Meeting the Landers: Mystery Spriggan

It isn't often that Tolbana is given this kind of sight. Not since the construction of the Igneous Temple. There's a bell that sounds, as a few of the Spriggan Landers join Adventurers near some of the fortifications at the edges of town.

It's the sight of a single individual, clad in black robes, with black wings on their back, running towards the border of town. Following him are four enormous black lion-like creatures. Monsters, clearly, from the initial view. High level ones that absolutely do not belong on this low level of the tower.

Purple fire is left in the wake of their steps, as the enormously maned creatures rush after the single spriggan. Rather than regular lions, they look almost more like some Rockman fans would recognize as Treble. Not quite the same, but the similarity is almost striking, even if they are fully furred.

"We've got incoming monsters!" One of the watch members calls out. "Their info is showing strange characters!" He adds to that. "And they're chasing... a Lander with a strange symbol!" The Spriggan watchman alerts!

Listen. Tolbana is supposed to be a bastion of safety amongst the dangers of the tower. Scale Emblem had worked to ensure that! Kita had dedicated months of her life towards building up the town. Even now, she's sitting on the edge of the statue, seemingly working on designs for yet another building.

The sudden sounding of alarm has her pencil mark a bit darker than normal on the page. "Damnit, what now?" She looks up, pushing her glasses up on her nose as she claps the sketchbook closed, getting to her feet.

The witch looks none too happy for the disturbance. The warning of incoming monsters has her swiping inventory for her spellbook. "Just what we need right now. More trouble. Where the hell did those things even come from?"

Since the enemies are still on their approach, she traces out a few runes, casting a dark magic spell that targets one of the lead lions. A strange symbol that looks like death with a scythe shows. It's the sort of status effect attack that usually weakens an opponent.

    Tolbana wasn't normally Setsuna's stomping grounds... partly due to some Doctor stating he wasn't allowed to bring his pets to the town without having full control over them. So he was passing through, hanging out in the tavern before he would make his way up to the fifth floor to go take more goblin heads. Then the bells were rang, alarms went off and Setsuna simply sat sipping his tea for a moment before it dawns on him what is actually going on. "Oh those are monster bells." They don't usually happen here so it wasn't something he was use to.
     Stepping outside the tavern , the necromancer looks out towards the Alne entrance and then finally seems to get motivated to actually run forward. Running and retrieving his staff from his inventory and even starts to work a spell. It was likely teh multitasking effort that has lead to his storm of lightning to be off the intended target of the lion creatures. It is only after tossing his attack out does he take a moment to start inspecting the battle field and asking, " Ok anyone have any idea who is chasing who?"

    Someone has just arrived into Tolbana from a long scouting run, this someone is Xander Scaleharth and he is was just enjoying some relaxing time before continuing his way out of the tower.

That is when the alarms go off and the dark scaled Salamander opens one fiery, gold draconic eye. "Hmm?" His tail flicks in annoyance, he watches some folks run by.

First he tries to ignore it. His arms crossing over his chest, closing his eyes once more. Then he hears the watchmen yells. He slowly opens his eyes with annoyance before he rumbles. "... Damn it all."

    It is not too much longer after does Xander start to make his way toward the gate. He has his sword drawn, along with his shield. His face says it all: I don't have time for this shit. His spell, is about to back up his feelings of annoyance.

He sword lights up with red runes as he points it forward. "Hey, Spriggan!" He yells toward the mysterious lander running there way, "DUCK!" Several fire balls form around him, before they circle around his sword. Then with an almost draconic-like battle roar he swings his sword around, before lashing it at the air, sending a massive wave of fire out toward one of the Lions.

When your establishment is near the center of town it doesn't take much for word of danger to reach you. Be it the shout of the guards directly, or the number of Lander locals that come inside for protection. Seeing the first few paniced faces is enough to get Vertina to vault over the bar, grabbing her battle gloves from her inventory to equip as she does, yelling to her staff to stay here and watch the locals in case anything does get into the town as she sprints out the door and quickly meets with the rest of the gathering Scales.

"So, who's surprised we actually got a monster attack finally? Huh? No one? Didn't think so." She pauses, squinting at whoever Xander is yelling at. ".. And they're chasing someone? Okay that's a little different." With a grunt she takes a few bounding steps forward, followed by a leap. She rears back an arm with fist clenched as she does so.

"Stalag.. SPIKE!"

She doesn't just do the three-point hero landing, she does it channeling geokinesis into the fist that smashes into the ground, causing a wave of earthen spikes to burst up and across the ground to cut off part of the inbound monsters.

    Mizuki is just out playing the ninja version of 'the floor is lava' where you do it outside and leap from rooftop to rooftop just to see if you can. Because it's fun! But then she hears the watch call out trouble, leaping up to a tall building for a look.

    Wait, are those... Lions? Wolves? They're so stylized it's hard to tell, but the first thing it makes her think of is an entirely different videogame.

    Inspired, she rolls with it, taking a deep breath and then whistling five notes, as loud as she can!

                              o/~ o/~ o/.; o/~ o/.                              

    (Whistling with animal lips is hard but she's practiced.)
    She leaps into action, dropping out of the sky with long scarf trailing behind her, daggers drawn as she dashes in to stab the nearest monster!

Prophylaxis has spent far too much time and effort making sure Tolbana was as safe and peaceful as possible to have it get knocked over by a bunch of overenthusiastic purple dog-lions playing fetch with a Spriggan-shaped ball. The Doctor of Tolbana emerges from his clinic at the din of the bell, looking absolutely befuddled. That bell is only supposed to ring when there are monsters, and there haven't been monsters since they built the cathedral, but...

Clearly, the protection of the Burning One does not necessarily extend to glitchy lion monsters.

"Nobody let /anyone/ die to those things," Prophylaxis orders as he makes his way onto the fortifications, travelling up from the strategically placed accessway built into the walls near his clinic. Last time the Scale Emblem ran into anything even remotely like these things, it was a white whale on the fourth floor that briefly deleted anything it devoured from everyone's collective memories.

Definitely not something he wants repeated.

"Does anyone have a visual on that Spriggan's name and symbols?" Prophylaxis asks as he summons a... thoroughly broken (in three places!!) staff to his hand. It's been repaired as best as he's been able to get it, but it's still barely holding together. Still, it fills his present needs. The lion-things are still far enough away that they're not quite in range for his prefered spells, but...

