Festival: Siren Song

Missing persons are not entirely uncommon during the Summer Beach Festival. There's always, inevitably, someone who goes for a swim with a few too many drinks in their system and gets caught up in a riptide. Or they have a bit too much to drink, go to dance on slippery rocks, and crack their heads when they inevitably slip. Usually these sorts of things are one-off events, but in the waning days of the festival, there have been disturbing reports of people, Landers and Adventurers both, going missing in droves. Those who have gone to investigate their last known location have either disappeared themselves... or have revived at their respective Root Towns with no memory of what they found.

And so, a somewhat more... robust task force has been called in.

It's a wonderful day to be traveling the Westelande shoals. The water is warm and calm, a cloudless blue sky reflecting in flat, glassy seas. The noonday sun beats down hard, but the cool ocean breeze helps to offset what would otherwise be sweltering heat...

And up ahead, a couple dunes away, it seems like the party is in full swing. You can't see it yet, of course, there are a couple of hills of sand between you and the racket, but you can absolutely make out the song. It's sweet and cloying, a song that lingers in the ear and caresses the backside of the brain... And it sounds as though there's quite a crowd clapping and cheering along with it.

...All seems normal on approach. Too normal, even...

Schneider is enjoying the day, at least, and he doesn't even need to manipulate the breeze to blow back his hair dramatically, which saves a bit of effort. As part of the robust force of investigators, he feels pretty pumped up. Maybe he's becoming someone significant in this game. It'd be nice. Character-wise, he's always thought of himself as someone significant, but given his tournament performance and lack of contibutions otherwise, he hasn't really felt like he's a useful part of the team.

But here he is, looking for who-knows-what, out here on a nice beach. There's a crowd over the dune, and no reason to expect anything weird, just more revellers, but something seems unsettling, so he will try and peek first, rather than just barging in to see how everyone is.

Sadly some times people go missing but not like this. This had Miho concerned but still, she was out to party. She was clad in a nice little dark blue bikini and enjoying herself. She was bouncing around. She was happy rather than that low-keyed annoyed she often seemed to be. Well, she was until they had to go look into the thing she'd take a moment to swap into combat gear and would fall in as they headed out. Whatever was ruining the party time was going to pay. She feared this may be their last chance to party for the foreseeable future. Due to the Palace Land's invasion. Whatever was behind this was going to pay.

    Setsuna is looking forward to pina coladas, preferably at midnight , on the dunes of a cape but alas those days are behind him. Now he simply sits on the dune of any beach sipping some cold water or the attempt at ice tea. Just thinking about it causes the necromancer to sigh heavily as he feels weak for a moment. " If we wanted to go to the beach we should have gone to the eleventh floor, they have a nice little place on the coast that serves little veggie rolls. Quite scrumptious." Looking towards the noise of the party Setsuna begins to head that way as he hums to himself horrible monotoned and off key version of the music playing. " Also can you imagine letting yourself be seduced by some monster idol ? Who would be as weak will to fall for a monster."

It only takes a good morbid accident to draw out denizens of the dark... and sometimes, so does the lack of such. Or in this case, it wasn't a lack of disappearances. It was them happening with a lack of the usual drunken carousing that usually entertain anyone else willing to enjoy some schadenfreude. Considering some of the other problems occuring as of late....

The group is still a fair distance from the actual party when the Nightmare's ears perk up. So keen with the ways of music that she can hear something... off in the harmony drifting their way as they approach. "That's... distressing..." she murmurs, mostly to herself, tail giving an irritated flick.

For once Kauchemar doesn't raise her voice. She doesn't want to give away their arrival too soon. Instead she keeps it soft and melodious, intended to keep her allies' minds clear and senses sharp.

See this is why you put up with all the -other- shenanigans that come with having a dedicated Bard in the party.

Even if she'd be tempted to let Setsuna get into a little trouble after that 'monster idol' crack. You're not really in a position to talk, you.

    Merek looks onward while they arrive at the beach, and will take the time to walk with the party. He has on the dark attire in addition to a scarf while he nods a bit to people while keeping hair long and watching the place along the beach.

    While Fuka's perfectly happy to go to the beach in midriff-baring fashion and showing off as much skin as possible, they're really not here for that. Instead she's in her usual armor. Not full plate, but heavy armor covering her extremities and who knows what under her outercoat. No, she's come dressed for battle, fully expecting this to be some sort of invading force from the Palace Lands causing people to disappear when they wander off to commune with nature. Or whatever they call it when they have to find a bush to get rid of excess drink.

