Festival: Convoy from Afar

The Ninetails Dominion is in a constant state of being busy. Adventurers have chosen this place as one of the main regions to protect, simply because of just how important it is to them! What with it being the breadbasket of the entire Yamato region. This is what brings the Adventurers out this far. Normally, the many Cait Sith communities out in the wild that keep the farms alive and growing are able to deal with the monsters in their regions. Even the higher level areas have higher level Cait Sith that keep the farms growing - with the help of the Merchant Blades.

But recently, there has been talk about monsters acting strangely this far away from the city. And as such, the Adventurers are requested by the Hunters Guild to aid in this matter.

It's a nice afternoon, if a bit chilly, as the team travels up the slopes of the mountain, trying not to step into the rice paddies. There's roads that travel down the slopes, and there's the tracks of various carts that have already moved down past here.

They meet up with a convoy of three enormous wagons filled with bags of food. There's very sturdy and strong looking Grunties attached to those wagons that are starting to pull them down the slope. They're joined by a squad of Merchant Blades on their telltale Pekos.

Ahead of the group, they are met by a chonkey of a Bull Cait Sith, who explains the route to the team, after which they are going back down the hill...

Down to the regions they'd already traveled through to get here. Back then, they'd noticed nothing out of the ordinary. But as the team travels for yet another hour south-eastwards, things get... strange. It feels a bit odd to travel. This sensation almost like something was making their hair stand up on end. An uncomfortable sense of goosebumps...

When suddenly, storming into the road, bursting out of a nearby cave wall that... was previously very much in tact, revealing a bland cave tunnel, comes an enormous beast. A true Behemoth! Massive tusks, two enormous horms, claws big and sharp enough to shred a well equiped tank's armor, and a tail that looks like it could break houses with ease! The beast roars and makes violent sounds, looking around as if trying to find something. A glow disappearing from its horns, suggesting it'd used magic to tunnel. Its rating...

Yellow

And it's already storming towards the convoy, rearing its head down and up, trying to push everything apart. Trampeling any Adventurer that gets underfoot and smashing its tail towards the nearest Peko Riders!

There are times when you need to get away. Ninetails isn't exactly a 'vacation' location, especially this time of year, but it is a change of pace for Mikage. The Ranger and her party did tend to travel a lot, exploring different parts of the world. At least in Ninetails, there were vast expanses that hadn't yet been explored.

Her ease seems to show in the way that she balances along the edges of rice paddies and seems to be taking in her surroundings. Rama is also getting out some pent up energy, running and splashing and otherwise acting like an overgrown kitten.

It isn't until they actually have to start traveling that she seems to grow more serious, keeping an eye out for whatever might have been the source of all the trouble going on lately. Trouble that makes itself quite known.

"Uh." Mikage is at a loss for words as she reaches for her bow, while Rama just puffs himself up and hisses. It's at that point when the creature crashes in their direction, forcing both to dart off to the side to avoid being trampled.

With the rear end of the behemoth already facing in her direction, it makes a neat target as she draws back an arrow, channeling light magic into it before she fires it squarely towards the monster's flank.

    At the convoys mention of the potential for monsters , Setsuna couldn't help but feel an innate calling that had led him to come. It absolutely had nothing to do with the mention of monsters acting strange nope, not at all. So here he was now was meandering along on his good dire wolf boy, known as Roki. His other bone headed good boy had been left behind , mainly because well Landers get antsy with a skeleton knight hovering around, but Setsuna really couldn't understand why. It was a slow mozy at the very best that is until the Behemoth bursting for that would make even the Kool-Aid man be impressed. Setsuna pushes his mount forward to put themselves in between the monster and convoy. A bubble of water soaks one of the tail hits and the bubble goes *POP* before the next tail lash knocks him an his wolf aside with an audible puppy whimper.
     Setsuna's poor mount seems to be knocked out cold as Setsuna does not look the happiest , in fact he looks down right angry. "Damn beast hurt my dog." Raising his hand into the air, a summoning circle appears in the sky. " Mother of the planet. I summon your fury." At the end of his words he closes his fist and lightning rains down upon the Behemoth , striking at it's hind legs.

Goldenblade is enjoying the nice autumn weather and riding out with her friends and fellow adventurers, on a mission that's officially about defending the harvesters. She looks around warily as things begin to feel strange, she's got an uncomfortable feeling ... but nothing concrete until that giant thing storms for the convoy.