As it turns out, they are /not/ too far out of range for a lightning bolt or two.

Tolbana isn't Schneider's normal duty station, but he rotates around, and that's fortunate now, since he's taking his turn as a watchstander here, standing guard, and when he sees someone approaching at a dead run followed by high-level monsters, his task is clear. "GUNZENRO!" he shouts, and flame erupts over the pursuers as he tries to defend whoever it is trying to escape.

This is just the sort of reason why they've always got pretty capable people on guard. His gratuitous use of fire should meet with official approval, he's certainly chucking enough of it at the monsters. "What's going on?" he wonders. Shoot first and ask questions later, that's his attitude.

    It's the sound of the alarm bell that pulls Amalthea out of her quarters. Already clad in her armor, sword at her side.
    "What's all this about?" Muttered as she makes her way for the fortifactions to heckle the watchmen about just what the hell is going on.
    Turns out there's someone running for the gates.
    Turns out they're being chased by monsters.
    Amalthea's sword is drawn as she emerges from the gate, rushing to meet them, taking to Xander's side.
    She pauses.
    She realizes she has no means to attack at range while the creatures are on approach.
    Hold on one moment.
    Amalthea spends 90 JP on a Squire ability.

    >Menu:
        >Skills:
            Anchor Howl?
            >Throw Rock.
            Hit with sword.

    Amalthea proceeds to pick up a good fist sized rock.
    And pitches it like a fastball at one of the lion beast things.

The unusual Spriggan suddenly turns as he gets close enough to the town, noticing Adventurers and some Spriggan Landers coming his way - with the first spell of Kita's rushing over his shoulder towards one of the Lions. Their head ducks down under Xander's attacks mid-turn, making for a most impressive show. Kita may notice how her own effect attaches, but the timer of the effect seems to almost corrupt and rush down far too fast!

The black cloaked Spriggan throws up various clumps of grass and dirt in the midst of their breakneck turn, their hood coming off, and a twosome of pure white braids immediately come visible that go as long as his lower legs - with literal blades /attached/ to the ends of their hair. Their skin is pale white, and /far/ too beautiful to have been randomly generated, and impossible to tell if they're male or female. Their wings spread out, breaking the rest of their initial momentum, right before four 'blades' extend out from underneath their black cloak - like swords attached to a long set of mechanical 'arms'. They pull out a sword, which manifests from out of nowhere into their left hand as well.

Those who Inspect him get the following output:

                                < Ascheriit >                                
                               < Hero Slayer >                                
                          [CASTLE] [I] [HALF A WING]                          

Xander's sicle of flame blasts against the Lion in question, but fails to down any of its health! It seems to uselessly slam against this strange greenish 'hex pattern' that suddenly glows around the buggily named Lion! This makes it impossible to tell if Kita's spell had any effect in weakening it, or if any health dropped!

The remaining Lions keep moving onto the white haired Spriggan's position, trying to claw at him. Their four extra blades cleanly parrying away at the claws. But it's clear that the Spriggan is... exhausted. They're sweating and panting in the midst of battle. Who knows how long they've had to fight these creatures!

Vertina's Stalag Spike earns them a moment of reprieve as it blasts one of the Lions away by making impact, but the impact doesn't seem to wound the creature at all. Mizuki has it even worse! As her daggers slam in one of of the Lions, she immediately spots as her daggers begin to drain in Integrity, rapidly starting to rush towards 0, which would mean her daggers would break!

Prophylaxis' Lightningbolts rip down on his position. But he may notice... even though they are clearly in combat, the communications are still working! Which seems rather unusual. Schneider's blaze interlaces with the lightningbolts of both Setsuna's and Prophylaxis', turning into a storm of cataclysmic force upon one of the lions... but it meets that same green-hex-pattern of resistance on the Lion!

A rock slams into another one, halting its approach on the Spriggan as they are clearly fighting for their life! The Lion-like creatures start to encircle them, making the entire situation that much more troublesome. But those fighting may note that the Four Black Swords that the Spriggan is wielding are able to bite past the shields of these creatures. The Spriggan however is severely on the defensive and can't focus on any one of the Lions, which keep jumping in and out. One of them biting into their shoulder, grabbing on with their claws, before getting thrown off by the Spriggan, who is now bleeding and slowed down even further!

One of the Lions, just a single one, suddenly seems to turn into this purple /haze/ that suddenly rushes for the Adventurers. A lightning speed attack that attempts to bite onto the neck of the first person they can get their maw on, and trying to swipe at anyone they can't manage to grab!

    Mizuki is surprised when the lions FREAKING CHEAT. Good thing she learned about weapon care increasing durability, so her weapons won't shatter as fast... but she'll need to find another attack. She leaps back and breathes in, preparing to fire--

    Wait. Isn't attacking it MORE just the same as the grunts in movies who've SEEN their guns not work on the monster and do something else? But what else could she--

    One of the 'lions' turns to freaking mist and pounces. Her feet barely have time to twitch when she tries to jump away, the next thing she knows she's grabbed, in TERRIBLE PAIN, and thrown to the ground.

    The thought to 'warn the others' rises through the pain. "It... hurts!"

    What she can't immediately see is that she's bleeding like the monster just tore open an artery. Prophylaxis' prognosis for that probably isn't good.

    After a second or so she stumbles to her feet -- not the quick kip-up of an experienced ninja -- and touches her neck, feels the blood, stares at it, and then runs towards the town. "I'm bleeding!"

    The Salamander uses his shield to block the blow of the Lion's attack, holding his ground as his skids back a bit, however when Mizuki is bitten, Xander by tank instincts goes to move quickly over to try to run interference, he hears her words. He sees that she is bleeding.

His brain doesn't register it right away, but as he tries to cover her escape to the doctor or someone who can help her, he at last lets it register.
        She was bleeding...

        That was /real/ blood...

    His teeth grit tightly as he pushes back any further thought on it. He flourishes his blade and yells at the Lion with all his might, "You son of bitch! You want to take a bite out of someone! COME ON!"

His sword then glows with a hue of purple and blue. The magic swirling around it, before he attempts to slash and pierce the Lion's hide; Trying to break whatever 'armor' or 'magic' this creature has around it.

