Pandora's Trojan Gift

    Rumors have hit the air, whispers of a troupe of great prowess coming to not only entertain the masses, but to give a gift to not only the people, but to the Merchant Prince of this area!

This gift was to be for prosperity into the future and the performance a show of great things to come for all! Yet, other whispers were being spoken. That this troupe may be the very one with evil in their hearts. Darkness that follows them and danger that will come.

Yet, they come during the day, even if there are clouds in the sky; A possible storm in the distance-- They still come. They come with dancers of all types, music that fills the air. The people of this town cheer for the welcoming of the event!

    One such spectacle though, was a woman in a crimson red dress, with gold trim. Her face covered by an ornate mask and no skin exposed to the light of the sun. Her voice was haunting, beautiful, and even magical. She sang the songs so many Landers knew and her movements across the ground was ghostly, haunting, entrapping to the eyes who watched.

Not far behind her was another woman fully covered as well, carrying a small golden box with runes etched around it with beautiful gem stones placed into its metal frame.

Another face was also seen amongst the troupe, a panther male cait sith. Dressed to the nines and top hat protecting his face. He has on a pair of dark spectacles and his walk with the cane is so perfect. Each step met with that cane without ever missing a beat.

    The people were enjoying this, the children dancing to the music, and as this troupe moved through the street, they were making their way to the center square where Merchant Prince was to be, yet there would be no Merchant Prince this day. Instead one lonely man, dressed with the finest clothing, standing in the Merchant Prince's stead. Alongside him several Merchant Blades to act as his personal guards.

    The last time a festival had been talked about in Ninetails the carnival ended up stealing people so just maybe to be on the safe side Setsuna had started checking in on every party, celebraion, shindig, broohaw , etc etc. It does appear his tenacity for such things had paid off though as he spots one of the cool cats he has been looking for. The necromancer was doing his best to keep movingin the crowd while keeping eyes on him , a cloaked figure standing a head taller seems to be his shadow as they wonder about. The singing lady doesn't really catch his interest as someone to important, probably just some vampire floozy, but the one with the box well that one was probably the woman who predicted doom and gloom. Taking a moment he considers just lighting some building on fire to create a panic and end the festivities before they can get started, it would be easier then providing more lambs for the slaughter.

It was a rare sight to see Kauchemar not in her full Were Fang form. But times like this discresion was the better part of valor, or something like that. The point is, with the troupe already making a show as they traversed the streets it was easier for her to keep a low profile in her less striking appearance, with the hood of the cloak pulled up over her head to keep the midnight hues of her hair from notice as well.

It wasn't obvious, but something was not right about all this, there had been enough rumors about strange performance groups to make sure of that notion nagging at the back of her mind, and had her idly keeping a hand ready on her weapon beneath the cloak's concealing drape.

    Merek walks along and into the place to see what it's all about, taking the time to adjust that nice attire. The man notices the woman as well as other things, while he takes the time to find a nice place to settle in for a little while.

It seems that Kauchemar wasn't the only one trying to blend in by not being in their transformed were-fang form. Tenko had done the nigh unthinkable and had taken the same approach. Though the ronin still had on the kitsune mask, her identity would still be known to those who knew that look.

The festival season had just ended, so this parade and show was a bit on the suspicious side. Tenko was not prepared to just write it off as being another event, so soon on the heels of the harvest festival. She moved through the crowd, quietly, her left hand resting on her daisho, carefully walking parallel with the parade.

Miho had picked up on the rumour about something going on. She did not like the sound of this at all and so the Smith girl has left her forge to go see what was going on and tried to get into contact with other interested parties about what was going on. There is quite the spectacle here and she's on edge. She just didn't like this she was looking around and keeping an eye on the troop. She doesn't like this at all something is off she's certain of it.

Miho's tail keeps swishing and she's clearly agitated about something.

Uta, out of her newbie gi/scrubs set and decked into something of a more MMORPG-y attire, looks around the place, inspection turned on. Medical inspection requires physical contact, so she's going for the regular kind right now. "...Lander...Lander...Lander... wait, was that a-" She squints. "...can't be sure. But it's highly suspicious... hm... Lander..."

