Adventurers vs ???

    It's another new day in Seeker's Landing, the sun just peaking over the horizon as it casts an orange glow across the sky. Not everyone is awake yet, but some are, milling about the camp preparing for another day of exploring this new land.

    One such small group of Adventurers are already making their way out of the camp, walking past the makeshift defenses as they head for the forest at the camp's west edge. They're talking excitedly with each other about where they plan to go today is search of new things to find and potentially loot. This keeps up as they leave the view of the camp, disappearing amidst the trees and underbrush of the the forest.

    Several minutes pass before the unsettling sounds of combat begin to echo out of the forest, quickly followed by the cries of the Adventurers that had just entered it and a number of flashing lights. Things go eerily quiet for several moments, before one of the group comes running out of the forest back towards the camp at a rapid pace.

    Waving his arms wildly towards those in the camp that have stopped to observe what was happening, he starts to call out in panic, "Red alert! Red alert! In the forest! They're coming! A-" He's cut off though as a large chunk of earth comes flying out of the forest and smacks him in the back hard. He's knocked to the ground, the last of his HP draining before he shatters into pixels of light.

Cyrus' potion hits the ground, a second to late! The Cait Sith having been alerted to the sounds of trouble thanks to those sensitive feline ears of his. The youth is standing feet away from the Adventurer who was unlucky enough to be that low on health, panting, looking at the rising of light into the air.

"Damn!" The youth takes a great deal of pride in being a supporter, and failing to heal someone in time speaks to him on a very real level. The youth grimaces, and then calls out; "Miki! We've got trouble! Send a signal to the hunters out in the forest before you get marked as In Combat!" The youth demands, as he takes out multiple potions of Thorn Bind Hostage and starts throwing them to the entrance of the village, trying to create a trap for whatever is coming!

It is common knowledge by now, that Mikage is not a morning person. Oh, she can be dragged out of bed, but she hardly looks put together. Her hair sticks up in all directions and the Ranger looks as if she is half asleep as she sits near one of the camp fires, nursing some tea.

She casts one look in the direction of the more excitable Adventurers heading out, then sips her drink. Rama seems to carry that excitement though, bounding around, as if he were wanting to go out with the others and join them. Something that... is probably for the best that he did not do, figuring what happens next.

The cry of alarm is better than a cup of coffee as Miki gets to her feet. "Couldn't trouble have waited until some semi-sane hour of the day for once?" She grabs for her weapon belt, slinging it across her waist and the other strap over her shoulder for her bow.

"On it." She mutters, hanging back a bit in order to send out communications to some of the other parties around Seeker's Landing.

Yeowang is one of the ones up in the early morning, hair up, doing calisthenics, though mostly out of habit. It doesn't accomplish much in this world, but it helps her center, and who knows, it -might- help? Pushups, crunches, and stretching exercises, it's a pretty intense workout, all things considered, but she's a pretty intense person, and that was before joining the game. She watches today's party leave for exploring, returning to her workout, and then a few minutes later, the disturbing sounds.

She will look around, there'll be a relief party forming post-haste, she expects, to go in and help the party that just got eaten by the forest? She'll take a moment to look around as people form up, obviously going alone's not going to solve anything, but she's not going to loiter around, either.

    Merek looks to the distance while it seems that there are enemies, then he takes the time to draw his sword from the pack with him, wielding that towards the direction of the enemies. "We are far away from anything safe, we should probably be prepared for more than difficult fights!"

Some might have been off doing their own thing, while others might have been on guard or on patrol. It just so happens that Kotono was already on patrol, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. While she didn't see anything on her own, it seems those unfortunate adventurers have encountered something that shouldn't be here. The Spriggan happens to be ready for action.

"Looks like we've found trouble, and now it's time to dispatch of that trouble!" She cups her hands around her mouth and yells, "Anyone who can help, join us now!" Then she twirls her knives and prepares for action, knowing that others are joining as well. "We're gonna make them regret messing with us!"

    Rizadoman had been spending the day doing his best to write notes, manage the building up of the camp, and over all enjoying his vacation. Such a good time to come out on vacation and get away from the troubles of Yamato. No one here was trying to kill them, no one had deemed them the evil adventurers that ruin everything. Nope everything is ... oh is that screaming? Rizadoman runs towards the screaming and the lizardman shouts , " Everyone ready for battle! " Rizadoman slows down as he joins the battle and looks towards the forest, " Anyone know what is coming?"

"Nothing like getting an early start," Shiruba muses as she stretchs after just getting up. ".. Especially when you've got coffee." Bless you Merek, as crazy as you may be, for finding that here. Then she pulls out her start of a map of the local. "Which way should we go toda--"

He musing is interrupted by the shouting, earth flying, and a poor Lander getting snuffed out by it after his warnings. "--Shit." She sighs as she puts the map away, and walks over to collect whatever personal trinket the Lander dropped upon death so it can be put to memorial later. "Rest in peace, friend, your sacrifice shall not be in vain."

Then she's off like a dart to join the others gathering, already drawing her bow to the ready.

    It really hadn't been very long since Arashi had made the voyage to the Dragon Lands. She'd basically been resting since she arrived, but the commotion rising outside is enough to set her stirring. The calls of combat and other things is what sets her rushing out to see what exactly could be going on.

    It isn't long before Arashi is surging out of the camp, along with the others, to respond to the messages being slung and the calls to action being sent. She's already looking out as far as she can, trying to get an eye on what just could be attacking. Ambushing? Assaulting? ... Sieging? "Heh, something new.." she muses, realizing that this was a whole new place. Hopefully the enemies won't just be some stupid palette swap.

    Since arriving from that near-disastrous ship journey, Fuka's been recovering. As what the group was most deprived of during the journey was food and morale, her recovery involved copious amounts of both. She pulls her weight in other ways of course, quietly and dutifully in some cases, but when she sees fis she has no problem throwing herself into the middle of a situation.

    This, it seems, is one of those times. Not a time to show off, but a time to be ready... and *then* show off, if it turns out such a thing is called for. Greataxe already readied, she rushes in towards the rallying line of Adventurers, making sure to place herself between the vulnerable Landers behind them and the unknown threat ahead. Other adventurers know what they're in for and are immortal besides, but Fukaziroh's taken a liking to the people of the Land, especially the sailors and explorers that laughed with her during the journey here.

    Miyako had been sitting in the camp playing music, to entertain those who were still around. When the sounds of battle start, she scowls softly, and finishes her song before storing away her guitar.

    And then Kotono runs after the incoming. She shrugs. Time to go. "Right-on, Ko-chan, I'm with you." She bounces to her feet with a concerned frown on her face to run after her fellow Spriggan. "Time for these monsters to learn not to mess with us."

Erufu has been enjoying this strange new land. She's been scouting hunting and fining the monster and wildlife were stronger here. She'd made note of that and hadn't gone out alone. As dying here would be over a week of sea travel to get back once someone got back at at one of the churches. She pauses he ears twitching she hear the sounds of combat from her palce in camp. She doesn't like this at all as none of her comrades come back sounign a warning. The elf looks up in horror. She goes for her bow get on the move and is trying to find were the target its.

"Do not sit still!"

    The Adventurers rush around the camp, getting themselves ready and preparing for what's coming. None have moved out to rush into the forest, which is probably for the best given the unknown threat that awaits within.

