Duty Session 281: Spooky Scary Skeletons

Rumors have spread of the dangerous duty in the desert for daring do-gooders.

Ya'll were the next best thing, but here everyone is!

The Hunter's Guild representative explains along the way, "The festival seems to have exacerbated the situation with the undead in the desert. It seems to be coming from the oasis. Which.. is over that way." And with that he turns and runs like the functionary he is.

Michio waves over to Shiruba. "Hey boss. Glad to see you made it. Or glad I made it. Whichever..." Michio itches absentmindedly at some rather gnarly looking orange splotches on exposed parts of his skin as he waves to the archer. He looks around at the others, titling his head. "Goldenblade..." He says simply, then to the other two. "Greetings. I am Michio Asa, wanderer and Ki Master of the New World Alliance. Don't think we've had the pleasure..."

Goldenblade is here to help! Well, in truth she's between projects and doesn't sit still very well. Like many in her generation, sitting around is not something that comes naturally to her. So here she is, checking her gear, checking her pack, and nodding to Michio that she's got her things in order. Seeing some unfamiliar faces, she quickly says, "You can call me Goldenblade." Because if they inspect her, they will see her actual name overflows the window. The trials of an adventurer.

    It's moments like these that Sasori remembers that this was once a 'game', when a quest repeats. The tiny salamander looks at Michio and frowns, "That's not nice Michio, we met stopping a /different/," and not this quest, honest, "Band of undead the other day. I didn't know I was so forgettable." She hmphs, folding her arms across her middle with the fingertips on one hand lightly playing over the tassel on the end of her katana grip. "I am Sasori Kuro of the Silver Swords." She offers a respectful bow to the others, "You may call me Sasori, or Kuro, however you wish." Straightening up she looks at the others and then fixes her gaze on Goldenblade, "Did you help stop the last Wave?" She asks, "You look familiar to me."

    The hand that is not fingering the pommel tassle of her katana comes up and lightly taps at her bottom lip. "But there was a great many adventurer's there, and we still lost to many of the People." She frowns, looking off to the side with an ashamed blush.

Fuhenna Kodoku no Kuroyuri will not be dissuaded by... Whatever these undead creatures are. They shift the elaborate layered gown along their feet, and offer a bow of greeting. "Well met. I am The Black Lily of Everlasting Solitude, but you may call me Kuroyuri for short." They explain. "I'll try to do my best to offer support from afar." There's a cocky smile on their lips, but it doesn't quite reach their violet eyes, their gaze distant. "So, what do we need to know of these things?"

The Silver Swords had people helping the locals patrol the desert due to the increase of undead activity during the season. Shiruba had mentioned she was checking in on those groups to him the other night, so when such activity was detected she was one of the first to be contacted and thus probably little surprise to be seen here. She rests one foot on a low dune as she looks in the direction the Guild guide indicates. "We're probably going to have to fight our way through the find the source, then." She nods, and turns back to the others gathering.

Michio and Goldenblade get a nod. The others still get a smile. She recognizes names from seeing them on rosters, but they're not alliance members she's met personally yet. Hey, the Alliance has gotten pretty big, it's entirely possible to not physically meet people until several months into their stay here. "It's good to see several of you out here to help. As you probably know, if only by name, I am the Guild Leader of the Silver Swords, Shiruba. But that's not really important right now."

The lupine Cait Sith turns back towards the oasis in the distance, drawing her personalized magic longbow. "We've got work to do."

"Ah, that's right. Apologies Miss Kuro. It's been a long week..." Michio itches at some orange splotches as the group sets out across the sands. "I promise, I was pretty sure we'd adventured together, but... well... my mind is in a million places, I'm afraid. It's good to see you again." In repsonse to Kuroyuri's question he says, "The usual. Fire, punching, y'know stuff like that." He offers a wan grin, then sets out.

It's not long before the gasping groans of ghastly ghouls can be heard scurrying across the sands.

"...How about Darkness?" Kuroyuri questions Michio, as they move along. Glancing over to the OTHER Kuro, they ruefully rub at the back of their head. "You all know each other, huh?" They question - but doesn't get to hear an answer just yet, with the incoming ghouls!