She doesn't hesitate. She dodges to the side to avoid the worst of the chaos from the attack, then rushes in from it's left rear flank and slashes, striking with one sword, then the other, as hard blows as she can manage, thrusting into the huge creature's back end, hoping to hinder its mobility. She's gotten used to fighting with swords in the time she's been here, but this thing is humongous! But she fights on valiantly, leading off with two thrusts deep into its flesh, which it mostly ignores because it's so huge.

Food is important. Changes in monster behavoir is usually something to take note of. So really it's the latter that has Kacuhemar's interest more than anything else, because when monsters act weird that's usually a very good indicator that there is something very strange going on. Up and down and up again across the farm lands, the travel doesn't really bother the Nightmare Were Fang much since she travels a lot as it is, between Messenger duties between Olympus camps and Bard performances. Up and down and up and down and...

It's not until the convoy has started on it's way back to main civilization that the proverbial trouble looms, sending a tingle down even her spine. "Ugh. Even *I* am getting an ominous sense of dread, and I'm the one that deals in such sensations. I think..." Her entire form shimmers as she slips between the convoy wagons in the opposite direction that the Behemoth roars onto the scene seconds later.

The Nightmare steps back into clear view at the other end of the lineup, where she's got a better view of the rampage that's about to start. She snaps her fingers and the haunted sword and shield leap from her back, the latter slipping into place at her arm's side while the former hovers over her head, the blade already hissing with ghastly energies. "I hope it doesn't mind if we CUT in," she quips, pointing at the Behemoth. The Binder Sword whirls in the air to point itself in that direction and then hurtles forward at frightening speed, aimed for the titanic creature's hindquarters in an attempt to slow down it's rampaging charge.

    Merek looks to the monster that comes to them, then the man begins to shift along and unmount his peko while he draws up his flame shield. He still takes a hit, all the same he begins to chant a magical spell while he makes a sigil. "Force Field Sanctuary!" The field takes up the whole of the place, and begins to heal over time while it shimmers to offer a lot of defense to the party.
    There is a calm that begins to shimmer along the caravan and all of the people while it gives a warmth and speaks to a blessing. The man then begins drawing his weapon, "Alright!"

Cyrus has remained largely on the main road, enjoying Mikage's antics from afar while in his Peko drawn cart. Relaxing, and not exerting himself too much. His cart tended up getting used for a few more bags of Rice that would otherwise have gone to waste. The youth seems to think this a nice easy escort mission, even in the higher level area of monsters. What with this rather front-loaded squad of Adventurers along with them.

To his surprise, that's of course when they run into severe problems! The massive Behemoth crashing through the cave wall sends his cart to a pause, and he has to keep the reins on the Peko. A quick motion of his hand casts a flame imbued barrier that halts the initial goring motion towards him, before he grabs a set of potions and starts throwing them at the various party members, healing his team before things get too out of hand. They'd been ambushed after all. And he has already spotted a few Merchant Blades in need of aid.

    June might be enjoying the quest for more words... but hey jobs need to be done and she can't exactly climb the ranks of the powerful once more by just hanging out with her books. So it's off to protect the future of dinner... and that is a noble goal any adventurer should be able to get behind.

    When the charge comes in she shifts into her werefang form, iron scales crawling up her and snout and horns taking shape. She gets that iron defense up just in time to pinball off the monster on its way by.

    "Oh no you do not just try to trample future dinners like that." She says with a bellowing cry like an enraged bull.. which she closely resembles. Then she's charging in to leap and deliver a solid roundhouse punch to the side of the behemoth's head. Bouncing away with grace and speed odd to see in an iron clad bovine.

Prophylaxis has invested enough resources into making sure the Ninetails Dominion keeps churning out delicious and affordable foodstuffs for far too long to let some kind of uppity monster infestation cause the farmers any more grief. If for nothing more than a crippling amount of sunk cost, the Doctor of Tolbana has made his services available today. It is a /lovely/ day to be out and about doing this sort of thing, too. Aside from a bit of old fashioned harvest allergens, the skies are clear and the temperature pleasantly cool. It could be that the unusual monster activity is just a matter of collective, monstrous gas, and they'll all be able to go home without anyone having any trouble with anything.

Oh, but that would be a wonderful dream, wouldn't it?

Instead, the unusual monster activity seems to have found /them/. Or rather, seems to have found their little convoy. A chill runs down the doctor's spine in spite of the pleasantly autumnal atmosphere, and he's almost convinced that they've stepped into an unexpected wintery wall-- but, no. There is danger afoot.

And what danger it is.

"That... is that even allowed to be here...?" Prophylaxis murmurs aloud, but they hardly have time to fuss over potential copyright violations. The monster charges, and Prophylaxis wheels out of the way, leaving a scorched line in his retreating wake. "Tch. Against something that huge, the caravan is less than defenseless. Maybe if we're able to snap off its tusks...?"