Oddly enough, the singing lady /does/ catch her attention. "Wait! Songs! Lander songs!"

Uta hurries to swipe her menu open, and swipe a few options. When she's done, a miniaturized phonograph, the size of a small briefcase, appears in her hands. She casts some magic to charge it, and stands ready to record any song that she might never have heard before.

    The woman in red moves to the front of the group, the melody shifts as a breeze blows in. The clouds begin to darken the sky as she sings her song, a song she sings to the man standing with his Merchant Blades.

        [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SvBXEqgu6k ]

"My love, My love
My fearless love
I will not say goodbye.
Sea may rise
Sky may fall
My love will never die..

Go on, Go on
Go bravely on
Into the blackest night.."

    The woman's words continue to sing, even as she reaches toward the other maiden and takes the box. As she walks, she continues to sing. The box shimmers gently as her finger nails trace along it. The gems flicker with green light; A light that Setsuna may know from his own 'pet'.

The woman in red moves just inches from the man, the Merchant Blades seeming to drawn in to make a move. The stand in for the Merchant Prince also under her trance. The woman at last stops singing before she says with a soft, loving voice, "Take it... Take it and open it for all to see..."

    The Adventurers may know shit is about to get real, but the crowd is thick. The dancers in the way. It would be impossible to stop it and it seems like no matter how loud they yell, this woman's trance is powerful; Something that those like Kauchemar may pick up on.

The man reaches for the box, his eyes almost glazed over. His finger tips touch it as a green energy arches between himself and the box. That simple touch causes the lid to pop right off as it shatters into shimmering light.

Lightning strikes across the sky, as sickly green magical energy races into the air and rains down like smoke that pours rapidly over the streets, through open windows and around the cracks into the buildings. A gust of wind bellowing by all, moving their capes and hair in its haunting breeze.

This all coming to take place on the final beat of the drum, as Felix Nightshade holds his top hat a smile crossing over his feline features as the area darkness. "Let the show begin..." He whispers out.

    It was here that the guards at last snap out of their trance, only to find the man holding the box being drained over his very life force rapidly, before he becoming nothing but a skeleton that roars out. The Merchant Blades go to draw their weapons, but they find themselves suddenly coughing and falling to their knees, as they look at their hands watching their own life drain away.

The woman in red slowly takes her mask off, as she goes to take the now active cursed box from the skeleton servant. "Good boy..." Her eyes then look over to the Merchant blades who's skin is slowly peeling away. "Why don't you now all go play." Before she raises up her finger with a snap creating a field around the box that she slowly releases, watching the now skeleton minions race into the crowd.

    The adventurers would find those /close/ to the field who were Landers were rapidly turning into undead. However those further out are having a slower change as it drains their HP. They may be able to end this quickly before it gets any worse if they can get to that box that is now magically protected.

    There is really one benefit of being trapped in a world where you are labeled an adventurer and have to fight monsters. You get to do amazing things like jump really high and this is exactly what Setsuna does. Up from the street to a wall to another wall and on to a roof top. It was fine, he could see better and get out of the poison, for now. He also still had his piece on the board. Setsuna's ring glows and his own skeletn knight tosses aside his cloak, revealing that Setsuna had some artwork done on his skeleton. At the moment it looks like just some blue claw mark tattoo across the face but it would at least distinguish him from the others. However there is a problem , it appears Setsuna chose a building with no buildings, near it...how even he doesn't know. So he will have to climb back down before he can proceed.

Kauchemar knows music well enough to hear the subtle intones of the red woman's song even without the enhanced hearing of her monsterous form. Great, just what they need, singing with memetic aspects. Yet she remains amongst the crowd without saying much, because that would just cause undue panic and get the Landers into more trouble, not to mention in their way, and they really aren't her concern in the first place. That's what the New Worlders are around for.

Thunder cracks, winds wail. "And they say I'm overdramatic," she mutters from under the hood, while bringing up one of her protective spells to shield herself from the effects of whatever the hell was being spewed out into the crowd. This was certainly a less than optimal situation. Landers farther back are only slowly turning decrepit, it's the ones that are close to the epicenter and it's protected cursed object that are turning too quick to do much about. Tch. This is a bit on the sinister underhanded side, even by her dark standards.