    After the Adventurers have assembled to defend their camp, there's a minute or two of restless silence, before the rustling of leaves and the creaks of tree branches begin to signal the arrival of whatever it is. Soon enough, a shape comes flying out of the top of the trees, arcing over to land on the ground just beyond the forest's edge. It lands on all fours, looking to stand-actually no, it's crouching on those four limbs-at about one metre tall. If it were to stand, it would likely rival some of the tallest Adventurers here. Dark fur covers much of its body, though there are parts where the fur gives way to a very tough looking skin. Its large shoulders and arms suggest a significant amount of strength in its form. Sharp, pointed teeth are visible in its mouth through its menacing sneer, while two large horns adorn its head.

    The creature is easily recognizable, even if a little different from what the Adventurers are used to. It's a monster ape!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/d7/a9/d4d7a95e2577aac947d46f4a5432ebe9.jpg
                        (though not quite that large)                        

    The monster ape opens its mouth to let out a roar towards gathered Adventurers. Unfortunately, it seems it is not alone as more roars echo out of the forest in response. More and more monster apes begin to fly out of the trees to land on the ground, joining the first. Soon there is a small army of them!

    The ape army stares out across the battlefield to the Adventurers on the other side, seemingly unsure of whether to approach or not. But as the seconds pass, the monster apes grow more and more psyched up, starting to grunt and beat their chests.

    Finally, as if the floodgates had opened, the monster apes roar together and starting charging across the ground towards the camp!

    Merek looks to the group of apes that are coming their way, then he nods to the party. He will sheath the sword a moment while he begins to take two potions from the strap about his waist. The man lifts that up while he begins to dance along into the group of enemies, then he swings the two of them into the middle, exploding while they will take the time to bring the enemies down a little bit.

"Nobody messes with the best of the best!" Kotono says with a scowling smile. "We're gonna teach them that they picked the wrong group to mess with!" Her blades are held in an X-shape before coming apart. "Ready or not, here we come!" With that, the girl takes off swiftly, slicing and dicing with her blades. "Yaaaaah!"

    Wait for it! Wait for iiiit.... NOW! With a roar, Fukaziroh dashes forward and swings her axe. Well before the oversized apes are in reach, in fact. "Chopstick! MAIM!" she cries out, her axe emitting a shockwave. Unfortunately she's a little overexcited, striking too soon, her wave of force spread out too much, for it to do anything terribly significant to the frontrunners of the mob. A valiant attempt perhaps, but one that perhaps shows her lack of experience against large groups of enemies.

As the creatures make themselves known, quite loudly so, Mikage hangs back. Under normal circumstances, she works better at range, and it gives her more time to analyze and figure out just what sort of trouble they might be facing.

"Rama, try to hold them off while I get into position." She crouches, running her hand along the lynx's back, transmitting some bit of her strength into him. Frost radiates off of the little cat as it charges forward, zooming by some of the defending Adventurers, causing some areas of the ground to freeze behind him.

Mikage moves back, climbing up onto some structures to get a higher vantage point. Rama dives straight at one of the apes, latching onto the monster's face and digging in with claws and ice magic.

    Apes. Giant, effing, apes. Were they going to find a broken down bronze statue along the shore somewhere? ... Nah, probably not. Still, as the gang of primates hypes themselves up with their barks and banging fists, Arashi slowly draws out the half-reforged Starshadow and brings it before her, another hand tugging loose a second, shorter blade, as she takes a stoic, stable stance, unphased by the primal warchanting of the apes.

    When that bunch comes forward, barking and howling, Arashi simply marches forward, blades ready to go. When the first of her enemies comes close, Starshadow is turned flat and brought down, brutally, in a clubbing blow, before being turned on those that would come next. She had been told these brutes would not be so easy as the enemies back in Yamato, so the warhorse is -focused-, eyes darting to the nearest enemy at all times.

The apes jump, and Cyrus backs away immediately. His trap goes unmet by the swift enemies. At first, it appears to be merely one opponent. But it is not long before he is proven wrong, and the others drop in with them. "Their levels are going to be high!" He calls out as he grabs multiple potions and runs forward, flinging them outwards and activating the air magic on them.

A burst of air at the backs of the flasks sends them out like homing missiles at the apes, hoping that their chest-beats would not counter his magic detonations intended to chunk their health!

It isn't long before he's in position to support Rama, in case there is any problem in closer combat.

    Rizadoman watches as the group of apes charging the adventurers. "It appears this land has decided to finally start the next chapter of our story. These beasts have come to greet us it appears. " The lizardman throws his head back before whipping it forward unleashing a ball of fire at the ape monsters. After his attack was unleashed he pauses to inspect them , " Oh good these are not the adventurers of the land. For a second I thought they may start talking to us."

Shiruba skids to a stop. Not at the roaring monster... But at the roar calling more of its simian kind. "Just what we need. Monsters using group tactics. Don't get scattered too far apart, these things look like they can take down a single unwary Adventurer pretty easily!"

Even as she's giving out advice Shiruba nocks back an arrow with an obsidian crystal head in her bow, takes aim at one of emerging apes, and fires the penetrating bleed-inducing shot into it's shoulder.

Yeowang rolls out with the others, and winces at the sight of the attacking apes. This looks bad. She will form up with the other archers and open fire into the mass of the ape army. She opens fire, and just keeps firing, laying into the apes and firing for effect. She draws bowstring to cheek, looses an arrow, and draws again to repeat the process. She'll join the melee when they close, but for now, she'll whittle down the numbers as best she can before that.

    Miyako races after Kotono, intent on helping her friend. "Keep your paws off her, you damn dirty apes!" she shouts as the taller Spriggan engages them. A swift incantation later, spheres of shadow form in each of her hands, and she starts hurling them from side to side. She targets by preference those just out of arms-reach of Kotono, holding them back so that her friend can deal with them in easy numbers at a time.

Erufu is glad she's not alone was she alone she would be running for her life if she was alone. She's not so foolish thankfully she's anything but alone. She'll start to line up a shot she draws firing a few arrows at it as a setup. She follows those shots up with a charged burst shot.

"BURST SHOTS!"

She breaks into a run after she lets the arrow fly she get on the move again trying to get to her next shot.

"Looks like the locks like things are heating up Rizadoman! Shiruba let's see if we can do something to bring it down!"

    The group of monster apes charge towards the main line of Adventurers, some of whom rush out to meet them. Kotono is the first to clash against the charge, her blades dancing through the apes. It takes several slices for just one of the apes to go down, their levels looking to be pretty high! Kotono is soon joined by Arashi, the two of them slicing into more apes. But their assault isn't unmet. An ape close to Kotono charges her, but is suddenly blasted by shadow magic, courtesy of Miyako. It staggers back after each sphere strikes, before finally shattering. But it's not the only one, as a couple more apes comes out of seemingly no where to launch haymakers towards Kotono and Arashi.

    Fukaziroh's the next to charge in, unleashing that shockwave from her weapon. It does hit a number of the apes, while some of the others jump out of the way. But the damage looks to be minor at best. Tough bastards. One of the apes hit by the wave turns its attention to Fuka, rushing right towards her in an attempted shoulder charge.

    Cyrus unleashes those potions towards the charging apes, but they prove rather swift, many of them escaping the resulting blasts. A few do still get caught, but they aren't destroyed, just losing some of their HP.

    It's beast versus beast as Mikage sends Rama in to do her dirty work. The lynx claws away at one ape's face, the creature crying out in frustration as it struggles to pull Rama off, before finally shattering into light.