But the bombardment has already begun, Prophylaxis instead pulls back to a safe distance and... observes, watching carefully for an opening...!

Miho has been making plans to aid the Nine Tails Dominion with the udnea however another job came across her desk. This could help pay for materials for what she wnated to so. So that's part of why she is here today. It been a nice day so far all things consider and the job ha been going well so far. Well until there's a truw Behemonth in the road. Miho just stares and then will move in with the rest somewhat foolishly charing at it avoiding it's attacks and trying to put her Katana to work against it.

Kaydon rushes to meet the behemoth as it comes in towards the group, intent being to engage it before it can reach the convoy proper. It seems he's not the only one with that idea, but that's what happens in these group fights.

He puts his blade between himself and the beast, using it to block any attacks from the creature as he moves. He drops down, still at full speed, and slides along the ground. Once he's below the behemoth, he unleashes a violent overhead slash, trying to drive his blade along the throat of the creature.

Adventurers can be complex. But there are some puzzles that aren't that hard to solve: People like good food. And Ninetails needs to provide that food so it can be cooked into something delicious and not tasting like soggy crackers.

Things are moved along nicely enough. Introductions are made. Instructions are given. But then there's the matter of the unusual feeling of impending danger... Proteus, her head hooded, looks up as she begins to scowl lightly. "Well... That's a problem."

The problem makes itself self-evident, and the arrival of the rampaging Behemoth causes the Imp to straighten. "That's a /big/ problem. The convoy isn't going to be able to stand up to that!" She clenches her teeth and throws her hands forward. in her hands, a brassy cube with gemstone inlays manifests. "Solution... start!" With a flourish, her hands flick over the surface, finding depressions and sliding pieces in a complex manner to twist open the puzzle box, the complex mechanism opening up with creaking gearwork and hinges to reshape itself into a long, latched metal rod with a jangling chain and a heavy metal sphere upon the end. "Let's go." With a flick of her hand, she opens an entry window, and sketches an Ability entry: ( | S

There is a chime in the sequence, and Proteus lunges forward, rusing towards the massive beast and vanishing into the darkness... Only to appear over the Behemoth's head, dropping and delivering a massive blow to the beast's head with it as she passes by. It won't be enough to drop the horror, but it's a start.

The massive Behemoth rears its front legs, as it is peppered with arrows in its hind! Mikage's light magic almost seems to resonate with the healing potion that smashes into the side of her head - a sensation she has no doubt gotten used to at this point. There's just that little 'trrrsh' sound as the thing loses its Integrity, and Cyrus' healing takes hold of her, empowering her further blows against its body.

Lightning soon follows this up, zapping across its ass and rippling along its long powerful tail. Its protective scales are keeping the damage remarkably low on the Behemoth! Goldenblade and Kauchemar join in formation, striking their blade up, carving a fierce red line along its hind legs. But by the way its health is dropping, it quickly becomes apparent that it'd be better to really put the hurt on it, and let it run, than to try and go for a killing blow!

Between Merek and Cyrus, the Merchant Blades and Pekos that were hit early on manage to get back on their feet quickly, and start executing charges from the sides. Managing to avoid tail swipes by jumping over its back like it were some lazy dog, and stabbing down using their spears into its body! It's a constant rush of golden-yellow plumage!

A heavy kick comes down on its head, and the Behemoth makes eye-contact with June for just a shred of a moment, before it... looks away. June might get the feeling like it barely is noticing the constant assault. It's distracted by something.

The carts start to pick up speed as Setsuna manages to block one of the goring strikes for one of the carts, and they rapidly begin to move down the road. But the Behemoth looks towards the cave for a moment before it begins to sprint that very same direction, after those Grunties. Roaring and making biting motions towards the Convoy tents, trying to tear them apart.

At the same time, between its horns, a massive 'flame' begins to form, sparking and lighting up... before the flames begin to rush into the direction of all those Adventurers. At the same time, each step it takes begins to tremble the ground around it, leaving literal shockwaves of earth to spawn in its wake that make it hard to control their footing!

Kaydon's blade hews at its head, trying to stop it from getting through, but it practically bowls past him. Proteus follows not a moment later with that flail hit, getting her dangerously close to those flames, aiding Kaydon's blow and causing its snout to momentarily hit the ground... but it just shovels through and keeps moving! Even Miho's strike doesn't truly halt it, though similarly tearing a thick red line across its body!