If nothing else, draw its ire as he continues to roar out at it. "I've already nearly died once! Lets see if you damn beast can do better! EAT ME!" Before he flourishes the magical energy once again at the beast.

    "Incoming!" Setsuna shouts as he sees the lion charging into the adventurers , really it seemed only 1 lion from the pack was able to be pulled away, however it might be a good thing due to the blinding speed of the thing. Setsuna moves himself out of the crowd quickly , intentionally running behind it and looking at the battle field. The strangers weapon's weren't being stopped and that means this one spriggan should be kept alive.
     The scream from Mizuki stops him as he sees the blood and hears the pain in her voice. Setsuna just stares in shock for a moment before he begins to shout, " Push the lion back and avoid getting bit! Draw it away from the crowd or we will have more casualties !" His eyes flicker to one of the tanks, and it appears that Xander's rage is already having him step into that role. Setsuna looks back out into the field at the spriggan to make sure he was still alive before back at the current problem. " We need to get this lions attention first before we move back to help the lander . Doc do doctor things. " It was the best he could do in this situation before his summoning circle appears and a skeleton minion is raised to go tackle the lion and hopefully restrain it for a moment.

A look of confusion settles on Kita's face as she looks towards the incomming group, both monsters and Spriggan alike. It is the first time she's ever seen one of her spells react quite like that. In fact, this might be one of her first interactions with glitched creatures at all.

There is that, and then there is the strange fighting style of the Spriggan andtheir equally questionable title. There is little time to consider that however, as the purple haze moves towards them. Knowing all about dark magical techniques, the Imp throws up a defensive shield that seems to flicker in that same dark purple manner.

She moves to engage again, but that's when a blood-covered Mizuki moves in the corner of her vision. That is when the Imp freezes, staring. There is some past horror that flickers in front of her eyes, causing one hand to go to her glove-covered forearm.

The growl of one of the nearby lions snaps her out of it, shifting the girl into a more defensive posture as she tries to fall back closer to the town's defenses. Drawing one hand to her spellbook, she draws up a ball of fire energy laced with darkness, causing the flames to flicker purple.

"Stay back!" She seems to warn them, though not in a very convincing way. Luckily, her magic might offer a bit more discouragement as dark flames are launched at the closest of the lions.

Vertina cusses under her breath when one of the lion-like monsters does something crazy, followed by charging a quick surge of lightning through herself for the extra boost in speed to leap away from the mistified thing. As she does so she turns to watch it charge through their ranks, and do -something- to Mizuki.

Feet kick up some dust as they hit the ground again, and Vertina turns back to the monster swarm with a gritted expression now. One of her friends was hurt in a strange way. Now she's mad. "Fine, two can play with trickery." She pulls one of the flaskes off her belt, uncorks it, and chugs it down. By now people have seen her do this a few times, gulp some of her self-brewed liquor.

And let it's inherent flammability turn her Salamander fire breath into a shearing wall of flame as she expels it, sending the wave of conflageration rolling towards the monsters as she stalked towards them like a living flamethrower.

Many things transpire in far too short order. The stranger's hood comes undone, and they begin exhibiting skill that Prophylaxis would call 'terrifying' on the best of days. But he cannot spend time standing awestruck. Watching the Scale Emblem's mighty ALPHA STRIKE bounce off those monster-lions like water from a lotus leaf-- if the lotus leaf was being protected by a tessellating pattern of green hexagons is troubling enough, but it's the sudden flash of familiar bright-red fluid that makes Prophylaxis' blood run cold.

"No," he whispers, his voice hollow with half-forgotten horror. Faster than the signal to MOVE carries to his limbs, his thoughts are already flying through familiar pathways and patterns. Volume of blood, location of the injury, reaction of the victim, it all lines up far too closely. With the silence of the grave, he descends from his perch and manifests a spell. A violet vine wraps itself around his arm and shoots towards Mizuki, digging into the ground next to her as Prophylaxis slingshots over... And grabs her by the shoulder. "Stay /very/ still. Do you understand? Do not move a goddamn inch or you /will/ die."

Normally that's the kind of line that comes across as a threat. This is a /promise./ A doctor's absolute judgment. He tears the vine free of the ground and whispers another spell, the snaking shape transforming and blossoming before Mizuki's very eyes into a coil of luminescent green ivy. With skill that suggests it has been practiced for decades, he wraps the ivy around her ruptured neck and pulls /tight./ His eyes glance from side to side as his hands fly in a flurry of motion, weaving the vine into a bandage before sealing the result with another gesture.

It does more than knit flesh shut-- it sets the bone of her neck as well. This is why she had to stand absolutely still. Broken spinal columns are /terrible/ things to aggravate.

...But that's not the only thing he sees when he Looks at her with those Pharmacist's eyes.

...It's not important now. But he commits the affliction he sees to memory.

...but what the hell is a Cosmosphere, and how was it put at risk...?

"The Lander was hit too," he shouts across the din-- and /somehow/ the team-wide communication holds. "Someone get their wounds closed, stat! Or give me the time and the space to fix them!"

    "Mizuki!"
    All Amalthea needs to hear is 'It hurts', to know that something is very wrong here. The old Odysseia Knight watches raptly as Mizuki is snatched up, shaken like a ragdoll and flung down. Under normal circumstances, she would be baffled by this mysterious Spriggan's inspect information, but right now?
    Her only concern is Mizuki.
    Hurtling herself into a defensive position between the lions and the injured were-fang to cover her and the good doctor tending to her grievous wounds, Amalthea grits her teeth as she flips her sword in her grasp to hold it by the blade.
    So she can batter and bludgeon the closest lion that dares approach with the blunt end of her sword like a goddamn cudgel.

    Get away from the danger. It's no good if healers get hurt trying to help you. Sam tries to focus on that thought as he runs--

    And then Prophy is there. Holding still, she nods slightly, quickly asking, "Would it be easier to work on a human?" and then lets the doctor do his damn job. Eyes watching him, ears flicking about, waiting to hear she can move again.