    Rama doesn't have a moment to relax though, even as Cyrus moves in to assist. Several apes alter their charge, heading towards the two. As they get in close their arms start wailing around in a flurry of heavy strikes at the two.

    Shiruba, Yeowang and Erufu open up with the arrows. They begin to rain down on the monster apes, taking out chunks of HP with each strike. But only a couple are brought down by the volley. The survivors stop their charge, rearing their large arms back, big stones held in their hands. A hail of stones begin to rain down on the archers.

    Rizadoman is living the life, unleashing those fireballs around the battlefield. They explode amongst the monster apes, not only causing damage but adding a fire DOT to them, the creatures flailing around briefly, their animal cries rising up over the sounds of battle.

    The cries are met by a roar from within the forest.

    A large shape comes BLASTING out of the forest, quickly covering the distance to the battle, even going so far as over it. It crashes down RIGHT in front of Rizadoman, kicking up a cloud of dust.

    The huge creature is clearly a variant of the monster apes, though even crouched over it's at least four metres tall! It leans down to get its face right in front of Rizadoman...

    "ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!"

    The massive roar is unleashed right into Rizadoman's face. It then quickly swings its massive arm to try and smash the lizard away.

    Inspecting the large beast will reveal its name: Great Apeiron.

    Well that's not terribly surprising. Fuka draws aggro from a damn dirty ape. She'll have to remember that phrasing. It's an animal though, right? Well technically it's a monster, but she wonders if treating it like an animal would work? And animals fear fire, so the obvious answer is... set herself on fire!

    A few murmured words causes Fukaziroh to burst into flames. Her aura and axe both ignite. It doesn't stop her from getting smashed hard, but it definitely sets her attacker ape ablaze! Hopefully she gets a break or even a heal, because she's going to be recovering from being assaulted by an oversized primate!

    Rizadoman looks at the giant ape as it roars in his face, " You're big..." Rizadoman doesn't get to reply as he is attacked, his scales shifting to a blood red as he is hit and slides across the ground, his arms blocking his face. Lowering his arms there is a big grin across the Lizardman's face, "Fought bigger." Taking a deep breath he steps forward and his claws take on a red glw as he charges in slashing at the ape leaving trails of fire as he does. " We are the adventurers of Yamato, we have beaten armies, and dragons. You are not going to have your way to day." Rizadoman is to in moment to recognize how ineffective his attacks are at the moment.

"Someone help Riza!" Shiruba does her best to be a good Team Leader and keep people organized. Last thing they need is lost and confused individuals getting caught in a crossfire.

The group of angry big apes pick up large rocks and start throwing!

Shiruba grabs the five blade-arms glaive off her belt. The Relic weapon glows faintly in her grasp, and then with a sweep of the arm the huntress hurtles it spinning into the air. It is clearly no standard weapon with the way there's hit flashes as it -slices through- the rocks to break them apart before hitting her. And then buzzsaws an arc through several of the Ape Group before returning to her hand like a boomerang.

"Get away from me!" Kotono yells, attempting to a back-flip out of the way--

--Only to wind up in the arms of another ape. "Ahh!" She finds herself caught in the arms of a not-so-loving ape. This is not very pleasant. "Eeeyah!"

The girl suddenly manages to kick herself free, leaping away from the ape and kicking another one as she goes by before rolling onto the ground. "Ugh... that was filthy!"

Giving a nod to Miyako, she adds, "Thanks a lot! You did what you could! I just let my guard down."

    That familiar bite of Starshadow into an opponent is felt. It still isn't the same as it was before the Apocalypse, but at least it's getting closer. It brings a smile to Arashi's face, but it also breeds a tiny bit of complacency. Something that she should -not- be feeling in a brand new land. It's why the team of primates is able to get some pretty potent licks in with their fists, and a lot of them. Arashi stumbles back, lashing out with both her blades, but not feeling any particularly stinging strikes as she goes. "Ngh. They weren't kidding, this -is- harder.."

As the battle is joined, Yeowang stows her bow and avances into the fight. An unarmed combatant, she relies agility and speed for avoiding attacks, stepping aside at the right moment, or not being where the incoming attacks hit. She steps into the melee, then, and delivers devastating melee attacks, punching and kicking furiously, spinning and kicking the apes as hard as she can with each focused blow. It's a kind of zen attack method, peace and earth, but mainly finding the center of the storm and dancing inside it, lashing out in all directions with dealy blows in all directions.

"Rama, return!" Mikage calls out. As her voice carries, the lynx ducks underneath some attacks from the apes which come dangerously close to crushing the small cat. Luckily, he is quick on his feet and manages to avoid being struck.

From her vantage point higher up, Mikage aims towards the largest of the apes, drawing her bow back and focusing light magic through her relic into the elemental machine bow, Dawnbreaker. It swirls at the tip of her arrow as she launches it, firing it towards the chest of the massive ape.

    Merek will lift up a hand while he begins to use fire magic to bring a fireball into the enemies boss leader. He nods a bit to the party, "It doesn't look like this will be that easy! If you need to flee, you need to flee! Though let's at least try to win!"

    With a grunt of pain, Miyako finds herself tossed away by the swinging arm of an ape that her shadow-ball missed. "Bloody hell, you damn fool! This isn't a mosh pit!"

    Picking herself up, she finds herself outside the scrum for the moment... just in time to spot the massive Boss Ape appear!

    Now that she has room, she can do some proper spellcasting, finger flying as she inscribes a series of runes on thin air. "ICE RAIN!" she shouts, and hail beats down on the giant ape from a clear blue sky!

Cyrus grabs at Rama, trying to pull it out of the way of the Ape's strike, letting the fierce blow come to his back - throwing up his flaming wall too late, and watches his health rapidly decline. He then sends Rama back to Mikage - protecting her health by protecting her pet.

As the battle starts to quickly turn sour, with the many warriors fighting to defeat the many apes, Cyrus has a momentary spark. This moment where he zones out for a moment and takes up that flute he's been seen using in the past. Touching it to his mouth and starts to play it, while staring at the great ape at its center.

Realizing how powerful these enemies are, he is in the hopes of calming the monster and send it on its way. He realizes this is a long shot, but he does his best.

Things are getting crazy here as the ape is not alone, nay he's got a whole pile of big angry friends.

"Oh this is some serious monkey business!"
D She then sees Riza is about to have a very bad day. Why? There's a boss and worse the boss has full-on homed in on her friends she breaks into a run again evading attacks coming in at her. The apes are sometimes used them like platforms in some lost Mario game. She will fire off several shots as she's on the move calling out.

"Get away from my friend!"

    Fukaziroh's on fire! And not in a 'she's doing well' way. As the apes proceed to wail on her, they get caught on fire in the process. They begin to dance around, trying to bat the fires out by smashing their arms against the ground. All the while their HP begins to lower. One monster ape gets a little cheeky though, deciding to try and smash Fuka with that flaming arm of its!

    Shiruba unleashes that glaive, which goes spinning through the air and several of the apes at once. A few of them, already damaged from the battle, explode into pixels. Two others, still alive, turn their aggro towards Shiruba. One of the monster apes actually picks up the other one and proceeds to throw it at the glaive wielder! The thrown ape is launched through the air towards her, fist ready for a flying punch!

    Kotono escapes the grasp of her attack, getting a kick off into the face of a nearby ape. It just pisses it off. Said ape dances up to Kotono on its four limbs, before spinning around and launching a double kick from its legs towards her. Payback!