The time for laying low is passed. There's the hard thump on the ground as a foot-changing-to-hoof strikes it and Kauchemar stands over the crowd into her proper form as she starts to wade through it. Push might be a more apt description. Being someone familiar with moving through big crowds on a club dancefloor she has little difficulty at first, but as she gets closer to the source of the curse and the crowd is thicker with both entranced Landers and Undead performers she's having more difficulty wedging through even with her size advantage.

When the song is over, Uta shimmers her phonograph back into her inventory. She keeps silent, as not to disturbe the recording, but silent swipes through the air bring up her menu. She selects inspection... and her eyes narrow in suspicion. Followed by popping open and all color draining from her face.

When the song is done, she is quick to pack away her phonograph, and rushes to join the other. "Guys! Guys! That singer inspects as << Helena Lethe -- Queen of the Forgotten -- Vampire -- Boss HP (near black) >>"

She does so in passing -- she's too busy wuxia'ing her way towards the box, be it by leaping, spinning in the air, roundhouse kicking skeletons, and overall zigzaging here and there, leaving a trail of electricity in her wake.

Tenko can hear the song, and by now she realizes that it's decidedly not right.

She quickly transforms and moves to try to make her way through towards the box, but she's not fast enough.

She should have stuck to the rooftops with her original plan.

She throws up a wall of flames to keep herself from being hit by the poison, but her attempts to get through the barrier are met with resistance from undead, "Damn you! Out of my way!"

The woman sings she wonders about that's very strange it's not one of the normal Lander Songs. That makes her very much more concerned as the song continues on and now the show might be starting? She's got things to worry about as there's something else as the crowd is starting to be turned. She makes up her mind to try and go after the source after this. She's trying to get into a good spot to strike she also yells out.

"Kauchemar! You need to disrupt this vile song sing something to drive the landers to run!"

    Helena watches with a smile on her face as the plan unfolds, unaware that the man she turned undead was not a Merchant Prince, but still the curse was working as it should.

Her attention looks over all those present, spotting the Adventurers trying to move in as she motions for the dancers to go deal with them. Her eyes looking over to Felix, "You have done well, Nightshade. Bravo." Though her attention shifts as she spots Setsuna moving along the walls. Then her eyes are drawn to his undead warrior.
Shehe raises a brow, "... Well well..." She says softly. "... So, that is what happened to one of my men." Her eyes slowly peer back to Setsuna who goes the wrong way. "... He was taken from me by an idiot."

She raises up her hand and then attempts to reach out, "... Come back to me..." She whispers out toward the undead warrior. However while it almost breaks Setsuna's hold, the undead doesn't 'turn' against Setsuna. Thankfully that means the undead queen is distracted by the wanna-be Necromancer.

    Felix meanwhile is watching the movements and moves to the side with ease as a lander citizen goes running by screaming. He doesn't even raise a finger to attack. He does look over to Helena who seems to turn her attention toward /one/ particular person. "Oh. It is the man that... Hm. He gets around." He says adjusting his glove as he avoids an undead that is being knocked aside by some of the adventurers charging in.

Not.
A.
Care.
In.
The.
World.

Though Felix does watch as Tenko fails to get past some undead, before he snaps his fingers, "You heard your queen, my dear boys and girls. Go play and shows these Adventurers your marvelous talents for pain." He then taps the brim of his hat down. "After all, the show must go on."

    At this point the citizens of this town are trying to get away, but the strange magical 'fog' is causing them to gasp for air. To struggle in their movements.

For everyone else though, they suddenly have Vampire or recently turned skeletons on them trying to kick, bite, claw, or slam them to the ground.

"Watch out!", Uta calls out. "Her Majesty's assessment of Setsuna tells us she's a skilled strategist and judge of character."

Just becuase she's a monster, that doesnt' mean that one should not use the proper titles. Politeness first.

Once in position, she notices the fog. "Smoke alarm!", she yells, and spins her staff so quickly it creates some sort of... vortex, a column of air blasting forward towards the barrier. Hopefully, all this air movement will clear the air up a bit as well, as a side effect...

While she can see Felix, Tenko can't get to him. There's too many undead around her. It's impossible for her to reach him, at least not yet.

