Duty Session 280: Spooky Scary Skeletons

Cyrus' tail is a bit poofed at the whole 'being in the desert thing', especially when it comes to investigating spooky things. Cyrus isn't big on spiders, sure. But ghostly things? Even more not a fan.

"I hate undead. I thought we were done dealing with them in the Ninetails Dominion, and now we've got some showing up here." He remarks, as he idly flicks a holy potion bottle onto a nearby shambling corpse, erupting it into light.

"Still, getting rid of them while wandering to the Oasis and back - plenty of open sands. This shouldn't be too much of a problem. Especially with you being able to pick them off from afar." The Snow Leopard offers to Mikage.

"It's a Halloween festival, of course they are going to have undead." Mikage comments, the Were Fang scratching at Rama's ears as they are introduced to the quest at hand. "Besides, we're no where near done with the situation in Ninetails, but it's good to have a break from all that, at least for a little while."

Looking out at the desert, Mikage hrms to herself, "I'm sure there is going to be worse than just the ghouls, though." She straightens up, then, rolling her shoulders.

"Let's get going, I'd rather be there and back before it gets too hot out." It was early enough in the day that the sun isn't beating down intensely as it has a tendency to do in the Holy Empire.

"Yeah, this heat is rediculous." Though it's not as hot as one might expect from a desert - not that these two have been to a real desert to know. Still, the snow leopard takes a heavy sip from his water, and heads on further, through the desert they go. Into the deeper sands and up the hills, spotting... notable amounts of ghouls.

"Okay... so... I think we'll try walking around that kind of quantity. I don't have a problem fighting undead. But it's just the two of us. Let's make sure we don't bite off more than we can chew." He glances down to Rama. "No matter how much this one probably would love to chew on them."

He motions over to the side of the dune, and tries to stay out of sight of the shambling corpses. Their dry skin flailing in the desert winds.

"I think letting him chew on the undead wouldn't be healthy." Mikage chimes in, but seems to agree with trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the ghouls. "I agree that avoiding them might be best."

So, she follows along with Cyrus, using some of her own abilities to blend in with their surroundings. Rama's pale fur and her light hair make it easier, keeping in areas where the ghouls don't have direct line of sight.

They move quietly, not getting too close to the creatures. "I don't think their eyesight is very good." She murmurs after a few moments. "Getting by them might be easier than we thought."

"That's lucky on our end. I hope the bigger Adventuring groups can deal with the big mass of them. Though honestly, I think the Holy Empire's army will easily deal with them. What with all the /fire power/ they have available to them." He gives Mikage this look of 'eyyy, get the joke? Firepower? Ehhh? EEHHHH!?'

He's not as funny as he thinks he is.

Still, they make it past the ghouls without too much incident, and soon they are met with... skeleton. "Oh hey, Skeletons, that will be easy." Cyrus throws a potion... just as they all, simultaneously, jump to the left.

And then take a step to the riiii~iii~iii~iii~iight.

"What the..." The Skeletons move in this strange formation, approaching. Back lines throwing bones at them, while the front lines move faster! "Wait... is that... the /timewarp/?" He looks so confused.

"Ehmmm, okay. It went something like... Miki, follow this beat." As he grabs his flute, and begins to /flute/ the Timewarp tune, singing between the notes when the skeletons are about to take an action.

When Cyrus mentions the skeletons being 'easy', Mikage holds a hand out, "Wait!" Too late. The skeletons turn towards her. "Uh..."

The cat may have rhythm and recognize whatever sort of song is being represented in their strange movements, but the Ranger clearly does not. Even with him leading, the girl is all left feet and is simply not able to catch the pattern.

"Oh, nevermind." She grabs her sword and shoves it into the sand, trying to channel earth magic in the process, but all it seems to do is split the group of skeletons into more targets.

"Shit..." The girl looks to Cyrus, falling back on the defensive.

The earth splitting attach bears down on the skeleton and crushes them, but it's clear Mikage doesn't have the tune in mind. He supposes it is hard to immediately get in tune with a song you've likely never heard. It's only because his dad was into strange western movies that he's even vaguely familiar with it.