    Arashi continues to slice her blades through the apes around her, but their hide is proving thick as she's unable to bring any down in the assault, only harming them and drawing their aggro. The apes she's struck turn their attention to Arashi, advancing from multiple directions to try and catch her between them in a flurry of beating fists.

    As Yeowang advances through the group of monster apes, her kicks and punches send them flying. Some explode into pixels in the air, others landing on their backs. One manages to right itself mid-flight, landing upright. It quickly launches itself back at Yeowang, attempting to grab hold of her and squeeze TIGHT!

    Erufu and Mikage unleash their arrows at Great Apeiron. Erufu's assault isn't quite as effective, seemingly failing to penetrate the great beast's hide. Mikage's is more effective, actually doing some real damage.

    Rizadoman takes Great Apeiron's smash like a boss lizard. He then counters in flashy fashion, ripping into the large and hard to miss boss with rapid strikes. Unfortunately, the big ape proves to have some significant defense, his HP bar only dropping a little in response.

    Merek and Miyako unleash their magic attacks on Apeiron simultaneously! The ice crystals rain down on the big ape, digging into it. The fireball then quickly hits, creating a large explosion of steam! If only Cyrus's roll had succeeded, then we could have made it a Song of Ice and Fire!

    Speaking of Cyrus, he attempts to play that flute of his to lull the big beast... But as the tune reaches Apeiron's ears, it seems to have the opposite effect. The beast becomes enraged, raising its giant fists into the air. It then brings them smashing down into the ground. There's a rumbling underneath the battlefield... Then an eruption of spikes just up around Apeiron's attackers, threatening to pierce through them!

As the spikes shoot up from the ground around her, it causes some of the crates beneath Mikage to shatter into wooden splinters. She is quick to roll to the ground, forcing her to re-evaluate her attack strategy. "Time to find a new vantage point."

Rama, having returned to her side with the help of Cyrus, races by her. Miki once again lets her hand trace over her companion, this time transferring a bit of air magic. Electricity crackles around the cat, making him glow faintly yellow as he darts towards the Great Apeiron.

While the little feline doesn't try to get too close, he does weave around the beast's legs, sending out little jolts of electricity as he goes by, casting a debuff over the monster.

    This is NOT fun! If she'd known setting the apes on fire would end up with HER getting burned, well... Fukaziroh probably still would've done it. But she'd have shrieked about it more. Huddled down behind her defensive flame barrier, she slowly gets pounded down by the ape assault.

    Battered, hit points falling terribly fast, Fukaziroh lashes out with wind magic, giving herself a little bit of space to retreat. As she flees, she turns and spends most of her remaining mana in a powerful attack. "Thunder FURY!" she cries, unleashing both her frustration and a storming blast attack against as many of the apes as she can catch outside of melee range. Then, "I'm done for! Carry on without me, my lovelies!" she shouts dramatically. And retreats, going for healing and mana recovery. She'll help protect Landers, but she is apparently too low level to go toe to toe with these apes right now.

    Oh, hah. Cute. They're ganging up on Arashi now. Well, she'll just show herself out before there too much of a problem. There's a step, then a thunderous movement forward, leaving a clap of sonic force in her wake as she makes a wicked egress from the simians. Where is she headed? For the Big Guy. Can we call him Casear? Seems fitting? No? Meh. Well, that doesn't keep her from bringing Starshadow around for an attempt on the big fella's midsection. It doesn't bite as deep as she'd like, though, "Hrm.. Harder here, for sure.."

This time, the acrobat is on the move quicker than the ape can try to grab her. It dances towards her, but the girl is leading... and she's leading away from the ape so that she can give herself a decent amount of space.

"Let's mix things up a bit, shall we?"

And then she draws out a rune and, after a moment, summons forth an air spell. A tornado blasts from her hands at the ape. "This'll really blow you away!"

Erufu is doing pretty well with Mikage at least they are both still standing and she's lost track of Riza for the moment. She does not do so well on hurting the boss, but she does not get hit by the counterattack. She breaks into a run again and will be forced to break off of the attack on the boss. She does have a pretty good setup for the lesser apes though.

She notches four arrows at once and then lets them fly in a rain, she keeps this up showering the ape with arrows. It's now on like Donkey Kong as far as Elf once known as Nao thinks.

One ape grabs another ape and throws it at Shiruba! Shiruba slams her foot into the ground in front of her. "Box Canyon!" Activating her version of the defensive spell to conjure large slabs of rock in front and side of her. The big ape slams into the stone instead of the cait sith, giving Shiruba a chance to back up.

And see one of her fellow Silver Swords in trouble. 'Protect the Pack' takes over and with a snarling cry Shiruba runs up and leaps at the ape, grabbing onto the flaming limb and, while getting burned herself, manages to swing the ape away from Fukaziroh. "Now it's on like Donkey Kong!"

Cyrus sets his hand to the ground and crushes a potion beneath his hand, which bursts into flame and pushes him away from the spikes that come up. Another splash, touching a spike coming out, detonating it, spinning his legs into the air. The Cait Sith's quick motions moving him from spike to spike, detonating them with flame potions, as he rolls along the battle field, his long coat waving open, displaying his potion arsenal hidden within.

Just barely, he avoids one of the spikes coming up, in the middle of a backflip. His back arching over it as his body bends like a monk's. As a smirk greets his lips and he snaps his fingers. In the midst of his evasion, he'd been dropping flasks near Apeiron. And as it moves towards his allies... the flasks snap with the sharp sound of his finger's snap.

The fierce detonation bursts in the form of icicle shapes forming. Snow flakes forming on the ground, then sending pillars of white up into the skies that try to freeze individual pieces of the beast.

The youth close to Mikage, nodding to her for a moment. "It's been a while since I've been in a proper boss battle like this. Is it always this hectic?" He asks her. "There's no organization to this battle at all. But we seem to be doing fine."

When the one ape-thing bounces back from her kick and comes at her, she ducks the attack and sends it packing again, letting the ape sail past her and smashing it with her elbow to the back of its head as it goes by. It's all happening so fast, but there's a moment to breathe in the melee, and she takes it, getting her bearings and then wading in again, laying out with punches and kicks in every direction.

The ape that she ducked returns again, and this time she can't avoid it, she dodges and evades its attacks, staying a step ahead as she counters, her fists scoring numerous hits, and while the damage is small for each, they do add up.

    Merek looks to the battlfield, while he notes that he will lift up a hand and begins to call on that magic relic that's with him. Then he begins to draw a healing field along everyone, "Healing Force Field!" It will create what looks like an entire healing sigil that will come upon the entire area.

    Miyako rolls out of the way of a boulder thrown by the huge ape, and springs to her feet once again! "Nyahahaha, you missed me!" she shouts at it, taunting the boss-monster. "Come on you big dumb ape! Fall over!"

    And with that she finishes another quick spell, hurling a sphere of shadow at the ape... and as it flies the sphere spreads out into a huge wave that washes over the ape, leaving the familiar crimson lines of wounds behind!

    Rizadoman blocks the attack from the giant iron ape with a little less cocky attitude this time as he lets out a heavy grunt and pushes it aside. His claws seem to not be working so well as he watches the attacks do nothing. Taking a moment he takes a deep breath and breaths fires on his hands. His claws glow red as he looks at the ape, his own hp taking a small hit before he charges in again trying to drive the red hot claws into the ape.