    As they approach, Fuka hears a song being carried on the breeze. As it insiduously begins to tickle her brain, she instinctively starts to sing herself. Loudly and discordantly, belting out the lyrics to a bawdy drinking song and not really hitting any of the right notes. It's ... probably deliberate. Probably.

    Miyako had been enjoying the festival, until she got the message about missing people. Grumpy at having her relaxation time interrupted, she did, however, join the party.

    Having rather reluctantly traded off her beachwear for her adventuring garb, she has settled her daggers in her belt and readied herself for the search. When the sound of music reaches her ear, she tilts her head, straining to hear it, muttering what she thinks the words might be under her breath. ... Until, that is, her chance of hearing it is obliterated by competing songs from rather close by.

    She casts Kauchemar a quick wink before turning to the louder singer. "Fiddlesticks," she snaps, and reaches over to (almost playfully) slap Fuka on the shoulder. "C'mon, try a key other than 'off', would you? Hurts my ears." She then starts singing along, just as loudly, but this time at least on key.

Everything changes once the party crests that sand dune. The breeze turns, freezing winds cutting to the bone. The sharp scent of brine lingers in the air, as a thin mist of seafoam spray stings the eyes. The sky, once blue and clear, has inexplicably turned grey and dark, as if a rolling cloudfront has simply /appeared/ out of nowhere. Colors seem less vivid, washed out and pale. Even the sand seems ashen, and the people...

The people are dancing like madmen, thrashing their bodies this way and that to the rhythm of that beautiful music. Their limbs move at unnatural angles, and each and every one of them seems to have gone as pale and dark as the world around them.

They're... There are things growing from them. Strange coral cancers that writhe with fluorescent, electric blue worms or seep an ichorous black ooze across the sands, spreading pale polyps and over exposed skin, converting more and more of what they were into what they are /becoming./ Rising between throngs of dancers are strange idols, altars of whalebone and shark teeth, effigies wrought in the image of a terrible nightmare that lurks in the very depths of every human being's most basic animal instinct.

At the far end of the beach, rising from the water like a profane temple is... a stage. It's reminiscent of a fish's skull, made of some kind of glossy black chitin and with bone-white ivory teeth flanking its unhinged jaw. Atop the stage is a bewitching, pale figure, undeniably beautiful, whose every movement is graceful and seductive, who sings in those gorgeous, dulcet tones...

As the party arrives she turns her eyes, burning with pale blue flame, upon them. She beckons invitingly to everyone and each person individually, all at once. You feel an urge to join her, to be embraced by her song, to offer your everything unto her and become one with the joyous, revelling audience.

But... something snaps you out of the trance. Songs, sung by bards of the party's own, cancel the haunting melody. The siren seems to detect that her spell has failed and pouts cutely, before her voice crescendos...

...And the entranced audience turns as one and begins shambling towards the party...

...It seems that it shall be a fight.

    Setsuna doesn't even seem to hesitate as his usual smile disappears and he simply has this numb dead expression on his face. " Sorry to say but you idols have absolutely nothing on those of my past." Taking one look at the audience turning on them he shakes his head, "This is nothing compared to that one concert in 95, turned into a riot all through Kyoto. All because the idol of the time declared she would be getting married live. " With a wave of his dagger several low level zombies raise out of the ground and begin to to move to engage the audience.

Schneider gawps at what he sees when he peeks over the dune, both shocked and surprised. And that's almost certainly not Palace Landers. He didn't spend much time over there, but that doesn't look like anything he saw when he /was/ over there. But he knows what to do, and unlike the usual boss fights, where he saves the big boom for the end, he'll go straight in with full force.

"Kaizard, aruzard, kisk!" he chants, and dark and molevolent forces grow. "Hansay Glossik! Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell!"

A pause, then he shouts, "HALLOWEEN!"

The world becomes like fire, then, that horrible spell slams into the siren and sears HP away furiously. His fiery burst hits the siren with intense fury, and he's probably made himself a target, but she looked pretty dangerous, and so he took action.

Miho become aware somethin is up when Kauchemar starts to sing softly something's up with that she knows not what. She does get something up and her liminal ring seem to glow a bit brighter at this. Also the otehr song is leaving her concerned to put it mildly. She'll end up joining in with the drinking song Fuka is singing. She is a young Smith, if she's lusty? She keeps her self under far better control.