"It's okay. I've got the rest." He answers, moving with the dance. Motioning his arms like some kind of invisible beatsaber dance, throwing potions about at the skeletons, stepping back in tune, until finally, the skeletons lie wasted. "Phew... couldn't they have picked a more popular rhytmh?" He asks.

Holding out his hand, he guides Mikage forward again. "I used to be really good at rhythm games." Cyrus admits, a bit guilty. "When we just moved to Tokyo, I'd spend hours on the DDR machines."

As they talk about that world, he slows as they begin approaching... ruins? "Looks like something got unearthed?" Except, they're a bit big for that. "There's the Oasis." He points out. And there's also...

MUMMIES!

A hand grabs up out of the sand, trying to snatch Cyrus leg. Grabbing hold, the youth startles and just stands still like a statue, his tail, his ears, his hair all /poofed/. "Get it off get it off get it off!"

Forced to defend herself and Rama, Mikage ends up taking a few hits from the skeletons, but it isn't anything too bad. She looks upwards, to where her health would normally display on the party window. "It's fine." She seems to be reassuring herself.

When Cyrus offers out his hand, she takes it with the familiarity of someone who has traveled with him for a long time. "Yeah, well... you know very well I wouldn't be good at those kind of games." She doesn't need to reiterate why. "Still, glad it could be put to some kind of use."

As something grabs at his foot, Mikage's first instinct is to try to lash out at it, summoning up a small blast of light energy at the mummy's hand. It's enough to cause it to let go of Cyrus, but as she tries to pull him back, the girl ends up toppling to the sands, only to get grabbed around the waist by another mummy.

"Let me go!" She snarls. Rama tries to bite at the mummy, but it doesn't seem to be very effective.

Cyrus stumbles onto his ass as Mikage blasts the Mummy's hand. It indeed lets go. But when the second one grabs at Mikage, it means Grave has to adjust quickly. Fallen on his butt, he reaches for his potions. The previous zombie erased from existance by Mikage's potent power of light, he has to devolve to... something less useful to him.

"Rama - back! Firewall!" A sudden burst of light originates right next to Mikage's foot. Burning her just a little, before a potion shatters against her head to heal her through it while the Zombie squirms and makes sounds from within the sands, burning to pieces.

"Phew... ugh. I hate that." He grunts, having gotten up, and offers a hand to her once more, guiding her up. "Let's... hope that doesn't happen again." He proposes, continueing onwards towards the ruins...

When a floating reaper suddenly comes out of nowhere. The massive scythe it has on it looks dangerous as all heck. "Woah! That is one heck of a glass canon build monster. Let's do this Miki!" He ducks under one of the swipes, rolling, then turns as the thing flies past, and tries to hit it with one of his flying potions - sending a series of holy bolts at it intermixed with the wind power he possesses.

There is a hiss of pain as the heat from Cyrus' spell burns, even if only for a brief moment. The relief that follows has her scrambling to her feet, trying to make sure she keeps plenty of room between herself and the mummies. "Rama, stay close. I don't want you getting grabbed."

She looks to the feline healer, nodding her thanks. "Looks like you're really saving my ass with this one." Miki shrugs. "I'm just off my game."

As they shift into the next fight, facing off against the Reaper, she gives Cyrus a nod. "I think I can do this." She channels some of her own elemental energy into her sword, lashing forward to try to make sure that he's protected from the reach of that weapon. Her own blade blasts blades of air from it as she strikes, driving the monster back towards the waters of the oasis.

Mikage's blast hits the reaper like a gunshot. Shattering all of its elemental energy across its body, tearing it towards the waters. Shot after shot, while Cyrus assists from further back. Leading potion after potion to detonate into it, pushing it back. "We're doing it!" Its health dropping further and further... until finally it hits the red and shatters, dumping into the oasis itself.

"YESS! Nice. I guess that means the quest is..."

BWOOOM.