Thankfully, a life as a Symphonist involves a lot of running away at low levels - so Kuroyuri gestures towards the dunes, suggesting a looping path around the incoming ghouls.

    Sasori Kuro looks over towards the sounds and whispers, "These can be avoided, if we're stealthy enough. I don't think they'll make it to the town." She crouches down and starts to move away from the sounds, "We'll have to move deeper into the desert to find the source." She murmurs, but on her way she pats Michio lightly on the shoulder, "It's ok Michio. You might want to get that orange splotch thingy looked at. Can't be healthy to turn into a mango." She smiles impishly but answers Kuroyuri, "I only know Michio, and only just barely. It's nice meeting everyone though, I hope we make it through this ok." Then she goes quiet, and stealthy, the dark skinned salamander avoiding the ghasts and ghoulish things like she's not a stranger to such activities... which makes sense since she doesn't wear armor at all.

Goldenblade says to Sasori, "I was not there, no. I'm sorry, any loss is unfortunate." She follows the group into the desert, ducking down as she spots the ghastly ghouls. "Not good," she observes, and then it's like she vanishes. Keeping to the shadows, she moves like a ghost, herself, seemingly not there, herself, and appearing next to Michio and Sasori after the undead have been left behind.

Shiruba gives Michio a concerned look at not having his condition healed yet, but little to be done right now. She has spent a lot of time dealing with Undead in the last few months. Still what comes into sight makes her frown slightly. "The undead have adapted to the environment. They're dried by the sun instead of destroyed. That's not good."

She hops over the low dunes and bolts across the sand, zigging and zagging a bit to make the ghouls purposely swing at her, only to miss and be slowed down by having to stop and turn around. By the time they can give chase she's already well across the section of desert and out of reach. "Don't waste your time with these, we've surely got bigger challenges ahead!" she shouts to the others.

Michio largely follows Shiruba's example, but goes a step further, taunting the ghouls. He throws a rock at one to get its attention, then moves to a spot behind a rock, away from town. He tosses another rock, then again dodges behind a rock. Between Michio and Shiruba, the ghouls get turned away from town. Everyone else works expertly to avoid detection, and thus the ghouls wander aimlessly in a direction that assures they won't be bothering the town.

For now, anyway.

Unfortunately, there's plenty of other undead. These ones marching in a curiously capering cadaverous cadence. As the party nears, the rearmost of the skeletons begin tossing bits of their bodies. There will be no avoiding this army. The party will have to fight through.

"Wait..." Kuroyuri ducks a thrown bone, and dances backwards, keeping the same rhythm as the skeletons. "Hop, hop, hop, THROW! Hop, hop, hop, THROW!" They declare. "Oh, gosh, this is a dance challenge!" They decide, reaching into a voluminous sleeve to pick out a flute, playing along and making sure that there's a sharp alertness to it, counterattacking with their music - which may or may not be very effective.

Goldenblade hrmphs as the skeletons throw bones, but she kicks the earth clear in front of her, kicking away the bones befoer they can rise up too close. When they do come in, it's two swords, no waiting for the undead, and a quick, gold-tinted death. With her swords out, the new folks can see that her blades are indeed gold-tinged, though they're almost certainly not gold, to keep a sharp edge. Well, that's what magic is for, right?

    As the skeletons start to throw sharp and painful bits of bone and such at the adventurer's, Sasori smiles at the antics of the others and then starts to charge forwards, tapping out a beat on the pommel of her katana. An astute observer might notice that she taps the pommel with every step she makes. "I'll round them up for disposal, or easy avoidance... I might not get them all though." And she sprints forwards, each tap/step suddenly thooming and causing the sand to shift beneath her in rippling impacts, but she's not a T-Rex and the sand isn't water. It does behave like water though, flowing and rippling, cascading into ever greater waves as she darts forwards.

    Sasori turns and suddenly cuts into a sharp line behind the back rank and grins at Kuroyuri's exhuberance, "I never thought of it like that." She calls out but the rippling waves amplify each other, sending waves of earth smashing into the back line of skeletons and pushing them towards the front line to get them all nice and clustered together...