The team presses forward and she sees a sight of horror before her eyes.

THe dancer are noted but she sees something is happening to them and it ain't good. Worse she sees the stage and somethign that' singing there she has an idea. She'll draw her bow.

"Looks like if we go for the rock star? The rest should go down."

She'll take her bow and go to line up a shot at the Siren.

"This witch needs to die! BURST SHOT!"

    Cresting the hill and catching a glimpse of the goings-on, Miyako sighs. It seems unlikely that the captives will be able to be helped without some major healing magic -- far from her own abilities, certainly. However, she can still... dampen their spirits.

        Spirits of the mountains high, guardians of the depths below!
        Let the wind rise up, let your anger fall upon them!

        ICE RAIN!

    And with that, a wind whirls up, tossing water vapor into the upper atmosphere, from which it rains down upon the revelers as chunks of marble-size hail, pounding upon heads and battering coral outgrowths.

    Fuka mouths an 'ow' dramatically when Miyako smacks her. Yeah it was light, and yeah she's armoured. But the blow leaves deep emotional wounds... which heal extremely quickly considering Fuka's relative level of depth. Nevertheless she switches key, which is to say she actually finds one, and takes Miyako's lead to sing the song properly. It messes with her discordant magical energies, but then Kauchemar has that aspect handled nicely already.

    As they crest the sand dune, Fuka takes in everything as quickly as possible. The cold doesn't bother her; she's well protected with her armor and coat. Her mind, however, reels at the sight of the monstrous things being done to people. And at the enchanting energies being directed against her. Good thing Kauchemar's got this, and the attempt on her mind leaves Fuka rather enraged.

    Chanting quickly, Fuka weaves together words in the runic tongue. Water, air, destruction. Negated protection, ranged attack. Powering the spell with her inherent air superiority, she launches a small globe high up into the air over the heads of the enraptured audience.

    When Fuka's mana orb comes down again, it shatters and the liquid instantly freezes to whatever it touches, clinging and weakening it's victim in a way that would surely improve the penetration of any other attacks flung the Siren's way.

The beach party sight is enough to get Kauchemar to tilt her head a moment. Props to a thematic display, but this is a bit death metal fever dream even by her standards. Skulls and bones and thrashing about sure, but those -things- growing on the victims is just nasty no matter how you look at it.

If they don't do something, this rave is going to turn into a funeral dirge.

There is only one way to deal with this situation.

In a display of equine speed and agility Kauchemar takes a running charge down the beach, uses one of Setsuna's summoned horde as footstool to leap into the air above the dancing crowd

And emit a harrowing scream of "MOOOOSH PIIIT!" as she comes crashing in, intending to take as many of the enchanted crowd down with her so others can get a clear advance on the stage.

    Merek will take the time to look to everyone while they begin to fight, and lifts up that brow of his while he takes the time to tap his foot, then he lifts up both hands, "Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun. With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done. The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day. So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray. o/¯" Both those hands shifting to his sides while he sings to the people.

Even with a crush of shambling, gyrating, /grinning/ bodies crushing into them, the adventurers do not hesitate in their attack. Setsuna delays their advance, summoning a small horde of undead-- many of which are, unsettlingly, covered in growths similar to those sprouting from the audience-- to meet the mutants head-on. Clearly, there have already been casualties here.

Twin spells sail out over the maelstrom of violence, one hot and one cold. The latter smashes into the siren first, causing her to pause briefly in her song as a wave of frost covers her body in shimmering rime... Moments before a cataclysm of flame sets her alight, interrupting her voice with a pained scream.

Meanwhile, Miyako's frigid rain pours razor-sharp ice down into the coral-encrusted crowd... Followed shortly thereafter by a much stranger meteorological event. Kauchemar smashes into the audience from above, crushing one into motes of red light beneath her hooves and scattering a half dozen more. Between the two, a path is cleared for Miho's arrows to find their mark, piercing the siren's body just as a gush of brine finally extinguishes the lingering flames. Her wounds bleed black blood as she tears the projectiles from her body.

Where that black blood mixes with the brine, it congeals into whirling discs of obsidian ice and hypersalinated water. These are sent hurtling at Miho, Fukaziroh and Schneider, even as the siren's song begins to rise again...

But, just like before, right as her voice seems to be taking hold, a different song interrupts her serenade. This time, Merek is the one responsible-- and for his act, seems to earn the siren's ire. Her voice crescendos, an enormous lance of ice materializing over the stage before sailing toward the one who dared sing against her.

