Meeting the Landers: Mystery Spriggan - III

They have come at night. Much in the same way it had happened last time. Except this time, the Scale Emblem Alliance is ready. After being warned by the Spriggan Hero - Ascheriit - themselves that they felt something coming, they've been preparing. The specially dug pits have been prepared, and there's even some siege weaponry that has been brought out specially for this situation.

There are howls in the distance as the strange beings approach. A few archers fire flaming arrows in the direction of the sounds, creating moments where they can see the shadows approaching. But each time they get a good view on them, they seem to practically disappear from sight.

Occassionally, they see the green light of something running their way. Or the red glow of activation of something. But no matter how much the Scale Emblem Alliance is trying, they are failing to get a good moment of actual sight on them until they are far closer to the walls and someone gets a Light spell off!

Ascheriit vaults the wall the moment they get close enough, practically soundless in their departure, and wields their twin blades, intercepting the approaching creatures. And the area is lit up for the brief moment the blade makes contact with... another blade!

The blade-nosed and four legged... draconic like wolfish creature clashes its nose with Ascheriit, sparks flying, right as two more of those creatures seem to come out from right behind it, rushing for the siege installations, jumping into the air, spinning, and lashing two sizable air-based cutters their way intent on destroying the walls and their placed siege devices - as well as anyone standing even remotely close to them.

This isn't the first time that monsters like these have struck at Tolbana. The city that Scale Emblem had built had become like a second home to her, much of it built by her own efforts over the months they'd been trapped here. So, of course, she would be here to try to defend it.

She has taken up a defensive position on one of the nearby walls, her spellbook in hand, outfitted for a fight. Magic flickers around her as she maintains a few defensive aura spells, likely trying to keep herself, and others, out of harm's way.

The creatures, however, look completely inorganic and more intimidating than she would like to admit. So, when one gets close, Kita immediately begins to throw up a defensive barrier, the type that tends to react with opposite force when it is struck. It should be able to repel the creature's attack, at least for now.

"Help us build up the city, they said. It'll be fine. It's safer than exploring the tower. The first level's monsters aren't that bad, they said." She complains, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

Word comes that the very same monsters that they've all spent so much time dreading and preparing for have returned to finish the job. All he can hope for now is that all of the time spent planning and working toward capturing one of these creatures for whatever it is that Naobi needs one for doesn't go to waste.

Tolbana is a second home to him, as well, after all. He has spent a good majority of his time and effort in this new world to make sure that all who live within its walls feel welcome, comfortable and safe. This entire operation has always sat poorly for him for that reason, but...

Nobody will ever learn /anything/ of this world if they simply sit in comfort and safety. What are the Scrapped Princesses? What is their intention with this world? Why are they able to so easily flaunt the Laws of Alba as if they did not apply to them and their minions? These questions and more must be answered.

And so they have waited and played host to a soul who has spent far too much time wandering-- all specifically to bring about this battle. One which is again putting themselves on the line to help protect their temporary home. If anything Ascheriit has claimed is true, then they have deserved their opportunity to rest as much as anyone.

And thus, Prophylaxis must fight.

He is positioned on one of the lower walls, in a spot where he can rush aid to anyone who might need it in an emergency. He looks... tired. He hasn't had much sleep lately, preparing the countermeasures he has put in place. The Scale members have been provided flawed crystals imbued with trial-versions of his death-defying magic. If they do not function as he hopes, then he will be hard-pressed making sure nobody dies a premature death subject to...

Whatever the heck these monsters are capable of.

They arrive, having... changed since the last time he saw them. "This is new," Prophylaxis murmurs as an air-cutter slices through his position. A burst of water blasts him out of the way, the lingering veil of fluid attenuating the worst of the attack before it smashes into one of the wall-mounted ballistae. "Watch their fangs and claws," he transmits across a bizarrely still-functional Chimlink. "If you get hit by either and start bleeding out, yell, then crack that gem I gave you. It might not work, but a chance of success is better than nothing!"

The magus' staff crackles and jolts, before a sizzling bolt of electricity leaps and chains between several of the strange wolf-like creatures. It does no damage, but it /does/ apply a persistent fuzz of electrical energy to each one, highlighting them for the others to do real damage without being snuck up on.

Schneider is here because of the advanced warning. In a way, we knew it was coming when we asked Ascheriit to stay here for a time. But the immediacy is new, drawing a defensive force here at short notice to stand ready. Schneider acks at the suddenness of the onslaught. "DAMEDO! Magic shield!" he casts, and not a moment too soon, bringing it up only just in time. He took a position in what he'd hoped would be the back of thr group, though by now he knows no place in the formation is truly safe.

Chanting darkly, he summons, surprise, FIRE. "Brain, Brain dead. Obey your blood oath, come forth from the land of Avalon. Fire of Gehenna, become a fiery blast and burn everything around us!" Not his /most/ hardcore fire spell, but one of his hotter ones. He shouts, "EXODUS!" and launches raw fire, easily capable of melting stone, it's so hot!

This time they had a chance to prepare. That would hopefully be enough of a difference.

When the monsters leap into the air to assault the defensive position they've established in front of the town, Vertina quickly slams a foot into the ground herself. The brief tectonic shift caused by thrusting her geokinesis through the surface causes several more rock barriers to extend in front of the structures already there. They quickly crack apart and shatter, but in doing so absorbing a portion of the cutter assault like ablative plating.

"Two can play at that game!" Vertina plants the foot she stomped on, using it to pivot, and thrust a fist forward. She punches with such power, and a bit of elemental manipulation, that it sends a supersonic shockwave through the air to punch one of the monsters from a distance. "Reach out and crush someone!"