Schneider sees the Lion attacking, and he conjures a shield of flame to protect himself from the swiping and grabbing and the deadly claws. So far, so good. But his fire spell not causing damage is kind of a problem, but it's not one he has a solution to. What he /can/ do is throw more fire, hotter fire. "Tai to ro! Blow this enemy away! Anthem!" And so saying, he hurls a fire spell at the enemy, hotter than the one before, the flames more intense. Because what he does is fire, and when that doesn't work, his first solution is More Fire. Hotter Fire. This is the Fire that goes to eleven.

The Spriggan continues to battle for their life. Blades swing at rediculous speeds, and they use their other hand to swing that fifth, while holding down their left to keep the wound on their neck closed. Those who've seen Yuuki in battle before may note that the speed that this Spriggan is moving at is nothing short of insane. Their red eyes constantly following the full flow of the battle, keeping their enemies at bay. All while the team is already severely suffering in emotional state from the first strike of just one of the Lions. What's more, they /appear/ not to be doing any damage to them!

It doesn't help that the Lander isn't speaking. They're not explaining anything about this situation at all. They're just fighting, their blades cutting at the Lions. Panting shortly between each strike, trying to get their stamina back. Their entire body is trembling, and the blood loss that is trickling down from between their fingers isn't helping!

Prophylaxis gets to Mizuki just in time, knitting her flesh, presumably fixing her bloodvessels, and setting her spine anew - fixing the broken and missing bone tissue. Watching the damage go away, over time, the status that called upon their sound of surprise goes away... achingly slow. But it goes away. There's a flash of red light beneath that flesh for a moment, almost like it was erupting along with the blood as that skin gets sealed, until it finally just shows that 'red damage area' that every Adventurer is so used to seeing.

Prophylaxis, focused purely on Mizuki in that moment, is about to get mauled himself, were it not for Amalthea interceding! A Lion suddenly breaks out of the purple mist, jumping forward with its claws forward - and gets slammed into the face and pushed away to the ground. That same green hex light shows up again, but it's clear that /physics/ has not stopped working! Putting that much force against them still forces their paths to be disrupted!

Xander rushes forward to further keep it away from Mizuki. Bringing his sword forward with ALL HIS MIGHT, an Aura of magic fulminating around it, his blow slams against the Lion. He feels the give behind the blow. Feeling like it's piercing... but at the same time, the Integrity of that sword goes. And before he knows it, that sword SHATTERS right after the lion is blown back by the sheer power behind his blow - sending it skidding across the ground!

Setsuna's Skeleton rises, grabbing the Lion by the neck, holding it down for everyone else! Stopping it from going after Mizuki for a moment, while its hind keeps moving. The force of the Lion clearly extreme! But not impossible to battle against! Kita's blazing fire crashes against its body, further slamming it to the ground, before some of her black flames are doused by that green light! With all of them pulling out the stops, they're doing... something. Damage? It's hard to tell.

Vertina rushes in to aid Ascheriit, and gets in up and close. She finds a blade suddenly dart past her, but not harm her. Like a surgical strike, it moves past her cheek and stabs into a Lion who tried to make use of her approach to attack her, and is forced away from her right before her flaming wall appears, blasting one of the lions and keeping it away from the Lander, allowing them to focus on /two/ of the Lions! Schneider assists on this, turning up the heat, and further screening away the second of four lions - diverting it away from the Lander!

This allows Ascheriit to finally go on the offensive. There's a loud scream of anguish and frustration, as the blades lance foward and force one of the Lions back, right before they jump onto the back of another. It tries to turn into purple hazing mist, but Ascheriit stabs into its NECK. And again. AND AGAIN! Like a berserker, they keep stabbing, until it finally goes down to the ground, and she's forced away as a purple fire breath disrupts her attack. One lion defeated, shattering into white light!

Three more to go. One of which is still fiercely on the Adventurers, rushing forward and sending a flaming blast out towards Prophylaxis and Mizuki's position, before the second suddenly jumps out from behind the fire that Schneider and Vertina put up and try to pounce the two of them. The earlier flame using one then uses that moment to try and go for one of the Adventurer's legs in an attempt to tear it off!

    Setsuna was over confident watching his skeleton manage to pin the lion. Turning his head towards Vertina, it was hard to track everything that was going on but trying. Even Mizuki appeared to be in an ok condition, " Ok just have to keep this up and the momentum appears to be turning in our favor." Setsuna has one of those mouths, the type of mouths that likes to say something only to have it disproven shortly after. What follows is the world disproving Setsuna. One of the lion turns towards him and charges, not only charges at him but charges straight through his multi layered bone shield. Setsuna stumbles back still trying to dodge and then their is pain. Unlike others he hasn't felt real pain in half a year, and now it was all there as he could feel the jaw literally ripping into his flesh, crushing the bone and removing the leg. All in one swift movement.
     The poor guy can't really take it either as he screams out in pain falling backwards. He is screaming not sure what to make of it all and obviously when he looks down seeing his leg is missing he screams even louder if possible.

Sometimes, you fight fire with fire. Or more accurately, you try to block fire with fire and end up burned. Despite the wall of flame that Kita tries to summon up, it isn't enough to stop the force of the lion's own dark magic. As it breaks through her defenses, she turns to try to protect herself, causing burns to form down along her exposed side.

Kita isn't a soldier, not by any means, and the flare of pain seems to cause her eyes to glaze over. She doesn't have time to go into full shock, though, as there is still fire actively burning and she has to quickly cast a spell to try to douse it before more damage can be done.

Breathing quickly, teeth gritted against the feeling, the Imp mage had clearly turned to protect her spellbook, which may look a bit singed around the edges, but still seems to be in one piece.

Earlier, her dark magic had changed the element of fire, this time it is a tainted version of the air element. She pulls together a sphere that is fragile as glass, then tosses it with her unburned arm. As it flies, the sphere shatters into many pieces, forming an explosion of shrapnel towards one of the remaining lions.

"Incoming!" Vertina shouts as one lion-beast leaps over the flames. She leaps away, making the quick movements to conjure her mirage duplicates... which do no good when the beast decides to just bombast the entire area she was in with that weird fire(?). That's actually a good tactic against the defensive maneuver, just saturate the area instead of trying to pick out which is the real kung-fu chick. That it gets a yowl out of Vertina is enough to tell it was a successful hit, regardless if one can see it or not.