The brief window of opportunity the party carved through the crowd closes. More of those writhing bodies fill the gap, the strange growths covering their bodies burst into writhing snake's nests of razor-mawed polychaetes. They shamble forth and menace Kauchemar, Miyako and Setsuna with acidic spittle, flailing limbs and squirming medusa-like masses of hungry bobbit worms...!

    Merek looks to the siren while it begins to sweep to him, taking the time to lift up a hand while he draws a repelling shield about him. With that, he will begin to walk forward while he takes a hand to lift it up, then he points that towards the siren. MEREK_TEIWAZ_BANDIT_KING. Access code within, the man lifts a hand while around the gauntlet which he wears, linking up from the strap he wears, begins to circle with green light along that wrist. Then a beam of light will begin to work its way into the siren to try and take its data!

The siren's gaze tightens as that baleful jade light races up from Merek's wrist. Her voice surges in a commanding tone, as...

...A dozen audience members or more clamber up onto the stage and /block the beam/ with their bodies. Each one writhes as if in pain before collapsing into a limp pile like puppets with their strings cut. Almost as if... the siren's power over them had briefly been suppressed.

As they fall, the siren's glare fixes upon Merek, hateful flame flickering in her eyes.

Ugh, those abyssal parasitic things are just SICK AND WRONG. Even to the one that dances on the dark side.

Speaking of which, that's exactly what Kauchemar does. Hideous abominations twist and snap... only to catch empty air and shadows in their gristly little gnashers as the nightmare slips away, somehow blending in with the crowd for a bit. Which leaves the question of where did she go? Where is she now? What is she -- Oh there she is, now off to the side of the stage thanks to her evasive movements. As she's got a mischevious, sadistic glean in her eye. She raises her voice, but while it's in song it's not to directly counter the Abyssal Siren in that regard. No, no, just singing against her would be too easy. Kaucher... has something more delightfully devious in mind, being a performer herself, she knows what one hates.

Interruptions.
" o/~ Take some wooden nickels! Look for Mr. Goodbar!
Get your mojo working now, I'll show you how you can ... DARE TO BE STUPID! o/~ "

No instead Kauchemar uses her singing to summon a number of Spirits and send them onto the stage, surrounding the Siren in whooping and screeching whails as they circle around, rattling chains and clanking rusty armor and in general being horrible obnoxious intruders to disrupt the Siren!

"o/~ You can turn the other cheek...You can just give up the ship
You can eat a bunch of sushi then forget to leave a tip

DARE TO BE STUPID
Come on and DARE TO BE STUPID
It's so easy to do... DARE TO BE STUPID!
We're all waiting for you... Let's go! o/~ "

Schneider looks worried as the siren sends whirling disks at us, bringing up his cloak to shield him from the assault, but the cloak's not as big as all that, and the first one takes him in the leg. He acks, and grabs his leg, doubling over, losing his grip on the cape, which means the next one that hits him in the shoulder takes even more HP from him, and now he's scrambing to get clear of the attack, taking another hit on the arm as he turns to counterattack.

He scowls and stands back up boldly, chantingg menacingly, "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!"

He then extends one arm toward the siren and shouts, "EXODUS!"

He may not be able to summon fires of 10,000 degrees C like Dark Schneider can in the anime, that's hotter than the surface of the sun, but the inferno striking the siren is quite hot, even so.

    Setsuna watches the audience and sighs as he looks at the audience, "Kauchemar can't you rock out and over powere there love for the idol. Something classic... " The necromancer trails off as he hears Kauchemar begin to sing. " Yeah like that!" Setsuna's eyes glow as he looks at the audience and then sends out blades of shadows towards the audience. A very low level skill, in fact it would tend to only be a single knife, but due to teh high level of the necromancer there are several of the knives.

    In the face of Merek's invocation of his power, Fuka steps up in an attempt to protect him. Singing loudly and discordantly, as is her way, she tries hard to weave magic into her song to disrupt and harass the Siren.

    To be fair she IS discordant and annoying. She's just not sufficiently so to overcome the Siren's considerable power. She's still only a little bardic after all.

Miho likes this less and less but hey they are making some progress against the foul Siren. Maybe yet they can at least stop this thing from claiming any more victims. If they are lucky some of the crowd might yet be saved. She's scored a good hit on the Siren. A promising start but the fight isn't over yet something happens as the blood hits the water. Oh, this is new and only the timely use of Anchor Howl is able to save her from harm. She looks at the Siren again and will level her bow again to line up another shot at her.