SpritesHero doesn't really have much of an idea for what's going on, other than it's got everyone's knickers in a twist. And so he's here, having taken up his position on the wall right next to a barrel of something that isn't likely to explode if it gets hit. His arms are folded over his chest, his cloak pulled tightly around him to ward off the night's chill. He's long-since stopped trying to see into the darkness beyond the wall, seeing as how his previous such attempts stopped being particularly helpful ages ago.

There he stands, as though without a care in the world save for the fact that his nose just might start dripping, when something comes hurtling out of the darkness. He's still not particularly sure what the devil that something is; only that it is rather large, feels intimidating, and he'd much rather not be in its path when it starts destroying everything. His feet pulse with a dim light, and his form flickers to the side as that monstrous something-or-other blows past. As he pivots, his hands are already moving, beginning to form his follow-up spell.

Sometimes, at times like these for instance, there is the dim sensation that all one's needs could be solved with a large-enough mallet. But Robert hasn't got a large mallet. Not even a small mallet. He'll have to make do with something a little less forceful. And so, as he pivots away in his evasion, he slashes his arm diagonally downwards, fingertips tracing out a scythe-blade of billowing, misty darkness that utters a forlorn sigh as it spreads out over critter #2. If you haven't got a hammer, debuff so people who do have hammers hit harder.

    Setsuna had been waiting for this day, and had done his best to prepare for it. So many holes he dug to try and capture one of these things to be able to figure out why it could ignore the laws so easily. So when the alarms rang Setsuna was on the wall ready to attack the creatures. His knight standing besides him ready to defend the necromancer if needed but when the wall is destroyed Setsuna must move as quick as he can to get away from the destruction and debris. His skeleton knight will have to dig himself out of the rubble as Setsuna does his best to try to shovve one of the creatures into a hole, with a magical pillar of earth.

    How long has it been since they were trapped in this game?

    Space is dangerous, but mostly boring until it is very suddenly not. Mizuki, catgirl pilot, pays a visit to the hangar to check with the mechanic. Wisteria, the bunnygirl, greets her with a hug and points to an open panel in one of the machines, gesturing enthusiastically with a wrench at one of the glowing alien crystals used in the technology and excitedly explaining waaay over Mizuki's head about her discoveries of the workings of the technology inside the game world. Mizuki is happy for her friend, but her pride as a science student is a bit wounded... why didn't she play an engineering class or something?

    Suddenly, the ship shakes, and Mizuki stumbles -- Wisteria is quick to grab something for support and grab her friend, stopping her from crashing into the deck. The lighting around them turns red and alarms begin blaring. Wis wonders aloud, "Did we just drop out of hyperspace?? But we're still in deep space..." And then Captain Prophy's voice comes over the comms: "Everyone to battle stations, prepare for combat!"

    Ah, right. This is why she's a pilot! Mizuki scrambles up the handholds on her mecha, climbing into the cockpit and flipping some switches, then strapping herself in while the whine of machinery coming to life fills the cockpit.

    Reactor.....Online. Sensors.....Online. Weapons......Online. All systems nominal.

    Mizuki grabs the control sticks as another message comes over the comms: "If it's anything like the last time, we'll have full access to the chimlinks, so shout if you get hit. I've provided a number of crystals as well. If you begin to bleed out, shout first then crack one open. I'm not sure if the spell inside will /work/ yet, but it's a damn sight better than nothing."

    Mizuki blinks and opens her mic. "Chimlinks? What are you talking about, can't we just use our radios? This game doesn't have *spells*..."

    But any further objection is cut short as she sees an angular, black-and-green ship with ominous red lights float into view of the hangar, clearly charging a weapon. "Ah, wait, no!" Ah, right. This is why she's a pilot! Mizuki scrambles to move, but she forgot to disengage the docking clamps holding her machine to the gantries! There's a screech of twisting metal, and then some sort of angry red beam fills her screen, and alarms start going off in the cockpit before the machine breaks apart around her and she's vaporized--

                                      ~~~                                      

    Mizuki wakes up to someone shaking her. "Hey! You're a decent-level ninja, right? Those wolf things that can really wound us are back! We need everyone we can get!" Oh. Right. She's trapped in THIS game. ...THIS game? As opposed to what? Something... dream... she shakes her head. Whatever it was, it doesn't matter now. She races to the wall and looks out to where Ascheriit is fighting. "Times like this I wonder why we don't have siege weapons..." One of the people manning one shouts, "We haven't been able to get a clear shot yet!" She looks over. Oh. "Well. Good on us then." Mizuki... doesn't think she wants to get close to these things again, so... she focuses her fire, and opens her mouth, a thin beam shooting out and sweeping past one of the monsters, leaving a trail of flaming ground in its wake. "Ah, dammit!"

As Prophylaxis mentions, there's this strangeness to this battle. Normally, if they enter battle, their Party and Raid channels would be all that is available. But for this, the entire scope of their Chimlinks remain available. It's as if <something> was not detecting this as being a valid battle.

Electricity rains down upon the trio of creatures, one of which is being occupied by Ascheriit. The constant rapid sword clashes showing a wild sense of difficulty to the battle. And no doubt Prophylaxis would find that there is a reason that battle is so difficult!

As his electrical fuzz comes down on one of the creatures, it seems to... start to fade from view. The electrical fuzz simply 'disappearing' from its body as it remains invisible, only to appear again right in his face, about to gore him with that blade! It's only by Schneider's quick reactions of challenging his attack that the flame blast pushes it out of the way and away from the doctor, the creature tumbling and rolling!

Not a few meters to the right, a fierce clump of earth protects one of the siege machines, and the creature is blasted out of the air by Vertina, knocking it back. This allows the siege weapons to fire, blasting their powerful artillery-like projectiles against them and /shattering/ across their bodies, nary doing a lick of damage!