Shiruba yelps and ducks as a bone whizzes past her head. "Hey just because I'm part canine doesn't mean I want your gross former body parts!" But it's quickly apparent, between the bone tomahawkers and the marchers they won't be able to just evade this confrontation. "Strike and move," she advices. "Don't let them pin you in one spot so the other group can gang up on you!"

The Spell Fletcher pauses, half crouching to brace herself without reducing her ability to be able to move again quickly. She draws an arrow from her belt quicker, the obsidian arrowhead gleaming faintly as she nocks it in her longbow and draws back. Focuses her mind, takes aim, and fires.

The Crystal Skewer whizzes through the air and then lives up to it's name, piercing through the ribs and spines of several of the bone-heads and causing them to collapse apart. Shiruba herself is back on her feet and sprinting away afterwards.

"Pumpkin. Not mango." Michio says as he scratches another splotch with an annoyed twitch before moving to engage the skeletons.
He tosses up then kicks stones, "Need pie."

"Cookies."

"Pudding."

"Something!"

Each stone hitting either a skeleton's head, or a flying bone, doing his part to thin the ranks and attacks.

Kuroyuri's musical interlude manages to screw with the beat of the bone-heads, who throw a tempo tantrum and begin attacking each other.

Sasori's attacks similarly decimate a chunk of the undead army, leaving nothing but pixel-dust. Shiruba meanwhile takes advantage of the setup and strikes with ardor.

Goldenblade isn't taking any guff as her namesake blades slice and dice, and even julienne fries!

Before long, nothing at all is left of the opposition, and again the party makes easy headway across the otherwise desolate dunes, stopping occasionally to wet their whistles.

The scent of life and water begins to reach the party, wafting through the ruins of a settlement that nobody seems to remember before the festival started. Skeletal hands breach the sands, moving up, then pushing down, bringing with them the cloth-wrapped figure of several mummies!

"We're getting closer... Ack!" Shiruba yelps and stumbles backwards as a hand bursts out of the sand. Pulling the rest of a bandaged form up behind it. Which makes her expression go flat. "Oh, of course, mummies." The Archeologist in her is not amused. "The bandages and embalming fluids are highly flammable!" she shouts to the others, even as she's forced to run for cover before the bandaged bastard can grab onto her.

Kuroyuri gives Sasori a nod, their smile shy. "It's a pretty basic marching rhythm," They explain. Then, as the splotchy one speaks up, they als chime in. "Yeah," Kuroyuri nods to Michi. "I was at Gwen's shop the other day and Miss Uta stopped by and she had the same thing going on. I might still have a half-a-slice of the pumpkin pie Gwen cooked up," They offer helpfully, moving along. Pausing as the remnants of ruins become more obvious. "...Wait, where these here yesterday?" The Imp was most certainly NOT here yesterday, so the question may be moot. And then! Groans! Mummies! The Imp makes a startled yelp, and, hearing Shiruba, they nod, conjuring tiny balls of flame which they keep tossing out with prejudice! And possibly bigotry towards the undead.

Goldenblade fires the mummies all right, the blades burning like gasoline had been pouring off them. Fire is the solution she likes best, and she's clearly very good at it. Blades flicker with fire, and each strike burns the mummies, leaving them burning merrily, hemoraging HP as she hacks at them. She chuckles at Shiruba's alert, replying, "Don't I know! This is shooting fish in a barrel." Which is hard on the barrel, no one says.

    "Mummies." Sasori Kuro says softly with distaste, absently rubbing at her upper arms with the palms of her hands just where the tops of the sleeves of her kimono top, black scaled hands on dark purple skin. There might be a faint shudder of distaste there but she grits her teeth, jaw clenching stubbornly and she must have forced those emotions away since she draws her single katana in a two handed grip, much more traditional for the type of weapon than Goldenblade's dual katana gambit. She calls forth her connection to the primal element of fire and channels it into her blade, the weapon glowing red then bright orange and yellow as if it becomes flames itself... but not quite.

    Sasori whips the blade up near her shoulder in a traditional grip and then charges forwards. While basically the maneuvers are hacks and slashes, it is anything but. Sharp. Crisp. Fluid. Sasori flows from one Kendo position to another as she dances through outstretched arms, ducking, whirling, and where she passes her fiery blade leaves devastation in it's wake as the remains of her chosen enemies fall lifeless and burn to ash, as they should.