The response is much what one might expect from this. Despite being hurt Vertina grits her teeth, and leaps out of the attack with the determination of a proper Scale warrior. Not one to let damage hold her back to say the least. At the peak of her leap she consolidates a sphere out of something other than fire though, using her trademark technique to send an orb of glowing ki hurtling at one of the remaining beasts with such intensity it becomes more of a spear of light propelled by that powerful kick.

    Everything was going wrong. People were crying in pain, or was it just echoes. He can smell the burnt flesh as the lions go after the others. The calls, the yells, all blurring together.

As his sword shatters, he watches the digital pixels of it, like fading red light; Light within the pain. Light within the screams. His teeth grit-- the reminder of how powerless he is yet again.

    ... Once more he can't stop their suffering.

        He can't stop the hell that has been unleashed.

    'No' His mind says. 'No no no' It begins to scream inside of him, as his pupils become predatory thin slits. Setsuna's scream breaks him down to the bone. The corner of his vision catching the spray of blood.

He can see their ghosts within that spray of blood. Ghosts of his past. Ghost of that moment looking back at him. Twisted, glaring.

    With a roar of trying to break past his mind slipping into some state of madness, he forgoes all logic. Everything that says 'You saw what happened to the sword.' And with his hand now free, it glows brightly with fire. His shield becoming that of fire as well.

Xander first throws the shield of one of the lions, before he swings his fist to send a wave of fire at another, almost controlling the flame like a whip, before he swings his body and tries to lash the flames at another. The fires licking the very ground as it travels around.

    Even with this mysterious spriggan taking out one of the lion beasts... Amalthea remains on the defensive.
    She's used to being on the defensive.
    But then... Things go from bad to worse.
    Setsuna's scream hits her, and it hits her hard.
    The last time she had felt real, actual, honest to god pain was when she had been jabbed in the shoulder by a lucky goblin's crossbow bolt. She can't even begin to imagine how miniscule that must be, compared to the crippling sensation and loss of a limb. Even when she had her arm severed during the Second Floor boss battle she was able to continue fighting without much issue.
    Those screams...
    Those are screams of real, actual, legitimate pain.
    Without thinking, Amaltea brings her shield up against the putple flames as she rushes to Setsuna's side.
    "DOCTOR. Get over here!" She barks. She doesn't have to. She knows she doesn't have to order Prophylaxis to do his job. But Setsuna's screams HAUNT her as she intercedes herself between the lion and the downed Odysseia Knight. One of HER Odysseia Knights.
    "Pay attention to ME, furball." She snaps as she raises her blade. And it begins to glow with a holy white light.

    "How short sweet life, but do not mourn... From ash to ash and dust to dust-- Bury! Enlightened Strike!"

    She proclaims her attack, eyes wide and wild as she brings that divine strike to bear.

"You're fine now," Prophylaxis says as the wound knits itself shut and that... That strange red force fills in the hole he /knew/ should have been utterly impenetrable. But, no, that's not quite right. The Goblins managed something similar when they raided the Nest. But... The implications are distressing nevertheless. Is it some kind of automatic internal defense mechanism? Something tied to their status as Adventurers? If so, what does it mean if it's suppressed? What happens if you /die/ while it's suppressed? And what was that thing about the Cosmosphere...?

"Move as you will," Prophylaxis murmurs, barely even noticing the monsters rampaging all around him. Amalthea saves the doctor from a grievous mauling, but the thoughts occupying his mind distract him at a critical juncture, allowing one of those beasts the opportunity to disgorge a gout of flame all over him...!

"Ghhh--" Prophylaxis winces and staggers out of the blaze, but... He's not incinerated. That's good. Barely. Not good: Setsuna TEMPTING FATE and getting his goddamn leg torn off.

"Fuck," Prophyaxis hisses and forces himself through the pain, rushing over with a bevy of healing potions in one hand and another handful of those glowing green vines. "It's bleeding too-- the jaws? Is it their fangs and claws that do this!? Setsuna, I need you to /stop moving!/"

Vines wrap and bind the necromancer tight, before Prophylaxis darts in and shoves no fewer than five syringes full of healing potion directly into Setsuna's stumped leg. Again he binds the wound shut, weaving more of those vines over the gushing wound.

"You're not going to die today," he promises-- but it might ring hollow if the beasts aren't eradicated and quickly!

Schneider grimaces as another lion jumps out from behind his fire to attack him and Vertina. He slams into a shield of stone into place that rises up in front of him, interposing between him and incoming fire. He is, alas, not the elemental fire wizard he's named for, and he can't do what that wizard can. But he can do what a Rune Knight can, and that's a fair amount. "Just because you've killed a sorcerer doesn't mean you've killed a sorcerer," he says with a sneer, and he is, in fact, far from dead.

Another arcane incantation springs from his lips, and fire springs from his hands. Fire that seeks out the lion attacking him, seeks to burn and destroy and consume and ... well, like that. It is a hot fire, blazing hot, because intensity -is- his thing, and the more fire he can pour into this thing, the happier he will be.

He doesn't have the presence of mind to track what's going on further afield, he's no experienced warrior, or soldier or gamer. He played basketball, and there's only one of those in play at a time, so he can perhaps be forgiven for concentrting on what's going on in front of him. It will have to be good enough, though part of him is thinking that he really ought to be working more on his casting skill. Or working out how to make even more intense fire spells.

    Mizuki's eyes stare into Prophy's. She wants to ask if he knows something about what happened, what this magical-medical treatment he's developed is. But first, she has to let him work un-distracted, and second... there are probably others he has to help.

    So once she's told she can move, she relaxes from standing so stiffly, and asks, "Am I in shape to keep fighting?"

    If given confirmation, she looks at the battle. Already, she's started formulating a plan. She begins making martial arts movements in place... okay, look, she's waterbending. Let's just call it that. Flowing, sweeping motions that cause water to rise up from the ground, flow around the nearest lion(?), and then she holds out one arm and the spellcasting rings appear! As she raises one arm, the water rises up in an attempt to engulf it... with her other hand pointing at the monster, she's already intoning a spell: "Strikefromthegroundwithglisteningblades! FROST DIVER!"

    Spiky icicles rise from the ground in a trail towards the lion, but all that matters for her purposes is it's an ice spell that makes more ice than cold bolt does. The lions can do some ridiculous things... but if she can engulf one in water and FREEZE that water, can it escape THAT?