A sudden pulse beats down upon it, as SpritesHero's orb bears down upon the first of the ones that made it past Ascheriit, with Kita enforcing a very similar spell to press the other to the ground! As their legs tremble under the weight of the arcane spells, green light flickers across their body.

<<< IMMORTAL OBJECT >>>

Keeps coming up from those areas like an annoying buzzer. Until there's that rattling sounds that some of the warriors here are familiar with. As four blades seem to come from Ascheriit's back, cutting away at the one they're holding back. For a moment, it looks like the Cursed Hero is being forced back, but they are tactically retreating, bringing themselves in range of the others, at which point the four blades-on-chains suddenly lash out at the ones being held down by Kita and SpritesHero, causing those green barriers to be shattered!

"Go on the offensive. That barrier will only remain broken for a bit!" They call out to the Scale Emblem Adventurers, their white hair gleaming in the light of their spells right as they kick the one they are dealing with solo back, and re-engaging, trying to gain the momentum. Constant swipes being ducked under. One of the lashing sword-motions from the ENEMY ripping into Ascheriit's cloak, almost getting their arm.

The other two however fade from... sight? Existance? It is hard to tell. They seem to flicker out of 'being there' for a moment, only to reappear right past the Melee front lines and attempt to charge-gore from this 'nowhere', aiming right for the center of peoples' chests! Cutting towards them, only to then disappear again...

And re-appear like terrifying spirits, coming from right behind Prophylaxis! Then to the side of Kita! They keep appearing and disappearing, making it exceptionally hard to hit them, or avoid their strikes!

The sudden movements of the creatures is enough to cause a bead of sweat to drop down from Kita's forehead. As many are well aware, the Imp is not a fan of anything getting up close and personal that happens to be a threat to her survival. So, when one of the creatures appears next to her, she blasts out with an instinctive bout of fire. It creates a wall between her and the monster, allowing her to fall back into a safer position.

Taking a moment to steady her breathing, the blue-haired girl's hands are already trembling from the tension of battle. Fighting like this still doesn't come naturally to her, despite the many months of being in the game.

Her hands swirl around each other in an almost idle motion, but dark energy seems to flicker from her fingertips as she is drawing up a spell in the process. It solidifies into a sphere that has a smokey appearance, almost as if it were made of burnt glass.

Then, with a small shout, she launches it at the closest of the monsters, the spell bursting into sharpened shards which dig into any exposed flesh, taking advantage of the weakness.

    Setsuna stands his ground as the attempt to be gored ounces off a wall of air and he draws his dagger. Looking towards his skeleton knight still trying to free itself he decides to handle this himself. " I made sure the next time you things showed up I'd have somethin that can actually hurt you." With a skilled throw he launches the dagger at the damn monsters with a vicious grin looking forward to what is going to happen, " Eat Relic blade you damn thing. That's for my leg."

Schneider's defense is a bit smoother now that he's not actually surprised. He knows there's a lot going on here that he doesn't actually understand, but it's like car engine stuff. It runs just fine whether he understands internal combustion or not. The crazy part is he thinks he understands a few bits around the edges, due to his own advanced research, but he has no idea what to do with those little tidbits of knowledge, or how it fits together with new things he learns. He's not even sure when he's learning new things.

Another magic field deflects the attacks coming his way, this time in place well before he's attacked, and quite solid, and he responds with a determined, "Tai-to-ro! Blow this enemy away! Anthem!" Extending one arm straight, he slams fire straight into the enemy, flames roaring into the target and sucking down it's HP meter greedily. Not enough, but he's contributing!

Vertina wasn't expecting damage. That's why she used a technique that would still knock the enemy back with the force of impact. She's not as much of a brainless brawler as people might think. They just need to wait for the right moments... Like that. "On it!" Vertina shouts as soon as Ascheriit announces the creatures are vulnerable, and starts charging towards one of the shield shattered creatures....

And then her 'sixth sense' screams in the back of her head, and in a burst of moment the ground heaves sideways, tossing the Salamander into a roll that barely evades one of the monster's gore-and-bore attack attempts. One hand catchs the ground to stablize herself from the roll, tail snapping like a whip to reassert balance as feet dig in to stop her diagonal motion. She managed to avoid that super nasty damage they can do, but had to break off her attack charge to do so.

    Mizuki winces as she sees Prophy illuminated by a flameburst, in MELEE with one of the things, nearly hit. And then things get worse as they start teleporting around.

    Hmm. What will that do to magic targeting? Let's find out...

    She holds out her arm, still standing atop the wall. "Scatter your chilly sharp blades! FROST BOLT!" Large ice crystals appear above her head and fling themselves point-first at the enemy! Normally, only the last one actually does all the damage, but... who knows, with these things? It's a low-level ice spell but it's reliable! Plus, if it targets correctly, maybe the VFX will act like tracers, guiding others which direction to attack as well until the spell actually finishes and hits. In which case, Mizuki will throw kunai and small fireballs at the rhino...robot? things as well!

    Of course, sooner or later one tries to teleport-stab HER. "Oop!" She barely leaps out of the way in time, thanks to air speeding her up with the Flashstep technique!

Immortal object? "Adorable," murmurs Robert under his breath, who is leaning in one direction almost as though he's about to fall over. His fingers begin to glow. The wall's stones suddenly shift beneath his feet, and abruptly he's hurtling in the entirely opposite direction. "-Very- cute." The glow brightens, and an orb of fire begins to swell in his palm. There's a third sharp change of direction that sends him shooting past critter #1, nearly at point blank range. He drops his now respectably-sized fireball on the foe before him, and simply keeps it there, letting things cook for a bit.