There is this pulse of green light that ripples over the region, as a Lich begins to rise up from within the waters. "... shit." Cyrus begins. Then, undead begin to rise around them, and Cyrus quickly touches backs with Mikage. "Ehmm... so... about calling this an easy mission."

The skeletons approach in lockstep. Ghouls begin to approach. Mummies... are alive.

And worst of all, the reaper has returned.

"I am going to bind them all to the best of my ability, Miki. But that's going to be all of my thornbind potions. So I'm going to need you to be in tune with me on this before we turn on that Lich and shatter his face and staff... ready? Three... two... one..."

Throw.

"Don't say it." Mikage tries to cut Cyrus off just when he is about to declare the quest over. Too late. Rama's ears tuck back.

"It's never as easy is it looks." She comments to herself, sheathing her sword into its scabbard and then reaching back for her bow. The weapon looks like a rod, but when she presses the blue jewel into the socket, it extends into a full-fledged bow, mechanical parts blinking.

"You really need to learn not to jinx things." Mikage comments, looking around as the enemies seem to start ressurecting themselves.

"I'll shoot it. On your mark." She gives a nod, then lines up her arrow, taking a breath and letting it out. As soon as the glass shatters, Mikage fires.

The arrow blasts through the air, creating an explosion of storm energy as it gets close to the lich, catching the staff in the process.

Thorn bind after thornbind grabs hold of monsters as they approach. The occassional firewall cutting off access to a ghoul, which stand in the flames and slowly burn to death. But the reaper is the bigger problem. Cyrus and Mikage both have to roll and constantly dodge to avoid being hit by it.

But Mikage's arrow blasts through towards the Lich soon after, catching the staff with an expert shot, and tearing it apart. "Nice!" Cyrus calls out. But they are not done. The battle is a long and arduous one. With the staff destroyed, the undead begin to rapidly lose health, but the Lich is still alive. A green pulse launches towards Mikage, slowly draining her health.

But Cyrus is keeping her health nicely topped off with potions as they continue the battle. Slowly wittling away its health, until finally, the Lich is defeated. It shatters into light, and Cyrus falls down on his ass, panting.

"Take..." Pant. "That... you undead... jerk."

While Cyrus is able to keep Mikage on her feet, it is certainly a struggle. This event was clearly meant to be for a larger party than their little duo. However, they somehow manage. Perhaps it was leveled down slightly for their sake. Whever the case, they are eventually able to destroy the Lich, but it leaves both exhausted.

Mikage flops down next to Cyrus, trying to catch her breath. Even Rama flops, belly first, into the grasses, panting. "For a Festival quest, that was fucking intense." She mutters.

With a cool breeze coming in off the water, she looks over at her Cait Sith companion, "How about... we stay here for a little while. Catch our breath. Maybe wait until it gets dark to head back?"

At least, then, it won't be so hot.

"Let's..." Pant. "Do that." He agrees with Mikage, lowering himself right next to Mikage. Laying side by side, staring up at the sun. "It's going to get hot first for a while. We may want to make sure we make good use of the Oasis." He then motions to a few nearby taller trees. "And use the shadows. I think I can use the cart otherwise to keep us out of the worst of the sun for a bit... but for now... I am going to just lay here." He notes and lets out a sigh, taking out his water bottle and splashing some of the water on his face.

"Phew... I'm glad I can always rely on you like this, Miki. You're amazing."

A blush spreads across Mikage's cheek, but she just looks away to hide it. The girl is still not very good with compliments, especially from Cyrus. "Yeah, well... you're pretty awesome, too." Rama just huffs.

"Heh... well... we should celebrate when we get back somehow. You know... because... we are awesome together." The youth awkwardly remarks, as he moves his hand and touches the back of hers. An awkward, soft touch.

"Uh... yeah. Sure." There's some uncertainty there from the Were Fang. She is still looking off towards the Oasis when his hand touches hers. Her gaze sweeps back to him, that color still lingering on her pale features. It's a quick little look, her eyes darting down, then to his face, and then away again.

Yep, badass warrior girl really doesn't know how to handle anyone's attention.