    This time we have Kotono and Fukaziroh with the combo magic! Kotono unleashes a small tornado amongst the group of apes. Several get caught in the rough winds, picked up and spun around. Then lightning bolts launched by Fukaziroh begin to strike those apes caught up in the tornado. By the time the spinning winds fade, all that falls back to the ground are motes of light. Enraged by the loss of their fellows, a few of the monster apes in the group pick up bits of wood shrapnel created by the fight, charging and swinging them at Kotono and Fukaziroh. Shiruba too, since she was so kind as to draw aggro by helping Fuka.

    Meanwhile, Yeowang's continued assault draws the ire of some apes too as a couple explode into pixels from her strikes. They too pick up some bits of wood, but these ones are pointier and are thrown like spears at the martial artist.

    Oh god, the apes are evolving! They've learned to use tools!

    Merek unleashes as massive healing wave! It expands out over the whole battlefield, all the Adventurers receiving a boost to their dwindling HP levels. Fukaziroh in particular finds that she is no longer lingering on potential death. Hooray for healz!

    Mikage sends Rama into the fight again. The battlecat darts in and around the big ape, causing bolts of lightning to zap him multiple times, even as Erufu rains some arrows down on the big ape. Apeiron roars out in annoyance, before raising a large foot and attempt to slam it down on the lynx.

    Cyrus unleashes those ice potions, the explosions unleashing blasts of the freezing element on Great Apeiron. He's frozen into place, which is a perfect opportunity for Miyako to get in that shadow wave blast and for Rizadoman to drive those red hot claws into him! The darkness ripples over the giant ape, while the claws sink into his torso with a red glow. Apeiron too immoblized to do anything other than roar in objection.

    But the rage displayed seems to power him as Apeiron flexes his muscles, before causing the ice crystals trapping him to explode into giant chunks. He picks up a bunch of them in one hand and proceeds to throw them in the direction of Erufu and Cyrus!

    Then Arashi comes in, trying for a stab towards Apeiron's gut. But the grand daddy ape grabs Arashi's arm in his hand, preventing the strike. He lifts Arashi up, before swinging her down towards the ground for a punishing blow if she can't escape the grip!

    While the battle rages on, a few of the monster apes in the main group break away. While their fellows keep the Adventurers occupied, this small group uses their superior ape movement skills to clamber up and over the camp defenses. They then make a beeline straight towards the camp food supplies, looking to break in and make off with the yummy snacks within!

    As Fukaziroh runs, oddly, she starts to sing. "Cover me, when I run~" she croons in a minor chord, getting some distance. And imbuing her voice with a defensive enchantment, the Hero's Song. It's a weird song too, possibly not one people would recognize without its normal and distinct backing music.

    "Cover me, through the fire~ Something knocked me off the treeeeee~ you know I'm on my knees! Cover me, darling please!" she sings her heart out, adding strength and mana into the effect. Perhaps it'll help get everyone fired up!

    As her song cuts into the more familiar refrain, her voice gains strength. "Monke, Monkeee, Monkey~" she calls, voice cracking. She's a decent singer, but definitely no bard, just an enthusiast with more heart than skill. "Don't you know you gonna, SHOCK THE MONKEY!"

    ( OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnVf1ZoCJSo )

    Rizadoman is hit by one of the ice crystals and gets knocked to the ground with a thud. As he stands up slowly he reaches into his mouth and feels the tooth fall from his mouth. " Well that is fortunate. " Grasping the tooth Rizadoman begins to call upon his ancestors, " Ancestors , I call upon you to aid us in this foreign land. Form bones from the earth and rise up, stop those wo would steal from us. " With that he drops the tooth to the ground and from that spot rises two lizard men skeleton warriors as they look at the iron ape infront of them and then turn to chase down the food raiders. It appears while Rizadoman is distracting the leader the real fight will happen elsewhere.

The fact that some of the apes have broken the line of their defenses and are making for the food stores is enough to pull Mikage's attention away from the great ape. Unfortunately, that draws her focus away from her own defenses. It is actually Rama who takes the hit, sending the lynx sprawling, their shared health dropping.

Wincing, Miki looks over her shoulder, "Rama, fall back!" She calls out. Limping his way away from the battlefield, the lynx dives into some nearby boxes, trying to hide from the ape invaders.

Seeing the raiders getting close to their food, Miki channels her magical energy into a number of elemental shots from her arrow, most of them seeing to carry some earth elemental affinity, trying to knock them back.

    FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL, ARASHI STABBETH-ohgod. The giant monkey just -grabbed- the arm with Starshadow and is hauling her up like a ragdoll. Not good. "The hell do you want you stupid monkey!" Ape, primate, monkey, who cares? It isn't like they will realize she's insulting them anyway, right? At least she has the sense to get -out- of there before he squeezes. With a blur of motion, she darts out of that grip. The pwny had planned to wrap around and lunge with a potent strike from her weapon but.. SOMEONE IS STEALING THE FOOD.

    Seeing those raiders blitz the camp, wanting all their snacks and supplies? Nope. Not allowed. Instead of coming around for Big Ape, Arashi's blast of speed sends her racing into the raiders with Starshadow slicing and swirling through the crowd, channeling the anger of a woman fresh off a voyage where they nearly ran out of supplies. NOT HAPPENING AGAIN. "THESE ARE OUR BANANAS! NO BANANAS FOR YOU!"

    Merek will keep on defending along with the magic divine power of light. Then he's beginning to shift to take an arrow into a bow with him, and will fire that along into the group of apes. With that, he will take the time to inspect the battlefield, he doesn't think about that supply group.

Shiruba isn't a tank so she can only hold the apes' back for so long before she's thrown off and batted around several times until she can get back on her feet and back out of immeadiate range.

As soon as she's got some room though she skids to a stop, turning back towards the group and raising her bow. There's a gleam around her as she draws strength from the land around her, verdant glow passing on to the arrows she fires at the apes! Mere arrows in appearance, but the Spell Fletcher enchantment makes them hit like a landslide!

"You can't catch me!" Kotono says as she avoids the apes easily. "You're really going bananas trying to catch me, aren't ya?" She giggles a little at her pun.

"Now let's kick things up a notch, shall we?" Kotono then proceeds to launch into a three-part attack of three consecutive roundhouse kicks in one motion. "I saw this in a video game once!"

Cyrus is sent spinning and tumbling to the ground as ice starts raining down. He tries to move away from Mikage as her feline companion gets hit, throwing a few potions out. But he's unable to keep up with the damage being sent out. In his mind - if they can get the numbers of adds reduced, he might be able to start healing people enough that it'll make a difference. But with Merek already having used his big healing ability, he's starting to worry about the future of this mission.

Glancing aside, he spots some of the apes moving for the food stores. At which point he lifts his hand to the air and a group of potion flasks flick out of his pockets and start to spin around him, carried by subtle eddies of air as he keeps avoiding ice, until some of them start digging into his body.

The youth keeps moving to prevent any final blows on him, as he begins to direct the flasks. One after another, they flash outwards in a rapid series of arcs, before digging into the ground one after another around the apes...

And then electrify the ground, creating a powerful electric net between all of them. If it's succesful, it might even show comically animated skeletons on the apes!