Under normal circumstances, Mikage might be well prepared for the impact of Cyrus' potions, but it seems to come as enough of a distraction that it leaves her looking momentarily confused. Maybe it's because she hadn't yet taken any damage... yet.

That brief hesitation seems to be all that it takes, though, and as fire is spewed out in her direction, she and Rama can't quite react fast enough. The girl ends up tossing her feline companion to get him out of the worst of the flames, taking the burns along one side of her body in exchange.

Gritting her teeth, she flexes her fingers, making sure she can still grip the bow properly. Eventually, she decides that it is a lost cause. Touching the crystal on the side, the bow folds in on itself and she sheaths it in a holster on her back.

"We need to cool things down..." She manages to grit out. Then, she reaches over and touches Rama, lending the cat some of her magical energy. "Go. See if you can chill him out."

The lynx takes the command and races towards the Behemoth, trailing snow and ice behind him, ready to chomp onto some monster backside.

As one would imagine with a large group of Adventurers they just go to town on the Behemoth, undaunted by its size or Yellow threat level. A streak of black is left through the air as the Binder Sword strikes the creature and then zings back to Kauchemar's awaiting hand like a boomerang. It's held at the ready even as the Nightmare shifts to defense and brings the matching ghost shield to the ready in front of herself.

Then her eyes flash briefly, lavander hue even more psychedelic than usual for an intense but passing moment.

This quickly turns into one of those times its quite fortunate that she isn't ever really alone. Her senses may be briefly distracted but her posessed weapons are not. The shield abruptly ignites itself in ghostly flames, generating enough hellfire around itself to intercept and disperse the blast of fire that comes shooting towards the Nightmare in the scant moments she couldn't defend herself.

Then the vision ends, and whatever she saw she didn't like, because the first thing to slip past the equine's lips as the spiritual glow fades is a daunting "... oh, shit..." Fortunately her inherent nature makes it easy for her to raise her voice enough for the entire group to hear despite being scattered across the fight scene "I hate to be the bringer of worse news, but you know that sensation of crushing ominous dread?" She points the ghostly sword at the Behemoth "It is -not- from that. Whatever is out there, we don't want to be dealing with two problems at once right now!"

The sword is left floating at the ready as she instead shifts to her arcane artes for the moment, swirls of moisture rippling around her one hand and then starting to rapidly cool into frothy mists. "As for for you, how about some BRAIN FREEZE!" she quips, before unleashing the blast of absolute cold at the Behemoth's head!

Goldenblade dodges a footstomp, but it shakes the ground hard enough beneath her feet that she still goes flying. She rolls with the impact and gets back to her feet quickly, retrieving her swords and going back on the offensive, scrambling back into the fray as her fellow adventurers collect themselves back up. She dashes back into the behemoth's rear quarter, ducking under and thrusting up, trying to catch the joint where its leg joins its hip. She's not sure how much detail goes into these monsters, but ... it makes sense. That's how you do it to a turkey, anyhow.

Her combat experience, for all the months she's been on the game, is not that extensive, and she's always trying to improve, so here's her chance to shine. Golden blades hack into the beasts rear quarters relentlessly, she's not giving up, nor going lightly. This is too important.

    June growls and glows the energy coat helping to keep her from getting destroyed by random blows from the behemoth. She shakes her own horned head. "Do not ignore me!" She bellows and with a dash moves to place herself between the caravan and the monster. A sharp glow of light magic gathers around her horns. "You want something to butt heads with... well try me on for size." the mini metal minotar bellows out with a cloud of green mist and then leaps, glowing horns aimed for the center of the behemoths forehead with her own glowing horns, in hopes of driving it's head aside to slow it enough to keep the carts safe... with her own body as the projectile.

Cyrus manages to bring up more shielding to deal with the flames, before making a sound and telling the Peko that draws his cart to keep up. "Go, go! Keep up!" The Peko pulls on the reins a bit, not too fond of having to chase a Behemoth, but it keeps up the trail! At least Cyrus is not making it fight! No doubt it'd just run away at that point.

Noticing Mikage get momentarily distracted, Cyrus grimaces... and throws another healing potion at her. "Heal incoming!" He announces this time, hopefully not distracting her this time around. Following in the footsteps of the others, he then grabs a set of potions, and sends them flying using a bit of air magic, right for the Behemoth, seeking to cause his icy frost potions to shatter over its body and to further slow it down!

Kaydon's tactics, if you can call it that, are really to keep on the beast as much as possible. He can't seem to draw it's attention away from the convoy, though. He evades the next set of attacks from the creature, but finds himself in a bad position.