Instead she does try to clear a path, the kitsune's katana coming to bear after she fends off one of the undead with her Wakizashi, to give herself some space. Once the blade is freed, however, Tenko is able to unleash it.

She performs a full 360 degree slash, twisting in a perfect circle like a trained dancer, although her artistry is the blade. Cutting down multiple undead, she gives herself some breathing room.

"Bring down that barrier!" She calls out to those in range of it, "We have to destroy that box before this spreads too far!"

    Setsuna could feel it, the presence of another trying to invade his pet's mind and what does he do... he stands there. Yep from the outside it appears all he is doing is standing there gripping his left hand tightly and burning mana into something. On the inside though walls were being thrown up around the mind of his skeleton knight, with a big sign on them that says, 'Property of Setsuna'. At least that is what Setsuna is picturing , he is glad though he let his wolf stay at Tolbana, likely chewing on the clinic wall by now.
     As Setsuna sees more of that fog coming he steps up on invisible foot holds that seem to appear out of midair as he does now standing over the crowd for a moment he locks eyes with Helena, " I'm right here, if you want something from me then part your damn sea of people and lets talk face to face!" Whether he gets his wish or not it appears his knight is moving forward and acting as a bodyguard type to push forward enough for Setsuna to get closer.

"That's an memetic enchantment from a Black level Boss monster," Kauchemar replies flatly. "You can't just countersong that by singing about fish heads or macadamia nuts. Or do anything about the -real- source of the problem. That curse is just going to spread, so get that barrier down or the whole town is doomed regardless." The undead turned loose in the crowd are already getting unruly. "Excuse me, I need to go drop some hot licks... Give me fuel give me fire, give me that which I desire!" With a flamboyant wave upward she creates several streams of flame shooting into the air, which the start to twist around to form a fiery vortex around the undead that tried to get all up in her face to keep them at bay. "Now then." That's only a small part of the problem, but as people are dealing with the barrier, she's got to worry about the crowd control. Literally.

A hand flicks through the air to draw her whip, but rather than use it as a weapon she turns it loose and grabs the handle upside down, snagging the other end of the length with her other hand and holding it in the manner a stage singer would hold thier mic and cord. She taps one hoof to get her rhythm going, and raises her voice with little difficulty considering her capabilities.

"o/~ This is a tangled mess.. totally in distress
But not as much as you... will be once I compress
Your little bones inside... this dark entourage...
o/~ And turn you into dust .... DARK BIND HOSTAGE o/~"

And that's when the darkness seeps out across the ground around her in a pattern not unlike spreading cracks. Which seem to open like some fracture into an unworldly abyss from which numberous black thorny tendrils erupt to grab onto various undead and heave them away with the crushing supernatural grip.

Things are heating up as people engage the undead or other thing she knows things are getting worse, and worse the longer they take? The more people will end upturned by this madness. The barrier needs to go down, it has to go down, so she's not going to mess about with this. She'll notch an arrow in her bow level it taking aim at the barrier and charge up the weapon art.

"BURST SHOT!"

She lets the arrow fly which will head right for the barrier.

"Right!"

Maybe they should try to fix up a certrain raid boss no she's too hurt and it wouldn't be fair...

    Merek of course would be assisting with support, then when it looks like people need assistance with the fight, the man begins to take his weapon so that he can fight with the party. The man looks to Helena, and of course will think about the fight.

    Helena hear's Uta's words but her eyes are set on Setsuna and that may be a /bad/ thing. Perhaps good for everyone else though as the Queen of the Forgotten has not turned her attention on the others.

That said, she starts to move toward where Setsuna is. On the bottom of her palms, dark energy glows and whirls like smoke. Her eyes narrow dangerously, before she turns herself and then sends a dark energy blast right for the other mage!

    Uta and Miho manage to cause a crack in the Barrier with their combined attack. The magic will not hold and that causes Felix to look over. His eyes glow gently, with his brows slowly knitting in thought.

While he observes, he still doesn't raise a finger, as his attention moves over to Tenko who cuts a nice slide into the mix of the newly turned undead and troupe alike. "Such grace." He remarks with a tilt of his head. "Such wonderful footwork. Yet these adventurers minds..." His thoughts are interrupted as Kauchemar sings.