Apparently he's not fond of adorable things. Or very cute things.

Sadly, Prophylaxis is not the commander of some kind of high-end military space battleship, or his job might actually be a little bit easier.

The last iteration of these monsters was fast, but Prophylaxis was pretty sure he could still follow them with his eyes well enough to see them coming. The way this beast suddenly springs into his personal space is disconcerting to the extreme. Prophylaxis winces, raises his staff to try and intercept the blow-- but is saved at the last moment by Schneider's well-placed fire blast. "Nice save!" the Doctor says, flashing his assistant a firm thumbs up. But just evading their attacks is nowhere near enough. They need offense...

Which is /hard/ given that the damn things are apparently Immortal Objects.

Fortunately, they have an Ascheriit.

"You got it," he answers back with a yell. "Siege crews! All weapons prepare to fire on anything Ascheriit opens up for us! Fire at targets of opportunity and don't give them a chance to do anything but dodge--"

Too late.

One of those monsters crashes into him. Its massive horn ploughs into the doctor's chest mid-sentence, scattering him into a haze of...

Not... Red... pixels.

"Looking for someone?" Says an image of Prophylaxis, stepping out from behind a ballista. The wind is howling across the battlements, whistling an ominous song through the channels in the magus' staff. Overhead, the night's sky is suddenly filled with clouds.

Indoor clouds.

But this is Aincrad, so it's fine.

"Fall, hammer of the heavens!" Prophylaxis orders as he sweeps his staff down like a judge's gavel. "COME, LIGHTNING!" The sky opens up, powerful bolts of lightning come crashing down into several of the beasts-- and on places he thinks the beasts will soon /be./ They might be fast, but surely they can't evade /lightning./

    Amalthea is late to the party.
    But that does not mean she is not *here*.
    The howls in the night, the archers firing arrows, were the signal, and up until now, the old Paladin had been on reserve, but now? With the return of these beasts that had hounded Ascheriit in the past. Now is the time she leaps into the fray.
    No sooner than Ascheriit states the Barrrier around the beasts will be down only briefly, does she join for the assault.
    Only for two to up and vanish.
    That's a problem.
    That's a much bigger problem when they re-emerge from nowhere in a full charge.
    "!?"
    Amalthea braces her shield to try and fend off the rush- only for it to be smashed aside, her HP taking a precipitous drop as she's battered down, eyes glazing over with actual, serious, pain. Only blearily does she realize the new Status that comes with the sudden blow.
    WARNING: COSMOSPHERE EXPOSED.
    "... Ah hell."
    That feels so ominous, doesn't it?

The monsters clearly have no care what-so-ever about anyone's comfort. They just keep coming. When Kita's blast of arcane glass shatters into one of them like a violent magical shotgun blast, the creatue barely even slows down, continueing to come right for her! Only for Setsuna to jump out and save her once more. The dagger plunges into its side, right before its wings try to engage a flurry of light - almost like jets starting to fire...

And it just halts for a moment. Giving Kita plenty of time to make distance, before the thing starts moving again at the end of Setsuna's strike, turns, and tries to use its tail to lash around his neck and crush it in retaliation!

Only for SpritesHero's flame orb to hit in, and detonate in a massive wash of fire that lights up the area around the creature, giving a chance for some of the less noticable Scale Emblem Alliance members to bring their own attacks down upon it!

The other one however manages to carve its sword-horn right into Amalthea's body. There's a shatter of red light around her, right before Prophylaxis moves to protect her. Lightning comes down right near her, blasting down upon it with multiple shocks, but she can /feel/ the heat of each lightning hitting down. It's like it's scorching the hairs on her arms and her eyebrows! Mizuki tries to let their spell follow-up and seek it out, but the moment the strange creature 'disappears', the entire thing seems to practically stop /existing/. The marker just stops tracking entirely, only for it to re-appear closeby once again.

A second charge of icicles tear down upon it, colliding with its body and slowing it down! Then, the violent howl of one of the enemy creatures being torn apart. Four swords coming around at an arc, stabbing into it from four different directions while Ascheriit sword-clashes with the creature. There's a shattering of light... before the light rapidly is 'grabbed' by multiple ribbons of green light, which pull it inwards, and the light seems to disappear in a Point of Light.

This gives Ascheriit a moment to rush over towards their allies, but their protections are already coming back up, those green shields flickering to life. At this point, they're looking to hold them back!

The creatures retreat ever so slightly at first, as their barriers come back to life. But it's not moments later that their 'wings' start to light up properly. Green light eminating from them as they suddenly leap forward, and the tips of their wings turn into /blades of light/ while their horns turn forwards, seeking to take a more active role! They are not flicking in and out this time, but their speed rapidly increases as they lunge for Amalthea specifically, aiming to finish her off together with a twin attack!

Bravery is not Kita's strong point, not by a long shot. But she does know that it is important to keep as many people in the fight as possible. Allowing people to be gravestoned would be bad. However, even as she moves to try to intercept, her dress gets caught on some debris nearby, causing her to trip and wince as her knees scrape against the rough ground.

"Fff...." She avoids cursing by gritting her teeth, and instead she looks to the two enemies. They don't seem to be particularly vulnerable to direct attack, "I'll try to slow them down and hold them in place!" She calls out.

She pushes to her feet, gathering more dark energy between her hands before tossing it towards the ground closest to one of the monsters. The ground seems to writhe for a moment, as dark vines shoot up, grasping for limbs and trying to drag the enemy creatures down, pulling them to ground.