Yeowang continues to draw the ire of the apes and is fine with it, she's faster than they are, and she's trained in fighting for ten years, They're far too slow to catch her by anything but blind luck, and so far, they haven't had that luck. When they come close enough to strike at her, though, brings them close enough for her to strike back, which she does with extreme prejudice. Sweeping kicks send apes flying, or else bursting into pixels, making inroads into finishing the apes off. Her boots slam into each one in turn as she patiently hits each one until it poofs into pixels or runs off.

    Miyako growls under her breath as she watches the fight. The big monster's attacks have been ... well, big. "Hey! Fatty! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! Now go away before I taunt you a second time!"

    And while she provokes the beast, she scribbles out a series of runes for her next spell... which sends a tremor rolling through the ground towards the big ape!

    .... unfortunately a tremor that stops just before reaching it.

The battle goes on and the elf can't dodge forever and she gets hit pretty damn hard but thankfully she's not out of the fight just yet. She's slammed pretty hard and the wireframe damage becomes visible all over her body. She makes several unhappy sounds as she gets back on her feet. As she does this she'll read another arrow and takes aim at the beat's head trying to go for an eye, maybe she can help blind it doing that? She channels the bow art for a moment then lets the shot fly.

"BURST SHOT!"

    The food raiders quickly bound across the camp grounds towards the ever precious Food Tent. Mikage's arrows are the first to get there, though they're quickly followed by Arashi thanks to a speed boost. The already damaged monster apes find themselves unable to survive the assault as the earthly arrows strike, knocking them to the ground to quickly explode into pixels. Arashi's blade likewise causes the apes defeat as they slice through them.

    The remaining raiders manage to make it into the Food Tent, where they are hidden from view for several seconds. During which Cyrus's electrical trap is laid. The raiders then begin to leave the tent, large sacks now doubt containing important yumyums slung over their shoulders. But they step into that trap and suddenly they are lit up! Electricity courses through them, causing them to spasm, before the effect finally ends and they collapse to the ground, still smoking. They quickly explode into pixels.

    A single lone raider ape comes out of the food tent shortly afterwards, probably delayed by grabbing a snack if the half-banana in its mouth is any indication. Unfortunately it finds itself alone as two lizardmen lackeys summoned by Rizadoman show up.

    THIS IS IT FOLKS! THE FIGHT OF THE DECADE! Lizard vs Ape! Who will win!?

    Spoiler, lizard wins.

    The food raiders are defeated!

    Yeowang and Kotono find themselves surrounded by what remains of the main group of monster apes. The two fight side by side with punches, kicks triple roundhouses, the works as they beat away the apes. Meanwhile, Merek and Shiruba are supporting them, raining arrows down on the group. Until finally, the last ape takes kick to the face, exploding into pixels.

    Things seem so much quieter now that the main group has been defeated.

    Of course, with such a focus on the raiders and the main group, Apeiron is left to his own devices. And device he does! The great ape doesn't appear to appreciate the fact that his fellow apes have fallen. And his anger is only amplified as an arrow comes streaking out of nowhere from a certain not-elf-Pooka. Well aimed, it strikes Apeiron in his left eye. The great ape roars in anger, a red aura forming around him as he boss-powers up.

    Apeiron leaps up high into the air, crouching himself into a tight ball as he plummets back down again. The big ape hits the ground, causing the ground to visibly warp and tremble, the effect rushing out from the point of impact. Thankfully it doesn't appear to do any damage to the camp's structure, but the effect is far reaching, overwhelming Miyako's own tremor and threatening to impact all the defenders with a heavy blow of Earth magic.

    However the Adventurers survive the attack though, they find that retaliating is going to prove easier. As Fukaziroh's song falls upon the ears of all of them, creating a sparkling affect around them that improves the damage of the whole raid group!

    Lucky for Fukaziroh, she's not doing as badly as she was. Between her magics and the effective attacks of the others, the field is mostly cleared of apes. Even better, she's healed by Merek. Well, everyone gets a buff, but this is enough for her to no longer be below her last quarter. It gives her a new lease on the fight, and she blows Merek a kiss while paused in her singing for an acoustic interlude.

    Yes, Fuka's still singing strong, though she's put as much mana into the effect as she can. The buff is done, but the song is fun! So she continues singing, pounding out lyrics with high intensity and enthusiasm. And then, at the refrain, "Shock!" "Shock!" "SHOCK!"

    Yes, of course she did. Did anyone expect otherwise? Fuka lets loose with a lightning bolt. While it has a big target to hit, can it even get through the boss ape's defenses?

    Rizadoman is swept off his feet by the tremor and just lays there for a moment feeling like he got hit by a giant grunty. Taking a deep breath as he stands up and brushes the blood from his lip as he looks at the giant ape. " Anyone who needs to fall back I understand. However at the end of the day, the only thing helping us survive here is the camp behind us and then the ocean. Unlike home, we have no where to retreat to. No safe areas, or root towns. So I for one feel like the options are down to win or lose. " WIth that said he throws flames in the direction of the giant ape , they aren't anything like the fireball he opened with but they a something.

Yeowang and Kotono fight off the last of the monster apes, punches, kicks, blocks, executing deft maneuvers to stay a step ahead of the attacks coming inbound. Inbound attacks may have right of way, but there's no rule that you have to be there to meet it. After finishing the apes off, she'll go after the Apeiron, pulling off her flying roundhouse kick to deliver a solid hit to its head. That's a shot that'd break the neck of a human opponent, but here in the game, it just docks a bunch of HP. Which works out nicely.

Cyrus is quick on his feet, but not quick enough to deal with the sudden earthen spires that rise up and send him awkwardly flying and cause his legs to bend awkwardly. He bends and rolls to the side after hitting a few spires along the way, until he finally lands fully.

He quickly throws a flask towards the monster, trying to blind it by targetting its eyes, but he's looking pretty bad at this point. His magic is clearly not quite doing it to get his opponent blinded as he had intended, but he's able to heal himself and a few others around himself enough to ensure they don't fall immediately.

With most of the apes having been taken care of, it means that there is only one target that remains. However, that target happens to be the most difficult to deal with of all of them. After avoiding dealing with more damage from the monster, Mikage looks around, trying her best to sort out the chaos.

This isn't a fight that they had time to prepare for, so Cyrus is right that things certainly aren't as organized as during a wave, or even a dungeon heart fight. With so many of the party having damage and the boss seeming to be that much harder to hit, she decides to do something unusual for a DPS. She runs a debuff.

"See how you like this." She takes the relic stone from her bow and locks it into place in an armlet that wraps her forearm. Then, channeling elemental energy through it, she sends out a bolt of electrical energy, the sort of effect that can blind on impact.

Kotono comes out with more evasive maneuvers, and attempts to show them why you don't mess with a girl who wields two blades...

That is, if her attack successfully landed. Instead she hits nothing but air. "Oops, that wasn't supposed to happen..."

With the adds dealt with they can turn their attention to the bigger threat.... is it one they can even beat? Who knows. It would suck if they had to pack up and move from their convenient landing.

Giant ape leaps into the air. Giant ape comes crashing down. The ground shakes as earth moves and dust flies. Shiruba weathers it out by conjuring a layer of ice around herself, which chips and cracks as debris clatters against it, so she doesn't.

At the same time she draws an arrow and fires it near the great ape's feet. There's an ominous roll of thunder as lightning starts to crack from above... But after the first couple of bolts the behemoth stomps on the arrow, breaking the arcane connection attracting the lightning. "Dammit!"

Saying the monsters on this side of the worlds are tougher is turning out to be an understatement. "If we can't defeat it we need to at least drive it away from the camp!"