Filthy undead.

"The magic that animates them is in the pendants!" Michio yells, before he runs forward and begins punching the mummies in the scarab. And, no, that's not a euphamism at all, interestingly enough.

He nods to Shiruba, "Yeah, Uta wanted to come back here after the festival I think and see if the mummies were still here."

And then the burning starts. Holy hell, so much burning. Fire and flames and... fuegos. It's just all... what the hell you pyromaniacs?!

But no, really, it's the obvious trope. Burn the bastards. Burn em good.

Because the next guy might not be so easy. Circling the oasis, floating above the shores at the edge of the water source, is The Reaper. Even as the water gives life, the red-eyed undead abomination takes it, draining the very essence from the plants trying to survive the harsh climate.

The red eyes turn to the party and seem to glow slightly more intensely, as though the creature is anticipating a delightful meal. With a shrieking howl it conjures its obsidian scythe, sharp as midnight, and moves to attack.

Shiruba pauses as the group ventures farther into the oasis area, frowning. "This isn't right." Her ears are upright, tail twitching tensely. "Even at this time of day an oasis should be teaming with nature and animals..."

Cue the appearance of the reaper-lie monster that of course summons some manner of scythe. "Yeah, that'd do it. Infest a source of life with an embodiment of dead."

The scythe is swung through the air.... But by that point Shiruba has already disappeared into what remains of the growth around the oasis.

Until the reaper reachs out with his hand, and just drains it, causing the plants to wilt and wither to reveal the wolfgirl mid-sneak. Shiruba cusses under her breath, and has to abort her ambush attempt to bolt for cover as the scythe comes whizzing back towards it's master.

Goldenblade fights like hell against this monsyer that's rising out of the water. Her fire may not do any good against it, but it still succumbs to steel. Her DPS is not spectacular, but it's consistent and constant, and it adds up. Pounding with both blades, each one cutting into the monster and ticking away a bit of its health bar. Each attack is parried or dodged, she doesn't give an inch of ground in this fight, boots digging in as she wails on this miniboss like it owed her money.

    "Ware the scythe!" Sasori Kuro calls out and she studies the motions of the group and their activities. When the fight starts to not turn their way she calls out, "Fall back, or is it forward... either way go that way!" And she points towards the Oasis as she runs towards the Reaper, but not to engage. "I'm going to give us time to get clear I hope!" She isn't the leader of this merry band, people definitely outrank her, like, the Alliance leader and the Guild Leader /of her guild/ no less! Still the tiny Salamander has it in her head she is going to do /something/ to save the group.

    And she does her level best to do just that.

    Sasori sprints forwards and then drops her blade, still flaming, into a low slant with the tip cutting the sand and earth behind her. She runs in as near a complete circle as she can around the Reaper while hopefully giving people time to fall back. As she completes the circuit she cuts a quick rune into the very air itself that leaves a flaming sigil behind that expands, contracts, winks out of existence, and then the cut she made on the ground? A wall of flame shoots up out of it, hopefully trapping the Reaper, and shielding the group, so they can escape.

Kuroyuri drifts a bit closer to the melee members of the party, the Symphonist tapping their lips, studying pixellating, dissolving remnants of the mummies - then looks to Shiruba. "...Yeah," They agree. "It's -"

Whatever the Imp thinks about animal-less Oases is lost to the ages as the reaper shows up, and they freeze. "Oh no."

Shiruba is gone, and with a Scythe headed their way, Kuroyuri lets out a startled yelp! Lightning strikes where they stood, the bolt getting cut by that menacing weapon, and Kuroyuri appears behind the Reaper-thing - and also above the middle of the Oasis, letting out another startled cry as they fall into the water with a loud splash.

Well. At least they distracted it for a moment.

*SHNICKT*

*SHWACK*

*SHINKCT*

The Reaper's scythe is the whirling instrument of death to be expected of its wielder, and the party is hard-pressed to keep up with its attacks. Glowing lines appear on each of the party members as they're struck by attacks. Michio works hard to heal the wounds, and it keeps him from doing much damage with the mini-tornadoes he tries to conjure at the monster.