"Your worse than an Idol or an America Rocker you are somehow more fake than both!"

She mutters

"Shot through the heart o/~"

She lets another shot fly trying to aim for the Sirens, foul heart.

    Shoving aside the mutated reveler that left her covered in bright red bite-marks, wishing Kotono was here to fight with her, Miyako quickly stabs her dagger into its side before she pushes herself to her feet once again. Onward she goes, straight towards the Siren, almost dancing herself as she dips between and amongst the remaining mutants. She has a song of her own for the creature:

        And the winds are singing freedom! They sing it everywhere
        They sing it on the mountaintop, And in the city square
        They sing of a new day dawning, when our people will be free
        Come and join the song of freedom, let it ring from sea to sea!

    She carries on singing as she dances about through the crowd, stabbing at mutants here and there, though it seems to have little effect on them. Her attention is focused on the Siren the entire time,

Their numbers thinned by Merek's strange power, the remaining members of the Audience try to surge forward to fill the gap, only to suddenly be held back by a ritual dagger to several dozen backs. The abrupt stop in the vanguard's advance causes the ones further back to stumble and fall, crushing those in front underfoot in a twisted vision of a concert stampede.

But their charge is, ultimately inexorable. Rather than growing some new grotesque mutation, the shamblers instead try to charge directly into the party, attempting to bowl them over with sheer mass. Setsuna, Miyako and Fukaziroh are directly in the path of the stampede, and might just be stomped into the sands if they can't defend themselves.

Upon her stage, the Siren is waylaid by a swarm of screeching spirits, interfering with her song in the most obnoxious way. Distracted, she's easy prey for the arrow sailing for her heart. Miho's shot strikes true, and the siren's voice stops dead as she nearly doubles over from the injury. Injured and stunned, she's unable to evade the towering inferno Schneider conjures down upon her. Her song seems to go silent...

Until, with a furious, bellowing /roar/ it rises, phoenix-like, from the inferno. Singed and bleeding, the Abyssal Siren's song reverberates outward in a pulse of sonic force. What seem to be /speakers/ emerge from the skeletal stage's eye-sockets, amplifying her voice to generate a shockwave capable of cracking bone...!

Or rather... Resonating with bone. Those strange idols seem to vibrate and writhe, trembling and reverberating an awful, spine-chilling note. Suddenly, fear grips at the heart and everything feels... so much more /real./

A message appears before each and every member of the party's eyes: COSMOSPHERE AT RISK.

As her shockwave passes, the siren turns her gaze upon Merek. She extends an arm, curling her fingers in a seductive, beckoning gesture as her song reaches out towards him...

...Only for Miyako's song to snap him out of the trance a split second before it takes hold. Stunned and furious, her eyes fix upon this /other/ transgressor...!

    Okay, this isn't the first time Fuka's seen that system warning, and frankly it terrifies her more than a little. It suggests this Siren is actually glitched or something like that, doesn't it? She was intending to rush in and engage it directly, but hastily reevaluates her situation in light of that terrifying message.

    Scared and angry at the siren, somewhat frustrated at herself, and more than a little upset at the Adventurers having to fight off a horde of enthralled innocents; Fuka concocts an extremely bad idea. She decides to try to rip away the enthrallment of the Landers through the use of a relic.

    Reaching in to her coat, she withdraws the Shiny Swarm. It's a rather hideous-looking scarf made from terrifying things, but it also glows with strange and hypnotic light patterns. She drapes it about her shoulders and holds out one of the ends, and then she begins to sing.

    "In your head, in your head, zombies, zombies, zom-b-b-b, what's in your head~"

    Hey, the theme of this night is song. Fuka's trying! And the song itself is breathy, somewhat disjoint, disruptive. Perfect for her to get in their heads, so to speak, and attempt to assert her own form of control. And... well, at the very least, she seems to get the attention of the zombies in question!

    Setsuna watches the stampeding crowd and gains a black aura around him as he leaps over the crowd and lands on the othside of the stampede before he sees the warning. His cosmosphere was at risk, "Ok so now we are all playing for keeps are we. So be it. " The dark aura slides down on to his hands and turns into black claws as he charges at the crowd, the final moment leaping back and unleashing waves of darkness, attempting to leavev claw marks on his would be attackers. "Someone shut the fish bitch up, her voice SUCKS!"