    Ape get half blinded. Ape mad. Ape Leap. Ape pound ground. "That's an angry monkey," Arashi muses before realizing what's about to happen. The trembling ground comes for everyone, and what does the warhorse do? She rolls. She dives, goes into a roll, avoids the shockwave, and then winks out of sight before appearing high in the air. Starshadow is brought to bear, stabbing downward, though there's no deep bite of the blade. She knows it didn't hit well, and by the time she lands she just growls. "Things are -hard- here. Ngh.."

    Dancing across the battlefield, Miyako barely keeps ahead of shockwaves, thrown boulders, and falling ape corpses. At least she isn't getting hit again. That's good, right?

    "Juuuust sit right back and you'll hear a tale / A tale of a fateful trip / That started deep in outer space, aboard a little ship...." It's not much of a song, but at least maybe it'll catch the monster's attention and distract it a bit?

Erufu luck can't hold out forever and this is where it does for the moment as Apeiron is able to get some revenge upon the Pooka. She will go flying from the force of the blow skipping across the ground. She'll ry out in pain and with how dampened pain is for Adventurers that should say a lot. She wobbles to he feet as her HP is now in the red there's not much left in her and she's learned some very important lesson from her time in this world and before. Sometimes you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, when to walk away and when to run. It's run time right now.

"I'm sorry I need to fall back..."

With that she'll give one last look to the group and take off. Dying here would mean a week of transit time /back/ here which would put a serious issue on things for her.

"Damn it..."

    Cyrus sends potions flying at its eyes. Rizadoman launches a fireball at it. Arashi comes in from above for a slash. Shiruba launches a lightning arrow at its feet. Fukaziroh unleashes a bolt of lightning. Kotono tries to slice into it.

    Through it all, the boss does the very boss thing of simply taking the hits with seemingly little effect. That powerup it received in the form of the red aura has really boosted its defense it seems! Though Yeowang's kick to the side of its head does cause it to grunt in response, losing a bit more HP. Great Apeiron eyes Yeowang, looking like he's about to provide a serious beatdown to the Adventurer.

    But then Mikage's blinding bolt comes streaking in to hit Apeiron in the face! The great ape roars out in surprise, hands moving up to its eyes as it seems to be blinded. Even more than having one eye poked out by an arrow. The great ape starts to thrash around blindy, threatening to smash any Adventurer which fails to escape its wild blows.

    And then, the ape rampage seems to halt, as Miyako's singing seems to draw the big beast's attention as she does what Cyrus could not. Is it because of a higher skill roll? Possibly. Or maybe big apes really are drawn in by women. Apeiron proceeds to kidnap Miyako-Erm, I mean-Apeiron seems enchanted by Miyako's singing, his movements slowing, making it easier for the rest of the raid to hit the big beast and get through his defenses.

    Merek looks to the enemy that they are fighting, and will take a strike while he misses one of his own. Though, he does come back with what looks like a lift of a hand, while he casts the spell, "Thorn Bind Hostage!" It begins working to make it easier for everyone to strike the enemy and increase damage upon it.

    "Oh hey that is NOT cool!" Fukaziroh roars in anger, seeing the mighty ape losing it over some *other* cute girl. Fuka's the singing annoying distraction after all! If it should be chasing at anyone, it should be at her!

    Charging in, Fuka sweeps her axe back. "Cutting winds!" she calls out. Then pauses. "Breaking winds? What's that spell again. OH RIGHT CUTTING GA...." and then she gets smashed, and not in a good way. Er... maybe she shouldn't have charged in in a rage?

Yeowang has given up her attempts at defense in order to bring the whoopass, and she pays for it. Great Apeiron eyes her, then provides that serious beatdown, knocking her back along the ground, skidding maybe ten meters along the turf before she can regain her feet, her HP markedly lower. Well, you win a few, you lose a few.

Though she's not super used to losing, and she doesn't like to make a habit of it. In that vein, she leaps back into the attack, striking with pinpoint accuracy, her fists tiny compared to the huge monster ape, but like stilettos for being so tiny, each jab a painful indicator that it's lost a few more HP. She doesn't do huge damage with the attack, but she can deliver several hard blows to the same point.

"Withdraw if you need to!," Shiruba shouts over her shoulder to Erufu and anyone else getting to the bare bones of their HP. They don't have the healers to constantly pump everyone back up. "We'll try to convince this thing to go away."

Shiruba does her best to shore her defenses, but this thing is big and stomping around a lot before it's lulled out of the rampage, and she can't keep it up forever either. With a growl she grits her teeth, fangs barred. She's hurt, she's running out of fancy tricks... But she's the guild leader. She has to keep going, to ensure the safety of others. She draws another arrow back in her bow, her eyes briefly shimmering as she takes precise aim before firing, in hopes of finding a weak link in this monster's formidable defenses.

The thrashing around is a dangerous thing, causing Mikage to end up taking one powerful hit to her chest, sending her backwards into a set of nearby tents, crumpling them to the ground. Coughing, the Were Fang drags herself to her feet, her health blipping at the edge of red.

She gives a quick look over towards Cyrus, likely checking to see if she might need to throw herself in the way of danger. However, as her eyes sweep by, she catches sight of Rizadoman instead. Something flickers in her mind's eye, likely due to her relics being combined in that moment. She can see the way that Rizadoman will defend himself, and what will come next.

Blinking, she seems to return from that glimpse of clarity. "Riz! It's coming from the left, the left!"

Trusting that that might just help him, she pulls the relic rom her wristband and puts it back into Dawnbreaker, leaning back to fire off a quick shot. While it might be a quick motion that fires it off, it seems to contain what is left of her mana, exploding with a storm of energy where it impacts.

    The warhorse is just NOT having a good night. With the big ape flailing about, she tries to get out of the way but just got too close last time. The flailing sends her reeling, and it ends up putting her dizzy enough that her follow up attack, just trying to shake the ground a bit to help her allies out, doesn't really help either. "I need to grind out some levels. Hell.."

"Is this supposed to be a challenge?" Kotono wonders aloud as she evades with another backwards somersault through the air. "I'm barely even warmed up for my acrobatics with you guys!" She starts to go for her blades when she lands, but then gets another idea. "You guys are looking a little thirsty."

With that, Kotono invokes another rune, and this time a blast of water comes flying at her enemies. "Drinks are on me!"

"Okay, it's one enemy. Pull as much DPS as you can in a short time, and then slow the cadence of combat. That will give the healers a chance to adjust. Tanks, to the front." Cyrus calls out, as he reaches under his longcoat, and then pulls out eight healing flasks. Each between his fingers.

He then throws them out in a fan outwards, sending them off with flashes of wind that carry them to his targets. One after the other being touched by them. Shattering against their body, before exploding into bright light! He then turns, with a flurry, and sends a thick red potion and flings it up, before jumping, backflipping, and using one foot to catch it, and volleys it with his foot right towards Fukaziroh, slamming against her back and splashing its healing liquids across her body, rapidly raising her health and creating a small health barrier just in time to protect her from the incoming strike.

    Rizadoman sees the incoming attack and begins too turn to shield from the right when he hears it is coming from the left. Reacting as quick as he can he blows flames to the left shaping a wall of flames so that he can create a pocket of hot air to protect himself just enough. Fortunately it works or he wouldn't be on his feet anymore. With a huff and some level of exhaustions he does his best to charge forward and once more slash at the ape with his claws.