SpritesHero is not particularly vocal, nor does it seem that he bothers to actively make an effort to coordinate with the rest of his team-mates. Nonetheless, his eyes skate towards those green-flecked, if not outright-shielded, assailants, and the degree to which his own movements mimic Kita's is just a touch eerie. Well, minus the trip. He certainly does not trip. But as he glides into position near critter #2, he passes a mirror-image of her dark energy mass into the ground at his feet. Near-identical vines spring out of the wall's masonry, winding their wickedly-thorned lengths about his target and its shields.

    Setsuna watches the dagger stab in to the creature and it pause for only a moment before it manages to shake of the status effect and continue on with it's status effect. Then his boss has a hole in her and , its not a pretty hole, really in fact it's going to take some serious duct tape to patch that up. It doesn't look pretty but it looks like at least for the moment the doctor is treating her, however now this creature is looking ready to end her. Given the blood and real damage it seems like a serious threat so what does the one legged necromancer do? He moves in and does his best to try and grab the horn, which he does as it stabs right into his left shoulder blade and there is a seaing bright light, and Setsuna can hear someone screamin, oh yes it him, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Vertina needs a few quick dashes to get back into the thick of the fight, and by that point people have already moved to intercept the monsters bearing down on the Amalthea while the Doc tries to work on her. Oh hell no. She said they would provide cover and she meant it.

She skids into the fracas, and does the next best thing that she can. "Ol Repth!" The light glow of healing ki flows around her hands as she presses them to the back of one of the defenders to try and resist some of the tremendous damage being done to those keeping the creatures off of their Leaders.

Despite it all she still manages to smirk over Setsuna's shoulder. "I know you like playing with the undead, but you're still more useful to us mostly alive." Not going to let a really serious moment cut down on her witty combat remarks.

Schneider dives in front of the creatures dogging Amalthea. He can't jump and cast, so he'll just have to take the hit. Let's see if the immorortal sorcerer bit can be a legend here, too! He dives across just in time to take the gash across his arm, used like a shield would be, which .. holy moly! He shouts out for a moment before biting back the pain. So intense!

Nevermind that his cosmosphere is showing, he doesn't know what that status means, so he avoids it. What he can do is concentrate on his own regeneration. He has the power of a god inside him, right? Or that's just his source material. Which since it isn't an integration, really means nothing. But that's what he's imagining as, with a fierce look of concentration, he wills the arm that's horribly mangled, or feels that way, anyhow, glows with intense white light and his HP slowly starts to recover.

    That. That sure was a hit.
    And Amalthea may have taken her share of hits in her time as a Tank, but that was something out of this world.
    The sword-horn tore through her shield and armor like tissue paper. That flash of red is worrying, too, but she's not going to disobey the good Doctor's orders.
    Her movement is sluggish; a staggering shamble as she still reels from the impact, moving as though in a fugue state with the pain, one hand over the blazing red spot in her body where the horn tore a chunk out of her. But eventually finds herself by Prophylaxis' side as lightning rains down.
    "Here I am, doc." She nearly slurs with the pain as she- turns to see the two barrelling right towards her.
    "... Ah hell."
    Only to be spared from a certain death by Setsuna and Schneider coming to her aid.
    Those are her boys.
    "Damned fools, the both of you." She mutters. "But the best fools I've got."
    "ARCHERS!" She snaps, wobbling in place and doing her best to not BLEED ALL OVER PROPHYLAXIS as she splutters.
    "Firing support! Now! Get those things off my boys!"
    Prompting a harrowing hailstorm of arrow fire from the defensive walls all concentrated on one of the incoming beasts.

Things are going smoothly. Perhaps even too smoothly.

And then Amalthea gets skewered, and everything goes straight to pot.

"Damnit," Prophylaxis grunts, redirecting his lightning conjuration at the last second to cover Amalthea's position in a multitude of angry sky-pillars. "Watch for Ascheriit's next hits," he instructs the siege crew, "Targets of opportunity! Also, cover me!"

The doctor leaps onto a chunk of masonry-- which abruptly goes flying across the battlefield at the encouragement of his earth-moving sorcery. Surfing atop a flying boulder, the doctor's trusty steed smashes into another of the strange monsters and skips off its glimmering green barrier before sailing toward Amalthea...

...Too late to stop the monsters from coordinating their assault and taking her out. The seconds stretch out into eternities as he begs his body to move just an impossible distance...

Before Setsuna and Schneider move to receive critical injuries of their own in Amalthea's defense. "Damnit. Damnit! Debuff and immobilize the monsters until we can hit them again! Healers, I need backup! Amalthea, neck!" The doctor does not look nearly close enough to administer a healing syringe, but he whips his arm to one side as if throwing another of those needles.

It never comes. Instead, a metallic tendril snakes its way out of a gauntlet attached to his arm, then crackles with electricity before lancing out to deliver a dose of potent healing potion directly into Amalthea's collar.

"Let me see," he says, once she finishes closing the distance. If it's anything like the last time, a simple healing potion won't be enough. There's a wound he needs to knit closed-- a suturing kit slides out of that same gauntlet and into his hands, and the doctor immediately begins the work of stopping any further bleeding.

    Oh. They can teleport out of Frost Bolt's targeting, making it a terrible choice! Still, the words are still on her lips and it's cheap, MP-wise, so she recasts it and this time the monster doesn't teleport away, the final icicle making a satisfying THWACK sound. It looks slowed by the cold too... nice. She'll take it!

    Amalthea's hit though. Mizuki looks down from the battlements... and sees monsters ready to finish her off. Think, there must be something... ah, if only there was some kind of shadowstep-other spell...

    Mizuki winces as others take injuries for Amalthea. Great, now they've got THREE wounded. Leaping in and making there be FOUR would be madness. Their protect is back up... well, lightning works for Prophy, maybe it's worth a shot? Since the monsters aren't teleporting around, at least she has ample time to cast the spell: "Swirling bolts, gather and strike with power! Bolt!"