He doesn't seem to have too much other option, so he once again tries to bring his blade to bear on the creature's head. This time he goes in from above, using the large size of the creature to his advantage as he jumps up, aiming to bring the blade down in a swinging wave, and drop all the way through to the ground. Come on big guy, pay attention here instead of the convoy!

    Setsuna pulls the bones of those who have fallen in the past from the earth to create a shield as the flames of the beast blackens them to ash. For Setsuna and his pet though, they walk away just fine. Taking a moment to stand there he pulls from his back a large knife , his relic blade gleaming as if it knows that it is time to hunt. With signs of practice Setsuna throws his dagger at the beast with significant force, hoping that the blade pins the Behemoth , or at least slows it down.

"That's one big boy and I'm not talking Hamburger...."

Miho muses as she deals with the aptly named monster. Her blade swung true, but it was snot enough. It hurt the thing and it keeps going she also knows they have to protect the convoy at all costs. She isn't done yet wither.

"You think I'm going to let you get what you want?! HELL, NO!"

Miho triggers a sword art and starts to hack and slash into the front of the massive monster again in desperation to try and slow it down.

    Merek looks to the convoy when it seems the team has the monster handled. A nod, while he begins to shift along to the convoy and lifts up a hand, "Rock Cradle!" With that, in unison with another member of the party, without even thinking about it, the man begins to form a wall upon part of the whole. He then begins to adjust the gloves which he wears while he snaps a finger to make sure that rock begins to shield.

The ground cracks and crumbles. A tide of flame surges forth to sear the earth. Prophylaxis...

Sidesteps all of this by conjuring spheres of water under each foot and simply gliding over and/or through the hazards. Not that he gets through unscathed; the doctor is still singed and scorched, but not so badly that a quick healing potion to the shoulder doesn't clear up most of the damage. "Well, it's no wonder that the monsters are acting up--" Prophylaxis' gaze flickers towards Kauchemar. His lips draw into a tremendous frown. "Are you sure it's not just... gas? Or something? Or some kind of enormous, monstrous Dire Grunty?"

No reason he's bringing that up.

(There might be a reason he's bringing that up.)

"Still, you raise a good point." With a hop, Prophylaxis removes himself from his watery skates... Only to gather the spent fluid up into a whirling disc of high-velocity liquid. Like a buzzsaw, he hurls the disc directly at one of the behemoth's horns, apparently looking to sever what looks to be one of the creature's primary weapons. "Best to conserve energy if we can manage it. If indeed there's... something /worse/ out there."

The Behemoth is truly massive and almost impossible to deal with. "What is a thing like this doing here, anyway? This isn't the right area for it to be predating on things... right?" Proteus says to herself. Still, the flames crash down on her, and she stumbles backwards from the tremors, her hand flying up to quickly sketch a defensive Ability: ^ S O

The Aero spell roars around her, taking the flames and coruscating them around her, dissipating them as they roar by.

Staying intact, however, is only half the battle. "We need to protect the convoy..." She looks to Merek, and nods. He has a good idea, and Proteus helps along, calling up another power: V N .

A second Rock Cradle surges up, a thick shield of rock to join with Merek to try to keep the thing from crashing through and into the convoy.

Rama chases down the Behemoth like a tiny yappy dog running after a deer. Except, this yappy dog knows how to latch on! It manages to grab onto its hind leg and hold on for dear life with earth kicks up behind it, sending a rush of frost through its body and starting to slow it down! Cyrus' potion hits a moment later, and then there's Kauchemar's massive ice bold RAMS into its head and causes a massive steam-explosion before the flame amidst its horns can disappear!

Goldenblade manages to resist the fierce earth tremmors and takes her heavy steps forward! Her blade catches some of the formed ice, allowing Rama to get off and return to Mikage or do whatever the little Lynx wants to do, while that blade digs into the Behemoth's body, causing it to finally stumble - after which June slams their horn attack into its head, causing it to finally roll onto the ground, twitching its hind leg in confusion and snapping at anyone near it!

Setsuna's blade stabs into one of its paws, and Kaydon's goes into the other front paw, stabbing into it and rooting it into the ground for a moment. The massive Behemoth gores its horns towards them, before breathing out a green almost atomic looking flame at them! Miho comes down from above, and starts trying to wail into it to further fend it off, but the Behemoth begins to rise. Ripping its fore legs up and shaking off Setsuna and Kaydon, then slams its entire body towards Miho!