Felix turns his attention toward her. His eyes go slightly wide from behind the shades he wears. His focus fully on her. The leader of the troupe, the ring leader of his circus, knows true talent when he hears it.

    As for the undead, they be doing their thing. Getting slashed, broken, and yet keep on attacking!

"We did it, Miho! Keep hammering at it! I'm sure we -*thud*"

Uta collapses on the floor after breathing in a whiff of green magical fog emanating from the box. "...poison...that stuff is poison..."

She trembles, but tries to push herself up again. Her failto converge properly, yet she pushes on.

She slams her staff on the ground, and after another superiman effort, she intones an aria. Tendrils of colored light depart from the gem in her staff, wash over her, and purify her from the debuff.

She inhales again. "Where were we again? Right!" She points her staff at the barrier, and as she sings an erratic melody, a blast of lightning shoots at the target, twisting and whipping in along with the song.

There's a break in the singing, but not in the movement. If anything Kauchemar actually starts going faster in her rhythmic movements, to the point where she seems to flicker in and out of the range of perception. It's easier to track where she just was by the splashes of water from using her aquaphilic ability to boost herself along and keep the undead troupes off their footing while maneuvering away from the denses part of the cursed poison. Now if they could just do something about these hordes so the people not yet corrupted could get free of the trance.

The Were Fang bard is still flickering on the edge of awareness as she likes to do, somehow keeping just out of sight despite the crowd (or maybe because of it). Her voice raises again, but it's got a distortion to it that makes it hard to pin down where it's projecting from in the chaos.
"o/~ It's time to get down and dance for your doom... Cuz the Nightmare Bard is comin' for you soon
Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run... You better watch out when the show's begun
You can't escape this Nightmare... She'll twist your mind with musical flare
It's time to get up, get ready to fight... o/~"
And that's when she steps back into full view again actually not far from where Felix is gawking at the performance, like she somehow new. Though her focus is still on the horde of undead troupes as she opens her mouth unnaturally wide to release on of her powerfully disruptive vocal blasts.
"o/~ EMBRACE THE BASS DROPS DEATH TONIGHT! o/~"

    Setsuna once again leaps out of the way of that fog as he gets closer and closer to Helena and as that rage of dark magic is unleashed at him he reaches for one of the undead and pulls it in front of him, using the very magic he would to summon bones for the shield and reinforce them. Instead he channels that same magic into the undead, and while it is only one undead in the sea of things and doesn't change much he walks through the ash of the undead unscathed. " You are looking a little pissy Queenie. Not use to people telling you no are you? "
     Setsuna doesn't seem to take his eyes off the queen, its like they are having a staring contest. All the same time he retrieves his dagger with the relic blade from his back and drops it in HIS knight's hand. The knight lets out a roar as Setsuna says, "Bring it down." with that the knight throws the dagger like a javelin, as hard as it can at the barrier.

    Merek looks to the whole of the fight, then he notices that it looks like the barrier is taken care of. The troupe while being managed does not take a lot of hits to its forces, which means that there's not a lot he can do. Alright, he will take the tactical Merek maneuver, a legendary maneuver. The man takes a look along to the Queen and begins to approach her while he will sling the sword back, and begin to place both hands to his pockets. "You know what, I'm tired of explaining to you all why I'm tired of what you all do to my friends."
    With that, the man will begin to take a hand up from the pocket, "So... Please allow me Queen. To reveal to you what I did." He then smiles, "I destroyed Demiurge's weapon. I took care of that gift. I will take the oath to protect the King's lands without that. You sacrificed all of them for what. That thing? Well let me tell you, they were avenged. And now," he begins drawing up a few sigils, "Queen, I simply want you to know. That we will win." Then he blasts a fireball right into the Queen with the snap of that finger.

Tenko's blade continues to flash, but it seems like there's far too many undead to get through all of them.

She raises her left hand and launches a flash of poison at one. Poison most likely is not working well against undead, otherwise they may be affected by the very poison that Tenko has been doing her best to avoid this whole fight.