    Suddenly, electricity and ionized air form a jagged line of energy between her and one of the creatures. But will it do anything against those damn <<< Immortal Object >>>s?

Dark vines rise, grabbing at one of the creatures after its assault on Amalthea's defenders! The vines grab it around the wings and its neck, even as it tries to pull the magical dark roots out of the ground. Those 'jets' sputtering out while the Spriggan Hero is on their way!

SpritesHero duplicates this move, focusing their vines on the second one, grounding that one as well! This gives the rest of the team some time to try and recover. Especially what with Amalthea, Schneider and Setsuna clearly bleeding and need of medical assistance! Mizuki manages to blind one of them before it can get back into battle range, with Prophylaxis slamming a stone into its head and dizzying it even through its protection for just a moment!

Healing spells start to launch across the battlefield. Amalthea, Schneider and Setsuna's wounds starting to slowly heal up. Rend flesh knits back, and cut bones begin to mend. But it's a slow process compared to the speed at which this battle is going. Just a few moments, and they are already this hurt. Luckily, the enemies show a health bar the moment Ascheriit gets into range and makes use of Kita and SpritesHero's support.

Their blades cut across them, shattering the barriers once more, and remaining in place as the archers begin to rain arrows down on the creatures. Their horns cutting into the vines, releasing them, while Asheriit uses their hand-held blades to try and keep them at bay while the four blades on her back shatter any arrows that get too close to them. This allows them to remain in the battle and keep them at bay with their shattered shields...

At least for a moment. That is until the creatures suddenly howl, and glow brighter. A pulse of green light seems to eminate from them, and barriers start forming around them, trying to enclose people like a maze. One of the Adventurers in the background is unlucky enough not to be fast enough on their feet, as they get blocked by one barrier, and a second puts them in place, before a third gets placed and cuts through their hand like a blade as it comes up! And the barriers keep coming!

This means that if they aren't fast enough, this barriers will cut through them as well! It's a race against the clock to see if these lethal attacks can be halted by stopping these creatures before it's too late!

    Sure enough, the lightning bolt doesn't pierce <<< Immortal Object >>> ... but, it looks like the monster felt that nonetheless! Mizuki allows herself a brief smile at that!

    Unfortunately, the battlefield starts to become a spinning, spreading maze of barriers. Which now makes being far away from the monsters a problem... the werecat allows herself a deep breath before diving into the maze, preparing a second flashstep to air-dash so she doesn't just bisect herself by leaping onto a barrier from above.

    She makes it to the center of the maze and time seems to slow down as she looks at the monster and it probably looks at her. This could get her killed, what is she doing... No. No time for that!

    Mizuki draws one of her dagger and looks like she's about to charge at its face... but instead she tosses the dagger as a distraction, then runs along the ground a little to the side, hopefully dodging the counterattack and closing the distance to come face-to-face with it from the side, open her mouth, and--

                           MIZUKI used FLAMETHROWER!                            

    --blast it point-blank with a plume of fire!

    She really hopes this works...

If there's one thing that Kita knows, it is barriers. And she knows all too well that sometimes they can be deadly. Rather than trying to defend with one of her own, which is unlikely to be able to resist the creatures' magic, she just flat out runs. The black mage is more known for standing her ground, but she knows when to get the heck out of danger.

Eventually, one of the barriers forms dangerously close, but all it does is manage to catch a bit of her dress in the process. "Haven't died yet, not going down tonight." She seems to be repeating this under her breath, as if a mantra to convince herself.

With the opportunity there, she turns her focus back on the creatures, hands trembling with anxiety and fear as she tries to trace out runes in the air. The first attempt ends with the spell fizzling, but the second, the runes manage to linger there before igniting, combining darkness and fire energy which she then rolls between her palms.

"Suck flames." She mutters, launching the purple fireball in the direction of the monsters.

And Robert's off again. The moment those green walls begin to form, he's bee-lining towards the nearest assailant. It's not the cleanest approach. Mid-way to his target, Robert manages to shoulder Setsuna out of the way while making the whole maneuver look like a lucky coincidence, and is rewarded with a slash of bright red light across one arm. Which is a rather pleasant surprise, given that he was half-anticipating having to demand, at some point tonight, that Proph return his arm. But no such dismemberment happens. Pretending like he'd really never even seen Setsuna there, Sprites spikes a playful beach-ball of darkness towards the...whatever the heck they are. Sword-dogs of death.

Schneider dives left, almost colliding with Amalthea as his shielding magic proves useless for the moment. But he proves, once again, that it's better to be lucky than good by being entirely lucky as he leaps behind a water trough and skidding across the dirt. He rises up from behind it like an avenging angel, his long hair twisting and curling as if it were alive and had a mind of it's own. And an unfortunate flair for the dramatic.

He begins chanting, and it's immediately apparent that Schneider's pulling out the stops for this one. An evil aura surrounds him as he chants, "Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik! Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell!" The evil aura is almost palpable, though when he shouts the final syllables, "HALLOWEEN!" the FIRE is what consumes everything. He imagines it -is- as hot as the sun, but who can tell, really? We'd certainly all die if that were really the case. But the drama demands that sort of comparison as the flames engulf, consume his target.

    Thank goodness for Prophylaxis.
    Thank goodness for Vertina and Schneider, and Kita, and Mizuki, and and and-
    Amalthea has a lot of people to be thankful for right now, while Prophylaxis is on course for her and- he's too far away, he'll never reach her to-
    Nevermind that. The Doctor's gauntlet has it handled. As soon as he says 'neck' she tilts her head up, gruntint as the healing potion hits her and he finishes closing the distance ot start patching her up properly.
    "The hell are these things that they can do this to us?" She asks of him before-
    Green light. Barriers. *Deadly* barriers that say it's time to move.
    Hurling herself aside in a tumbling roll, nearly bowling right back into Schneider, the two missing by a hair's breadth, the old Odysseia Knight breaks into a sprint to avoid getting boxed in.
    But not before she sees that Ascheriit has brought the shields down once again, prompting her to channel as much energy as she can into her sword- before she hurls it end over end at one of the beasts in a violent arc.