    Probably a big if, though.

    But as long as she's focusing on coming up with plans to stop these things, she's not focusing on how she was bleeding(?!) and possibly dying(?) back there, and... it may not matter more than stopping the lions, but it matters!

Kita warps magic into a new coil of power, tainting air magic with the Arcane, creating that sphere of magical 'glass', before crushing it and sending out those shards right as Ascheriit comes out through the wall of flames, and places their blades in a 'window' right in front of Kita's hands as she puts out her spell.

The Shards rush through, and pierce through the green light, pocking into the body of the Lion she was aiming for. For a moment, the crimson-eyed Spriggan makes eye-contact with her. Those pale brows set in such a murderous fierceness. An anger deep within those eyes - one that is not aimed at her - but still a look that can momentarily captivate.

There's a beauty to this Spriggan that reminds Kita almost of that painting she'd seen. Clearly, not the same species. But this ephemeral beauty to the Spriggan, almost like they'd been made in their image by some sculptor.

The eye-contact lasts for a shred of a moment, before they rush in again, turning their full body and spinning in mid-air bringing the four swords to come up like a wheel, cutting at the Lion that was getting too close, before landing again and having to fend off another as it bites for them - putting the blade in her hand into its maw at an angle, and being pushed back, blood dripping from their neck.

A Lion just about jumps Kita in her partial shock. It's Xander, overcoming... or perhaps using his own PTSD in that moment. That shield clunks into the head of the Lion, causing it to miss its first bite. And before its jaws can reach her as it tries to re-lunge at her, Xander's blazing fist slams its head so hard that it /bounces/ off of the ground. Xander can feel the pain in his fist. It's so... real. The knuckles his has hand. The bones, the muscle crunching, the tendons distending in pain. But unlike his weapon, it seems his flesh protects him from losing health in that attack.

Amalthea positions herself to protect Setsuna as his pained screams rip through the air. His bones exposed amidst the blood if she looked back for a moment. Her shield luckily catches the next strike as the Lion that was previously going after Ascheriit suddenly rushes to try and finish Setsuna off. Her shield slams against its head. She can feel the pressure. See the health of her shield rush down towards zero! Her divine strike then falls to its head. She can feel her blade /crush/ something within the lion's head, as her blade fights against the bugged green hexes that protect it.

Prophylaxis binds Setsuna. As the vines and healing potions course through Setsuna's body, he sees as the flesh reknits. A red light rushing out along with the flesh, keeping up with the healing, until a stump of red light forms to protect the remainder of his body after he's re-knit the muscles and veins underneath as well! That same warning was on Setsuna's status window - from what Prophylaxis could see with his pharmacy knowledge, only for the status to disappear the moment that red light of damage overlaps that part of his body.

Schneider in the mean time sends further flames out, joined by Vertina. They're both joined by Ascheriit again. The warrior stabs one of their blades into one of the Lions, right before Vertina's kicking attack comes down upon it. Slamming onto its head and crushing it further than Amalthea had done earlier. And as it tries to roar out in pain, Schneider's intense heat suddenly blasts into its maw and ERUPTS from within! It tries to get away, but Mizuki's Frost Driver rips over it with its icy shards, keeping it in place! Until finally, Ascheriit swings their blade in one perfect swing that lops off its head and causes it to shatter into light!

They then draw their blade away and look prepared to keep going, but the Lions suddenly look at one-another, turn, and run away in the direction of the Tower Exit towards Alne. Their speed far too fast for the team to keep up with.

At that moment... Ascheriit finally takes a knee, grimacing while grabbing for their bleeding neck, their blood red eyes staring at the retreating monsters with this intense grimace on their face.

Vertina stares as the lion-monsters turn and run at tremendous speed. "It is still -weird- that monsters will turn and FLEE like that. Like.. something smarter than that." She's not the most eloquent when it comes to words. So instead she turns to check on the man they were chasing in the first place. "He's going to be okay, isn't he? That was... not a normal fight, to say the least."

    Xander manages to /save/ someone's life in all the chaos. That being Kita's who he befriended very early on and probably knows more about him in the Scale than many others here.

He can feel the pain in his fist. The sore knuckles, but instead of 'owing' over it, it is a reminder of /reality/. Of the fact he was once a soldier, training, his team mates-- his brother's in arms-- the faces that haunt him.

    With that final bit of rage, that grief, that /pain/ that follows him every waking moment even in the back of his mind, he gathers it up into one large fire ball in his hand, even his mouth is smoking, before he lets out a roar and hurls the fireball at the retreating lions.

After that display, he stands there, hunched slightly over. Smoke gently bellowing out from his nostrils, as he just /stares/ at where the lion's ran off too. Not a word is sad, not 'is everyone okay?'. No he just looks in that direction as if waiting for something-- something that will never come.

There is that moment where Kita's eyes meet those of the strange Spriggan. That sense of beauty and captivation are undercut slightly by the pain radiating up her side, however. The artist is entranced, but the human being behind it can only focus on it for the briefest of moments due to the very real danger coming her way.

Luckily, Xander is there to play hero. Letting out a breath, she pants, "Thanks, soldier-boy." When the remaining lions seem to finally take flight, she calls out, "Put out an alert. Get the hunters and trackers on those. We can't let them get to the lower level players, much less any of the Landers."

She winces, speaking pulling the burns on her cheek. Clutching her spellbook to her chest, Kita looks from face to face within the group, then approaches slowly, trying to get a better look at their 'guest'. "Where did you run into those things?" She asks, voice quiet. "I've never seen anything like them in this level of the tower."

    Setsuna feels the pain ease as the doctor's healing does its magic and stops screaming as he just lays back. Until a brief moment later he is forced to roll away from the doctor and vomits as the trauma of it all still takes it toll on him. Finally he seems to relax back and justs lay there taking slow breathes with his eyes closed as he does his best to process everything that just happened.

    Freezing actually WORKED? Mizuki's kind of surprised, but will remember to suggest binding attacks if she ever sees those monsters again.

    Those monsters... she holds her hand to her neck, feeling the vine-bandages, and then looks at the blood still on her hands, staining her fur, scarf (the blood is a darker red) and gi.

