frame, currently cleaning dust off the statuary.

Prophylaxis likewise frowns. "She was doing so well, too! I'm going to have to give her a talking to later. Getting catty is one thing, but running on fours in a /sewer/ is just /unsanitary./" The disapproval is i m m e n s e. He sighs and goes off in a different direction. But they will have to talk lore later.