The monsters' defense is broken... but then they try to turn their barriers into a literal death trap instead. Vertina cusses under her breath, followed by a sharp "GOTTA JET" as she pulls back from her support spot and blasts off.

Literally, as she throws her arms back like she was going to that anime ninja run, and then unleashes burst of flame from her hands and feet alike to give herself a tremendous boost, leaving wakes of fire along the ground as she does so. Left.. right.. right... left-then-right and back and right again to get around the barriers as they spring to life, but the Salamander martial artist is moving faster than they can cut her off.

Left.. left.. right.. by this point directions get almost meaningless...

Until the last turn by a stroke of luck brings Vertina around behind one of the monsters. Seeing the chance she wheels around, and leaps into the air as she starts to draw that fire back around herself. An arm snaps back, squeezing the flames until they erupt in righteous fury around her entire fist. Just as it's being swung down at the beast with all her might behind that meteor strike and her voice roars with similar fury. "RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!"

    Setsuna was in pain and drops back to a knee as he feels the horn of the creature removed and oh damn did it hurt. His arm hanging limp as he covers the wound, fortunately Vertina is there to at least heal it so the bleeding stops. Standing up he notices the barriers and does his best to move out of the way, but is woozy from the blood loss and stumbles a bit. It is only because of Robert that he manages to be knocked out of the way and stumbles forward and does his best to gather himself. " Knight take creature one." It's said weakly but it is enough that the skeleton knight appears, finally getting out of the rubble and attacks the horned bastard covered in it's owner's blood. Two weaker skeleton minions would rise up and fall in line as the squadron of skeletons try to swarm the damn thing.

Again, Ascheriit's aid proves to be absolutely invaluable. What would they do if they didn't have the ability to shatter these creatures' invulnerable defenses? Lightning bolts clearly aren't enough to crack through /these/ invincible objects.

But then they do... something. They do something strange with the remains of their firewalls. Kita knows her barriers, and so does Prophylaxis. He's been around the block long enough to know that these kinds of things can be weaponized, and he's having /none/ of it.

"You're good," he tells Amalthea, slapping the tank-grandma's shoulder. "Give 'em Hell." And then he...

Goes *blip.*

Or rather, he accelerates his own foot-speed to the point that he straight up zips out of the maze of enclosing lattices. The doctor reappears at a safe distance away to assess the situation.

...

All in all, if he's being honest, his fellows have done him proud today. They aren't done yet, but nobody could ever think that they haven't given this fight against impossible odds their absolute all. He cannot afford to let them down now.

The monsters are clustering loosely, but their barrier maze is a weakness as much as it is a strength. Those walls might just restrict /their/ movement as well.

And so the Doctor lifts his staff high and calls upon his favorite standby spell. Words of power on his lips, a globe of blazing firelight ignites atop Stormcall's headpiece. It swells with each passing moment, until it reaches critical mass and the doctor sweeps his rod toward the largest concentration of monsters.

Now that their guard is down, let's see how they like a good, old-fashioned fireball...?

The barriers may block passage for the Adventurers, but the monsters are slowed - remaining in place to erect them. This means that as Mizuki manages to juke one of them, and Kita joins up on the other side, the two arrive at their target at the same time before it can evade. The heavy flame breath blazes over its body, followed immediately by Kita's own purple flaming coming down against it, crushing part of its health! Notably, these creatures are a lot easier to deal with when they don't have that strange health shield!

Amalthea joins in on Kita and SpritesHero's target, her sword coming down upon its glowing sword-horn, shattering it! It feels good, this sense of it cracking and then shattering beneath her. It feels so... viceral. REAL. Certainly, she is still in pain. That pain dampening is still gone. But everything just feels so... scarily real. She can feel every small cut on her body, every sweat drop that runs over little lacerations...

When she spots the trap that was set, starting to push it that way!

A dark blast hits the second enemy, slamming into its head and causing the ball of arcane energy to detonate on its blade-head, blowing up a chunk of its head after it gets hit once again by Ascheriit! This is followed immediately with Vertina's meteor strike. Coming down upon its body and shattering part of its midriff. Tearing into its body with viscous power that sets the landscape ablaze!

Skeletons rush it from all sides, each stabbing a blade through it. One from the left, one from the right. And then the bigger skeleton knight comes down from above, plunging it into its body! Until finally, one last fireball BLASTS across its body, shattering its body and causing another of those strange green ribons to wind around the shattering light, grabbing it, and collecting it into a Point of Light - which then disappears.

----

As Amalthea, Kita and Mizuki continue to push the last remaining one back, Ascheriit tries to get to them, but the barriers keep getting in the way. The trap is right there. But then, there's some assistance. An enormous man, 90% trenchcoat, 5% hat, weaves his way in between the various barriers while lugging something on his shoulder - partially dragging it along the ground. It looks to be some kind of...

Coffin?

And as the last enemy is pushed back enough, there's a loud CRACK' as the floor below it breaks, causing it to fall. A partial barrier is immediately erected on the hole above it. But before it can finish it, the man known as Naobi drops down into the pit with it, and slams the coffin to the ground next to him.

The coffin OPENS, and chains suddenly grab at the creature, pulling it slowly into the coffin, starting to bind it and lock it. And before they know it, the coffin closes and the creature appears contained!