    Unfortunately for Miyako, her singing attracts more than the giant ape's attention -- it attracts the ape itself! She tries to dodge out of the way, but is snatched up! "Get your stinking paws off me you filthy ape!" she screams as it lifts her off the ground.

    It takes her a moment to gather her focus again, but she manages to get a spell off! The electrical burst raises the ape's fur with static, and sends its muscles twitching, just enough for her to wriggle free and - drop to the ground, clutching her ribs, then crawl away....

    Fukaziroh takes one of those swinging arms! She's knocked to the ground! Her HP bar goes down, down, down...

    It hits zero.

    There's the sound of a shattering crystal as an item in Fuka's inventory is destroyed. A soft light engulfs her, keeping her on the edge of death, preventing her from exploding into pixels, for several moments. Long enough for Cyrus to send a potion flying her way. It strikes her, pumping her HP bar back up just a bit. She's alive! Though she might want to avoid any stiff breezes until she can get further medical attention. Fuka better thank Prophylaxis at some point for that life saving Stasis Crystal. And Cyrus too, of course.

    Merek gets off a Thorn Bind Hostage, the glowing vines forming and wrapping around the big ape. Soon enough the additional damage is triggered as Rizadoman rips into the ape's body with his claws. Yeowang goes in with a rapid flurry of punches while Kotono hits it with a water blast. Unfortunately Arashi's bad day strikes again as she doesn't manage to get that ground shake to hit the boss. But fear not, as the boss's HP is going down a fair bit now. Mikage and Shiruba getting in some powerful and accurate strikes.

    The heavy assault contributes to the Great Apeiron being forced to drop Miyako, helped by the electricity she sends surging into him. The boss's HP proceeds to drop beneath a third...

    ... And this seems to trigger a change. The powered up aura fades and Apeiron unleashes a frustrated roar at the Adventurers. He then crouches down and launches himself into the air... Back towards the forest. He crashes down through the tree tops, disappearing for a moment, before reappearing in another huge leap, taking him further and further away from the Adventurer camp.

    It seems that they have successfully driven off the monster ape assault!

Shiruba slumps for a moment once it's clear the creature is withdrawing. But there's not really time to rest now and she forces herself back into leadership mode. "Gather up the wounded that haven't already retreated and lets get back to camp." So much for morning explorations.

    Not too long after the battle has ended and people have started picking up the pieces, a tent flap opens up to reveal a bleary-eyed looking Yuuki with bed-hair. She covers up a yawn, before looking around at all the commotion and the obvious damage to the camp. Through half-lidded eyes she manages out a soft, "Morning, guys... What happened?"

    The warhorse was turning, preparing, ready to charge and lash out again. A bit of relief washes over her when the giant monkey decides to ditch them and leaps through the trees, only to lunge outward again, away from them. "Oh. ... Good..." Thump. Sit. Need a moment to.. just.. sit. "Yeah.. just.. just a minute.." Arashi replies to Shiruba, wherever they are. Easily the most tired anyone will have ever seen Arashi in a while.

    Rizadoman watches the ape run off and collapses where he stands just watching it run. " We are severely underlevel. " Eventually he picks himself up ad carries himself back to camp, but his pride...his pride will suffer this wound for much longer.

Cyrus pants as the first third of its HP bar goes down, and prepares for a rise in danger - like he's used to in other regions. But this one... this monster suddenly turns, and runs. "Looks like it wasn't so sure of its victory anymore." He remarks. "Must be a pretty smart monster." He then lands on his ass and huffs out loud. "Phhhew.... that was hectic." He notes, and looks around. "Looks like that one Adventurer was the only loss. Good. Glad it was only one." He then looks aside as Yuuki comes out - the victor of the Arena games. "Wait... how long have you been in that tent, not realizing there was a battle going on?"

There is a look of relief that passes over Mikage's features when the Ape seems to turn back into the surrounding lands. Her bow lowers ever so slightly, her breaths still coming quickly as she tries to let her pulse catch up to her.

Slowly, she walks over towards Cyrus, reaching out a hand to touch his arm, "Little crazy, huh?" She offers him with a sheepish expression. "It... goes better when we actually have some idea of what is coming." Then again, compared to tower raid groups, it's hard not to seem slightly unorganized.

She offers no explination for her sudden flash of 'insight' that helped Rizadoman, but she does look over towards him once, just one more check to make sure he's alright. "Good job with the healing, but... we need to work on your defenses. I'd rather avoid a one way trip to Eastal, and you know I'm stupid enough to take one to keep your ass alive." She murmurs, then gives the Snow Leopard Cait Sith a kiss on the cheek for good measure.

"Come on. We've got some rebuilding to do." At the very least, she needs to fix those tents she landed on...

Shiruba slaps a palm over her face. "Of all the people to sleep through a fight...."

    Miyako pulls herself up, carefully, and gulps down a healing potion, sighing softly as she starts to stand and readies herself to get back into the - wait, it's running away?

    Ohwell. That's okay by her. Her HP bar is running low as it is.

    The potion restores enough that she can stand and walk, and she does so, making her way to Kotono's side to lean on her friend's shoulder. "Hey, you. Made it through OK?"

Yeowang looks relieved as the big ape does a bolter. "Wow, this new zone's pretty tough," she observes, looking around to make sure everyone's OK. "Ah, you look bad," she says as she sees Fukaziroh on her last legs, and will head over as well to see what aid she can bring. She's no doctor, but she can help a bit, and she does so, looking around worriedly in case there's any follow-up.

Looking to Miyako, Kotono wipes her forehead and phews. "I kind of underestimated our enemy, I admit. At first it was nothing compared to my acrobatic warmups, but then things got out of hand..."

She sighs a little. "At least we made it through. Let's head back, Miyako. You need to rest." She slides an arm around Miyako to help support her.

    Fuka's a little shaken from her close call, but death doesn't mean all that much to her. Sure there's a risk of losing a memory, but when compared to the potential to *make* memories, she doesn't feel the pull of playing it safe. She grins a bit sheepishly. "That ape hit like King Kong!" she claims, laughing. "Guess I took one for the team! We didn't lose, right? So it's all good!" she laughs, her voice just a little shrill compared to her usual.

    A couple of people people point out there was a fight, Yuuki quickly waking up ago going a little wide-eyed, "There was a fight!? Awww man, what did I miss?" From the chatter she's able to figure out that the boss ran, "It fled!?" She draws her sword, "Which way did it go!?" She must still be half asleep, she's not thinking clearly. Or she is and she really is just that crazy.

Shiruba turns to peer at Yuuki. "That thing nearly trounced a full party before it left. You are not going after it solo, Champion or not. It left the camp alone, that's good enough. We don't know what ELSE is out there."

    Miyako leans gratefully on Kotono's shoulder, and smiles lightly. "Glad you made it, hon." She reaches around the girl to hug her. "What say we hunt up some breakfast, then get with the others to figure out what to do about this thing?"

    Oh. It's a Yuuki. Hi Yuuki. This is horse. Horse is tired. Horse points into the forest. "That-a-way." Arashi informs. Good luck. Though Shiruba tries to at least talk the duelist out of it. ".. Or maybe listen to them.."

Returning the hug gently, as she knows Miyako is tired and hurt, Kotono nods a little. "Come on, let's head back and have some breakfast. I agree, that will definitely help us out."

    Miyako nods and stumbles along with Kotono, back to the camp. "Thanks, Ko-chan. I can always depend on you."