When it finally gets up, Prophylaxis' rending whirling blades cut along its hind quarters, stopping it in the midst of an attempted jump, causing it to fumble once more. This gives Merek and Proteus just enough time to put up one hell of a rock wall in the way of the Behemoth! At this point, the creature is getting remarkably restless and anxious, looking back to the cave, then forward, then lets out a loud roar as if it were trying to challenge another predator, before it spins around, and causes a small 'rift' to appear above it that starts flinging literal small meteorites at people - rushing for their bodies, for the carts, crashing towards the ground. Unable to make proper headway the direction it wanted to go, it storms towards a south-western direction instead of south-eastern... and runs off...

Leaving the team without a target for a moment. Yet, that sensation of impeding something keeps creeping up on them...

And when they look back to whence it comes, they see a single figure.

White wings on their back, with a red armor upon her body that covers her head. Her shoulderblades have extra coverage, and she appears to be wielding some form of blue 'lance' that has a thick wire connected to her back. Her red eyes staring at the Adventurers, as she shows a devilish and hungry grin, starting to move towards the Adventurers with this slow... singleminded gait.

<< SHALLTEAR BLOODFALLEN >>

    Merek sees Shalltear coming towards the party, and he does the one thing he can think of. He walks along and begins to approach the woman, even though there's that sense to run away. He places both of the hands to his pockets while he begins to come upon the vampire, "You, you're the one that caused so many issues for my friends. Just who do you all think you are, coming in and playing with these people like they were your own!?" he asks. The man begins to draw both hands from his pockets, "SHALLTEAR! I REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID TO MY FRIEND!"

Rama speeds back to Mikage's side, offering her help up as she tries to shake off the lingering feeling from the remaining burns. Though it doesn't hurt nearly as much as a real injury would, but it is enough. Her head turns towards the... why is the behemoth running away?

For a moment, confusion lingers on her features before she gives a glance at Cyrus, as if he might have answers. Yet, he doesn't need to answer, as Rama's growl draws Miki's attention towards the new arrival. Her brows furrow and a quick motion suggests she is running an inspect. That, alone, causes her eyes to widen.

With Merek seemingly deciding to be the center of attention, she helpfully suggests, "Let's just keep the convoy moving. If that monster is scared, then I think this isn't a fight that we want to get into."

Kaydon finds himself thrown off of the behemoth, which then turns and runs. Well that ain't good. Usually bosses don't run unless something worse is happening.

When this...Whoever this is shows up, Kaydon hmms faintly. Seems Merek knows her...Because of course he does, "Somebody remind me to invent a lawn chair I can pull out for all the times Merek gets himself killed."

    Setsuna can feel the danger as he looks at the new boss monster before he turns to where Roki is lying , now standing and growling before Setsuna calls it with a whistle and mounts up. " I am with Mikage, lets just move along like there is nothing to see here. " Setsuna's focus is more on his mount then the convoy, but well Roki's instincts are doing everything they can to override Setsuna's control. " I know buddy, but not yet, not yet. We wait till the last moment" Reaching out he pets his wolfs head and watches Merek and Ms. Bloodfallen.

Miho is doing pretty good as is everyone else however Miho going to end up getting knocked around more than a fair bit but it does help keep it away from the convo well that's what it was about to do something else come dropping in something so terrifying that makes the monster run. The monster ran but not from them, it sensed a bigger fish. She looks up her tail goes ramrod straight. She'll inspect the nearing form as Merek darts off screaming about a friend. He knows whoever this is, and has nothing good to say about her.

"The Convoy needs to move now! Merek we need to go and we need to go /now/."

She agrees with Mikage and Setsuna it seems it's time to get moving.



"Someone get Merek by the collar and drag him off!"

Kauchemar turns her attention to Prophylaxis for a moment. "That is an oddly specific thing to mention," she responds. "But no, it's deeper and darker than any mere monster's presence." Though there's no time to dwell on it between the ominous dread and the still angry Behemoth to deal with. The Binder armaments continue to hover at the ready as she considers the next course of action....

Then the Behemoth runs. Sure, it was getting the snot beat out of it, but that usually does not deter monsters... unless there is a bigger monster to scare even them. "Something wicked this way comes, something isn't right..."

Cue advance from the foreboding dread as the red armored figure with the bloodthirsty grin emergies from the opposite direction.

"See, its times like this that I hate being correct." Despite the quick escalation of the situation Kauchemar is not without something quippy to say, even as she grabs her Binders and moves with a blur of purple and midnight haze in that 'edge of vision' way she has. First she briefly steps back into view next to Kaydon. "Is it even really a show at this point," she remarks dryly, then blurrs again.

This time re-emerging in view amongst the caravan wagons and Landers. "This is no time for rubberneck gawking. Keep the convoy moving!"