At which point the barriers disappear, and Naobi looks up at the high walls of the pit.

"I could use a rope." The man mumbles.

----

Above, Ascheriit steps up to Prophylaxis and touches his shoulder. There is just a nod. A single nod of 'I will be going now'. That is all that the doctor gets, before the Spriggan breaks off into a sprint and heads back towards the entrance of the tower.

SpritesHero is just sort of standing there, semi slack-jawed, his head tilted to the side. It's the bewilderment a fellow has when confronted with the completely and utterly unexpected, and he inches closer to the hole. He stops. He stares, dumbly. He notably does -not- have a rope. "Why a coffin?" he asks, after a very, very long time.

"And STAY OUT THIS TIME!" Vertina adds as the last of the beasts is voxeled. Except for the one grabbed in a coffin... That's strange, but they've seen weirder by this point.

And the weird old Spriggan is running off already. "Sheesh he moves fast for an old man."

Exhales, then shrugs. Time to do the other thing she can, help with morale. "Post battle party at the Dragon's Larder, first round of drinks are on the house!"

Finally, the monsters are driven back. Or... disintegrated? Most of them are. One of them is not. This is when the plan sort of becomes...

...Freeform.

"Alright, we've got it cornered, but I don't think a pit is going to--" There's a thud. Prophylaxis arches an eyebrow and turns to find, of ALL PEOPLE, Naobi himself walking through the barrier maze.

With a... coffin.

"Uh," the doctor's jaw unhinges, then snaps shut. Then it repeats in fast-forward, jabbering soundlessly when Naobi punts the beast into one of those holes... And leaps down after it.

...To seal it in the coffin.

The coffin that... nobody was told about.

Squint.

While his thoughts are whirring, Prophylaxis looks up to find Ascheriit approaching. The ancient hero nods, and the doctor understands implicitly. "Go in good fortune. Come find me again if you ever need my aid," he says, but it's a question whether Ascheriit even hears him.

He /does/ has a rope to help Naobi up with, so he goes to do that. It's not actually a rope, though, it's... that weird medical tendril that snakes down into the hole after his guildmaster.

"I'm kind of the only one anchoring this thing," he says, looking to the others, "...Can one of you help me out here?"

"It was the only thing I could find that could possibly hold a being like this." Naobi answers SpritesHero with a sly look on his face, as he waits for that rope to come down eventually. "Had it been those previous lion things, the pit would have been fine, I imagine. But it is better to be ready just in case." Naobi remarks, patting the top of the large coffin. He then binds the 'medical tendril' around the coffin and says; "Heave." It's... really heavy.

    Setsuna watches the first one die and moves to the hole the other one fell down. into the hole and Setsuna watches the whole thing with the coffin , and all of it. He is just blinking in wonder, it , yeah he is impressed. Thats the only way he can put it. Then the doctor is asking for help as he moves to grab the tendril and starts to help to pull up before a sharp pain remembering his arm is well pretty shot and steps back. "Sorry doc, one armed at the moment, someone else will have to help. " WIth that he provides someone else, as the knight steps up to help grab the tendril and pull.

SpritesHero looks really, really, skeptical, but ultimately just shrugs and falls into position behind Prophylaxis. The answer will have to do for now. He loops the rope around his shoulder a few times, and braces. "Ready when you are, boss," he comments, with the sigh of a man doomed to labor in the darkness of ignorance.

Schneider looks around after things seem to have calmed down. Mind you, that happens a -lot- after he drops Halloween, bad guys generally don't put up much of a fight after he drops that. He looks around, though, at the Scalies and our various status indications. "Did we win?" he asks. Though the fact that he can ask that hints at his answer. "Also ... what happened? In small words, please?" He's looking around for Proph as he asks this. That's the man that always seems to know what's going on. Maybe he'll get an explanation this time.

There's a first time for everything, right?

"Naobi had a mysterious relic on-hand and used it to pocket a new monster," Prophylaxis explains in broad strokes.

    'Give 'em hell' is all the prompt Amalthea needs once she's given the green light from Prophylaxis. --And then the good Doctor is gone.
    It's as she's railing on the monster in question, practically basebally sliding towards it to retrieve her sword so she can go to town on the beast that she... She starts seriously wailing away.
    Eyes wide and wild, driven by something between instinct and fear. Gripped by Fight or Flight, she chooses to fight. Even as she can hear her heartbeat drumming in her ears, feel every bead of sweat coalescing on her body, every ounce of that soreness that still lingers despite being healed.
    It's... It's... It's fucking terrifying.
    Grunting like an animal, she uses her sword more like a cudgel than a blade, panting like a dog, her every footstep feels heavy like her boots were full of lead. She only barely registers the trap set in place, her vision tunnelling and turning a hazy shade of red as she works with Kita and Mizuki to fend the beast in the proper direction.
    When Naobi appears- entrapping the beast within that coffin, only then does Amalthea back off, chest heaving raggedly for breath as she fumbles to drop her shield from trembling hands, burying the tip of her sword into the ground and leaning on it to catch her breath.
    Everything had been a game until it wasn't. Then just like that, it became *way* too real, and the old woman, for a good moment, looks like her heart is about to give out on her. Before she rallies, slowing her breath with a deep shiver, hands still quaking.
    "... Yeah... We won." She asides to Schneider. "Look like Naobi had an ace up his sleeve and he used it."

    Some dude shows up and traps the beast in a coffin. "Damn, that was anime." She rezzes some rope from her inventory and offers it to Naobi. Every D&D player knows you ALWAYS CARRY ROPE. She'll help carry the coffin if need-be.

    To the injured, she comments, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Have you been to Prophy's clinic yet? It's nice. They have showers! Well, I guess there's the bathhouse now, but still..."