The battle rages on the barrier still holds. Worse for her she ends up posined the Salamander is looking a bit green under the gills right now. She presses on popping what she hopes is the right antidote down and will ready her bow again as more attacks come and she just barely avoids getting caught by them once more. Uta and Setsuna are not letting up against the enemy. Neither will she notches two arrows and lets them fly.
% "DOUBLE STRAFE!"

    Helena's focus remains on Setsuna. Once more she reaches out and tries to pull the Undead back to her, however her focus is suddenly interrupted as *SLAM* goes a fireball directly into her face.

The Queen of the undead moves her face just slightly. There is the sizzling of smoke that rises from her skin, but one can see it /barely/ did a thing to her HP wise.

Those glowing eyes slowly look over to Merek. "The hero who took the sword." She says softly, hauntingly. "One of the very heroes who slayed my husband and believes he can 'save' the kingdom. Set 'free' my daughter."

She then smiles softly, "How is that working out for you so far, Hero?" Though her eyes go wide as she hears the sound like shattering 'glass' as the Barrier shatters.

Her eyes turn toward the now exposed box, before out toward the adventurers cutting down some of her forces. Some old. Some new. She hmphs softly, "Felix!" She barks out. "Enough gawking at what could be your future play toy and make use of yourself!"

Though as Merek tries to lay down the law, Helena simply shrugs softly. "Then I should thank you for destroying it. It brought me nothing but trouble, but my other words remain. You are a hero with hallow words and one should not make promises they can not keep."

She spins her hands as dark magic once more circles her fingers. "There are forces in play you can not stop. Even if I am killed... There will always be something larger that will take my place." Then with that dark energy blasts it toward Merek and Setsuna both.

    Felix though is still watching Kauchemar when Helena calls over. His eyes cut a glance over to her. "As you command, your majesty." Then with a tip of his hat he slams his cane into the ground.

A magical circle forms under him as he raises up his hand. There is a glow that flows upward and circles around his arm. The sky cracks again as if strings fall from the sky. "I am the stage master." He says out loud, "And this is my stage. Behold the greatest show on Yamato! Your lives!" Then snaps his finger.

    With the snap, the air cracks with an explosion of magical force, several of the undead are actually pulled into the strings, some even of his own troupe who scream out.

Felix Nightshade smiles as he says, "... and now we drop the curtain." Before he lowers his hand and points his index finger at the group. This followed by another resounding 'snap' and suddenly that magical aura that feasted on the minions unleashes with a massive burst!

Windows shatter, people are flung, doors broken, tiles ripped from the ground. One may wonder who was really stronger: Helena Lethe-- or Felix Nightshade.

"The barrier is down! Time to CHAAAAAAAAAA-"

Uta doesn't get to finish her call to charge: windows, doors bricks, chairs, boards, furniture, even creatures fly past her.

"Wait, no, not THAT way! It- eep!"

Nobody can tell how she does it, but she does it. She leaps left, right, up and down, she zigzags in a sort of Brownian motion on crack (also involving plenty of acrobatics, tumbles, somersaults, cartwheels and corkscrew spinning in the air), where she manages to somehow just barely miss every item flying past her.

She lands with one of hose superhero poses. She turns her face up, to look at Felix, with an intense stare. Amber eyes BURN at him. She gets up, staff clenched in her hands. She extends one boot-clad leg forward, to step towards her opponent, and then-

She spins on the other leg and makes a dash for the box, hurriedly singing an oppressive chant which envelopes her staff in a dark aura. Before most people can recover from her little act of misdirection, she leaps in the air, spins a couple of time, and swings her aura-darkened staff down to smash the box...

    Setsuna produces a dark aura around himself and moves around the dark magic as he turns just in time to see debris and is that a food cart , exploding in the direction of his head. With an attempt to move out of the way of the explosion but he gets caught up in the attack and is tossed to the side with a thud. Still Setsuna was smiling, even if that hurt, ALOT, Setsuna was smiling. Why , well it is because they forgot to protect tehir king. Setsuna drops me earth magic and right near the box a pillar of earth rises from the ground. As the Skeleton knight charges towards the chest with a single goal, it grabs the pillar breaking it off and slams the pillar against the chest, before the magic fades and the earth pillar disappears.