    Then her head whips around to look at Setsuna... who Prophy is tending to. She relaxes and lets out a relieved sigh: "Phew."

    To vertina, she comments, "It happens sometimes in games, but usually as a mechanic where you get big rewards for killing the monster before it runs. Real animals, though... they don't have to be smart to know to run away, right? Although I've never fought a lion. Wolf. Thing."

    She turns to Ascheriit with a smile. "So, what were those things? And who are you? I'm Mizuki of the Odysseia Knights. Ninja." She inclines her head. "And what's with the cool sword arms? Are you from FM world, somehow...?"

Schneider is preparing his defenses for the next attack, but the lions are running. Well, now. Does that mean they've won? He sends a long range bolt of fire after them, but they're fast and evasive. But they're leaving, that's the important thing. He takes stock, now, of the state we're in, and he calls, "How are we? Do we need to regroup and get behind the walls?"

He will start to help people back if they need, looking both ways in case the lions are trying to sneak back around. You can't trust lions.

Again, that strange red light rushes out of some deep reservoir within the body to stem the tide of blood. Prophylaxis' brows furrow in deep thought and quiet horror at the implications. Again he has to ask himself... If this reservoir /limited?/ Can it be exhausted? And if so... What happens then? He shakes his head and releases Setsuna's temporary bindings. "...You'll be fine. Can you get up?" He offers a hand, then a shoulder to lean on. Limping around on one limb can't possibly be comfortable, after all.

...But, no, Setsuna needs a moment. He grimaces and gently tilts the injured Necromancer away from his pool of panic-vomit. No reason to keep him face down in the stuff. He moves away once he's sure Setsuna is going to be okay, then. He has one more set of wounds to bandage, after all. "Hold still," he instructs, coming up from that strange Spriggan's side. "I'll close your wounds." Again, more of that healing magic. Really, it's a base improvisation of basic earth magic. He could really stand to learn more nuanced methods, but for now, the magic bandage coupled with a couple of healing potion doses should do.

Kita asks important questions, Prophylaxis... follows up. "...Who /are/ you? I've never seen skill like that before. And... what brings you and your guests to Tolbana?"

Mizuki introduces herself. Prophylaxis pauses, then nods and adds: "I am Prophylaxis, Doctor of Tolbana. We are all of the Scale Emblem, who seek to climb the tower you find yourself in."

    Amalthea can feel the satisfying crunch of bone under her sword. But when the last two remaining monsters flee the battle, the old Paladin does not move to chase.
    Embedding the tip of her sword in the ground she heaves a world-weary sigh.
    "How will he do, Doctor?" She asks, turning to regard Setsuna and Prophylaxis's work. She'll let others check on the mystery spriggan. And she'll definitely have to check in on Xander later.
    But for now, the old knight lets her shoulders sag with an exhausted sigh.
    "It's just getting worse." She mutters. "And I get the feeling it's only going to get more insane... We need to go home." She says, rubbing her temples.
    "Regrouping behind the walls is the smart option. Let's all get inside and do that."

Ascheriit fails to groan or let out any sound of pain, even as Prophylaxis moves to start helping them. They finally speak up, as Kita inquires; "Those things are not from the Tower. I am sorry, I did not realize they were on me until I reached the top of the stairs from the Travelers' Promised City." Which some of them would know to be Alne.

"I was not aware this place was populated." Ascheriit points out, while the others may note - it's really hard to pick up on this person's voice. Are they male, female? Their red eyes scan the party as Prophylaxis continues to treat them. Aside from that viscious scar on their eye, there isn't a blemish on this person visible. Their skin, their hair, everything seems almost eerily perfect.

"You should not get involved with me too much further. These things will be back. I should leave, before they become your problem once again." They look towards Prophylaxis as he asks who Ascheriit is. "I am known as Köinzell." They explain. "I was investigating rumors that my people finally found a place of refuge somewhere, after what happened in the Ezzo Empire."

Looking back towards the direction those things are running, Ascheriit adds; "The blades are indeed from the FM region. I didn't think any people still remained in Yamato who remembered the existance of that place." As Prophylaxis' earth healing finally finishes, Ascheriit rises, slowly rolling their neck.

"Much better. Thank you." This Lander seems well adjusted. Somewhat. "As for what those things are... pets to the Scrapped Princesses and their eternal hatred of me."

    Xander slowly stands up as he overhears the conversation. He glances over to the strange Lander. Though emotion was-- missing from his face for the moment. Even his voice wasn't-- well. It was off somehow; Like he wasn't fully home in that head of his. "FM... you mean the american server."

Was 'she' stuck in this game as well on that side? Was some of his friends from 'base' stuck over there. "How did you travel from the FM world to Yamato?" He turns to fully face the individual. "Are there-- people-- like us over there? Adventurers?"

    Mizuki GASPS, wide-eyed, when Köinzell acknowledges FM World. "HOW?!" She steps closer to him... then remembers that NPCs may well see her as more of a monster than a sort of funny animal. She tries to look a bit calmer, but can't hide the urgency in her voice. "My brother is there. I mean, probably. I don't know. If we're stuck here, then he may be..."

    It's sufficiently more personal that she actually DOESN'T immediately ask about the Scrapped Princesses. Others probably will anyway.

When the stranger tells that they weren't aware of Tolbana being populated, Kita opens her mouth as if to explain, then looks across towards Prophylaxis for a brief moment before turning her eyes back to the red-eyed Spriggan. "We've... rebuilt Tolbana since the disaster in Ezzo, as a place meant to be a new home for those who lost theirs in the calamity."

Her eyes can't help but stare in the direction the monsters came from, her fingers lightly trembling on her spellbook. She falls quiet then, perhaps not having as many questions in regards to foreign servers as the others might. Instead, well...

Kita does what she does, which is swap her spell book for her sketchbook, standing back a bit so she can try to capture a sketch of the stranger and take notes of any important information.

    Setsuna finally thinks he can sit up and does so and just looks at his missing leg for a moment , possible tears in his eyes. Taking more slow deep breaathes, does someone have a paper bag, as he tries to not hyper ventitlate. He needed to get up, he needed to move. Flopping over he grabs his staff and does his best to pull himself to his feet as he tries to think about the incredible unsteadiness and lack of balance. He should of just stayed sipping his tea but he limps himself over towards the others for the moment. Half way there he stops and looks down and sighs and then looks towards Tolbana...he seems stuck in indecision.