Schneider is paid back for his fiery spell with a horrible roaring attack that looks like a killer, but the shield he throws up, miraculously, manages to hold until it passes, and no one is more surprised, or pleased, than Schneider, who's all too aware right now, of every strain and pain that's afflicting him. But he's not out of the fight by any means, and when the dust settles from the attack, he squares off and begins chanting.

"Crimson blood, Slaying Summoning of Graves, Zul-art Jodorti, Adaryl!" This one seems less dark, but no less fiery, and he bellows, "DEF ...... LEPPARD"

The resulting flames are not as nastily infernal as before, but intense and scouring, as if seeking to scorch the ground clear of villain, stage, and even water. It must be boiling by now, he's been blasting the area pretty damned hard.

    Merek will watch while the Cosmospheres of the people are put into risk including his own. The man steps forward while he takes the time to try and relax, and will lift up his voice while he tries his best to use it. "Oh what will the signal be... For your eyes to see me... So I still will set the stage, send my thoughts to you! We're receiving every wave, this will send love through! o/¯" A hand lifts up while he uses his magic to bring about Sanctuary while he is singing, the blessing that the man keeps able to project the healing wave upon all of the field. What this does at least will protect the party with that defensive magic within it!

So things are going weell enough or so she things but something is wrong with those idols. Something is very wrong as the warning comes up? There's a spike of terror in Miho's mind at this. She's not sure what' going to hapopen but nothing good will come of this.

Pain becomes real, it becomes so very real again. When your pain levels are damped all of the time enough to know don't do that but nothing more? Having it go back to when you were a weak nothing? It's terrgying really she's screams in pain from the aftermath of the shockwave and take a moment to reover enough.

She's mad now an breahing fire as she goes she heads for the source of her pain. The siren who would find Miho leaping for the strage Katana in hand intending to try and cut her down then and there.

"FORGE'S FURY!"

Oh that's not good. In fact it's not good in such a bad way that even Kauchemar is briefly disrupted by the change in playing field. She bolts away from the stage, but unfortunately for her, the totems are also vibrating in sync with the Abyssal Siren and leaves her nowhere to escape from the assault on both mind and body. She growls, slapping hands to the side of her head as she reels from the shockingly excrutiating attack. Teeth grind together, then it turns into a grimacing snarl. Eyes squint in both pain and anger as the mask-like form of spectral flames ignite around them, engulfed in psychadelic lavander glow.

A hoof slams down into the sand and viscera as Kauchemar snaps herself back upright, arms lowering to her sides as hands clench into fists. "Not tonight, bitch!" Mane flares and flows behind her as she focuses on the stage, bracing herself through the pain. "The only curtain call tonight is going to be yours!"

Kauchemar opens her mouth, unhinged jaw wide, taking advantage of both her powerful voice and the darkness that brews within the Nightmare species. She briefly raises her arms, only to thrust them to her sides and back for balance as she leans forward and unleashes a HORRIFIC WHAIL that resonates with both sonic shockwaves and the seething negative energies of her monsterous fury!

    Still singing, still glaring at the siren as she dances past another mutant, Miyako is taken thoroughly by surprise by the sudden warning icon popping up in front of her. She misses a step, her voice catching, and then....

    Then she falls to her knees, weapons dropped, both hands cluthing her head as she lets out a scream of pain.

    She snatches up one of her daggers, drawing the blade along the outside of her arm, leaving a gleaming crimson line behind as she screams out a new song, a verse of anger and hatred for the beast.

        We are the frayed, we are the torn, we are the beaten and the scorned!
        And now you've forced the beast to bare its teeth!
        We'll come in droves like animals, hungry to reclaim our control
        As we fight to bite the bitter hand that feeds!

A curious thing happens when Fuka pulls that awful, garish, brilliant technicolor scarf out of her inventory. The mutants surrounding her seem to pause in their onslaught, staring as if enchanted by the flickering and flashing colors. Several of them seem to stir from the force puppeting them-- is she getting through to the Landers trapped within these coral-encrusted husks...?

Maybe. But the Siren seems to take notice. Her song seems to turn and focus upon the little Sylph, undoing her attempt at breaking the Abyssal's power.

All at once, the mutant horde sweeps towards her, charging at Fuka at their mistress' command. But all this means is that the mutants are too distracted to avoid being shredded by Setsuna's claws... and more importantly, that the Siren is missing her bodyguard.