    Merek will take that hit from the Felix, while he begins to shift and looks to Helena, "Alright. Well, if you want it that way." The man then takes an alchemist potion from the hip, which he throws to Felix in an explosion while he begins to think about it.

The kitsune ronin finds herself getting swarmed once again, though soon that becomes less of an issue as the explosion rips through the area. It throws her to the ground, and leaves her stunned for a moment.

Still, as she rises to her feet, she takes a moment to adjust her mask, and notices that the barrier is down, and the box is now exposed.

She is quick as ever, now that the path is clear, the kitsune practically vanishing from view of any Landers still crazy enough to linger around. Even her fellow adventurers may have a hard time keeping track of her, as she suddenly re-appears next to the box, her weapon sheathed in flames as she delivers a single slash at a diagonal downward angle, intent on shattering the box and bringing about an end to this massacre.

Because of her current proximity and being well versed in the dark arts of magic and necromancy herself Kauchemar catchs wise of what Felix is doing as soon as his arcane circle appears and starts pulling free the miasma that sustains the undead around him. Her eyes flare, divining a few seconds ahead, and it's just enough forwarning to enact her own measures. Not that anyone is going to see it with the great blinding blast of an arcane explosion erupting across the streets! People and debris alike are thrown about like ragdolls in a tornado! And in the wake of the devestating display there is only silence as bricks and remains of costumes drift to the ground.

Including one vagely famliar cloak floating to the pavement with smoking edges. Alas it would seem. There's a few moments for Felix to ponder what his ungodly attack appears to have done.

... And then there's a clapping. "Bravo, bravo." And the Nightmare standing -right- behind Felix, having used her Blink ability to move within the blast radius of his spell, and essentially hide for a few moments in the blind spot of his own shadow.

Then moving again with that blinding speed Kauchemar reachs out to grab Felix and yank him around to her. "But I prefer more... personal methods~" Then tries of all things dip the ringmaster and plant him with an overdramatized kiss!

A kiss of absolute zero, like drowning the darkest icy depths. Extreme enough that even those spawned from the cold grasp of death would feel its bitter tendrils creep with paralyzing chills through their body.

If you thought Kauchemar was going to be so easily upstaged, you don't know her very well at all.

Things are bad but it's not too late the barrier goes down and others pile on to the source of this vile act. There are no words from Miho, she is beyond words. She peels around putting her bow away thanks to her tail being able keep her balnce. Out comes her katana which bursts into flames now and she break into a run for Felix. She'll get close and set off her sword art.

"TWIN DRAGONS!"

She leaps at him slashing rapidly trying to cut the undead minion of Helena down.

    Felix's attack washes around Helena. While it was impressive, her annoyance at those gathered here today is seen her eyes. That controlled anger as her hands clenches gently. Her head slowly rising up. For a woman of her class does not scream, she does not raise her voice. She remains posed.

This is what Helena Lethe does, even as the box is destroyed before her as she watches it break into a million pieces from the combined effort of the Adventurers. The shards breaking off turning into sparking dust, as the green fog gives away and some of the people freed from its grasp.

Those that were turned quickly dive into the ground, those that did get pulled up to strengthen Felix's attack also dive into the very earth. Helena herself takes a step back, looking at Merek. "Remember my words, if you are wise. There is always something stronger and one day, you will fail. I just hope I live to see that day with my own eyes... Though it will probably be after my passing. Good job. Heroes."

Before the dark aura races around her and she too sinks into the ground, shortly after her own minions. This leaves Felix an open target.

    As such, he is fully aware that such an attack would cause all eyes to turn to him and he simply smirked at this. First he deal with the flask. It explodes against him sending his boots moving across the surface. This sets him up for Miho's attack which cuts into his suit and rips into his skin.

He moves with the attack and gets ready to strike back, only to her the 'Bravo Bravo'. This causes the Ringmaster to raise a brow as he holds his cane in hand.

    The Caitsith Vampire watches as Kauchemar is one place then another with her own vampiric speed. Though the clouds were starting to give way, Felix suddenly found himself being /kissed/ by all things!

Not by any kiss, but one of an icy, deathly touch.