*SHHREAK-SLICE* and Shiruba loses a game of hide and seek.

Kuroyuri takes a hit as the spectre whirls around after their daring attempt to flank the creature.

Thankfully, Goldenblade's relentless strikes and Sasori's flaming rune strikes finally manage to whittle the reaper down to zero health.

But... it doesn't vanish. Ohhhh no. That'd be way too easy. Instead, it howls in primordial fury and from beneath the oasis, just beneath Kuroyuri's position in fact, an even more fearsome creature rises.

The Lich immediately throws back its head and raises its green gemmed staff. Sickly verdant light shoots forth to bring the defeated undead back to animation, and reinforcing the Reaper's hitpoints. The party's health bars quickly begin draining under the onslaught of the undead boss's damage-over-time aura, as well as the attacks of the re-risen undead.

And then things go from bad to worse.

"A lich!" Shiruba barks. "Kuroyuri! Get out of there!" But before much can be done to help their partymate an even bigger problem is made as the Lich starts to respawn several of the other enemies they previously face, now in a much more confinded location thanks to the half-dead oasis environment. Shiruba closes her eyes a moment and takes a breath, focusing on the training she got for keeping her calm in the middle of chaos. "We've come too far to be driven away so easily!" Opening her eyes again she makes quick analysis of the situation, and draws an arrow from her quiver that starts to glow with arcane runes along the shaft. "Remember, we fight not for ourselves, but for the people of this land we are here to drive this corruption away from!" She nocks the arrow, raises her longbow and fires into an arc that causes it to land amongst a group of the resummoned monsters.

The very earth itself seems to shake from the impact, making the sands roll and heave, smashing skeletons and knocking mummies away. With crowd control established Shiruba takes advantage of her longbow's magical properties to fire several elemental shots directly at the Lich!

When the reaper drops, Goldenblade doesn't relax, and when he's back, she's ready. To say that this time she's faster is to waste an opportunity to use Greased Lightning in a sentence. She's so fast, her footsteps flare up and burn for a few moments before flickering out, like certain exotic sports cars. She doesn't travel through time, but with the number of hits she lands, the question's not unreasonable. She's way too fast for it to strike back, so she slams it with impugnity, hacking cuts with her gilt blades, each one taking only a bit of HP, but the many attacks adding up.

Ever have that dream where you're swimming and then an undead monstrosity rises and you're stuck on top of it? No? Just me?

Kuroyuri is NOT having a great time, but on the plus side, once they're done screaming bloody murder and the Lich has risen into place, raising its staff, the Imp, who quite frankly, even sopping wet, is doing Dark Regent of the Dark better than any single bone-head, well, they flaps their wings, twirl in a spinning circle that thankfully also dries them, and calls out the WORDS OF POWER that bring down a sphere of pure darkness that covers the creature's head. "Now!" They cry out. "GET IT!" And with a wing-powered forward tumble, they toss a few lesser spheres of darkness at the creature, as they try to put some distance between them and the monster and oh gods the other monsters also. Where's a hero to hide behind? THERE!

    Sasori takes a slow deep breath as she tries to ward of the constant draining of the Lich. It's almost like she's meditating, waiting. Any undead who come near her she cuts down with a quick slash or stabbing thrust, but she doesn't seek them out. "If we take the Lich, they should all fall." She says to nobody in particular. As the other adventurer's unleash all sorts of purifying righteousness on the undead she draws her blade up to her shoulder again and waits.

    She waits a bit more.

    When is she going to actually do anything?

    Sasori then steps forwards, cuts hard through the air and her katana blazes with flame growing brighter and brighter, then it dims... well lots of things dim in contrast to the bolt of fire that bursts from the tip of her sword. That bolt flies out, and flies true, slamming into the Lich and then it explodes in a dazzling FWUMP of compression and explosion as the air super heats and explodes into a sphere of hellish flame as the fireball ignites on impact.

"THORN BIND HOSTAGE!" Michio shouts as he makes a spinning gesture as though pulling at the ground itself. In fact, the wilted plants seem more than eager to take their revenge on the undead that took their life. Thorny vines leap out to surround the Lich and bind it in place. This has the added effect of enhancing the remaining attacks leveled against it.