What follows is a bloody onslaught indeed. Miho charges for the stage, katana blazing a bright trail over the ash-grey sands. The Siren glares at her and goes to sing another shockwave into being-- only for the Nightmare that is Kauchemar to interrupt with a resonating bellow of her own. The Siren staggers, bleeding from the nose and eyes as the sound pounds against the inside of her skull. She lifts a hand, attempting to conjure a blade of black, blood-tainted water to defend herself, but Schneider's flames put a swift end to that. A torrent of fire pours onto the stage for the third time today, flash-boiling the Siren's attempt to assemble her defenses.

Miho's blade strikes true. Her sword carves deep into the Abyssal's body, spraying black, oily fluids all over the stage. The Siren staggers back and sinks to her knees... Is it over...?

...

Her head lolls back, her eyes roll into her head. Her mouth unhinges wider than it ever should have spanned. Her voice screams out into the world, blasting Miho off-stage... As the /stage/ snaps shut like the jaw it actually was. The siren rises from an empty eye-socket, floating over the thing's head, glowing with ghostly blue flames. A trail of the pale firelight connects her with the crest of her stage's skull like the lantern of some kind of terrible angler fish.

Two enormous arms reach up out of the sea, dragging the stage out of the water as it tries to smash burly, too-human fists into the party, the siren singing again to entrance those who dared interrupt her concert...

Only to be stymied /again/ by Fuka's distraction briefly exhausting her power, and Miyako's own counter-song interrupting what little she could muster. Instead, she sings an angry, sorrowful, pained elegy that seems to urge her stage forward.

...But she's on the ropes, now. Her stage is bleeding as much as she herself is. If the party can pull through here... Perhaps they can bring this nightmare to an end...!

Schneider is panting hard now as we've exchanged heavy blows with this villain, and she's still not down, and fighting back, though we seem to have the edge. Schneider normally doesn't conserve mana points or spells, but he plays her latest attack a bit cagey, and he wins that bet, avoiding more damage, though it was closer than he would have liked.

Deciding that was enough brinksmanship for now, he chants, "Slayer, slayer, dark thunder of Balmor!" and gestures like hurling a javelin as he shouts, "Bal Volt!"

That magical curse is less sorcerously fiery than most of his spells, but the impact isn't anything mild or light, slamming into the siren as brutally as his other spells have done, no mercy from the Rune Knight.

    Fuka's very familiar what happens when she uses the Shiny Swarm on a dangerous foe; she gets its full attention. The moment that attention falls upon her, she starts chanting. As long as she's got their attention, hopefully the rest of the party gets a free pass. She hadn't, however, counted on getting THAT MUCH attention!

    Flames erupt around her and she huddles, trying to stay safe. But fire was probably not the best choice. Zombies can go through fire, and then they're FLAMING ZOMBIES! Fuka begins to shriek as she's assaulted. She's still protected by armour, and ... well, zombies on fire aren't exactly the most coherent attackers. More like they're stumbling into her and brushing her with flame rather than ripping and tearing and smashing her. She can take it, but her health bar begins to drop precipitously.

    She's not planning on sticking around though. With a cry of pain and rage, she launches herself at the true enemy. Bursting through enthralled minions, she raises her axe high, gathering power and force behind the blow, but for the most part the strike is powered by skill and mighty fairy muscle, not by artes.

The monsterous stage tries to join in the attack, but unfortunately for it, the waters it sloshes onto the beach with it's movements are all Kauchemar needs. Hooves hit the water and bend it under her will, using the extra momentum to hydroplane away from the smashy smashy fists. Meanwhile the Nightmare Bard has her eyes on the Siren even as the abyssal singer rises into the air overhead. Eyes narrow again, those this time it's with a smirk as Kauchemar raises an arm and dramatically snap out a finger to point at the Siren. "Are you ready for your swan song? Because it's time to play a round of --"

The water curls up in a wave of it's own, lobbing the nightmare into the air towards the Siren. At the same she brings her mighty hooves to bear... "Dance Dance Devestation" Then thrust them full force into the Siren's midsection in a one-two stomp to knock her back down before she can escape. "AND YOU'RE THE DANCE PAD!"

There is some good news she gets a hell of a good hit on the Siren. That's good news what's nto so good is the stage may indeed be somethings jaws! She's forced to leap away as fast as she can. The good news is she's able to make it in time landing hard, also feeling it too. Oh she does not like this she may never be able to function at earth normal pain levels after being here for so long. She will however turn about leap and attempt to let lose with another assuault with her Katana.