Vertina rubs the back of her head with a hand. "I have no idea what that was all about..."

Ascheriit looks towards Mizuki as she asks 'how'. "I have not been there for decades, I am afraid." They explain. "I acquired these blades a long, long time ago." They add to that, before turning to Xander. "Before the birth of the Leviathans. I don't think there were any Adventurers there back then."

They then rub at their eyes, stumbling. Prophylaxis and Amalthea both can see the obvious 'EXHAUSTION' status on their readout.

Still, Ascheriit manages a smile towards Kita. "Thank you for giving them a home. You've done what centuries of Landers have denied them."

Then, Ascheriit clearly has a dizzy spell, stumbling, looking like they're about to fall over in their exhaustion.

Schneider sometimes wishes he'd paid more attention to the background material, the walls of text that he'd acknowledged and failed to read when he'd started the game some months ago now. He'd be less at sea than he is now. "What's FM World?" he asks cluelessly. "And what were those things that attacked? They were strange." Thank you, Captain Understatement. When Ascheriit stumbles, he'll reach out to try and support him, and he asks, "Are you okay?"

Healing: It's not just for Adventurers!!

"The Scrapped Princesses...? I hadn't realized their influence was still active after the Heroes defeated her ages ago. Or so the stories claim. Though given what we just witnessed, I'm fairly certain the old legends will need to be taken with a grain of salt." He shakes his head and sighs. "...Köinzell. You're... the Spriggan Hero, I presume? There was one for each race, and the last had their name scrubbed from history..." But something doesn't add up. That 'Hero' was called a betrayer, but this one... "...If the Scrapped Princess' power is still strong enough to command creatures like those... Why does their hatred not apply to the Kingdoms? And-- Do you know anything about what they... What they /did/ to us? The wounds they created, they were not like anything I'd seen on an Adventurer outside of very, /very/ special circumstances."

He pauses as Kita explains the situation with Tolbana, then nods. "...Though we ourselves don't intend to remain here forever, we couldn't just let all those refugees slip through the cracks. The other Kingdoms treat your people with suspicion at the best of times. This place is for them, as much as it is for us."

But then, the Hero pitches forward. Prophylaxis darts forward to lend them his support, "...Careful. If you leave here in that state, those things will actually kill you. Rest for a while, at least long enough to have a meal and a few hours of shut-eye. I'd be remiss as a doctor if I let a patient leave in this condition."

    Xander looks over to Schneider, "FM World is the American server. Yamato is the Japanese server. Where ours is more fantasy, there is... more steam punk? Yeah, I guess you can call it steam punk." That explination will do for now.

Ascheriit grimaces at Prophylaxis as he asks questions about the Scrapped Princesses, while leaning on Schneider. Schneider can feel how fast Ascheriit's heart is beating. How fast their breathing is. Exhausted. Their adrenaline rush over, they're clearly crashing.

"Don't call me a Hero... don't speak of that to my people. You only need to know that it's all a lie... the Scrapped Princesses still..." He pants for a moment... "Live." Before his eyes lid and his pupils lift for a moment, and the warrior falls unconscious. The four blades shimmering and disappearing underneath his clock in a wash of black shimmers. But in that angle, their cloak drifts just enough to show that tell-tale symbol on their neck. That single flower.

The symbol of a Hero.

Schneider ehs to Xander, but nods. "I knew we were Yamato. So FM is US? And they're steampunk?" He shrugs. Go figure, Americans. Of course he's more fantasy than steampunk, so he's good with things as they are. He's supporting Ascheriit, and then siddenly he's out, and Schneider sags a moment before pulling the fellow's arm across his shoulders and putting his own under Ascheriit's armpit, doing the full-body support. "Damn, he's completely out," he states the obvious. "Do we have a place we can let him rest?"

Vertina glances to Proph. "Doc probably wants to take him and Mizukichi to the hospital to make sure they're healing up properly."

    Setsuna had heard enough and really it was more then exhausting to hold himself. So without so much of a word he begins to hobble off, balancing on his staff to support him. He had a lot to think about, and to get a drink...lots of drinks. He earned it to say the least.

    Xander watches as the lander falls unconscious. He hrms, the brought of Leviathans probably means boat, which means possibly a /very/ long voyage.

Though if there was a voyage, that means somehow... The server can be crossed? A breach in the data?

    The Salamander gently rests his hand to his forehead as he can feel a headache coming on from his exertion and just over all emotional state trying to come back into being. He slowly lowers his hand and looks over to Kita, "Kita-- do you mind handling the report?" He asks her softly.

Though he doesn't stick around to find the answer, instead he is heading back inside to find some very, very hard drinks.

Prophylaxis nods the affirmative to Vertina, concern clear on his face. "...Bring all our wounded to the clinic. We're going to give everyone a once-over to make sure there's no long-term damage. Everyone who started ACTUALLY BLEEDING is going to end up in a bed for at least as long as it takes me to check you out personally. This... I don't even know where to begin to think about what happened here."

He pauses, then looks to the exhausted Spriggan hanging on Schneider's shoulder. "...We'll bring him in, too. He needs to rest, and I'm sure we all have questions."

    Mizuki blinks. Decades? Ah, right, NPC. Her ears splay and tail begin to droop... then perk up. "Wait, so it really IS all one world?!" A rhetorical question.

    She turns to Schneider. "The American server. It's very, uh, steampunk. There isn't some kind of sword-tentacle class or anything, but some of the machines have a similar aesthetic..."

    She looks back to Koinzell, nodding after Prophy's words. "While we're here, Spriggans are welcome in Alne... and Tolbana. The world we come from..." Mizuki scratches her neck awkwardly. "Well, it had its problems, but most of the people who ended up here see judging people by race as an evil and ignorant practice from the past, practiced by only those extremely backward."

    She blinks. "Wait, a lie?" She turns to Prophy. "What ARE the Scrapped Princesses? I was starting to suspect it referred to combat androids used to wage war in the distant past, but that doesn't seem to fit this..."

    When she looks back to Koinzell, he's... "Oh shit, did he collapse? Yeah, I guess... good thing we actually have a hospital here, huh?"