Between this and Kuroyyuri's nightmare sphere, this undead was liched before he even woke up this morning.

*RUMBLE* goes the earth as Shiruba's arrow impacts, before shafts of fire and lightning impact the creature, dropping its XP bar.

Goldenblade's sustained DPS don't do the lich any favors either, and then with a *FWOOSH* Sasori's sword erupts with her flame attack, sizzling with impact against the undead lord, dissolving the last of its health bar.

*BRING* And then all that remains is victory music and pixelated dust...

And for some, a special necrotic gem, shattered from the lich's staff, and imbued with fel energy.

Congratulations!!

Goldenblade inspects her blades, but there's nothing wrong with them. There never is. But she checks them before she sheaths them, and looks around. "Well, that worked out," she says brightly, as if we weren't just facing some horrible evil monstrosity from the pits of hell. "Everyone good?"

Shiruba releases a sigh of relief as the lich goes down, and more importantly, doesn't revive and the rest of the spawn mobs fade with it. "Good job everyone! These oasis are important to the local ecosystem as much as they are to the people living here." She walks over to pick up on of the shattered remains of the Lich's staff. "Find as many of these gem shards as you can. I don't want to leave them behind they might recorrupt the place."

Kuroyuri studies the gem that appeared in their hand, panting and holding their other hand to their knee for support. "...That... That went well." They check themselves - Michio's healing having caught them just at the right time. "I think I'm good!" They declare, with a small smile. "And yeah," They agree with Shiruba. "Besides, I bet that these would be really good for crafting." If perhaps a bit morbid. But then, they're an imp in baroquely stylished formal-wear, in crimson and black, with a deftly dark feel to their magics... So maybe that's the point.

"Good here." Michio looks around, nodding to Shiruba. He picks up the gem that landed at his feet, but it evaporates as soon as he touches it. "Yep, just like last time." He smiles. "But the festival should be ending soon, and that should be the end of the undead out here. For now, anyway."

    "I think Uta might be right, there might be a dungeon we need to find and clear out in order to stop these undead from returning over and over again." Sasori Kuro says after she rests the back edge of her katana on the inside of her elbow and cleans the blade with a swipe then sheaths it at her hip. She looks around, blinking, "Oh, yes, is everyone alright?" She asks after Goldenblade does, she must have just assumed everyone made it out ok. She smiles at the others, "It looks like some of the shards ended up as dust this time."

    Stepping over towards Kuroyuri, Sasori reaches down to offer them a hand up if they wish, "That was very brave. If you like I can try to dry your clothing but I think the sun might do that for you if you prefer." She looks at Michio then, "So why are you turning into a Pumpkin?"

Kuroyuri takes Sasori's hand, giving a nod of thanks. "Uh. I dunno about _brave_. I didn't go on top of it on purpose," They point out. As for the pumpkining? "Pumpkin Plague, Uta said," They volunteer cheerfully. "Did you want my half-a-slice of pumpkin pie?" They ask of Michio. Exhaling a little, sketching a bow to Goldenblade and Shiruba. "Thank you for letting me come along. This was... Pretty exciting."

*SHABOOM*

Michio is standing before Kuroyuri, sniffing at them like a dog. "Pie?Punkinpie?Youhavepie?Icanhazpie?Gimmegimmegimme."

There is pie. It is pie that has been wrapped in a napkin and stowed in Kuroyuri's sleeves for a day or so, and it's definitely also half-eaten pie... But it is pumpkin pie - With that Gwen-Guaranteed Taste. "...I was full yesterday," They explain.

    "At least you've got pie." Sasori says with a small smile, "And wouldn't that make you turn into more pumpkin, not less?"

What happens next isn't pretty. A strange shriek that sounds entirely too similar to what The Reaper let loose comes from somewhere deep in the bowels of poor Michio, who almost goes full Gollum as he chomps at Kuroyuri's hand. Thankfully he manages not to actually bite the Symphonist.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then Michio is rolling around on the ground, writhing... back arching, groaning and moaning in a weird blend of agony and joy.

And then it's over. Michio sets up, spits a pumpkin seed onto the ground, glares at it, then breathes a long stream of fire at it until it *POOFS* into pixels.