"BEAT CRACK!"

It does not go so well for her...

    Merek will take the time to look at the thing, the stage. Then it's back to the Siren while he will come about with a fist and swing it into both of them then following with a kick, "RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!"

    Setsuna watches off to the side as an illusion of himself is cut down. With a tsk he just shakes his head, " I hate to say this guys but we need new bad guys. They are getting predictable. " Walking towards the stage as he reaches down and scoops from his own shadow a ball of black fire. " Do you think all the monsters are stuck at this level or will we get more risky monsters as we keep going?" With his question asked to the group he tosses the ball of black flames at the Siren and watches them begin to consume her shhadow. Who know's that what means but it is certainly an impressive bit of shadow theater.

    Staggering, singing, and occasionally still holding her hands over her ears, Miyako slowly makes her way up towards the stage, just in time to see the giant skull snap shut, knocking her over onto her rear in the sand. She lies there for a moment, then, shaking her head, pushes herself to her feet and keeps singing as she follows along the edge of the giant skull towards the Siren's new perch. Watching her comrades strike and wound the creature further. Finally she reaches it, and lets out a wordless scream of rage as she stabs both daggers down into the creature's flesh.

        As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back
        For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack!

The Siren's encore is brought to a timely and fatal end. Bursting out of the throngs of shambling audience members, Fukaziroh slams her axe into the stage's onrushing mandible, black blood gushing from the gash as its momentum is brought to a standstill by pure force. Merek and Miho rush in shortly thereafter, blade and fist alike burning with lingering and fresh flames respectively. While the stage is able to parry Miho with an armored fist, it's defenseless before Merek's onslaught...!

Recoiling in pain, the Siren reaches out helplessly to try and sing some manner of salvation into being, only for a Nightmare to stomp repeatedly into her face. Stunned and immobilized, it's helpless when Miyako's daggers slide deep into its flank, more black ichor, and now red motes of light leaking from the wound. Its shadow is set alight, burning across the ashen sands. As the pain becomes too much to bear, the Siren's voice dies in her throat...

What ends it, though, is a spear of lightning that pierces through her neck. Spine severed, her body falls limp and lifeless to the ground. Both it and the massive stage begin to dissolve into sparks of red light which, strangely, seem to glitch and flicker as they fade away, leaving behind...

A selection of... /strange/ objects. Upon examination, their name reads: Simple Icon of Enigma - Data Drain...

As the Siren's corpse fades away, so too does the strange weather. The pleasant wind and warm sunlight of summer return, wiping away the gloom. Those mutants that remain suddenly go still and collapse, unconscious and seemingly inert, but not dead. Not yet, anyway. Perhaps if those growths can be removed, they might yet recover...

Whatever the case, it is the party's victory today. Though those strange pelagic totems of bone and tooth still stand in the sands, they no longer resonate with that awful power. The Siren is gone with no sign that she might make a potential return... And the mystery of the missing people has been solved, tragic though the answer might be.

As it happens, it seems most of the groups that had been sent out this way to investigate the incident before... Had very little in the way of anyone of the bardic persuasion. Perhaps if your party hadn't had so many talented musicians, this might have gone... differently.

Miho sees that the siren finally has gone down she smiles and seems pretty happy.

"Good riddance to that wench..."

She notices some of the mutant are still alive it looks like and she'll call out.

"Anyone skilled at healing? WE might be able to save some of them."

Kauchemar watchs the remains of the Siren and her stage dissolve and glitch a bit before fading. A snort flares her nostrils. "Your voice may of been beautiful, but you were the worst kind of performer... The kind that takes advantage of her audience." With that final quip made to the dying boss the Nightmare Bard turns and trots off.

Schneider looks around the wreckage of the beach, but he will focus on burning down the remaining growths sticking up out of the sand. Fire ought to be good for that, and while he's used a lot of fire today, he's always got reserves, if he spends his power conservatively.

Miyako settles down in the sand, lying back with her head at the water's edge, wavelets washing over her hair and scalp as she slowly breathes and gathers herself once more. "Well crap," she mutters. "That was one sucktastic fight." With a sigh, she finally picks herself back up and dusts herself off, walking back to rejoin the others. "Healer? No, not me... never did manage that. Merek, you ought to know one, don't you? You know everyone."

    "I can heal." Fuka grumbles. "Once I get some mana back anyways. That fight took a lot out of me."