On the one hand, the Behemoth has gotten the heck out of dodge! Hooray!

One the other...

Uh...

Some /strange lady/ is coming up the road, looking every bit like some kind of black-conning super monster that Prophylaxis wants absolutely nothing to do with. And Merek is sauntering straight at her for reasons. Probably foolish reasons. At least certain other people seem to have the right idea.

They came here to fight off a monster, to secure a caravan, and to see it safely to its destination. "Right, okay. Everyone, get yourselves and the caravan out of here. I don't know what that very nice lady wants, but I've got the feeling that whatever it is, we should probably get out of her way and let her get on with her business. Yes? Yes."

    June's pendant snaps open on it's own, the interlocking rings starting to spin. White light starts to build over her horns and the iron clad bull woman digs a hoof into the ground. Her lips move quickly as she chants a prayer to the Burning One and then she's sprinting towards Merek coming in from an angle with her shoulder down. Rescue in process, she doesn't really seem to have thought much out but looks can be decieving.

Goldenblade looks wildly confused as our boss enemy runs scared, but ... what it's running scared from looks ... not like something she can fight. "Time for the better part of valor," she mumbles, and she'll get behind that cart we're guarding and push like hell to get it moving while ... is that Merek? What's he ...? She turns her gaze back to the task at hand and digs her feet in, pushing as hard as she can. This is after a month of physical training, so she's as far up at the top of her game as she can be.

The Convoy keeps moving. In fast, the Landers heeding the Grunties lash at those Reins to make them go faster. The Merchant blades flank, but they don't try to cut off the route to the Convoy entirely. It's rather clear that the Landers understand that they are in severe danger, perhaps even before the Adventurers do.

The moment Merek starts stepping towards her though, there's this sudden intense feeling of dread intensifying. Her gaze setting on him in this arrogant manner of 'how dare you consider approaching me'. Merek, after all, is significantly lower level than that Behemoth she has been chasing. In comparison, he's like an annoying musquito, which is starting to make her consider removing the rest of the musquitos as well!

And then June is running for Merek at the same time the Vampire suddenly kicks off, leaving behind this enormous wake of sand and dust and debris, stabbing her spear right for Merek and June...

The blow seems to practically land! Stabbing right where Merek was just a moment ago. But instead, June has just barely managed to pull Merek out of the way. At this point, the Vampiress begins to stab at the two of them in rapid succession! Blow after blow chasing them, with June... somehow managing to stay somewhat ahead of her attacks. Pulling Merek further and further away with each strike.

Each blow sends so much force through the region, that their health rapidly decrease even with the spear /missing/! But after significant enough time, June and Merek just barely get out of range of her and have a chance at disengaging and running...

The Convoy keeps moving and is picking up speed, so Kauchemar takes a sprinting stride to grab the back of one of the wagons and haul herself onto it. She scoots up towards the front, sheathing her weapons as she does to pull her instrument from her inventory. A lute isn't quite the same sound as a guitar, but it's close enough for what she's about to do, strumming fingers across the strings to help encourage the formation to keep moving right along.

"o/~ It was for a festival at the start of Fall, with wagons stocked up high. Grunties were haulin', while heroes hollarin that trouble was soon nigh. Dark dread was churning as the trip was turnin' topsy turvy 'round. I say 'Heroes this here's the final call... it's time to put the hammer down! o/~

Cuz we've got a mighty convoy, rockin' through the night. Yeah we've got a mighty convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight? Com'on protect the convoy, ain't nothin' gonna get in our way! We're gonna roll this buckin' convoy to see another day.... CONVOOOOOOOY! o/~"

    As June takes the man from the fight, Merek will look to her, then she's charging with him away from it all. The man takes a look to Shalltear while he seems to think about it. The man winces with each strike of that lance, then he's taking a moment to look to June. "Alright, we should probably flee," the man doesn't want anyone else to get in her way.
    The man begins to disengage in an attempt to flee along with the woman, away from Shalltear. He does look back while he will lift up a hand in surrender, meaning that he does not wish to fight. Then he takes a look to the direction of the monster, where was that at this point. "Not even a word, not even the smallest... Ability. These people keep on doing things to my friends." Part of him thinks that it wuuld just be better to let himself get killed. Honestly, what was the man even doing in this world. His fiance', she was no longer with him, he tried to protect people. Within, didn't he want to take it all away. The world. Tears begin filling his eyes for the first time in a while. That feeling that all of them receive, it's well beyond all of them. The man looks to June, "I got you into this, if I need to make sure you get away, don't... Try to protect me." Please, would anyone just let them kill him. End the nightmare. Of having to watch people he cares about killed again and again. Mentally, he begins breaking away.