*BRRRRP* "Um... excuse me. Sorry.. uh... whew. You have no idea how much of my will was focused on restraining myself. Wow."

"..."

Kuroyuri raises a hand, napkin clutched in their fist, index finger raised questioningly. They stare at Michio, on the ground, writhing. Then looks to Sasori. Then to Michio.

"...You are very welcome..."

They exhale, and drop their questioning finger, looking to Sasori again. "I don't know much about it other than what Ms Uta said," They explain. "But she had something similar going on, then Gwen made pie and gave me some as a signing bonus since Uta didn't need it all to clear up."

Goldenblade peers sidelong at Michio. "What did I just see?" she asks worriedly. She's stepping back, too, keeping a safe distance. She hadn't noticed before that he was sick.

    "I don't rightly know." Sasori tells Goldenblade, also taking a step back from Michio at his... antics. She looks at Kuroyuri, "You said this afflicted Uta too? How much pie did she have to eat to fix it?" She asks seriously with a grimace, "And how did you acquire this affliction Michio, so I can make sure to never do whatever it is you did."

Groaning softly as he gets up, warily eyeing the location he spat the seed, Michio gets back to his feet and dusts himself off. "I should be okay now. I think."

"I hope."

"Anyway, there was a labyrinth in a forest, and every damn creature there gave some sort of status ailment." He gestures towards Shiruba, "I had to heal a strange nightmare residue from her the other day." He shudders then, "And then... there's the dolls."

Shiruba nods to Sasori. "That may be worth looking into, yes. Investigating such matters will help keep us endeared to the local Kingdom, too." Then turns her attention Michio, wagging a finger at him after his weird outburst. "Don't scare us like that!... but thank goodness you got that taken care of." She nods at the mention of helping her with the nightmare status effect she'd had. "The Shadow Festival's version of the Forest Labyrinth inflicted a bunch of curses or status effects on people. The 'tricks' to go with the other 'treat' events I guess."

Goldenblade winces at the tricks that were inflicted. "Glad I missed that, I guess." She couldn't get back in time, or she would have. She peers at Michio, but it is what it is, and the affliction sounds familiar. "So, healing doesn't work for -any- of the afflictions? Only I had something similiar a few months ago, and a healer could cure one of my afflictions."

"Yeah, I was able to heal one of them." Michio gestures again towards Shiruba, "But there was nothing I could do about the Pumpkin Pox. I just had this intense craving for pumpkin treats." He bows deeply to Kuroyuri, "You have done me a great kindness. Thank you ever so much."

Shiruba shudders. "And the dolls. Those dolls were creepy even avoiding their side-effects!"

Goldenblade nods as Michio explains that one of his afflictions was healed, just as she'd described. "just got to wait the other out?" she wonders. "Can you see a timer on it?"

"I have tried not to look, to be honest." Says the Ki Master. "Or do you mean Pumpkin Pox? That one went away as soon as I ate the pie. I think. What I've still got is the damn doll. It's just.. sitting there, in my inventory. Staring at me, somehow, I'm sure." He shudders. "Creepy damn things."

Kuroyuri rubs at the back of their head again, "Well, I should go find my sibling. But it was nice meeting you all." Their raise their hand to wave, and then hurry off.

    Sasori listens to all the stories and she frowns, "Stay out of the woods." She mentally and verbally notes, "At least for a while." She shakes her head and then offers Kuroyuri, "Would you like some help..." But then they are gone and Sassori watches the Imp leave with a confused and wistful expression all at once. Looking back at Michio she says, "Keep it in your inventory, don't show it to anyone or the curse might spread." She shudders at the image of a creepy doll in her inventory. "Looks like we succeeded for the time being. If any of you need my blade or spells to protect the People, please don't hesitate to call on me. I should get back to my latest project though." She offers a polite bow to all, but deeper to Shibura, "Guild Master." She says softly and respectfully.

Shiruba bows to both Sasori and Kuroyuri. "Thank you for coming out to assist." Then turns back to Michio. "Let's get back to the city and let the Hunter's Guild know we took care of the matter here."

"Be well all. Should be smooth hiking back to town. I might look at some of the ruins on the way." Michio offers polite bows and waves and nods where appropriate, and then scoots along.