'Death..' He thinks, 'The one cruel embrace I have never been allowed to have since the curse took place. Since we were all pulled into her bosom and not allowed that warm fate's touch'

    His eyes close for a moment before he waits for it to fade enough to speak. "Bravo to you as well, my dear lady." He says back with the faintest of voices. "You have stolen the show and I have not this hour the means to give a respectful reply."

His hand goes to move just slightly under her muzzle. "Though perhaps another day I may be able to entertain you and you I, when we are both not so surrounded by those who do not seek such delights that we both can give. Seek me if you dare, my cold-hearted temptress. We will then see who can /really/ put on a show."

With that he he moves his body and breaks free from his grasp, to slip away into her very shadow and into the ground below.

If there is one thing Kauchemar is good at, it's making a lasting impression. Her improvised method of using Frost Shock isn't enough to incapacitate Felix but it's definitely left it's mark if his response is anything to gauge by. As he slips away from her grasp and into the shadows (another trick she's well familiar with) she just smirks, winks and points a finger after him as she singsongs "~ I don't care what you think, as long as it's about me ~"

Then walks over to retrieve her cloak that she had purposely dropped when she engaged Blink to make it look like she had not escaped the necromantic explosion. Holds up the now tattered and smoldering hem in one hand to inspect, then shrugs and drops the edge to sling the cloak back onto her shoulders. "It was worth it." She can probably get Gwen to fix it or something. "Well, at least they didn't subdue the entire town. Close enough to winning."

With that back in order she starts to saunter off, pausing for a moment as she passes Tenko's side and smirks just faintly, muttering "Don't get too jealous, foxy," before sashaying off into the night.

    Setsuna picks himself off the ground and makes his way over to where the box use to be looking for any sort of shard that didn't dust. He hoped for something but alas that was it. As he walks over to the Skeleton Knight and looks into it's eye sockets, " We ve to get you a weapon. Maybe some armor to. How are you suppose to be my body guard when you don't even have a decent weapon. " It makes a sorta of pouty face and shrugs it shoulders as if to say ' I don't know what you want me to do about it' and then Setsuna just sighs and shakes his head before looking at Kauchemar. " You know they get kinda possessive after you do that, I wouldn't be surprised if you start finding dead birds left on your window ceil. " As he talks he will simply start gathering his weapon up and get ready to head back towards Tolbana, there are more important things then the undead to deal with soon.

    Merek nods a bit, while he takes a look to the place, then will be about his way for the moment to begin assisting the townsfolk with things about the place.

With the box shattered and the threat over, for now, Tenko sheathes her blade. She lets out a faint sigh, wishing she could have done more to save folks.

The seriousness is broken up by Kauchemar's comment, however, as Tenko tilts her head just a bit, "I am not the type to judge." Comes her reply, the mask hiding a grin on her face. She then turns to do what she can to help out the townsfolk, aiming to assist where she can.

Uta is still standing there. Her staff had descended, hitting the box at the same time as the other Adventurers' attacks did, their combined effort causing the item to shatter. She hasn't bothered to move, and she's still panting.

"...wait, what did I come here to do, again?", she wonders, as she retracts her staff and scratches her head. She looks around. "...oh. Uh. I... apparently came here to... rebuild a village?" She winces. "...we're going to need a lot of Construction and Woodworking now, aren't we?"

    Setsuna's head turns to Uta and tilts his head for another moment as he looks about and is really paying attention to her facial expression for a moment. Walking up to Uta he shakes his head, " Yeah they would like some help rebuilding but they aren't quite ready for that and ask to come back next week. How bout I buy you a meal instead? " Setsuna offers before looking at the mess, in a way Uta was right though. There will need to be a lot done to rebuild.

Miho is looking worn out after this she looks to Uta fdor a moment "Looks like we're going to have to get some help here but yeah .... and we need to stamp these things out sooner rather than later. Who knows what else might get thrown at us while this is going on."

"I mean," Uta replies to Miho, "they've already moved up to throwing /carts/ and all sort of things at us..." Uta thumbs at the Disaster of Debris surrounding them. "I would rather not think of what-"

"...Meal. Delaying rebuilding by a week and having a meal right now sounds good. Where to?", she asks, high spirits returning with the prospect of eating something that actually has a flavour.