    June growls to herself the glow coming from her pendant as the disks twirl and finally come to a stop. The beefy little woman clad in iron scales trying to arrange Merek on a shoulder to keep running. Her hooves churning up earth as she moves at the speeds possible due to the enhancement, that being a werefang and a body focused martial class give her. "Stupid move June, save the idiot trying to get himself killed... maybe he likes dying how do you know? Maybe he likes having little vampire girls chew his face off or skewer him with great big lances they shouldn't be able to lift? Perhaps he just wants to be a hero and figures that makes him invincible who knows not you June." she rants to herself in Sindarin the translator doing it's job so Merek knows what her internal thoughts are even as she runs, and hopes Merek doesn't try getting off, or try stopping her.

    Setsuna keeps a tight control on his mount, matching the speed of the convoy right up to the moment the first stab and then he gives the wolf just an inch of freedom. The Dire Wolf's instincts were going to be much better at getting out of here then Setsunas's so he let it do what it did naturally and run. At the moment he realizes he may outrun the convoy or be tossed off his mount, however it was better then ffacing that crazy bloody woman.

"Rama, make sure they keep moving." Mikage offers up to her companion as she limps to keep pace with those who are retreating with the caravan. The lynx nips isn't exactly threatening, but to most beasts, having any kind of perdator at their heels is enough to encourage them to make haste.

Though she does glance back over her shoulder, the Ranger takes it as the opportunity that it is. If they had stuck around, it would have surely meant damage or destruction of the convoy and that isn't something they can afford, especially with the current state of things in Ninetails.

She would have to try to figure out more about the strange conflict later. Much later...

The departure of the Behemoth was... unexpected. The arrival of the armored, /winged/ woman moreso. An immediate Inspect answers the obvious question. "Shalltear Bloodfallen..." Proteus' eyes narrow. The power of this entity causes the Imp to grimace and her jaw to clench. "Where did this person even /come/ from? Surely someone with that level of power has to..."

And then Merek runs forward. What IS her goal here, anyway, though? The convoy is an issue, still. She turns to look at the pondrous thing and watches them get moving... And the way that Shalltear casually begins crushing them even on a glancing hit. "How can entities like this still exist..." Proteus grimaces at the situation before them. "/Why/ is she here? Why does she exist?" There are so many question to be answered.

But answers won't be forthcoming. Proteus keeps her distance, simply observing as she accompanies the convoy. She is fairly sure that the vampiress is not here for a social call, but she is waiting to see what occurs.

Goldenblade puts her back into it. She's behind the cart, pushing to speed it's passage, boots digging into the earth as she plants her shoulder and grunts with the effort. She's not sure what's happening with the mysterious new arrival, though she looked maybe familiar. But she didn't spend a lot of time making detailed observations. One foot in front of the other is how she plans to get herself and the Landers out of here.

Shalltear doesn't chase when June and Merek flee. Instead, she turns her gave to the south-west, towards where the Behemoth fled. A single flap of her wings is all it takes for the young woman to take off after her prize. She's slowed down by how heavy her armor is, but she's making good time.

The Hunters are lucky that they were not her target. But Proteus is right. This kind of creature surely should not be here. Not in this area.

Fair, they are in a higher level monster area. But not THAT kind of higher level monster area! And she seemed like she was a Vampire! Where did she come from? She's not on the same level as a Leviathan, but she's certainly extremely dangerous. Enough that it'd take a whole raid to even consider going after her!

Whatever the case may be, it seems like they will manage to deliver their goods safely.

Cyrus lets out a long sigh as it seems like the Vampire decides not to chase them, and leaves June and Merek alone. "Geez..." He grunts, looking to Mikage. "What the hell is this world sometimes." Sure, they'd resurrect if that had gone into conflict. But the Escort would have been lost. And these Landers would not have returned to life.

"Let's keep that feeling in mind just now, and just... not go near where we feel that sensation."

Kaydon had, after making a few cracks at Merek's expense, followed along with the convoy to make sure it made it all the way there. Just to be safe. The appearance of that...Whatever she was..Well Kaydon's not dumb enough to mess with those things.

The convy is mocing fast, she's got on to one of the wagons nad has he bow ready as Kauchmar sings, a western song of some sort. She thinks she's heard it once when she was in America. That's not the plint though June and Merek. She can only at best watch what's going on. Thankfully her friend flee rather than get killed. The crazy raid boss has run off after the monster who jumped them eariler.

"...What the hell was that about..."